DM automation limits by plan
Updated:
The free Starter plan allows 5 active DM automations at once. The Creator plan is unlimited. Paused automations do not count toward the cap, so the practical limit is how many you want running at the same time rather than how many you can own. ReelDrop's free plan includes 5 active DM automations plus a full Instagram Reels scheduler, and it never asks for a credit card.
Count what is actually active
Open /automations. Every row has a toggle, and only the ones switched on count against the cap. Paused rows keep their setup, their counters, and their history, and cost you nothing.
The filter at the top narrows by trigger type, which is the quickest way to see whether the four automations you forgot about are comment automations still watching every post you publish.
Pause what a launch has finished with
When a launch ends, pause the automation rather than deleting it. You keep the wording, the delay you tuned, and the numbers it produced, and switching it back on next quarter is one click.
This is what makes 5 workable on the free plan: one evergreen lead magnet, one per live launch, and a spare, with everything else parked.
Know what happens at the cap
Trying to create a sixth active automation, or to switch a paused one back on when five are already running, returns a limit error and opens the upgrade prompt rather than failing silently. Nothing you already built is touched.
The check runs on both paths, so cloning is not a way around it. A clone always arrives paused, which is deliberate for a different reason: a half-edited duplicate should not start answering people. It only counts once you turn it on.
Upgrade if you genuinely need more running at once
Creator removes the cap entirely. It is $29/month, with founding pricing at $149/year or $249 once for lifetime access, and it also brings unlimited AI captions, 100 AI image generations a month, AI Reel thumbnails, and up to 5 workspaces.
Pricing has the full comparison and is the canonical page for every number.
The limit at a glance
| Plan | Active DM automations | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 5 | $0, no credit card |
| Creator | Unlimited | $29/month, or $149/year, or $249 lifetime |
Enforced from backend/plans.yml. See /pricing for everything else each plan includes.
Automations belong to a workspace
A workspace holds one Instagram connection, and automations live in the workspace they were built in. They are not shared across workspaces, and the automation picker in the composer only lists the current workspace.
Creator includes up to 5 workspaces, one Instagram account each, and the automation cap is lifted on all of them. Starter has one workspace, so the distinction only starts to matter after you upgrade.
If an automation you are sure you built is missing from the list, check the workspace switcher before rebuilding it.
What is not capped
A few things people expect to be metered and are not.
- DMs sent. There is no ReelDrop quota on messages; Instagram applies its own rate limits when the call is made. DM send limits and account safety goes through this.
- Scheduling and publishing. Unlimited on both plans, including on Starter.
- Keywords and message variants per automation. No count on either. The follow-up is the exception, and there is exactly one of those.
- Paused automations. Own as many as you like.
Frequently asked questions
Do paused automations count toward the 5?
No. Only active ones. Pausing is the intended way to stay under the cap without losing anything.
What error do I get at the cap?
A plan-limit response that opens the upgrade prompt in the app, on both creating a new active automation and reactivating a paused one. Nothing existing is changed or deleted.
Is the cap per workspace or per account?
Per workspace. Starter has one workspace, so for free-plan users the two are the same thing. Creator includes up to 5 workspaces and lifts the cap on all of them.
Does the free plan limit how many DMs an automation sends?
No. ReelDrop's free plan includes 5 active DM automations plus a full Instagram Reels scheduler, and it never asks for a credit card. The cap is on how many automations run at once, not on message volume.
If I downgrade from Creator, what happens to my extra automations?
They are not deleted. You keep everything, and the 5-active cap applies again the next time you try to activate one past the limit.
Does a clone count against the cap?
Not immediately. Clones arrive paused, so they only count once you switch them on.
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