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AI Chatbot Pricing in 2026: What 6 Tools Really Cost

Chatbot pricing compared: per seat, per resolution, per message and per conversation models, with monthly costs at 500, 2,000 and 5,000 chats for 6 tools.

TL;DR

  • AI chatbot pricing comes in four shapes: per seat, per resolution (outcome), per message or credit, and flat by conversations. The same traffic can cost 25 to 65 times more depending on the shape.
  • At 500 conversations a month, the six tools we modeled range from $15 to about $380 a month.
  • At 5,000 conversations a month, the range is $39 to about $2,500, and one vendor moves you to a custom quote.
  • Per-resolution pricing is the most expensive at volume but the easiest to tie to value. Message-based pricing is cheap until your bot gets chatty or you switch to a stronger model.
  • Building your own chatbot is cheap to run and expensive to build and maintain. For most small teams, buying wins unless the bot is core to the product.

Every competitor number below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked on September 28, 2026. The method is spelled out so you can redo the math with your own numbers.

How much does a chatbot cost? It depends on what you’re billed for

The question “how much does a chatbot cost” has no single answer because vendors don’t agree on what they’re selling. Some sell access for people, some sell results, some sell raw usage. Before comparing numbers, it helps to know which meter each tool runs on.

Per seat

You pay for each person who logs in to answer customers. The AI part is often billed separately on top. Intercom is the best-known example: its helpdesk is priced per seat, and Fin, its AI agent, is billed per outcome on top of that.

Good for: teams where humans do most of the work and the AI is an assistant. Watch out for: seat costs that grow with headcount, not with customers.

Per resolution or outcome

You pay when the AI finishes a job, usually when a customer’s question is resolved without a human. Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per outcome.

Good for: larger support teams that can compare the fee with the cost of a human reply. Watch out for: the bill rising as the bot gets better, and extra outcome types (handoffs, qualifications) that also count.

Per message or credit

You buy a monthly bucket of messages or credits. Each AI reply uses some of it, and stronger models use more. Chatbase and SiteGPT work this way. Crisp is a variant: its plans include AI credits expressed in dollars.

Good for: low, steady traffic. Watch out for: long conversations, tool calls that cost extra credits, and model choice changing your effective price.

Flat by conversations

You pay a fixed monthly price for a number of conversations, no matter how many messages each one has or whether it ends in a resolution. Feedbot works this way. Tidio’s Lyro AI agent is close to it: you buy a monthly tier of AI conversations.

Good for: predictable budgets. Watch out for: what happens when you hit the limit.

The method

To compare tools fairly, we fixed a few assumptions. Change them and the totals change, so here they are in full:

  1. Volume: 500, 2,000 and 5,000 AI-handled conversations per month.
  2. Messages: an average of 4 AI replies per conversation. For credit-based tools we assume 1 credit per AI reply on the default model. Larger models cost more credits per reply on both Chatbase and SiteGPT.
  3. Resolutions: for Intercom Fin, we assume 50% of conversations end in a billable outcome. Your real rate may be higher or lower.
  4. Seats: one person on the team. Where a tool needs a paid seat, we include one.
  5. Billing: monthly billing, US dollars, before tax. Annual plans are cheaper for most vendors.
  6. Plan choice: the cheapest plan, or plan plus add-on packs, that covers the volume.
  7. Excluded: branding removal, extra bots or agents, SMS/WhatsApp usage, and optional add-ons.

Chatbot pricing at 500, 2,000 and 5,000 conversations

Tool Pricing model 500 / mo 2,000 / mo 5,000 / mo
Intercom Fin (1 Essential seat) Seat + $0.99 per outcome ~$287 ~$1,029 ~$2,514
Tidio (Starter + Lyro) Plan + AI conversation tiers $379 Custom quote Custom quote
Chatbase Plans with message credits ~$120 ~$310 ~$700
SiteGPT Plans with message limits $59 ~$118 ~$247
Crisp (Mini + AI credits) Per workspace + AI credits ~$65–90 ~$140–240 ~$290–540
Feedbot Flat by conversations $15 $15 $39

The sections below show how each number was built, so you can check it or plug in your own volume.

Intercom Fin

Intercom lists the Essential seat at $39 a month billed monthly ($29 billed annually) and Fin at $0.99 per outcome. At our 50% outcome rate:

  • 500 conversations → 250 outcomes → $247.50 + $39 = ~$287
  • 2,000 → 1,000 outcomes → $990 + $39 = ~$1,029
  • 5,000 → 2,500 outcomes → $2,475 + $39 = ~$2,514

Fin can also run on another helpdesk without Intercom seats, with a minimum of 50 outcomes a month. Lead qualifications are billed at $9.99 each. We go deeper in Intercom pricing explained.

Tidio pricing (Lyro)

Tidio sells the helpdesk and the Lyro AI agent separately. On monthly billing, Starter is $29 and includes 100 billable conversations. A billable conversation is one that includes a reply from a human agent. Lyro is billed by AI conversations: any conversation with at least one Lyro reply counts once, however many messages it has.

Lyro’s monthly tiers on Tidio’s pricing page go from 50 conversations for $39 up to 1,000 conversations for $700. The 500-conversation tier is $350.

  • 500 → $29 + $350 = $379
  • 2,000 and 5,000 → above the 1,000-conversation self-serve limit. Tidio asks you to contact sales. Its Plus plan starts at $300 a month plus usage, with “discounted usage rates” that aren’t published.

Annual billing gives two months free.

Chatbase

Chatbase’s monthly plans: Hobby $40 (700 message credits), Standard $150 (4,000 credits), Pro $500 (15,000 credits). Extra credits cost $40 per 1,000 through auto-recharge. Chatbase says each AI request costs credits based on the model, and actions can trigger more than one request per reply.

  • 500 conversations = 2,000 credits → Hobby $40 + 2 × $40 packs = ~$120
  • 2,000 = 8,000 credits → Standard $150 + 4 packs = ~$310
  • 5,000 = 20,000 credits → Pro $500 + 5 packs = ~$700

Removing the “Powered by Chatbase” badge is $99 a month extra. Yearly plans are 20% off. Our Feedbot vs Chatbase comparison covers the feature side.

SiteGPT

SiteGPT’s monthly prices: Starter $59 (up to 4,000 messages), Growth $129 (up to 10,000), Scale $429 (up to 40,000). Extra packs of 5,000 messages are $59 a month on monthly billing. Those limits assume GPT-4.1-mini; SiteGPT notes that GPT-4.1 messages cost 10 times as much, so the same plan gives a tenth of the messages.

  • 500 = 2,000 messages → Starter $59
  • 2,000 = 8,000 messages → Starter + one 5k pack = ~$118
  • 5,000 = 20,000 messages → Growth + two 5k packs = ~$247

Yearly billing is significantly cheaper (Starter is $39 a month billed yearly).

Crisp

Crisp prices per workspace, not per seat. Mini is $45 a month with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits, which Crisp estimates at around 90 automated conversations. Essentials is $95 ($25 of credits) and Plus is $295 ($75 of credits). Crisp’s help center estimates a full AI-handled conversation at $0.05–$0.10, and you can turn on pay-as-you-go once included credits run out. We used that range:

  • 500 → $45 + ($25 to $50 − $5 included) = ~$65–90
  • 2,000 → $45 + ($100 to $200 − $5) = ~$140–240
  • 5,000 → $45 + ($250 to $500 − $5) = ~$290–540

If pay-as-you-go is off, Crisp’s AI agent stops answering when credits run out and conversations go to human operators.

Feedbot

Feedbot’s plans: Free (50 conversations), Starter $5 (300), Pro $15 (2,000), Business $39 (6,000). A conversation counts when a visitor sends at least one message; the number of replies inside it doesn’t matter. There are no seats and no per-resolution fees. Yearly billing gives two months free.

  • 500 → Pro $15 (Starter’s 300 isn’t enough)
  • 2,000 → Pro $15
  • 5,000 → Business $39

Two limits to be honest about. Extra conversation packs aren’t available yet, so when you hit your plan limit, the AI stops answering new conversations until the month resets or you upgrade. If Telegram is connected, those conversations are handed to you; otherwise visitors are asked to leave a contact. And plans below Business use a fast model; Business lets you switch a bot to a stronger one. Feedbot is also not a helpdesk: there’s no ticketing or SLA management. Full details are on the pricing page.

What the table doesn’t show

Price per conversation is only part of the picture. A few things to weigh alongside it:

  • What you get besides the bot. Intercom, Crisp and Tidio include a shared inbox for human agents. Chatbase, SiteGPT and Feedbot are AI-first. If your team spends its day in a support inbox, a helpdesk bundle may be worth the premium.
  • Behavior at the limit. Some tools stop the AI, some charge overage automatically, some move you to sales. Know which one you’re signing up for before a traffic spike.
  • Model quality. Credit-based tools let you pick larger models at a higher credit cost. Flat plans usually pick the model for you.
  • Conversation length. Our 4-reply assumption is modest. Technical products often see longer threads, which only affects message- and credit-based pricing.
  • Annual discounts. Chatbase, Tidio, Intercom and SiteGPT all advertise roughly 15–40% off for yearly billing, and Feedbot gives two months free. Compare like for like.

Build vs buy: what a custom AI chatbot costs

Building your own chatbot on a model API is tempting, especially for developers. The running cost can be low. The build and upkeep are where the money goes.

A basic support bot needs:

  • a model API for answers, billed per token;
  • ingestion and search over your docs (embeddings plus a vector store or a search index);
  • a chat widget for your site, with streaming, mobile layout and accessibility;
  • conversation storage, a way to read transcripts, and a handoff path to a human;
  • guardrails so it doesn’t invent answers, plus evaluation when you change prompts or models;
  • ongoing work: re-indexing when docs change, model upgrades, abuse and spam handling.

A simple way to estimate:

Build cost = engineering hours × hourly cost Monthly cost = model tokens + hosting + maintenance hours × hourly cost

As an illustration, if a first usable version takes 80 hours and an engineer costs $75 an hour, that’s $6,000 before the bot answers a single customer. Add even 4 hours a month of upkeep and you’re at $300 a month in time alone. That’s more than most plans in the table at 2,000 conversations.

Building makes sense when the chatbot is part of your product, when you have strict data residency or compliance needs no vendor meets, or when your volume is so high that per-unit fees dominate. For a small SaaS that wants answers on its pricing page and docs, buying is usually faster and cheaper.

How to pick a pricing model

  • You have a support team and need a helpdesk: look at per-seat tools with an AI add-on, and model the AI fee at your real resolution rate.
  • You want to pay only for results and have the margin: per-resolution pricing ties cost to value. Set spending limits.
  • Your traffic is low and steady: message or credit plans work fine. Check what a stronger model does to your allowance.
  • You want a fixed number every month: flat conversation-based plans are the most predictable. Check the limit behavior.

FAQ

How much does an AI chatbot cost for a small business?

At around 500 conversations a month, our model puts the tools we checked between $15 and about $380 a month. The spread comes from the pricing model more than from features. Per-resolution tools cost the most; flat conversation-based plans cost the least.

What is the cheapest way to add an AI chatbot to a website?

Start with a free plan to test it on real traffic. Several tools have one, including Chatbase, Tidio and Feedbot, each with small limits. Crisp also has a free plan, but it includes no AI credits. For paid use, compare the cost at your expected volume, not the entry price.

Why is Intercom Fin so much more expensive than other chatbots?

Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, so cost scales with every resolved conversation, and Intercom seats come on top. You’re also buying a full helpdesk. For teams without a support department, most of that isn’t needed.

What counts as a conversation versus a message?

It depends on the vendor. On Tidio, a Lyro conversation is any conversation with at least one AI reply. On Chatbase and SiteGPT, you’re billed per AI message, weighted by model. On Feedbot, a conversation counts once the visitor sends at least one message, however long it runs.

Is it cheaper to build my own chatbot?

The API bill can be small, but engineering time usually isn’t. Unless the bot is central to your product or you have compliance needs no vendor meets, buying is cheaper for a small team.

Prices checked on September 28, 2026. Figures use monthly billing unless noted and exclude tax. Vendors change pricing often, so confirm on their sites before you buy.

Sources

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