The Upload-Post Alternative With DMs on 7 Platforms
Upload-Post is a good publishing API: 22 listed platforms, unlimited uploads from $24/mo, a verified n8n node. Its inbox stops at Instagram, and no webhook tells you when someone comments, messages or mentions you. SocialAPI.ai sends and receives DMs on 7 platforms and pushes those events to your server.
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By Erwan Prost, FounderUpdated
At a glance: Upload-Post vs SocialAPI.ai, the differences that matter.
- DMs (send + receive)
- Upload-Post: Instagram only
- SocialAPI.ai: 7 platforms
- Comment, DM, mention, review webhooks
- Upload-Post: None, pull only
- SocialAPI.ai: Pushed from 7 platforms
- Mentions
- Upload-Post: X via comment listing only
- SocialAPI.ai: 7 platforms
- TikTok post that hits a cap
- Upload-Post: success: true, captionless draft
- SocialAPI.ai: Error returned
- Publishing platforms
- Upload-Post: 22 listed
- SocialAPI.ai: 10
- Entry paid plan
- Upload-Post: $24/mo, 5 profiles
- SocialAPI.ai: $29/mo, 10 brands
TL;DR SocialAPI.ai is the Upload-Post alternative for products that must answer people, not only publish. Upload-Post sends and reads DMs on Instagram only and pushes no comment, DM, mention or review webhook. SocialAPI.ai handles DMs on 7 platforms and mentions on 7, with real-time inbox webhooks. For publish-only work on 5 profiles or fewer, Upload-Post is cheaper.
The honest answer, before we get into specifics about Upload-Post.
Positioning: What Upload-Post does, and what we do differently.
What Upload-Post does
Upload-Post, built by TONVI TECH SL in Malaga, is a publishing API that posts video, photos and text to a list of 22 platforms from one call, including Discord, Telegram, Slack, Mastodon, Nostr, Dev.to, Hashnode and WordPress next to the big networks. It is a favourite publish step for automation builders: its n8n node is listed as verified by n8n, there is a Make community app, npm and PyPI SDKs, and a hosted MCP server in the official MCP registry. Every paid plan includes unlimited uploads, from $24/mo for 5 profiles ($16/mo billed annually), and white-label connect pages start on the $50 Professional plan. Their public status page shows Instagram at 99.43% success over 1,167,366 publish attempts in 30 days. Comments work on 8 platforms in the docs, Google Business Profile reviews can be read and answered, and Instagram gets DMs, private replies and AutoDM.
What SocialAPI.ai does
SocialAPI.ai is a unified REST API for the conversation side of social: comments on 8 platforms, DMs sent and received on 7 (Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, X, Bluesky, Telegram, Zalo), mentions on 7 and Google Business Profile reviews, plus publishing to 10 of its 13 platforms. Comment, DM, mention and review events are pushed by webhook from Instagram, Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, Zalo and Google, and post and account events fire on all 13. A hosted MCP server with OAuth 2.1 gives agents the same calls. The billing unit is the brand: Hobby is free for 2 brands, then $29, $109 and $349 a month for 10, 50 and 200 brands, with posts and interactions uncapped on every paid plan.
The catch: The inbox past Instagram, pushed to you
Upload-Post’s DM endpoints accept one value for platform, and it is instagram: their published OpenAPI spec has no DM send or read for Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, X, Bluesky or Zalo. Their webhooks carry upload_completed and three social_account events, so a new comment, DM, mention or review only shows up when you poll for it, and their Instagram AutoDM polls too. SocialAPI.ai sends and receives DMs on 7 platforms through one conversations endpoint, and pushes comment.received, dm.received, mention.received and review.received from Instagram, Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, Zalo and Google. If your product only publishes, none of this matters, and Upload-Post is the broader and usually cheaper choice. If it has to answer people, this is the whole comparison.
Feature matrix: Upload-Post vs SocialAPI.ai, feature by feature.
| Feature | Upload-Post | SocialAPI.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Publishing | ||
| Publish & schedule posts | Upload-PostYes | SocialAPI.aiYes |
| Publishing platforms | Upload-Post22 listed, incl. Discord, Mastodon, WordPress | SocialAPI.ai10 of 13 |
| TikTok direct post that hits a cap | Upload-PostRetried as a captionless draft, success: true | SocialAPI.aiError returned; drafts are opt-in |
| Engagement | ||
| Comments (read + reply) | Upload-PostYes, 8 platforms in the docs | SocialAPI.aiYes, 8 platforms |
| Direct messages (send + receive) | Upload-PostInstagram only | SocialAPI.aiYes, 7 platforms |
| Mentions | Upload-PostNot offered, X via comment listing only | SocialAPI.aiYes, 7 platforms |
| Google Business Profile reviews | Upload-PostYes, read + reply | SocialAPI.aiYes, read + reply |
| Developer experience | ||
| Webhooks for comments, DMs, mentions, reviews | Upload-PostNot offered, upload and account events only | SocialAPI.aiYes, pushed from 7 platforms |
| Post and account webhooks | Upload-PostYes, upload_completed + 3 account events | SocialAPI.aiYes, all 13 platforms |
| n8n | Upload-PostYes, node verified by n8n | SocialAPI.aiHTTP Request node + webhook trigger |
| White-label connect page | Upload-PostYes, from Professional ($50/mo) | SocialAPI.aiNot offered |
| Pricing | ||
| Billing unit | Upload-PostPer profile (one account per platform) | SocialAPI.aiPer brand |
| Entry paid plan | Upload-Post$24/mo, 5 profiles ($16 annual) | SocialAPI.ai$29/mo, 10 brands |
| Free plan | Upload-Post2 profiles, 10 uploads/mo, no TikTok | SocialAPI.ai2 brands, 10 posts + 50 interactions/mo |
| Volume on paid plans | Upload-PostYes, unlimited uploads | SocialAPI.aiYes, posts and interactions uncapped |
| AI agents | ||
| Hosted MCP server | Upload-PostYes, in the official MCP registry | SocialAPI.aiYes, OAuth 2.1 |
| DMs an agent can answer | Upload-PostInstagram only | SocialAPI.ai7 platforms |
| Agent learns about a new message | Upload-PostPolling only | SocialAPI.aiPushed by webhook |
Show, don't tell: Simple by design.
# No webhook carries a DM, so poll on a timer and diff yourself.
# platform must be "instagram": there is no other DM platform.
curl "https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/dms/conversations?platform=instagram&user=acme" \
-H "Authorization: Apikey YOUR_API_KEY"
# Reply by the sender's Instagram-scoped ID (IGSID):
curl -X POST "https://api.upload-post.com/api/uploadposts/dms/send" \
-H "Authorization: Apikey YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"platform": "instagram", "user": "acme", "recipient_id": "17846744073097661", "message": "Yes, the blue one ships today."}'# 1. Subscribe once. New DMs and comments are pushed to your URL.
curl -X POST "https://api.social-api.ai/v1/webhooks" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sapi_key_..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "https://app.example.com/hooks/social", "events": ["dm.received", "comment.received"]}'
# 2. Reply on the conversation_id from the dm.received body:
curl -X POST "https://api.social-api.ai/v1/inbox/conversations/7f1c4e2b-2841-41a8-85d7-27b0f37ac067/messages" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer sapi_key_..." \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"account_id": "acc_xxx", "text": "Yes, the blue one ships today."}'The same job: answer a customer who just messaged you. On Upload-Post you poll Instagram conversations and work out what is new. On SocialAPI.ai a dm.received event arrives from Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram or Zalo, and replies go through one conversations endpoint on all 7 DM platforms.
Pricing: Upload-Post pricing, and what you actually pay at scale.
| Size | Upload-Post | SocialAPI.ai |
|---|---|---|
| 10 brands | Upload-Post$34/moBasic + 5 profiles | SocialAPI.ai$29/moSide Hustle |
| 50 brands | Upload-Post~$87/moProfessional + 25 profiles | SocialAPI.ai$109/moFull Send |
| 200 brands | Upload-Post$438/moBusiness | SocialAPI.ai$349/moEmpire |
Upload-Post costs less at 1 to 5 and at 11 to 125 profiles, so at 50 brands the extra $22 a month pays for the inbox, DMs on 7 platforms instead of Instagram only plus pushed comment, DM, mention and review webhooks, and the units differ too: a profile holds one account per platform, while a brand can hold several pages on the same network.
Decision guide: Is Upload-Post or SocialAPI.ai right for you?
- Pick Upload-Post
Publishing to Discord, Mastodon, WordPress or Slack alongside the big networks
Upload-Post lists 22 platforms, including Discord, Telegram, Slack, Mastodon, Nostr, Lemmy, Dev.to, Hashnode and WordPress. We publish to 10, none of those, and our Telegram connector is DMs only. If the long tail is the job, use them.
- Pick Upload-Post
A write-only publisher on 1 to 5 profiles
Five profiles with unlimited uploads cost $24/mo, or $16/mo billed annually, against our $29 Side Hustle. One developer ran about 1,000 posts over 8 months on it with reliable delivery. If nothing ever needs a reply, you do not need what we add.
- Pick SocialAPI.ai
A support inbox across Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram
Upload-Post’s DM send and read accept only instagram. We send and receive DMs on Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, X, Bluesky, Telegram and Zalo through one conversations endpoint, and dm.received is pushed from Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram and Zalo.
- Pick SocialAPI.ai
An AI agent answering comments and DMs as they arrive
Upload-Post’s webhooks fire on uploads and account changes only, and their AutoDM works by polling, so an agent has to ask on a timer. Ours gets comment, DM, mention and review events pushed from 7 platforms and answers through the same hosted MCP server.
Migration: Moving from Upload-Post, step by step.
- 01
Get a key on the free plan
Sign up for Hobby, free for 2 brands with no card, and create one brand per Upload-Post profile you want to test. Paid plans start at $29/mo for 10 brands.
- 02
Reconnect each account through OAuth
Platform tokens do not move between vendors, so each account owner signs in once. Start each connection with POST /v1/accounts/connect and keep Upload-Post live until the brand is fully connected.
- 03
Swap the upload calls for POST /v1/posts
Upload-Post’s /upload, /upload_photos and /upload_text become one POST /v1/posts that names each destination in targets, with media passed by URL. Scheduling uses scheduled_at on the same request.
- 04
Subscribe a webhook for the inbox
Register POST /v1/webhooks with dm.received, comment.received, mention.received and review.received, then delete the polling jobs that read Instagram conversations and comments.
FAQ: Upload-Post questions, answered honestly.
What is the best Upload-Post alternative?
It depends on whether you publish or converse. For publishing only, Upload-Post is hard to beat on breadth and entry price: 22 listed platforms and 5 profiles for $24/mo. If you need to answer people, SocialAPI.ai is the alternative: DMs on 7 platforms instead of Instagram only, mentions on 7, and comment, DM, mention and review events pushed by webhook from 7 platforms.
Upload-Post vs SocialAPI.ai: what is the difference?
Upload-Post is publishing first: 22 listed platforms, unlimited uploads on paid plans, white-label connect pages from $50/mo. SocialAPI.ai is inbox first: comments on 8 platforms, DMs on 7, mentions on 7, Google reviews, and publishing to 10. Both offer a hosted MCP server and Google Business Profile review replies. The split is DMs and webhooks: theirs are Instagram only and pull only.
How much does the Upload-Post API cost?
Free for 2 profiles and 10 uploads a month without TikTok, then Basic $24/mo for 5 profiles, Professional $50/mo for 25, Advanced $147/mo for 75 and Business $438/mo for 225, with annual billing from $16/mo. Extra profiles are add-ons, such as +5 on Basic for $120/yr. SocialAPI.ai is $29, $109 and $349 a month for 10, 50 and 200 brands, so Upload-Post is cheaper at most sizes and we are cheaper at 6 to 10 and 126 to 200.
Does Upload-Post support DMs and inbox webhooks?
DMs, on Instagram only: in their OpenAPI spec the DM send and conversation endpoints require platform to be instagram, inside Meta’s 24-hour window. Their webhook events are upload_completed and three social_account events, so comments, DMs, mentions and reviews must be polled. SocialAPI.ai pushes those events from Instagram, Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp, Telegram, Zalo and Google, and post and account events from all 13 platforms.
Does SocialAPI.ai work in n8n like the Upload-Post node?
Yes, through n8n’s built-in HTTP Request node with one header credential, so there is no community node to install. Upload-Post has a dedicated node that n8n lists as verified, which is easier to drop in for a publish step. For inbox workflows, point a SocialAPI.ai webhook at an n8n Webhook node and the workflow runs when a comment, DM, mention or review arrives from the 7 platforms that push them.
What happens to TikTok posts when Upload-Post hits TikTok’s cap?
Their docs say their TikTok app reached TikTok’s daily active-user cap. Since June 2026 a direct post that hits it is retried as an inbox draft, the API still returns success: true, and a video draft arrives without its caption for someone to publish by hand. SocialAPI.ai sends drafts only when you ask with post_mode: inbox, and returns a quota refusal as an error instead of converting the post.
Keep comparing:
Each one argued the same way: what it does, what it costs at scale, where it wins.
Per-account billing across 16 connectors, so the invoice grows with every page you connect
Publishing-first API with expensive per-profile pricing at scale
Per-post publishing API with conversations and a 28-tool MCP, but no review or mention endpoints
Scheduling dashboard with a publishing-only API and MCP server, no inbox API
- All alternatives
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