Glossary
Rate limit
A rate limit is the most API calls Meta accepts from an app in a given time. For Instagram messaging the limits count per professional account: 750 private replies per hour for comments on posts and reels, 100 per second for Live comments, and 100 messages per second for text and links. Calls over the limit fail with a rate limit error until the window frees up.
All of Meta's messaging limits
Meta's overview lists these per account: the Conversations API allows 2 calls per second, private replies allow 100 calls per second for Live comments and 750 calls per hour for comments on posts and reels, and the Send API allows 100 calls per second for text, links, reactions and stickers and 10 calls per second for audio or video. Calls outside messaging count against a separate budget of 4,800 times the account's impressions per rolling 24 hours.
Why the hourly limit matters
Most posts never get close to 750 keyword comments in an hour, but a reel that takes off can. Since a private reply may be sent up to 7 days after the comment, a tool can queue the overflow and send it later instead of dropping it. Meta also recommends webhooks over polling, because fewer calls mean less risk of being rate limited.
How Elevion paces
Elevion keeps each account well under 750 private replies an hour, spaces DMs a few seconds apart and lets you set your own hourly and daily caps for each campaign. Comments that wait in line keep their place and are only skipped if sending them would pass the 7-day limit.
For how this fits into the whole flow from comment to DM, read How comment-to-DM automation works.
Sources
Checked against Meta's documentation on 2026-10-20. Meta changes its rules from time to time, so its pages are the final word.
