AI chatbot cost calculator. Flat plan or pay per answer?
Enter how many chats your site gets. See what an AI chatbot costs on a flat monthly plan and on seats plus per-resolution pricing, and where one overtakes the other.
What it costs a month
Flat plan (ChatBento Hobby)
$8
1,800 AI replies, $0.01 per chat
Seats + per resolution
$316
300 resolutions, $0.53 per chat
How the two scale
| Chats a month | Flat plan | Per resolution |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | $8 Hobby | $68.50 |
| 500 | $8 Hobby | $267 |
| 1,000 | $30 Standard | $514 |
| 2,500 | $30 Standard | $1,257 |
| 5,000 | $100 Pro | $2,494 |
| 10,000 | $100 Pro | $4,969 |
Flat plan: ChatBento's monthly prices, Free included. Per-resolution defaults: Intercom's published prices, checked October 23, 2026 (source). Change them to compare any tool.
How to use the cost calculator
- Enter your chats a month. If you don't have a chat widget yet, start with a guess and come back after a month with real numbers.
- Set AI replies per chat. Flat plans count each AI reply. Two or three is typical for support questions.
- Set the per-resolution side: the share of chats the AI resolves, the price per resolution and any seats you need. The defaults are Intercom's published prices; change them to compare any tool.
- Read the scale table to see how both bills grow as your traffic does.
Three ways AI chatbots are billed
- Flat monthly plans include a number of AI messages. The cost is predictable and only changes when you move up a tier.
- Per seat plus per resolution is common in help desks: you pay for each person with a login, then a fee for every chat the AI resolves.
- Credits are used up at different rates depending on the AI model or feature, which makes the bill harder to predict.
For worked examples at three business sizes, read per-resolution, credits or flat fee and how much an AI chatbot costs in 2026. To see whether a chatbot pays for itself in saved support time, use the chatbot ROI calculator.
What the price doesn't show
A cheaper bill isn't the whole story. Help desks with per-seat pricing include a shared inbox, ticketing and live chat for your team, which an AI chatbot alone doesn't. If you need those, compare the full product, not just the AI. Our comparisons with Intercom, Tidio, Zendesk and others list what each one does better.
Questions. Answered.
How much does an AI chatbot for a website cost?
It depends on how the tool bills. Flat plans charge a set monthly price for a number of AI messages: ChatBento has a Free plan with 50 messages, then Hobby $8 (2,000 messages), Standard $30 (10,000 messages), Pro $100 (40,000 messages). Help desks often charge per seat plus a fee for each chat the AI resolves, such as Intercom's $0.99 per outcome (checked October 23, 2026). The calculator shows both at your volume.
What is per-resolution pricing?
You pay each time the AI resolves a conversation, usually when the customer confirms it's solved or doesn't ask for more help. It ties cost to results, but the bill grows with every resolved chat, so it gets expensive at high volume.
When is per-resolution pricing cheaper than a flat plan?
At low volume, or when the AI resolves only a small share of chats, especially if you already pay for the help desk seats. As chats grow, a flat plan's cost stays put until you move up a tier, while per-resolution keeps rising. Move the sliders to find the crossover for your numbers.
What counts as a message on a flat plan?
In ChatBento, one message is one AI reply to a visitor, whether or not the chat is resolved. A chat with a question, an answer and a follow-up is usually two or three replies, which is why the calculator asks for replies per chat.
Are the competitor prices up to date?
The defaults are Intercom's published prices, checked October 23, 2026, with a link to the source. Prices change, so check the vendor's page and type in the current numbers. Every field is editable.
More free tools
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- Chatbot greeting generatorGet greeting messages and suggested questions for your chat widget, by industry, page and tone.Open
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