What is per-contact pricing?
Per-contact pricing means a chatbot or messaging tool bills by the size of your audience, usually the number of active contacts in a month, with a fee for each contact above your plan's limit. ManyChat is the best-known example.
Also called: active contact pricing, contact-based pricing, pay per contact.
By Santhul Joseph, AI EngineerUpdated
How it works
Each plan includes a number of active contacts. Go over it and the tool keeps running, but charges an overage fee for every extra contact.
ManyChat's plans on monthly billing: Essential at $17 a month includes 250 active contacts, Pro at $39 includes 2,500, Business at $99 includes 7,500 and Advanced at $199 includes 25,000. The overage on Pro is $0.05 per extra contact.
A worked example
Say a reel goes well and brings in 5,000 active contacts in one month. On ManyChat Pro with monthly billing, that's $39 plus 2,500 extra contacts at $0.05, or $164. On Business the 5,000 fit within the 7,500 limit, so it stays $99. ManyChat lets you set a contact limit in your billing settings to cap the overage.
The model suits a steady audience. Because the bill follows the size of your audience rather than the work the automation does, a viral post raises the cost even when most new contacts only commented once.
The SimplyBoost approach
SimplyBoost doesn't charge per contact. Plans are a flat €39, €89 or €169 a month, metered by AI replies, and the website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram comment-to-DM are on every plan. A busy month uses more replies, not a fee per new follower, and at the limit the agent pauses instead of billing overage.
Questions people ask
What is an active contact?
Broadly, a contact who interacted with your account in that billing month, as opposed to everyone stored in your list. Each vendor sets the exact definition, so read it on their pricing page.
What happens if I go over my ManyChat contact limit?
Your automations keep running and ManyChat charges an overage fee for each extra active contact, for example $0.05 on Pro with monthly billing. You can set a contact limit in your billing settings to control the cost.
Is per-contact pricing cheaper than paying per AI reply?
It depends on what your audience does. If many people comment once and never write back, contacts grow faster than replies. If a small audience asks lots of questions, replies grow faster, so estimate both from a normal month.