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Chatfuel Zapier integrationAutomate Chatfuel with Zapier.

The Chatfuel Zapier integration gives you 3 triggers, 8 actions and 1 search. All three triggers are instant: when a subscriber joins your Messenger bot or an attribute changes, the Zap starts at once, even on the free Zapier plan.

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Overview

What the Chatfuel Zapier integration actually does

It links your Chatfuel bot, the no-code chatbot builder for Facebook Messenger, to Zapier, the tool that runs small automations between apps. Something happening in the bot (a new subscriber, an attribute that changes, a plugin reached) starts the automation, and Zapier can then message people, move them inside the bot or update what the bot knows about them.

Onboarding that runs by itself. When Updated Subscriber Status sees a new subscriber, Update Sequence Subscription puts that person into the right sequence of messages. No one has to sort new contacts by hand.

A bot that knows what your other tools know. Update Subscriber Attributes writes values onto a subscriber's profile, and can send them to a given block of the bot at the same time. An order paid elsewhere, a booking confirmed elsewhere: the bot can react.

Broadcasts sent from outside. Send Broadcast messages a whole segment of subscribers, and Send Autoposting Broadcast pushes a gallery card out. Content published somewhere else reaches Messenger without a copy and paste.

What Zapier does not do for Chatfuel: it cannot create or edit blocks, build flows, or delete subscribers. It moves people and data around a bot you have already built. If your flow needs more, compare with the Chatfuel Make integration, and the n8n vs Zapier comparison sets out the criteria between those two.

Vocabulary

Zapier vocabulary in one minute

Seven words come back throughout this page. Here they are in plain terms.

Zap
The automation you build: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time that trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event that starts a Zap, such as a new subscriber on your bot. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does after it starts: the step that sends a message, updates a profile or moves someone in the bot.
Task
The unit Zapier bills. One task is one action that completes successfully, and your plan is a count of those.
Instant vs polling
An instant trigger is pushed by the app as the event happens; a polling one is checked by Zapier on a timer. Chatfuel's triggers are all instant.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap carry on only when what arrived meets a condition you set, and stops it there otherwise.
Search step
A step that looks up something that already exists in an app, so the steps after it can use what it found.
Cost

What a Chatfuel Zap really costs

The trigger is free, and so is Zapier listening to your bot. You pay in tasks, one for each action that goes through.

  • Trigger0 task
  • Each successful action1 task
  • Free plan100 tasks a month, 2-step Zaps
  • Chatfuel premium app?No

Every successful action is a task, and each action of a Zap counts on its own: a Zap that sends a message and then updates an attribute uses two tasks per subscriber. An action that fails is not counted. The free plan gives 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps, limited to two steps each, one trigger and one action. A filter, a search or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. Chatfuel is not a premium app, so it runs on the free plan, and since its triggers are instant, the polling grid below never delays it.

Connect

Connect Chatfuel to Zapier in 3 steps

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In your Zapier account, go to Apps and click + Add connection. A connection is your Chatfuel account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every Chatfuel step of every Zap.

  2. 02

    Pick Chatfuel

    Search for Chatfuel by name in the dialog, select it, then click Add connection. You need a Chatfuel account with access to the bot your Zaps will work on.

  3. 03

    Sign in and grant access

    Sign in to Chatfuel in the tab that opens and allow Zapier to reach the account. Every Chatfuel trigger, action and search can then use this connection.

First Zap

Your first Chatfuel Zap, step by step

GoalEnroll every new subscriber of your bot into a welcome sequence, after looking up their profile.

  1. 01

    Build: choose the trigger

    Create a Zap, pick Chatfuel and Updated Subscriber Status, then set it to fire when a new subscriber joins rather than when someone blocks the bot.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent events of the connected account, so you map the next steps on a real subscriber rather than a blank.

  3. 03

    Add the search

    Add Find a Subscriber to fetch the person's profile. With a search in it, the Zap becomes multi-step, so it needs a paid Zapier plan.

  4. 04

    Add the action

    Add Update Sequence Subscription, map the Messenger User ID, choose to subscribe, then pick the welcome sequence. Test this step on your own profile.

  5. 05

    Publish

    Click Publish to switch the Zap on. From now on, every new subscriber is in the welcome sequence moments after joining the bot.

Triggers

Chatfuel triggers on Zapier

3 events start a Zap when something happens in Chatfuel, and 3 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

Updated Subscriber Attribute

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a subscriber‘s attribute is updated”

Starts your Zap when the attribute you pick changes on a subscriber's profile. Attributes are what the bot remembers about someone, such as an answer they gave.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
a driving school's bot asks for a preferred lesson slot and the Zap passes each answer to the person who builds the schedule.
Watch out
it fires on every change, so use it to update things elsewhere, not to create them; and never answer it with Update Subscriber Attributes on the same attribute, or the Zap loops.
2

New Trigger of “Export via Zapier” Plugin

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a subscriber receives the “Export via Zapier” plugin in Chatfuel”

Fires when a subscriber reaches the “Export via Zapier” plugin you placed in a block of your bot. You decide exactly where in the conversation the Zap starts.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
a real estate agent's bot collects a viewing request, and the plugin at the end of that block sends it straight to the agent's tools.
Watch out
the trigger asks you to select the plugin, so add it to a block in Chatfuel before building the Zap.
3

Updated Subscriber Status

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new subscriber joins your bot or an existing subscriber blocks it”

Reacts to two moments in a subscriber's life: joining your bot, or blocking it. You choose which one when you set up the trigger.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan.
When to use it
an online shop wants new subscribers counted in its marketing sheet, and blocks flagged so nobody keeps messaging them by other means.
Watch out
one Zap follows one of the two moments; to track both joins and blocks, build two Zaps.
Actions

Chatfuel actions on Zapier

Chatfuel gives you 8 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Send Broadcast

Action

In Zapier“Sends a broadcast to a subscriber segment”

Sends one message to a whole segment of your subscribers at once, rather than to a single person.

When to use it
telling everyone in a segment that a new event is open for booking, the moment it goes live in another tool.
Watch out
the segment must already exist in Chatfuel; the action only lets you pick one.
2

Send Text Message

Action

In Zapier“Sends a text message to a subscriber”

Sends a text message to one subscriber of your bot, identified by their Messenger User ID.

When to use it
confirming to a customer, inside Messenger, that the request they made through the bot has been received.
Watch out
both the subscriber and the message text are required on every run.
3

Send Autoposting Broadcast

Action

In Zapier“Sends an autoposting broadcast with a specific gallery card”

Sends an autoposting broadcast carrying the gallery card you specify.

When to use it
each new article on your blog pushed to subscribers as a card they can tap.
Watch out
the Broadcast field is required, so set the autoposting broadcast up in Chatfuel before the Zap.
4

Import Content via Zapier Plugin

Action

In Zapier“Adds a new gallery card to the "Update Content via Zapier" plugin”

Adds a new gallery card to the “Update Content via Zapier” plugin, so your bot's content refreshes from outside Chatfuel.

When to use it
new products from your catalog showing up as cards in the bot without anyone editing it.
Watch out
the block to import into is required, and the plugin must be in place in that block first.
5

Update Sequence Subscription

Action

In Zapier“Subscribes or unsubscribes a person to/from a specific sequence”

Subscribes a person to one or several sequences of your bot, or unsubscribes them, depending on the Action you choose.

When to use it
a new subscriber put into a welcome sequence, or a customer taken out of a sales sequence once they have bought.
Watch out
Subscriber, Action and Sequence(s) are all required.
6

Update Subscriber Attributes

Action

In Zapier“Updates subscriber attributes and/or sends a subscriber to a specific block in your bot”

Writes attributes on a subscriber's profile, and can also send them to a given block of the bot in the same step.

When to use it
storing a customer's loyalty level from your shop, so the bot can greet them accordingly.
Watch out
behind Updated Subscriber Attribute on the same attribute, it sets off its own trigger and loops.
7

Send Subscriber to a Block

Action

In Zapier“Sends a subscriber to a specific block in your bot”

Moves one subscriber to a chosen block of your bot, so the conversation picks up from there.

When to use it
a payment confirmed in another tool sends the buyer to the after-sale block of the bot.
Watch out
it needs the Messenger User ID, so the Zap must carry it from a Chatfuel trigger or a search.
8

Update Subscriber Entry Point

Action

In Zapier“Updates subscriber attributes and sends a subscriber to a specific entry point in your bot”

Updates a subscriber's attributes and sends them to a specific entry point of your bot, in one go.

When to use it
someone who signed up on a web form lands at the right starting point the next time the bot talks to them.
Watch out
like the other subscriber actions, it fails without a Messenger User ID.
Searches

Chatfuel search on Zapier

1 search step looks for data that already exists in Chatfuel, so a later step can use it.

Chatfuel has a single search, and it finds a subscriber of your bot so that later steps can use their details. It sits at the bottom of the Action event list, under SEARCH; some action fields also offer + Add search step, which inserts it just before and wires it in. Chatfuel exposes no find-or-create version of it.

1

Find a Subscriber

Search

In Zapier“Searches for a subscriber”

Looks up a subscriber of your bot and hands their profile to the steps that follow, so an action can use a value the trigger did not carry.

When to use it
before sending someone to a block, to check who they are first.
Watch out
adding it makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.

The three settings every search exposes

  1. Successful if no search results are found?
    Left on its default, a search that finds nobody stops the Zap there and the steps that depended on it are skipped. Switched on, the Zap carries on empty-handed.
  2. Create X if it doesn't exist yet?
    On apps that offer it, this box turns a search into find-or-create. Chatfuel does not, so a missing subscriber is never created.
  3. If multiple search results are found?
    Three ways out when several subscribers match: keep the first, which is the default, stop the Zap, or pass them all on together.
When it breaks

When a Chatfuel Zap breaks

Zapier links no Chatfuel-specific help article and lists no Chatfuel rate limit. What breaks is what breaks on any Zap, in front of people who are talking to your bot.

A broken chatbot Zap is felt by the subscriber: a message that arrives twice, a sequence that never starts, a profile that keeps rewriting itself. Plan against the cases below, and use Zapier troubleshooting once a run has already failed.

  • A Zap that triggers itself

    Updated Subscriber Attribute feeding Update Subscriber Attributes on the same attribute: the Zap writes where it watches, starts again and again, and burns through tasks.

  • Nothing from before the Zap

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Subscribers who joined earlier are never picked up by Updated Subscriber Status.

  • A sudden flood of events

    After a bulk import of subscribers or attribute values, a trigger that suddenly sends a huge batch can be held back by Zapier's flood protection.

  • A missing Messenger User ID

    Most Chatfuel actions require the subscriber's Messenger User ID. If no earlier step carries it, the action has no subscriber to address and fails.
Need help

Need help automating Chatfuel with Zapier?

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FAQ

Chatfuel Zapier integration: frequently asked questions

01Is the Chatfuel Zapier integration free?
Yes, to start with. Chatfuel is not a premium app on Zapier, so it works on the free plan, which includes 100 tasks a month and unlimited Zaps. The limit is the number of steps: a free Zap has two, one trigger and one action. As soon as you add Find a Subscriber, a filter or a second action, the Zap is multi-step and requires a paid Zapier plan. Count the steps of the flow you have in mind before you start.
02How many tasks does a Chatfuel Zap use?
One per successful action, on each run. The trigger costs nothing, and neither does Zapier listening to your bot. A Zap that enrolls each new subscriber in a sequence uses one task per subscriber. If it also sends a text message, that is two tasks per subscriber, since each action counts on its own. Two actions, two tasks, on every run, so count them before you size your plan. Actions that fail are not counted, and a few apps or actions use more than one task.
03Does Chatfuel trigger Zaps in real time?
Yes. All three Chatfuel triggers are instant: Chatfuel tells Zapier as soon as a subscriber joins or blocks the bot, an attribute changes or the Export via Zapier plugin is reached, and the Zap starts at once. The polling grid, 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, 1 on Team and Enterprise, does not apply to them, whatever your plan. In the editor, a Zap built on one of them shows a lightning bolt.
04What do you need to connect Chatfuel to Zapier?
A Chatfuel account with access to the bot you want to automate. In Zapier, open Apps, click + Add connection, search for Chatfuel, click Add connection, sign in to Chatfuel in the new tab, then grant access. The connection is then reused by every Chatfuel step. Before you build, check that the blocks, sequences, segments and plugins your Zap will point to already exist in the bot, since the actions only let you pick them.
05Why does a Chatfuel action fail with no subscriber?
Because most Chatfuel actions require a Subscriber, given as a Messenger User ID, and the Zap has none to give. That ID exists on the Chatfuel side, so a Zap started by another app does not carry it by default. Start from a Chatfuel trigger, which concerns a subscriber, or add Find a Subscriber before the action. Remember that the search makes the Zap multi-step, so it needs a paid plan.
06What if the Chatfuel operation you need is not there?
Then Zapier cannot do it directly. Chatfuel on Zapier offers 3 triggers, 8 actions and 1 search, and none of them builds blocks, edits flows or deletes subscribers. In that case, look at what other automation platforms expose for Chatfuel before deciding, or do that part inside Chatfuel itself. Any extra step added to work around the gap, a search included, makes the Zap multi-step, which needs a paid plan. Check the list on the Chatfuel app page of Zapier first.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Chatfuel?
No single winner, only criteria to apply to your own flow. Coverage: list the Chatfuel operations you need and check which platform offers each. Cost: on Zapier the trigger is free and each successful action is one task, so count actions per subscriber. Speed: the three Chatfuel triggers on Zapier are instant on every plan. Upkeep: who will maintain the flow once it is live. Score each option on those four points.
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