AI chatbot pricing in 2026. What chatbots cost.
A buyer's guide to how AI chatbots are priced, what 15 tools charge to start, and the fees that don't show up on the headline price. Every competitor price links to the page it came from.
ChatBento makes one of the tools in this guide, so it's in the table too, marked as ours. We list only prices we could read on each company's own pricing page; where we couldn't confirm one, we say so.
The five ways chatbots are priced
Most tools mix two of these, such as seats plus a per-resolution AI fee.
Flat monthly plan with a message cap
One price a month for a set number of AI replies, chatbots and training pages. Easy to budget, and the cost doesn't move when the AI answers more. Watch what happens at the cap and how each tool counts a message.
Examples: SiteGPT, ChatBento. SiteGPT Starter is $39 (per mo billed yearly ($59 monthly). 1 chatbot, 4,000 GPT-4.1-mini messages).
Per seat, per agent or per user
Help desks and live chat suites charge for each person on your team who logs in. It fits teams answering chats themselves; the AI agent is often billed on top.
Examples: Zendesk Suite Team $55 per agent / mo, billed yearly ($69 monthly). Adds messaging and live chat. LiveChat Essential $19 per user / mo billed yearly ($25 monthly). 10 AI resolutions a month.
Per resolution or per outcome
You pay each time the AI closes a conversation without a person. It ties cost to results, but the bill rises as the AI does more of the work, and each vendor defines a resolution its own way.
Examples: Intercom Fin $0.99 per outcome, on any plan. HubSpot Customer Agent $0.50 per resolution; needs Professional or Enterprise.
Credits or conversations
Plans include a pool of credits or conversations instead of messages. Bigger AI models or actions can use several credits per reply, so the same plan stretches further or less far depending on settings.
Examples: Chatling, DocsBot, CustomGPT, Wonderchat, Botpress, Tidio.
Free tiers
9 of the 15 other tools below have a free plan. They usually cap AI replies low, keep the vendor's branding, or give live chat for free and charge for the AI.
Examples: ChatBento's Free plan has 50 AI messages a month and 50 training pages.
Starting prices, side by side
The lowest paid plan each company lists, with its billing basis. Prices change; follow the source link before you buy. For cost per 1,000 AI replies, free-plan allowances and what happens at the limit, see the AI Chatbot Pricing Index.
| Product | How it's billed | Free plan | Starting price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatBentoOur product | Flat monthly price, no seats | Yes, 50 AI messages/mo | $8per month, Hobby (2,000 AI messages) | chatbento.com/pricing |
| Chatbase | Tiered monthly plans | No (7-day trial only) | $40per month, Hobby ($32 billed yearly) | chatbase.co/pricingChecked October 30, 2026 |
| SiteGPT | Flat plan with a message quota | No (7-day trial, card required) | $39per month billed yearly ($59 monthly), Starter | sitegpt.ai/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Chatling | AI credits, priced by model | Yes, 200 AI credits/mo | $25per month ($21 billed yearly), Starter | chatling.ai/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Wonderchat | Credits and resolutions | Yes, 50 AI replies/mo | $32.50per month billed yearly ($39 monthly), Starter (500 AI replies) | wonderchat.io/pricingChecked October 30, 2026 |
| DocsBot | AI credits, more for larger models | Yes, personal use, 100 AI credits/mo | $49per month, Personal (two months free yearly) | docsbot.ai/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| CustomGPT | Query credits | No (7-day trial, card required) | $89per month billed yearly ($99 monthly), Standard | customgpt.ai/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Botpress | Conversations plus AI usage | Yes, 100 conversations | $150per month billed yearly, Plus | botpress.com/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Tidio | Plan by conversations, Lyro AI billed separately | Yes, 50 conversations | $24.17per mo billed yearly, Starter (100 conversations) | tidio.com/pricingChecked October 30, 2026 |
| Intercom | Per seat, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome | No (14-day trial) | $19per seat / mo billed yearly, new-customer price; plus $0.99 per Fin outcome | intercom.com/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Crisp | Per workspace with seats and AI credits | Yes, 2 seats, no AI | $45per month per workspace, 4 seats (Mini) | crisp.chat/en/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Tawk.to | Free chat, paid add-ons | Yes, live chat; AI has a limited free tier | Freelive chat; AI Assist add-on from $29/mo | tawk.to/pricingtawk.to/products/live-chattawk.to/add-onsChecked October 23, 2026 |
| LiveChat | Per user, AI resolutions included then $49.50 per 50 | No (14-day trial) | $19per user / mo billed yearly ($25 monthly), Essential | livechat.com/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Zendesk | Per agent seat, plus per automated resolution | No (14-day trial) | $19per agent / mo, billed yearly. Live chat from $55 | zendesk.com/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| Freshchat | Per agent, plus $49 per 100 AI sessions | Yes, up to 10 agents | $0free for up to 10 agents; paid from $19/agent/mo billed yearly | freshworks.com/live-chat-software/pricingChecked October 23, 2026 |
| HubSpot | Per seat, plus $0.50 per AI resolution | Yes, up to 2 users | Freeup to 2 users. Paid seats: see their pricing page | hubspot.com/pricing/servicehubspot.com/products/artificial-intelligence/ai-customer-service-agentChecked October 30, 2026 |
ChatBento is listed first because it's ours. AI chatbot builders follow, then live chat and help desk suites. Product names are trademarks of their owners; ChatBento is not affiliated with them. For a feature-by-feature look at each one, see ChatBento alternatives compared.
How to estimate your cost
- 1
Count your monthly conversations: chats, contact-form messages and support emails asking things your website already answers.
- 2
Multiply by the AI replies per conversation. Two is a fair start: a question, an answer, and one follow-up.
- 3
Check how each tool counts usage: per reply, per question-and-answer pair, per credit or per resolution.
- 4
Add the extras: seats for your team, AI add-ons, and branding removal if you need it.
Skip the arithmetic with the free chatbot cost calculator, which prices a flat plan against seats plus per-resolution fees at your volume. To weigh the cost against the support hours saved, use the chatbot ROI calculator.
A worked example
500 conversations a month, 2 AI replies each, and the AI fully resolves 50% of them.
- AI replies a month
- 1,000
- Flat plan: ChatBento Hobby2,000 AI messages / month
- $8/mo
- Per outcome: Intercom, 1 seat + 250 Fin outcomes$19 per seat / mo billed yearly, new-customer price (list $29), plus $0.99 per outcome
- $266.50/mo
An illustration, not a quote. Intercom also includes a full help desk, which a flat chatbot plan doesn't, and counts an outcome by its own definition. Intercom prices checked October 23, 2026, from intercom.com/pricing.
Costs that aren't in the headline price
Quoted from each vendor's pricing page, with the source.
Fees for each chat the AI resolves
Help desks often sell the AI agent by outcome or resolution, on top of the seats. The bill grows with every chat the AI handles.
- Intercom. Intercom counts a Fin outcome when a customer confirms their issue is resolved or doesn't ask for more help after Fin responds. Fin can also run on another help desk at $0.99 per outcome with a minimum monthly commitment. Source
- Zendesk. Zendesk AI agents are billed by automated resolution. Plans include 5 per agent a month (10 on Suite Professional); more cost US$2.00 each pay-as-you-go, or a lower committed rate (shown only in pounds on its US page, checked October 30, 2026). Source
- LiveChat. LiveChat's AI Agent is metered by resolution: one resolution is a chat where the AI directly solved the customer's question. Extra resolutions come in packs of 50 for $49.50. Source
- HubSpot. HubSpot counts a Customer Agent resolution when the AI helped and the conversation wasn't handed to a human for 72 hours. Source
AI that's extra, or capped low
Some live chat tools price the AI agent as its own plan or by sessions, or include only a small AI allowance in the plan.
- Tidio. Lyro AI conversations are billed separately from the human conversations above. Every account gets 50 Lyro conversations once; to refresh them monthly you need the Lyro AI Agent plan, which starts at $32.50 a month billed yearly for 50 conversations. Source
- Freshchat. Freddy AI Agent costs $49 per 100 sessions on top of the plan, with the first 500 sessions included once per account. A session covers a visitor's chats within 24 hours. Source
- Freshchat. Freddy AI Copilot, the assistant for your agents, is $29 per agent a month billed yearly on Pro and Enterprise. Source
- Crisp. Crisp sizes the included AI credits at around 90, 450 and 1,350 automated conversations a month on Mini, Essentials and Plus. The Free plan has no AI credits. Source
Credits that cost more on bigger models
Credit-based plans count one reply as more than one credit on larger models or actions, and some bots stop answering at the limit.
- Chatling. Chatling charges AI credits per response, and the number depends on the model: from half a credit to 25 credits per reply on the examples its pricing page lists. Source
- SiteGPT. SiteGPT counts a visitor's question and the AI's reply together as one message, and a GPT-4.1 message uses 10 times the quota of a GPT-4.1-mini message. Source
- DocsBot. DocsBot's AI credits start at 1 per message and go up for larger models and AI actions. At the limit, the bot stops responding and shows visitors an error message. Source
- CustomGPT. CustomGPT counts query credits: a regular chat message uses one, and agentic actions such as lead capture use more. When you reach the limit, agents stop responding to new queries. Source
- Botpress. Botpress bills two things: conversations, with packs of 100 added automatically near the limit ($65 on Plus, $50 on Team), and AI usage, the LLM cost, topped up in $10 grants sold at cost. Source
Onboarding and branding fees
Smaller line items that still add up over a year.
- HubSpot. We couldn't confirm the per-seat prices HubSpot shows for Starter, Professional and Enterprise in every region, so check its pricing page. Professional and Enterprise also carry a required one-time onboarding fee ($1,500 and $3,500). Source
- SiteGPT. Removing SiteGPT branding and adding WhatsApp are paid add-ons, each from $39 a month billed yearly. Source
- Chatling. Removing “Powered by Chatling” is included on Scale, or a $35/month add-on. Source
What ChatBento costs
A flat monthly price with no seats and no per-resolution fees. Yearly billing gives two months free.
Free
$0/mo
- 50 AI messages / month
- Train on up to 50 pages
- Powered by ChatBento link
Hobby
$8/mo
- 2,000 AI messages / month
- 1 chatbot
- Train on up to 200 pages
Standard
$30/mo
- 10,000 AI messages / month
- 3 chatbots
- Train on up to 2,000 pages
Pro
$100/mo
- 40,000 AI messages / month
- 10 chatbots
- Train on up to 10,000 pages
Questions. Answered.
How much does an AI chatbot cost per month?
The AI chatbot builders in the table start between $25 and $150 a month at their lowest paid tier, some billed yearly. 9 of the 15 other tools have a free plan. Help desks charge per seat and often add a per-resolution fee for the AI. ChatBento is free for 50 messages a month, then $8, $30, $100 a month.
What is per-resolution chatbot pricing?
You pay a fee each time the AI resolves a conversation without a person, usually on top of seats. Intercom charges $0.99 per Fin outcome (checked October 23, 2026). HubSpot charges $0.50 per Customer Agent resolution and needs Professional or Enterprise. It ties cost to results, but the bill rises as the AI handles more chats.
Is flat pricing or per-resolution pricing cheaper?
At low volume the difference is small. As the AI answers more chats, per-resolution pricing grows with every answer while a flat plan stays the same until you hit its cap. Estimate your monthly conversations, then price both; the cost calculator does the math.
What counts as a message in chatbot pricing?
It depends on the vendor. ChatBento counts one AI reply as one message. SiteGPT counts a question and its reply together as one message, and credit-based tools can charge several credits for one reply on larger models. Compare like with like before you compare prices.
Is a free AI chatbot good enough?
For a small site with a few chats a week, often yes. Free plans usually cap AI replies low and show the vendor's branding. ChatBento's free plan includes 50 AI messages a month, lead capture and human handoff, with a small "Powered by ChatBento" link.
Why are some prices billed yearly?
Many vendors show the yearly-billing price per month on their pricing page, which is lower than paying month to month. The table notes which prices assume yearly billing. ChatBento's yearly billing gives two months free.
Flat pricing. No per-resolution fees. Free to start, then $8 a month.
Free plan forever. No card required.