# Which trigger should I use?

> Use a comment trigger to answer a keyword on a post or reel, and the live, story reply, story mention or DM trigger for those places. All five triggers are on every plan, including Free.

- Topic: Automations
- Plans: Free: included · Pro: included · Scale: included
- In the app: Open Automations — https://app.replavia.com/automations
- Last checked: 2026-10-29
- Web page: https://replavia.com/help/choose-a-trigger

## What a trigger is

The trigger is what a person does to start your automation. You choose it in step 2 of the builder, **Select a trigger**. Each automation has one trigger. To answer in more than one place, make one automation for each.

## The five triggers

| Trigger | When it runs | Keywords? | What it sends |
|---|---|---|---|
| **User comments on your post or reel** | Someone comments a keyword | Yes | A DM, plus a public reply if you write one |
| **User comments on your LIVE** | Someone comments a keyword on any live you do | Yes | A DM, plus a public reply if you write one |
| **User replies to your story** | Someone replies to any story you post, with a keyword | Yes | A DM |
| **User mentions you in their story** | Someone mentions your account in their story | No | A DM |
| **User DMs you** | Someone sends you a DM with a keyword | Yes | A DM |

### Comment on a post or reel

This is the most common one. In **Which posts?** you choose every post and reel, or only the posts you pick. It answers comments only on those posts.

### Comment on your live

It works like the comment trigger, but on your live videos. There is no post to pick.

### Reply to your story

Someone replies to your story with your keyword, and they get a DM. There is no story to pick.

### Mention in a story

There is no text to match, so this trigger answers every mention. It is a good way to thank people who talk about you. The mention lets you message them, so the DM goes out straight away, with no button to tap.

### DM

It answers people who message you directly with your keyword.

## Live, story and mention automations keep running

Lives and stories disappear, so there is nothing to pick. These automations are not tied to one live or one story. They run on every live, story or mention from now on, until you pause them.

If you only want one for a single live or story, use **End this campaign** and pick that day. It then stops on its own. Ending a campaign on a date is on Pro and Scale. On Free, pause the automation by hand when you are done.

## Good to know

- All five triggers are on every plan, including Free. The Free plan limits how many automations you can have, not which trigger you use. See [The Free plan](https://replavia.com/help/free-plan).
- Topic matching, **Or answer by what they mean**, is only for the DM and story reply triggers. It is not offered for comments. See [Keywords and matching](https://replavia.com/help/keywords-and-matching).
- Each person gets one reply per post for a comment trigger, and once a day for a live. For a story reply, it is once per story. For a DM, it is once a day.