Use a follow gate when the comment should earn a follower before they get the URL. They tap I'm following. CommentLink then checks follow status through Meta's API.
Free to use · No credit card · Instagram Business or Creator account
An Instagram follow gate is a pause in comment-to-DM. The comment still starts the conversation. The product link waits until you have a follow. CommentLink implements that pause with a DM card and a button — not by scraping your follower list.
Someone comments on the post or Reel you attached the automation to — usually a keyword such as “link”.
CommentLink sends the follow-gate card instead of the final link. Default copy asks them to follow to unlock the content.
The DM includes Visit Profile (when CommentLink can build your Instagram URL) and a button that defaults to I'm following ✓. You can change the button text.
The tap is required. CommentLink does not watch the follow in the background and then fire the link on its own.
On that tap, CommentLink reads Meta's Instagram Graph API field is_user_follow_business. If they follow, the gate unlocks. If they do not, the same card is sent again.
The message you actually wanted to send — URL, product card, file, or flow — goes out only after the check passes.
Two honest details matter if you have used other tools. First: the person has to tap I'm following (or whatever label you set). CommentLink does not push the link the millisecond they hit Follow in the Instagram app. Second: that tap is not taken on trust. CommentLink calls Meta's official API and reads is_user_follow_business on their Instagram-scoped ID.
If the API says they are not following, they get the gate card again — the link stays locked. If the API cannot answer (timeout, field withheld), CommentLink falls back to a cached follower flag so a real follower is not blocked by a blip. The cache is not used to skip the live check when Meta does answer, because Instagram does not reliably send unfollow events.
You can still send a public auto reply on the comment while the DM waits on the follow — see Instagram auto reply.
A follow gate is a trade: fewer completed link sends, more followers who opted in. Turn it off on the automations where the click is the product.
You can edit the gate message and the button label in the automation. Defaults are along the lines of “Follow us first to unlock the content” and “I'm following ✓”. If CommentLink knows the connected account's handle, the card also includes Visit Profile so they are not hunting for the follow button. After unlock, the original payload goes out — the same text, link, or template you would have sent with the gate off.
Inside the logged-in app, Follow-Gated DM tracks gates shown versus unlocks. Those numbers start when someone is shown the gate as a non-follower and later passes the check. They are an operations view, not a public vanity metric on this site.
Same comment-to-DM setup, with the link held until they follow. Included on CommentLink — no upgrade.
