AI Chatbot Pricing (2026): What 11 Platforms Really Cost

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Apr 27, 2026 06:15 PM

TL;DR, Key Takeaways

Insight	Number
AI chatbot pricing range	$14-16/mo flat (billed annually) to $0.99+ per resolved conversation, which is $990+ per 1,000 resolutions
The growth trap	Per-resolution costs double when your AI improves from 30% to 70% resolution
Flat-pricing savings at 5,000 resolutions	$2,400-8,700/mo vs. per-resolution billing (published and reported rates)
Average ROI	$3.50 earned for every $1 spent on AI support
Best flat-rate option	SiteGPT Starter at $39/mo billed annually, $59 billed monthly (up to 4,000 messages, AI included)

An AI chatbot costs anywhere from $14-16 per month on entry flat-rate plans (billed annually) to $0.99 or more per resolved conversation on outcome-priced platforms, which works out to $990 or more per 1,000 resolutions before seat fees. The pricing model you choose, flat-rate, per-resolution, per-seat, or credit-based, determines your cost at scale more than any individual vendor's starting price.

This reference normalizes what 11 platforms actually charge, shows the cost per 1,000 usage units at the tier a small business would buy, defines what a "message" actually means on each platform, and prices 1-year and 3-year ownership for three buyer profiles. It also explains the per-resolution "growth trap" that punishes AI improvement.

HubSpot, Zendesk, Ada, and Crescendo do not publish per-resolution rates on their pricing pages, so those figures come from reported sources. Two facts shape the market: HubSpot Breeze switched to per-resolution pricing on April 14, 2026, and Intercom Fin carries a $1M resolution guarantee.

Horizontal bar chart of the AI chatbot price landscape in August 2026: flat plans run from ManyChat Essential at 14 dollars and Botsonic Starter at 16 dollars per month billed annually, through Tidio at 24.17, Landbot at 36, SiteGPT Starter at 39 dollars billed annually or 59 monthly with up to 4,000 messages, SiteGPT Growth at 79, and CustomGPT at 89; metered plans run from Chatbase Hobby at 40 dollars for 700 credits to Botpress Plus at 150 dollars for 250 conversations and Tars Premium at 499 dollars; Intercom Fin charges 99 cents per resolved conversation, about 990 dollars per 1,000, and Voiceflow publishes no pricing. A note explains a HIPAA BAA is an enterprise-tier feature across the market.

AI Chatbot Pricing: The Normalized Master Table

The master table below normalizes 11 platforms onto one grid: entry and mid tiers, what usage each includes, what extra usage costs, the annual discount, and the free option. Self-serve figures come from each vendor's live pricing page.

Vendor	Pricing model	Entry paid tier	Mid tier	Included usage (entry)	Extra usage	Annual discount	Free tier or trial
SiteGPT	Flat, per message	Starter $59/mo monthly, $39/mo annually	Growth $129/mo monthly, $79/mo annually	Up to 4,000 messages/mo	+5K message pack: $59/mo monthly, $39/mo annually	Up to 40%	7-day trial
Chatbase	Message credits	Hobby $40/mo	Standard $150/mo	700 credits/mo	$40 per 1,000 credits (auto-recharge)	20%	Free: 50 credits/mo
Botsonic	Flat, per message	Starter $19/mo monthly, $16/mo annually	Professional $49/mo monthly, $41/mo annually	1,000 messages/mo	+2,000 messages $25/mo	~2 months free	7-day trial
Landbot	Per chat	Starter $45/mo monthly, $36/mo annually	Professional $110/mo monthly, $88/mo annually	500 chats + 100 AI chats/mo	$0.05 per chat, $0.10 per AI chat	20%	Free: 100 chats/mo
Botpress	Per conversation	Plus $150/mo billed annually	Team $750/mo billed annually	250 conversations/mo	$65 per 100 conversations	20%	Free: 100 conversations/mo
Tidio	Billable conversations	Starter $24.17/mo billed annually	Growth from $49.17/mo billed annually	100 billable conversations/mo	Lyro AI quotas sold in 50-1,000 blocks	2 months free	Free plan
ManyChat	Active contacts	Essential $14/mo billed annually	Pro $29/mo billed annually	250 Active Contacts/mo	$0.10 per extra contact (Essential)	18-30%	Free: 25 contacts/mo
CustomGPT	Per query	Standard $99/mo monthly, $89/mo annually	Premium $499/mo monthly, $449/mo annually	1,000 queries/mo	+2,500 queries $375/mo	10%	7-day trial
Tars	Per conversation	Premium $499/mo billed monthly	Enterprise custom	Volume sized per account	n/a	Yearly toggle offered	Freemium: 50 conversations/mo
Voiceflow	Quote-based	No published pricing	No published pricing	n/a	n/a	n/a	Free trial, no card
Intercom Fin	Per resolution + per seat	$0.99 per resolution, seats from $29/mo ($19 new-customer promo)	Advanced seats $85/mo	Pay per resolved conversation	$0.99 each, no cap	Annual seat rates shown	Free trial

Ratings context: SiteGPT holds 4.8/5 on G2 (13 reviews) and Chatbase 4.8/5 (29 reviews). For the full feature comparison of the flat-rate tools, see the best no-code chatbot builders guide.

Per-Resolution Platforms: Reported Rates

Most per-resolution vendors do not publish their rates on a pricing page, so the figures below carry their original sources. Intercom's $0.99 per resolution is the exception: it is published on intercom.com/pricing.

Vendor	Reported rate	At 1,000 resolutions/mo	At 5,000 resolutions/mo	Rate status
Intercom Fin	$0.99/resolution	$990/mo	$4,950/mo	Published (plus seats from $29/mo)
HubSpot Breeze	$0.50/resolution	$500/mo	$2,500/mo	Reported by SaaStr, April 9, 2026; not published on a pricing page
Zendesk AI	$1.50-2.00/resolution	$1,500-2,000/mo	$7,500-10,000/mo	Reported by CNBC Select, April 2026; not published
Ada AI	$1.00-3.50/resolution	$1,000-3,500/mo	$5,000-17,500/mo	Reported April 2026; not published
Crescendo	$1.25/resolution	$1,250/mo	$6,250/mo	Reported April 2026; not published

Key Insight: The cheapest AI chatbot at 100 conversations becomes the most expensive at 5,000. Pricing model matters more than starting price.

For deeper comparisons of the per-resolution platforms above, see our breakdowns of Zendesk alternatives, and Crisp alternatives.

Cost per 1,000 Units, at the Tier a Small Business Would Buy

The only way to compare metered plans is to divide the tier price by what it includes. The table below does that at the tier a small business typically buys, using the annual-billing rate where one exists.

Vendor and tier	Price used	Included usage	Cost per 1,000 units	Unit
SiteGPT Growth	$79/mo billed annually	10,000 messages	$7.90	message (question + reply)
ManyChat Pro	$29/mo billed annually	2,500 contacts	$11.60	active contact
Botsonic Professional	$41/mo billed annually	3,000 messages	$13.67	message
Landbot Professional	$88/mo billed annually	2,500 chats	$35.20	chat
Chatbase Standard	$150/mo billed monthly	4,000 credits	$37.50	message credit (model-weighted)
CustomGPT Standard	$89/mo billed annually	1,000 queries	$89.00	query
Tidio Growth	$49.17/mo billed annually	250 conversations	$196.68	billable conversation
Botpress Plus	$150/mo billed annually	250 conversations	$600.00	conversation
Intercom Fin	$0.99 per resolution	Pay as resolved	$990.00 (plus seats)	resolved conversation

The units are not interchangeable, and that is the point of the next section: a "conversation" contains many messages, a "contact" can chat all month for one fee, and a "resolution" is a finished outcome. Read a per-1,000 figure only next to its unit.

Key Insight: On a per-message basis, SiteGPT Growth works out to $7.90 per 1,000 messages on annual billing, the lowest per-unit cost in this comparison, and the unit is a small one (one question plus its reply).

What a Message Actually Is (and Why It Moves Your Bill)

Vendors count usage in units that sound similar and behave completely differently, and no pricing page puts the definitions side by side. This table does.

Vendor	Billing unit	What one unit actually means
SiteGPT	Message	One user question plus the AI reply, counted together. Model choice moves the allowance 10x: Starter includes 400 messages on GPT-4.1 or 4,000 on GPT-4.1-mini, with any split, adjustable from billing settings.
Chatbase	Message credit	Model-weighted: premium models consume multiple credits per reply, so the same 700-credit Hobby allowance shrinks fast on flagship models.
Botsonic	Message	A chatbot message; allowances are flat per tier (1,000 on Starter).
Landbot	Chat	A conversation with one contact; AI-generated chats draw from a separate, smaller AI-chat allowance (100 on Starter) at $0.10 per extra.
Botpress	Conversation	A conversation regardless of message count; AI model spend is bundled up to a monthly credit ($25 on Plus).
Tidio	Billable conversation	Conversations your team handles; Lyro AI answers are a separately purchased quota (50-1,000/mo).
ManyChat	Active Contact	One real person you exchange messages with in a billing month, however many messages that takes.
CustomGPT	Query	One question put to the agent (1,000/mo on Standard).
Intercom Fin	Resolution	A conversation the AI resolved without a human; unresolved conversations are free but land on your (per-seat) team.

No other pricing roundup names this gotcha, and it changes real bills: the same 10,000 customer messages can be billed as 10,000 messages, roughly 3,000 conversations, a few hundred active contacts, or about 2,000 resolutions, at wildly different totals. Always convert a quote into your own traffic before comparing.

Why Do AI Chatbots Have Such Different Pricing Models?

AI chatbot pricing models differ because vendors make strategic choices about how to align their revenue with customer outcomes, or with customer scale. There are four distinct models in the market, and each creates a different incentive structure for both the vendor and the buyer.

Understanding these models is essential because the model you choose determines what happens to your bill as your business grows and your AI improves. For a deeper look at how AI support works across these tools, see our guide on how automated customer service works.

The Four AI Chatbot Pricing Models

1. Flat monthly pricing. Fixed price regardless of conversation volume. The vendor absorbs scaling risk. You pay the same at 500 conversations or 5,000. SiteGPT, Botsonic, and CustomGPT use this model.

2. Per-resolution pricing. You pay only when the AI successfully resolves a conversation. Sounds aligned with outcomes, but creates a structural problem when your AI improves (explained in the next section). HubSpot, Intercom, Zendesk, Ada, and Crescendo use this model. The entire market is moving toward this model. Bret Taylor, CEO of Sierra (which reached $100M+ ARR in 21 months on outcome-based pricing), stated: "The whole market is going towards outcomes-based pricing." But what sounds aligned with outcomes can punish you when those outcomes improve. Source: SaaStr, April 9, 2026.

3. Per-seat / per-agent pricing. Price scales with the number of human team members, regardless of how much the AI handles. Designed for helpdesk tools where humans are central. You end up paying per seat for agents you're trying to replace with AI.

4. Credit-based pricing. You buy conversation credits in bulk. Complex to predict monthly costs. Some plans have credits that expire. Chatbase uses this model.

Model	Best When	Risk
Flat monthly	Volume is growing or unpredictable	You overpay at very low volumes
Per-resolution	Volume is low and stable	Bill increases as AI improves
Per-seat	Human-AI collaboration is core	You pay for humans AI should replace
Credit-based	Usage is bursty and predictable	Unused credits expire, overages costly

Key Insight: Pricing model is a strategic choice by the vendor, not just a billing preference. Per-resolution vendors want to share in your success. Flat-rate vendors want to be your predictable infrastructure.

Per-Resolution Pricing: The Growth Trap Nobody Warns You About

Per-resolution pricing creates a structural problem that gets worse as your AI gets better. When your chatbot improves and resolves a higher percentage of conversations, you pay for every additional resolution. Your reward for better AI is a higher invoice.

Here is the math:

A company with 5,000 conversations per month at a 30% resolution rate pays for 1,500 resolutions. When the AI improves to 70% resolution, which is the stated goal of every AI vendor, the company pays for 3,500 resolutions. That is more than double the original cost, with no change in the number of conversations.

Bill Shock Math: What Happens When Your AI Gets Better

Platform	30% Resolution (1,500/mo)	70% Resolution (3,500/mo)	Annual Cost Increase
Intercom Fin ($0.99/res)	$1,485/mo	$3,465/mo	+133% ($23,760/yr more)
HubSpot Breeze ($0.50/res)	$750/mo	$1,750/mo	+133% ($12,000/yr more)
Zendesk AI ($1.75/res avg)	$2,625/mo	$6,125/mo	+133% ($42,000/yr more)
SiteGPT (flat)	$39/mo	$39/mo	0% ($0 more)

Source: Supp, March 2026

The annual cost increase for per-resolution platforms is $12,000 to $42,000, triggered entirely by the AI working as intended. With flat pricing, the cost stays at $39/month (SiteGPT Starter, billed annually) at both resolution rates.

This is not theoretical. Intercom is so confident that resolution rates will climb that they guarantee a 65% resolution rate, or they pay you $1 million. The current industry average is 66-67%, up from 27% in under two years. The guarantee is real; the rising resolution rate is the trap. Source: SaaStr, April 9, 2026.

The per-resolution pricing model creates a perverse incentive: vendors are confident your AI will resolve more conversations over time, and they structure their pricing to capture revenue from that improvement. HubSpot cut their rate from $1.00 to $0.50 per resolution in a single move, a race to the bottom on unit price that still scales with your success.

For more on this pattern, see our full Intercom comparison and Zendesk alternatives breakdown.

Key Insight: The irony of per-resolution pricing: the better your AI gets at its job, the more you pay. With flat pricing, your cost stays at $39/month whether your AI resolves 500 or 4,000 conversations.

What AI Chatbot Pricing Actually Looks Like at Scale

AI chatbot costs diverge sharply as conversation volume grows. The table below shows monthly costs at five volume levels across four pricing models, with all numbers calculated from published vendor rates.

Monthly Conversations	SiteGPT (Flat)	Intercom ($0.99/res)	Zendesk ($1.75/res avg)	HubSpot ($0.50/res)
500	$39	$495	$875	$250
1,000	$39	$990	$1,750	$500
2,500	$39	$2,475	$4,375	$1,250
5,000	$79*	$4,950	$8,750	$2,500
10,000	$79*	$9,900	$17,500	$5,000

\SiteGPT Starter ($39/mo billed annually, $59 monthly) includes up to 4,000 messages. Growth ($79/mo billed annually, $129 monthly) covers up to 10,000 messages.*

Source: Listicler, April 2026

At 5,000 monthly conversations, typical for a growing e-commerce store, flat pricing saves between $2,400 and $8,700 per month compared to per-resolution billing. That is $29,000 to $104,000 per year in savings.

As the AI-Ready CMO noted in their analysis of HubSpot's pricing switch: "Predictability beats cheapness, nine times out of ten." Source: AI-Ready CMO, April 14, 2026. Flat pricing is that predictability, you know what your AI support costs every month, regardless of how many conversations your chatbot resolves.

For a detailed breakdown of how variable pricing scales, see our Tidio pricing analysis.

1-Year and 3-Year Total Cost, for Three Buyer Profiles

Sticker prices hide what ownership costs. The profiles below price 1 and 3 years from published rates, with the arithmetic shown.

Profile 1: Solo founder (about 500 messages, roughly 150 conversations a month)

Platform	Monthly basis	1 year	3 years
Botsonic Starter (annual)	$16	$192	$576
Chatbase Hobby (yearly billing)	$32	$384	$1,152
SiteGPT Starter (annual)	$39	$468	$1,404
Intercom Fin (150 res x $0.99 + 1 Essential seat $29)	$177.50	$2,130	$6,390

Profile 2: SMB with 10,000 messages a month (roughly 3,000 conversations)

Platform	Monthly basis	1 year	3 years
SiteGPT Growth (annual; 10K messages included)	$79	$948	$2,844
Botsonic Advanced (monthly; 12K messages)	$299	$3,588	$10,764
Chatbase Pro (yearly billing; 15K credits)	$400	$4,800	$14,400
Intercom Fin (3,000 convos at a 66% resolution rate = ~2,000 res x $0.99 + 2 Advanced seats $170)	~$2,150	~$25,800	~$77,400

Profile 3: Enterprise with compliance needs (HIPAA BAA required)

Every platform prices this as a custom quote, because a signed BAA is an enterprise-tier feature across the market. SiteGPT signs its BAA on the Enterprise plan only and publishes the standard agreement so legal review can run in parallel with the quote; Chatbase lists HIPAA eligibility on its Enterprise tier; Intercom offers HIPAA support on its Expert plan ($132/seat/mo billed annually) on top of $0.99 per resolution. For scale, a 10-seat Intercom Expert deployment resolving 3,500 conversations a month runs about $1,320 in seats plus $3,465 in resolutions, roughly $4,785/mo, $57,420 a year, and $172,260 over 3 years, before custom terms.

Key Insight: For the SMB profile, SiteGPT's 3-year total is $2,844 against roughly $77,400 on per-resolution billing, a 27x difference driven entirely by the pricing model, not the product capability.

6 Hidden Costs of AI Chatbots That Aren't on the Pricing Page

The six hidden costs below go beyond the monthly subscription price. Each one affects the total cost of ownership, and most are absent from vendor pricing pages.

1. The Scaling Paradox. Volume spikes from viral posts, marketing campaigns, or product outages can double your conversation count in a week. With variable pricing, your bill spikes in the same week. Your marketing team's success (more traffic = more chats) becomes your support team's budget problem. Listicler, April 2026

2. Setup and Training Costs. Many platforms charge extra for custom training data, knowledge base configuration, or dedicated onboarding. Ask about setup fees before signing, they can range from $0 to $5,000+ for enterprise platforms.

3. Human Escalation Fees. Some platforms charge separately when the AI escalates to a human agent. This creates a double charge: you pay for the AI conversation and the human response for the same customer interaction.

4. Integration Costs. Connecting your chatbot to Shopify, WordPress, CRMs, or helpdesk tools may require developer time, premium plans, or third-party middleware. These costs are real and recurring.

5. Multilingual Premiums. Need support in more than one language? Some platforms charge per language or per locale. SiteGPT includes 95+ languages on all plans with no per-language surcharge.

Also budget for the add-on layer: branding removal runs $39/mo billed annually on SiteGPT, $49/mo on Botsonic, and $99/mo on Chatbase; seats are their own meter on helpdesk-style platforms (Intercom seats run $29-132/mo each); and overage rates ($40 per 1,000 Chatbase credits, $0.65 per Botpress conversation, $0.10 per ManyChat contact) decide the real bill in a busy month. For more on hidden fees, see our Crisp alternatives analysis.

6. The Generic AI Quality Gap. Not all AI chatbots produce the same quality of answers. HubSpot users at SXSW 2026 reported AI outputs feeling "generic or inaccurate" and the tool "lacking customization," with many defaulting back to ChatGPT for real work. A chatbot trained on generic data gives generic answers, and that costs you in customer trust, even if the per-resolution price looks cheap. SiteGPT trains on your website content specifically, so answers reflect your products, policies, and voice. Source: ProcessPro Consulting, April 2026

Key Insight: The sticker price is the starting line, not the finish line. The cheapest AI chatbot can also be the most expensive, when it gives generic answers that erode customer trust.

What Do You Get for Your Money? AI Chatbot ROI by Pricing Model

Businesses earn an average of $3.50 for every $1 spent on conversational AI support, according to Ringly's 2026 analysis of 200+ deployments. The return compounds over time because the AI handles more conversations without proportional cost increases, but only under flat-rate pricing.

Source: Ringly, April 2026

ROI by Pricing Model

At $39/month (SiteGPT Starter), you need just a handful of additional sales to break even. CBS Bahamas, a home improvement retailer, generates $10,000/month in sales through a single SiteGPT chatbot, a 256x return on the $39/month investment. The chatbot handles product questions, technical recommendations, and upselling at 11 PM on Sundays, in 95+ languages.

For more customer results, see real customer service automation results.

Compounding ROI Over Time

Period	Flat Pricing ROI	Per-Resolution ROI
Year 1	41% average	Squeezed by rising costs
Year 2	87%	Squeezed further
Year 3	124%	AI improvement = higher bills

Source: Ringly methodology, April 2026

Key Insight: At flat pricing, ROI compounds over time, the AI handles more conversations at the same cost. At per-resolution pricing, ROI gets squeezed as the AI handles more conversations at increasing cost.

Which AI Chatbot Pricing Model Is Right for Your Business?

The right pricing model depends on your conversation volume, growth trajectory, and budget predictability needs. The table below maps 12 common business scenarios to the recommended pricing model and specific vendor.

The Pricing Model Decision Framework

Your Situation	Best Model	Why
High volume (2,000+ convos/mo)	Flat monthly	Cost predictability at scale. Per-resolution bills spiral.
Growing fast (doubling every 6 months)	Flat monthly	Cost stays fixed as volume grows. No growth penalty.
E-commerce store with seasonal spikes	Flat monthly	Holiday traffic doubles conversations. Flat pricing absorbs spikes.
SaaS company with steady support volume	Per-resolution may work	Predictable volume makes per-resolution manageable.
Low volume (under 500 convos/mo)	Per-resolution or credit-based	Low enough that variable pricing is cheaper than flat minimums.
Enterprise with complex workflows	Per-seat or hybrid	You pay for human-AI collaboration, not just AI responses.
Budget-constrained startup	Flat entry tier	SiteGPT Starter at $39/mo billed annually ($59 monthly). Predictable cost, no surprises.
Multi-language business	Flat monthly	Avoid per-language surcharges. 95+ languages included.
Testing AI support for the first time	Flat monthly	Start at $39/mo billed annually, evaluate ROI, scale without pricing model anxiety.
Switching from per-resolution to flat	Flat monthly	You've already experienced bill shock. Flat pricing prevents recurrence.
High-ticket sales (B2B)	Per-resolution may work	Each resolved conversation has high revenue value.
Multiple websites / brands	Flat monthly	One chatbot per site, predictable per-site cost. No compounding variable fees.

Use-Case Cheat Sheet

Scenario	Best Choice	One-Line Reasoning
Shopify store doing 3,000 chats/mo	SiteGPT Starter ($39/mo billed annually)	Flat pricing absorbs Black Friday spikes
SaaS startup with 200 support tickets/mo	Per-resolution (Intercom)	Low volume = per-resolution cheaper than flat
D2C brand selling internationally	SiteGPT Starter ($39/mo billed annually)	95+ languages included, no per-language surcharge
Enterprise with 50+ support agents	Zendesk Suite	Full helpdesk + AI, per-seat makes sense at this scale
Solo founder testing AI chat	Chatbase (free plan, then $40/mo)	50 free credits to test, but upgrade promptly: free-plan agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity
Growing SaaS at 1,000 tickets/mo	SiteGPT Starter ($39/mo billed annually)	Flat pricing prevents a $990/mo per-resolution bill
Agency managing client chatbots	SiteGPT Scale ($259/mo billed annually)	3 chatbots, up to 40K messages, flat and predictable
EdTech platform with student spikes	SiteGPT Growth ($79/mo billed annually)	Enrollment season doubles volume; flat pricing absorbs it
B2B company with high-value deals	Per-resolution may work	Each resolved conversation has $1,000+ revenue potential
Nonprofit with limited budget	Botsonic ($16/mo billed annually)	Cheapest verified flat-rate option for website chat

For small business recommendations, see our chatbot for small business guide.

Key Insight: Choose your pricing model the way you choose a phone plan: if your usage is predictable, pay-per-use works. If your usage grows, flat-rate protects you from surprise bills.

FAQ: AI Chatbot Pricing

Pricing Model Questions

How much does an AI chatbot cost per month?

AI chatbot pricing ranges from $14-16/month on entry flat-rate plans (billed annually) to $0.99 or more per resolved conversation on outcome-priced models; Intercom's published rate is $0.99, and higher per-resolution figures are reported rather than published. At 1,000 monthly conversations, total costs range from $39 (flat, billed annually) to $990 and up (per-resolution, before seat fees).

Is per-resolution pricing better than flat-rate?

Per-resolution pricing works for low-volume setups (under 500 conversations/month). For growing businesses, flat-rate pricing eliminates the "growth trap" where costs increase as your AI improves and resolves more conversations. Intercom's own $1M guarantee that their AI will hit 65%+ resolution rate proves that resolution rates are climbing, and per-resolution bills climb with them.

Which chatbot pricing model is best for small businesses?

Flat-rate pricing is best for most small businesses because costs stay predictable as the business grows. Per-resolution pricing can be cheaper at very low volumes but becomes expensive quickly as customer conversations increase.

Vendor-Specific Questions

How much does Intercom Fin cost?

Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per resolved conversation, published on intercom.com/pricing, plus per-seat plan fees (Essential $29/seat/mo, Advanced $85, Expert $132, billed annually). At 1,000 resolutions/month, that's $990/month before seats. At 5,000 resolutions, it's $4,950/month, roughly 63x more than SiteGPT's Growth plan at $79/month billed annually (which covers up to 10K messages).

Why did HubSpot switch to per-resolution pricing?

HubSpot switched its Breeze AI agent from $1.00 per conversation to $0.50 per resolved conversation on April 14, 2026, aligning with the industry trend toward outcome-based billing. The halved rate sounds cheaper, but 5,000 resolutions/month still costs $2,500/month, compared to flat-rate alternatives at $39-200/month.

What is the cheapest AI chatbot?

The cheapest AI chatbot plans are ManyChat Essential at $14/mo billed annually (social channels only) and Botsonic Starter at $16/mo billed annually for website chat; Chatbase starts at $40/month. Full Chatbase pricing, tier by tier with the credit math and the add-on layer, sits in the Chatbase review. At scale, flat-rate plans like SiteGPT ($39/month billed annually) often cost less than per-resolution billing that starts cheap but increases with volume.

ROI Questions

What's the ROI of an AI chatbot?

Businesses earn an average of $3.50 for every $1 spent on conversational AI support, according to Ringly's 2026 analysis. CBS Bahamas generates $10,000/month in sales from a single SiteGPT chatbot at $39/month, a 256x return.

Are there hidden costs with AI chatbots?

Common hidden costs include setup and training fees, human escalation charges, integration costs, multilingual premiums, the "scaling paradox" where volume spikes double your bill on variable pricing, and the generic AI quality gap where chatbots trained on broad data produce generic answers that erode customer trust.

Build, Free, and Compliance Questions

How much does it cost to build an AI chatbot from scratch?

Building custom means paying for developer time, model API usage, hosting, retrieval infrastructure, and maintenance, and those costs recur for the life of the bot. A subscription platform ships the same retrieval-augmented architecture for $16-259 per month flat (billed annually), so custom builds make sense mainly when the chatbot is your product or data residency rules prohibit third-party processors. The middle path is driving a platform bot from your own tooling via SiteGPT's remote MCP server.

Is there a free AI chatbot for websites?

Free tiers exist but are proof-of-concept sized. Chatbase's free plan includes 50 message credits a month with agents deleted after 14 days of inactivity, and at 50 answers a month a free tier covers roughly 2 conversations a day. SiteGPT offers a 7-day free trial of the full product on every plan instead of a capped free tier.

What does a HIPAA-compliant AI chatbot cost?

There is no self-serve price for HIPAA anywhere in this comparison: a signed Business Associate Agreement is an enterprise-tier feature on every platform that offers one, so the cost is a custom quote. SiteGPT signs a BAA on Enterprise only and publishes the standard BAA so legal review can start early. Budget for the constraint too: a covered workspace turns off connected apps and chat integrations, and training content must stay PHI-free. Program status lives at sitegpt.ai/hipaa.

AI Chatbot Pricing Comparison (2026): What 11 Platforms Actually Cost