Start on Free. No card needed. Business or Creator Instagram account required.
Animated product story · sample data
knit.bio / illustrative product view
k.
Money InboxFind the messages that need youM
MoneyNeeds a replyHandled
FForma StudioFictional brand inquiry
We love your studio tutorials. Are you available for one Reel next month? Our budget is ₹24,000.
Budget statedReview message
DeliverableReview message
A stated offer belongs where you can see it.
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Made for your next move.
Free to startA useful place to begin
Official Instagram APIConnect with Meta, without sharing your password
Your next creative move.Connected to the rest of your creator toolkit
THE SHORT ANSWER
What is a DM inbox for creators?
For a creator, an Instagram inbox is where a brand offering $1,200 for a Reel sits between hundreds of fan messages, growth-agency pitches and scams. Instagram’s own inbox sorts by recency, so the message worth money can be buried for days, and a slow reply loses the deal.
The Money Inbox sorts by what a message is worth instead. It runs on rules on every plan and costs nothing, and from Essentials, AI reads the message on top of the rules to sharpen the category and fill in details. AI is only ever allowed to promote a message into a lane that needs attention or to fill in blanks; it can never bury an inquiry that stated a budget.
MADE FOR THE WORK YOU WANT TO DO
Different messages. Different next steps.
“We’d love to work with you.”
A fictional brand inquiry
THE OFFER
01 / THE OFFER
Spot a real brand inquiry.
Keep stated budgets and deliverables with the message, then confirm the details yourself.
AN OFFER WORTH REVIEWING₹24,000
1 ReelNext month
THE QUESTION
02 / THE QUESTION
Give a buyer an answer.
Separate genuine questions from fan mail and pitches so a useful reply is easier to find time for.
“Thanks for thinking of me. Let’s talk about the brief.”
Your response. Your decision.
THE FOLLOW-UP
03 / THE FOLLOW-UP
Keep the conversation moving.
Correct a category, reply within Instagram’s permitted window and track the outcome.
FOLLOW THE WORKFLOW
See how the pieces connect.
A fictional brand asks about a campaign and states its budget and deliverables.
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Illustrative workflow · no account actions performed.
knit.bio / illustrative product view
k.
Money InboxFind the messages that need youM
MoneyNeeds a replyHandled
FForma StudioFictional brand inquiry
We love your studio tutorials. Are you available for one Reel next month? Our budget is ₹24,000.
Budget statedReview message
DeliverableReview message
A stated offer belongs where you can see it.
SAMPLE DATA / FICTIONAL CREATOR EXAMPLE
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
How the Money Inbox works
Switch on sorting, test a message and review its category. Keep your first reply personal and useful.
On the Settings tab of the Inbox. It works on every plan and only affects DMs that arrive from then on.
02
Try it on a real DM
Paste a message you have actually received into “Try it on a real DM” to see which lane it lands in and what would be sent back. Nothing is saved and nobody is messaged.
03
Work the Money lane
Open a card to read the message, check the offer that was pulled out, reply from the inbox, and mark the deal Won or Lost when it resolves. Correct anything filed wrongly and it stays corrected: that conversation is pinned and never re-sorted.
04
Switch on auto-replies (Pro and Studio)
Choose which categories are answered automatically, once per person, the first time they write. The brand-deal reply sends your media kit, so a brand sees your audience and rates within seconds.
THE DETAILS THAT MAKE IT USEFUL
What it does with your DMs
knit.bio / illustrative product view
k.
Money InboxFind the messages that need youM
MoneyNeeds a replyHandled
FForma StudioFictional brand inquiry
We love your studio tutorials. Are you available for one Reel next month? Our budget is ₹24,000.
Budget statedReview message
DeliverableReview message
A stated offer belongs where you can see it.
01 / 03
The complete workflow · illustrative sample
Four lanes
Money holds paid brand inquiries and people trying to buy from you. Needs a reply holds real questions and gifting offers. Handled for you is fan mail and repeat questions that already got an answer. Spam and pitches is scams and people selling services to you.
The offer, already read
Brand inquiries show who is writing, the budget they stated, the deliverables they asked for and the deadline they gave. Anything they did not say shows as “Not stated”, never a guess, and a parsed budget always shows the words it came from.
Eight categories
Brand deal, wants to buy, gifting or barter, question, fan mail, pitched to you, scam and other. Scam signals deliberately outrank sponsorship language, because the most convincing scams are written to look like a brand deal.
Reply from the inbox
Instagram only allows a DM within 24 hours of the person’s last message. If that window closes before a send goes out, the conversation comes back marked “Reply did not send” instead of sitting there looking answered.
Triage in bulk
Filter by category, sort by newest, oldest, highest budget or Superfans first, and use the menu on any card to mark it read, Won, Lost or archived without opening it.
From inquiry to deal
Brand DMs the inbox has sorted can be imported into your Deal Desk pipeline, so an inquiry becomes a tracked deal. See brand deal tracking and invoicing.
CHOOSE FOR THE JOB YOU NEED
A useful start on Free.
Rule-based sorting is available on Free. AI assistance starts on Essentials; automatic replies require Pro or Studio.
You can only reply within 24 hours of a person’s last message. That is Instagram’s rule, and it is why the inbox tracks your median first-reply time.
Question and scam messages are never auto-answered. A canned reply to a real problem makes it worse, and scams are never replied to.
Sorting reads DMs that arrive after you switch it on, and only ones that are not already part of an automation flow.
AI reading is metered by plan (500 messages a month on Essentials, 5,000 on Pro, 30,000 on Studio). At the limit, sorting carries on with rules alone.
A budget that could not be parsed is left as “Not stated” for you to fill in. The inbox does not negotiate for you.
BEFORE YOU CONNECT
Questions worth asking.
How do I find brand deal DMs on Instagram?
Instagram sorts DMs by recency, not by value, so brand inquiries get buried. The Money Inbox files every DM into a lane and puts paid brand inquiries and buyers in Money, with the budget, deliverables and deadline already read out of the message. You can also filter by category and sort by highest budget.
Is the Instagram DM inbox free?
Yes. Sorting into lanes runs on every plan at no cost. AI reading starts on Essentials, and automatic replies (including the one that sends your media kit) start on Pro.
How does it tell a brand deal from a scam?
A brand deal is sponsorship language, a stated budget, deliverables, usage rights or a message from a company email address. Scam signals such as fake copyright strikes, verification phishing, crypto and prize bait deliberately outrank sponsorship language, because the most convincing scams are written to look like brand deals. A link alone is never treated as suspicious, since brands always send links.
What if it files a message in the wrong lane?
Change the category and it stays changed. That conversation is pinned and will not be re-sorted when the person writes again. Edit the budget field by hand if it was parsed wrongly; a hand-entered figure replaces the parsed one.
Can it reply to brands automatically?
On Pro and Studio, yes. Auto-replies go out once per person, the first time they write, and only for the categories you switch on. The brand-deal reply sends your media kit link; if your media kit is not published, that line is dropped rather than sending a dead link. Questions and scams are never auto-answered.
Does it read all my DMs?
It reads the DMs that arrive after you switch sorting on and are not part of an automation flow, to file them. Message text and identities are removed on a fixed schedule, and you can erase a contact or all Instagram data at any time. See the privacy policy.
