Initial impressions of both chatbot platforms
When I first signed into ManyChat, things felt polished. There’s a “flow builder” right up front, visually representing how users move through your chatbot conversation. That’s helpful if you’re building anything even slightly complex — like an appointment bot with conditional logic. On the other hand, ChatFuel’s Dashboard felt slightly stiffer. Fewer animations, no drag-and-drop editor at first glance, and the onboarding steps were more minimal. But underneath, it was clearly aiming at fast-paced deployments for Facebook pages.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!ChatFuel leans heavily into Facebook Messenger integration — it basically assumes you’re going to deploy your bot there. ManyChat does the same but adds native options for SMS and Instagram DMs without needing third-party connectors. If you’re running a campaign across several channels, this built-in flexibility changes everything. I had a friend managing a barber shop’s online bookings who needed SMS reminders on top of Facebook chats. With ManyChat, we had that working by late afternoon with Twilio connected. ChatFuel? We would’ve needed a workaround through webhooks or third-party tools.
So, if you’re asking which platform looks more user-friendly straight out of the gate? ManyChat. But if you mostly live inside Facebook’s universe, ChatFuel gets you launched faster.
In the end, both are clearly built for marketers — this isn’t like DialogFlow or Microsoft Bot Framework, which feel more dev-focused right away.
Visual builder and flow logic comparison
ManyChat’s Flow Builder is the most graphical. It uses a node-and-branch layout where each message, action, or delay is represented as a draggable unit. You click, drag, connect. It feels like drawing out a mind map, but for bots. There’s even an undo button, which saved me when I accidentally deleted a node that had a webhook firing a Zapier integration.
ChatFuel’s Blocks + AI setup is more modular and top-down. Instead of one big flow diagram, you get a library of “blocks” that represent conversations or actions. You can link them via buttons or triggers and call blocks from other blocks. It’s a bit more like assembling Lego bricks, where each piece is reusable. I ran a simple lead collection sequence — name, email, phone — and it only took about five minutes to drop in pre-built blocks for each step.
Where ChatFuel gets fuzzy is if you want conditional logic. It’s possible but harder to visualize, since conditions are buried under buttons or plugin settings. In ManyChat, if someone enters “Book” after 6 PM, you can fork it into a night-mode path visually — there’s a clock icon, and conditional filters are easy to attach to message bubbles. That’s huge if scheduling is part of your chatbot.
Both officially support integrations with Google Sheets, CRMs like Hubspot, and email systems, but only ManyChat exposes flow conditions cleanly inside their GUI.
Ultimately, I recommend ManyChat if you’re new and want visual control. But ChatFuel wins if you like reusing modular sequences across bots.
Platform channel support differences
This part isn’t subtle at all. ChatFuel focuses mostly on Facebook Messenger. There’s some WhatsApp integration in beta and chatbot landing page options, but that’s pretty much it unless you start bolting things on manually.
ManyChat has native support for:
- Facebook Messenger
- Instagram DM
- SMS (Integrates natively with Twilio)
- Email (Simple broadcasts and automations)
That’s crucial. Let’s say you’re running a sales funnel across Instagram AND email nurturing. I used exactly that for a small clothing line launch. ManyChat let me DM followers when new collections dropped, and then automatically emailed them 2 days later with a discount if they didn’t purchase.
In ChatFuel, there’s simply no clean way to handle that multi-channel journey without piping everything through something like Integromat or a custom webhook chain. And that breaks massively if someone unsubscribes mid-sequence. I had a sequence hang for three days because a webhook didn’t receive the unsubscribe from email — the user kept getting messages on Messenger. Not a great look.
So if cross-channel marketing is your thing, ManyChat is absolutely the stronger contender. But again, for single-channel bots that stay entirely inside Messenger, ChatFuel’s speed and simplicity might still appeal.
The bottom line is, if you want to run a chatbot campaign over multiple platforms with built-in channel logic, ChatFuel just doesn’t cut it.
Template system and starting bot kits
Templates are more than “example bots” — they’re full automations you can reuse. In both tools, templates can jumpstart your chatbot flow setup. But the way they’re organized and reused is different.
In ManyChat, you’ll find several industry-specific templates: fitness coach lead gens, real estate follow-ups, auto-service appointment bots. Each comes with a hook trigger, message sequence, and follow-up logic. You can publish your own as a full template too. I built a giveaway bot once with a countdown timer, and ManyChat offered to “add it to my templates” to clone later. That cloning saved me almost two hours when I ran the same giveaway a month later for a different product line.
ChatFuel templates are simpler. Lots of starter kits like “collect emails” or “customer support bot”, but they’re styled more like pre-set blocks than full conversational flows. Most are built with Facebook page interaction in mind. You can’t fork them easily across Instagram or a WhatsApp number, and updating templates is more manual.
One weird hiccup: When using a ChatFuel support template, it included a handover protocol that kept intercepting user messages even after the live agent had returned to the flow. Took me a while to see that the “Reset conversation context” block was missing entirely from the standard template. Be careful if you’re using templates in a real-time situation.
To conclude, if you’re racing the clock to launch a campaign and want reusable flows that respect different messaging channels, ManyChat’s template system is more robust and less error-prone.
AI-triggered responses and smart conditions
Let’s untangle the “AI” bit here. Both tools throw around the phrase — but what they really mean is keyword-triggered responses and simple NLP (Natural Language Processing), not machine learning or actual chat comprehension.
In ChatFuel, you set up AI through “Set Up AI” tab. You enter phrases like “What are your hours?” or “Are you open late?”, and then assign a block that gets triggered. It’s basic pattern matching, not fuzzy logic. During testing, some users typed “when r u closing”, and ChatFuel ignored it entirely until I added a matching phrase.
ManyChat calls this section “Automation” → “Keywords.” It supports slightly better wildcards and broader patterns (like *booking* matches “booking”, “bookings” and “book a time”). You can also fire different flows depending on the keyword’s context — for example, Users tagged as VIPs get a different info block.
One major edge case: I asked both platforms to recognize when someone said “Hi” and reply with a greeting only once. In ChatFuel, that was tougher — it kept replying every time someone typed “Hi” again. I had to manually add a user attribute and check its value. ManyChat had a built-in “once per user” flag, which made this logic way simpler to manage.
As a final point, if you’re building contextual replies that should respond differently based on tags, timing, or user history, ManyChat offers much deeper built-in condition logic without needing custom attributes every time.
Pricing usability and plan restrictions
Both tools start with free plans, but restrictions bite fast once you need advanced features.
ManyChat’s free tier supports up to a few hundred subscribers and includes basic automation, Instagram/Messenger flows, and broadcast tools. But SMS and email require upgrading, and there’s a watermark on outgoing messages. Upgrading gets you multiple admins, priority support, and unlimited sequences.
ChatFuel starts strong for Facebook bots. You get most of the automation tools early, and even some AI keywords. But the second you add a chatbot for Instagram, you hit upgrade prompts. More annoyingly, some blocks like JSON API plugins or custom user fields are locked behind a higher team plan.
In my experience, ChatFuel ramps up pricing sharply once you try to scale with integrations. I once tried to connect a HubSpot CRM field to a block in ChatFuel — it kept bouncing, saying I needed a “Pro Plan.” ManyChat, in contrast, let me connect the same Zapier webhook with no added payment for that integration point.
The downsides? ManyChat’s billing UI is clunky. There’s no monthly estimate until after you connect a live channel. You won’t really know what you’re paying until a few test conversations have happened.
At the end of the day, both pricing models nudge you fast into paying tiers — but ManyChat unlocks more functionality earlier on.
Real-life chatbot scenarios tested
I ran five test scenarios using both platforms — here’s what worked and what didn’t in each one.
| Scenario | ChatFuel Result | ManyChat Result |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Lead Magnet Flow | Worked immediately on Messenger. Email export via CSV. | Worked across Messenger and SMS. Auto-synced to Google Sheet. |
| Event Reminder with Countdown | Manual time delay setup only | Has “Event Countdown” widget + Time logic |
| Live Agent Handoff | Inconsistent. Sometimes bot resumed too soon. | Stable. “Wait until agent ends” feature. |
| Form-style multi-question flow | Needed custom attributes manually | Has built-in user fields + conditions |
| Follow-up Emails post chat | Not possible natively | Automated via built-in email tool |
The test that broke most reliably in ChatFuel was the live agent flow return handling. If your agent signs off, ChatFuel sometimes re-triggers the same flow the user already completed depending on previous payload data. ManyChat properly locked out duplicate runs unless explicitly reset.
Overall, under real use, ManyChat held up better for end-to-end customer journeys.
Final recommendation after comparison
Choosing between ManyChat and ChatFuel is less about features and more about your messaging strategy.
- If your customers live on Facebook and you want a quick bot that collects data and follows a simple script: ChatFuel delivers fast with fewer distractions.
- If you need logic, flow control, SMS or Instagram messaging, or follow-up emails? ManyChat is undeniably better right now.
I’ve used both for client projects — from online beauty retailers to dog groomers testing appointment bots. Every time the requirements get complex (like sending texts to missed appointments or syncing tags to email campaigns), ManyChat’s platform felt more built for that world.
To sum up, ChatFuel is for basic automation inside Facebook; ManyChat is for businesses thinking in funnels, cross-channel reminders, and re-engagement journeys.
