The cheapest AI chatbot for your website. 16 tools, ranked by what you'd pay.
A low headline price can still mean a big bill: a small AI allowance, a price per seat, or a fee for every conversation the AI settles. So this page ranks 16 AI chatbots and help desks by the cost of a real month, using only the prices each vendor publishes.
We make ChatBento, one of the tools ranked here. Every other price links to the vendor's own pricing page, checked October 30, 2026, so you can check our arithmetic.
- Lowest price with AI included
- $14/mo
- ChatBento Hobby, 2,000 AI messages
- Lowest price per 1,000 AI replies
- $7.00
- ChatBento; next is DocsBot at $9.80
- A 300-conversation month
- $14
- ChatBento; next is Chatling at $25
Ranked by the cost of a 300-conversation month
The cheapest plan from each tool that answers website chats with AI, and what it costs when 300 visitors ask about 3 questions each. Tools whose published numbers can't cover that month are listed last, with the reason.
| # | Tool | Cheapest plan with AI | Per 1,000 AI replies | 300 conversations | How we got there |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatBentoOur product | Hobby$14/mo | $7.00 | $14 | 900 replies fit in the 2,000 AI messages included. Source |
| 2 | Chatling | Starter$25/mo | $14.29 | $25 | 900 replies fit in the 1,750 credits included. Source |
| 3 | DocsBot | Personal$49/mo | $9.80 | $49 | 900 replies fit in the 5,000 credits included. Source |
| 4 | SiteGPT | Starter$59/mo | $14.75 | $59 | 900 replies fit in the 4,000 AI messages included. Source |
| 5 | CustomGPT.ai | Standard$99/mo | $99.00 | $99 | 900 replies fit in the 1,000 queries included. Source |
| 6 | Tidio | Lyro AI Agent$32.50/mobilled yearly | n/a | from $157.50 | 50 conversations included, plus 250 more at $0.50 each or more. Source |
| 7 | Freshchat | Growth$19/mo per seatbilled yearly | n/a | $166 | 1 seat at $19, plus 300 × $0.49 per session, if the AI settles every conversation. Source |
| 8 | Botpress | Plus$150/mobilled yearly | n/a | from $182.50 | 250 conversations included, plus 50 more at $0.65 each or more. Source |
| 9 | HubSpot | Service Hub Professional$100/mo per seat | n/a | $250 | 1 seat at $100, plus 300 × $0.50 per resolution, if the AI settles every conversation. Source |
| 10 | LiveChat | Essential$25/mo per seat | n/a | $312.10 | 1 seat at $25, plus 290 × $0.99 per resolution, if the AI settles every conversation. Source |
| 11 | Intercom | Essential$19/mo per seatbilled yearly | n/a | $316 | 1 seat at $19, plus 300 × $0.99 per outcome, if the AI settles every conversation. Source |
| 12 | Zendesk | Suite Team$69/mo per seat | n/a | $659 | 1 seat at $69, plus 295 × $2 per resolution, if the AI settles every conversation. Source |
| – | tawk.to | AI Assist add-on$29/mo | n/a | n/a | The AI allowance at this price isn't published. Source |
| – | Wonderchat | Starter$39/mo | $78.00 | n/a | The 500 AI replies included cover about 166 conversations, so a bigger plan is needed. Source |
| – | Chatbase | Hobby$40/mo | $57.14 | n/a | The 700 credits included cover about 233 conversations, so a bigger plan is needed. Source |
| – | Crisp | Mini$45/mo | n/a | n/a | The 90 conversations included aren't enough, and the price of more isn't published. Source |
How the month is worked out
- 300 conversations a month with 3 AI replies each (900 replies). Tools that bill credits are counted at one credit per reply on their base model; larger models use more.
- Prices are month-to-month where the vendor publishes one, otherwise the yearly price per month.
- Help desks are counted with one seat, and the AI is assumed to settle every conversation, which is the most you'd pay for the AI. Fewer settled conversations cost less.
- “From” means extra conversations are sold in packs or at a starting price, so the real figure can be higher.
- Per 1,000 AI replies uses the plan price divided by the replies included; it's n/a for tools that bill per conversation or don't publish an allowance.
What makes a cheap chatbot expensive
Paying per seat
5 of the 15 tools price per seat, agent or user (Intercom, LiveChat, Zendesk, Freshchat and HubSpot), so their AI cost is added on top of a price for each person on the team.
Paying per resolution
Where AI is sold per conversation, the published prices run from $0.49 per session (Freshchat) to $2.00 per resolution (Zendesk).
What happens at the limit
3 tools say their AI stops answering when the monthly allowance runs out (Wonderchat, DocsBot and CustomGPT.ai), while 3 bill every extra AI answer automatically, with no cap (Botpress, Intercom and Zendesk).
Branding you pay to remove
9 of the 10 tools that sell an AI allowance charge extra or require a higher plan to remove their branding from the chat widget.
When the cheapest isn't the right pick
You get a few questions a week. A free plan may be enough: Chatling, Wonderchat, DocsBot, Botpress and tawk.to include some AI answers every month at no cost, with their branding on the widget. See what free chatbot plans really include.
Your team answers chats live. Help desks like the ones at the bottom of the ranking cost more, but they include a shared inbox, apps for your agents and ticketing. ChatBento hands chats to you by email instead of a live inbox.
You want to pick the AI model. Some builders let you switch to larger models at a higher credit cost per reply. ChatBento uses one fast model for every answer, which is how it keeps a flat price.
You get thousands of chats a month. Compare the bigger plans too: ChatBento Standard is $30 for 10,000 AI messages, and Pro is $100 for 40,000 AI messages, and the chatbot cost calculator works out other volumes.
Cheap chatbot questions. Answered.
What is the cheapest AI chatbot for a website?
Of the 16 tools we checked on October 30, 2026, ChatBento has the lowest price for a paid plan that includes AI answers: $14 a month. For a small site with about 300 chats a month, ChatBento costs $14 and the next cheapest is Chatling at $25. We make ChatBento, so check the sources in the table yourself.
Is there a free AI chatbot for websites?
Yes, several tools have a free plan with monthly AI answers: Chatling, Wonderchat, DocsBot, Botpress and tawk.to. Free plans cap AI replies low and show the vendor's branding, so they suit sites with a handful of questions a week. ChatBento has no free plan; it starts at $14 a month.
How much should a small business pay for an AI chatbot?
For a site with a few hundred chats a month, the flat plans with an AI allowance in our example cost $14 to $99 a month. Help desks that charge per seat and per resolution cost more at the same volume: in our 300-conversation example they range up to $659 a month.
Why does the cheapest plan sometimes cost more in practice?
5 of the 15 tools price per seat, agent or user (Intercom, LiveChat, Zendesk, Freshchat and HubSpot), so their AI cost is added on top of a price for each person on the team. 3 tools say their AI stops answering when the monthly allowance runs out (Wonderchat, DocsBot and CustomGPT.ai), while 3 bill every extra AI answer automatically, with no cap (Botpress, Intercom and Zendesk). A low headline price can also hide a small allowance: Wonderchat, Chatbase and Crisp include too few AI answers on their cheapest plan for our example month.
What does ChatBento cost?
Hobby is $14 a month for 2,000 AI messages, Standard is $30 a month for 10,000 AI messages, Pro is $100 a month for 40,000 AI messages. That works out to $7.00 per 1,000 AI replies on Hobby. There's no free plan or trial, no per-seat or per-resolution fee, and when a month's messages run out the chat shows a contact form instead of charging more.
Answer every visitor, for less. $14 a month, 2,000 AI replies.
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