Table of Contents
- Key takeaways: 4 customer service chatbot setups for a website
- What is a customer support chatbot for websites?
- What a website chatbot should answer, and what it should hand to a person
- How to choose a customer support chatbot service for your website
- 4 customer support chatbot services for websites, ranked
- 1. Tidio: best for small sites that want live chat and AI in one widget
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 2. SiteGPT: best for answers trained on a whole website and its docs
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 3. Crisp: best for growing teams that want one flat-price inbox
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 4. Zendesk: best for teams that already run a ticketing helpdesk
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- Customer service chatbot services compared side by side
- How much does a customer service chatbot for a website cost?
- How a chatbot works with your live chat or helpdesk
- How to launch a customer service chatbot on your website
- Which customer service chatbot fits your website?
- Common mistakes with a website customer service chatbot
- Frequently asked questions
- Basics
- What does a customer service chatbot do on a website?
- Is a website chatbot the same as live chat?
- Can a chatbot answer from my own website?
- Choosing
- Which customer service chatbot is best for a small website?
- Do I need a helpdesk to use a website chatbot?
- Cost
- How much does a customer service chatbot for a website cost?
- Is there a free customer service chatbot for websites?
- Setup and handoff
- How long does it take to add a chatbot to a website?
- How does a visitor reach a person from the chatbot?
- Sources
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Created time
Oct 10, 2023 10:33 PM
A customer support chatbot for websites is a chat widget that answers visitors' questions from your own content and passes the rest to a person, and the right service depends on who answers chats on your site today.
TL;DR
- Small site, owner answers chats: Tidio puts live chat and the Lyro AI agent in one widget. Starter costs $29 a month plus Lyro from $39 a month, billed monthly.
- Content-heavy site or docs: SiteGPT trains on your whole website, files and connected sources, with handoff to your team on every plan. It costs $59 a month billed monthly, or $39 a month billed yearly.
- Team in a shared inbox or helpdesk: Crisp adds an AI chatbot from $95 a month per workspace. Zendesk Suite Team costs $55 per agent a month paid yearly, plus fees per automated resolution.
- Keep a person in reach. In a 2026 Gartner survey, 87% of customers said access to a human agent is essential when a company uses GenAI.
- Healthcare and EU buyers: SiteGPT signs a HIPAA BAA and a DPA on the Enterprise plan only. Ask every vendor for these papers before you buy.
Key takeaways: 4 customer service chatbot setups for a website
Setup | Best for | Price to start | G2 rating |
1. Tidio | Small sites that want live chat and AI in one widget | $29 a month plus Lyro from $39 a month, billed monthly | 4.6 (1,992 reviews) |
2. SiteGPT | Answers trained on a whole website, files and docs | $59 a month billed monthly, or $39 a month billed yearly | 4.9 (12 reviews) |
3. Crisp | Growing teams that want one flat-price inbox | $95 a month per workspace for the AI chatbot plan | 4.5 (205 reviews) |
4. Zendesk | Teams that already run a ticketing helpdesk | $55 per agent a month paid yearly, plus resolution fees | 4.3 (7,110 reviews) |
What is a customer support chatbot for websites?
A customer support chatbot for websites is software in a chat window on your site that answers questions on its own. A modern one reads your pages, help articles and policies, then writes answers from them. When it cannot help, it passes the chat to a person.
It differs from two things buyers often mix up with it:
- Live chat is a chat window answered by people. The guide to chatbots vs live chat compares the two and their costs.
- The ChatGPT app cannot sit on your website as a widget. The guide to ChatGPT for customer service covers the routes that use OpenAI models on your own site.
What a website chatbot should answer, and what it should hand to a person
A website chatbot should answer questions that already have a written answer, and hand over anything that needs a judgment call. Gartner's advice to service leaders is to prioritize "reliability over reach": a bot that resolves a narrow set of issues builds more trust than one that tries everything and fails.
That matters because customers give up fast. In the same 2026 Gartner survey of 3,566 customers, only 27% said they would try a chatbot again after a negative experience.
Visitor question | Who should answer | Why |
Prices, plans, opening hours, shipping times | Chatbot | The answer is on your website word for word |
How-to steps and product setup | Chatbot | Help articles and docs already hold the steps |
Return and refund policy | Chatbot | The policy is fixed text |
A refund exception or a complaint | A person | Someone has to decide and may need to calm the customer |
Order status or account changes | A person, unless the bot connects to your order system | A content-trained bot cannot see one customer's data |
Sales quotes and demos | A person, after the bot collects contact details | Pricing deals need a human reply |
Start with the rows marked "Chatbot". Add more only after the answers hold up in real conversations.
How to choose a customer support chatbot service for your website
Choose a customer support chatbot service for your website with five questions. Each one rules tools in or out before you compare prices.
- Who answers chats today? Nobody, the owner, a team in a shared inbox, or a team in a helpdesk. The tool should fit that inbox, not replace it by accident.
- Where do the answers live? A handful of FAQs, or hundreds of pages, files, docs and videos. Bigger content needs a tool that trains on all of it and refreshes it.
- How does a visitor reach a person? Look for a visible button, rules for when the AI escalates, and working hours.
- How is it priced? Flat plans with a quota, separate meters for AI and human chats, or per-agent seats plus fees per AI resolution.
- What paperwork do you need? Healthcare buyers need a signed BAA. EU buyers usually need a signed DPA. Some vendors sign these only on top plans.
4 customer support chatbot services for websites, ranked
The four services below are ranked for the most common case behind this question: a small or mid-sized business website where one person or a small team answers chats. No tool is best overall. Each one has a "best for" label. Tidio is first because it gives that small team live chat and AI in one widget at the lowest entry price. The full list of seven platforms is in the guide to customer service AI chatbot platforms.
1. Tidio: best for small sites that want live chat and AI in one widget
Tidio is a live chat and helpdesk tool with an add-on AI agent called Lyro. The owner or a small team answers chats in the Tidio inbox, and Lyro answers repeat questions first. The Tidio review covers the product in depth.
Key features
- Live chat, ticketing and a live visitors list on every paid plan
- Lyro AI agent with human handoff and answers from your support content
- Website scraper, FAQ upload and Zendesk article import for Lyro
- Flows, a visual builder for rule-based chat paths
- Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email channels listed on the pricing page
Pros
- One inbox for AI and human chats
- A free plan with 50 billable conversations a month and 50 Lyro conversations one time
- 7-day trial with no credit card
Cons
- Two meters to budget: billable conversations for your team and Lyro conversations for the AI
- The paid Lyro quota starts at 50 conversations a month
- Removing Tidio branding is an add-on
Pricing
Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Includes |
Free | $0 | $0 | 50 billable conversations, 50 Lyro conversations one time |
Starter | $29 a month | $24.17 a month | 100 billable conversations |
Growth | From $59 a month | From $49.17 a month | From 250 billable conversations |
Lyro AI agent add-on | From $39 a month | From $32.50 a month | From 50 Lyro conversations |
A billable conversation is one your team replies to. Lyro's replies do not count toward it.
Rating
4.6 out of 5 from 1,992 reviews on G2.
Best for
A small business website where the owner answers chats and wants AI to handle the repeat questions.
2. SiteGPT: best for answers trained on a whole website and its docs
SiteGPT is an AI chatbot that trains on your website and content sources, then answers visitors in a widget you add with one script. Your team takes over a chat when the visitor asks for a person.
Key features
- Trains on your website by crawl or sitemap, plus files and raw text
- Connects Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Notion, GitHub and YouTube as content sources
- Human support on every plan: escalation buttons, your own escalation rules, and chat modes that follow your working hours
- Auto refresh of trained content: monthly on Growth, weekly on Scale, daily on Enterprise
- Chat integrations from Growth: Slack, Crisp, Messenger, Google Chat, Freshdesk Messaging and Zoho SalesIQ. Zendesk AI Agent from Scale
- 95+ languages
Pros
- Answers come from your own pages and files, and can show links to the pages used
- Handoff to a person is included on every plan
- Scales to 50,000 trained pages on Scale
- A signed BAA and DPA are available on Enterprise, for healthcare and EU buyers
Cons
- No free plan. The 7-day trial requires a credit card
- Starter has 1 team member, manual refresh and no chat integrations
- No Intercom or HubSpot integration today
- No visual flow builder for rule-based chat paths
Pricing
Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Includes |
Starter | $59 a month | $39 a month ($468 a year) | 1 chatbot, 4,000 GPT-4.1-mini or 400 GPT-4.1 messages, 1,000 pages, 1 member |
Growth | $129 a month | $79 a month ($948 a year) | 2 chatbots, 10,000 GPT-4.1-mini messages, 10,000 pages, 4 members |
Scale | $429 a month | $259 a month ($3,108 a year) | 3 chatbots, 40,000 GPT-4.1-mini messages, 50,000 pages, 10 members |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom limits, signed DPA, HIPAA BAA |
A HIPAA BAA is available on Enterprise only. The SiteGPT HIPAA page explains the program.
Rating
4.9 out of 5 from 12 reviews on G2.
Best for
A website with a lot of content, such as a docs site, a SaaS product or a large catalog, where the chatbot must answer from every page.
3. Crisp: best for growing teams that want one flat-price inbox
Crisp is a shared inbox with a website chat widget, priced per workspace instead of per agent. Its AI chatbot starts on the Essentials plan.
Key features
- Website chat widget and shared inbox on every plan, including Free
- Omnichannel AI chatbot, knowledge base and workflow builder from Essentials
- AI credits included each month: $5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials, $75 on Plus
- Flat price per workspace with seats included
Pros
- 10 seats on Essentials for one price
- A free plan with 2 seats for live chat
- 14-day trial with no credit card
Cons
- The AI chatbot needs Essentials at $95 a month
- AI usage draws on a monthly credit allowance
- Ticketing and white labelling start on Plus at $295 a month
Pricing
Plan | Price | Seats | AI credits |
Free | $0 | 2 | None |
Mini | $45 a month per workspace | 4 | $5 |
Essentials | $95 a month per workspace | 10 | $25 |
Plus | $295 a month per workspace | 20+ | $75 |
Rating
4.5 out of 5 from 205 reviews on G2.
Best for
A team of 4 to 10 people that wants one inbox for chat and email at a fixed monthly price. Teams that keep Crisp can also run SiteGPT inside it, as the guide to an AI chatbot for Crisp shows.
4. Zendesk: best for teams that already run a ticketing helpdesk
Zendesk is a full customer service helpdesk with tickets, messaging, live chat and AI agents. The Suite plans add the website chat widget and AI agents to ticketing.
Key features
- AI agents, knowledge base and action builder from Suite Team
- Messaging, live chat, telephony and omnichannel routing from Suite Team
- Admin copilot, skills-based routing and an IVR phone tree on Suite Professional
- AI agents billed per automated resolution, meaning a request solved with no human agent
Pros
- The chatbot, tickets and phone sit in one system
- Prebuilt analytics dashboards and routing for large teams
- A 6-month Suite trial for eligible early-stage startups, through Zendesk for Startups
Cons
- Seat pricing grows with every agent
- AI agent fees come on top of seats, and the pricing page shows no per-resolution price
- More setup than a widget-first tool
Pricing
Plan | Price | What it adds |
Support Team | $19 per agent a month, paid yearly | Email ticketing |
Suite Team | $55 per agent a month, paid yearly | AI agents, messaging and live chat |
Suite Professional | $115 per agent a month, paid yearly | Admin copilot, skills-based routing |
Suite Enterprise | Contact sales | Intelligent triage, sandbox, approval workflows |
Rating
4.3 out of 5 from 7,110 reviews on G2 (Zendesk for Customer Service).
Best for
A service team that already works in Zendesk tickets and wants the website chatbot in the same place. The list of AI chatbots for Zendesk compares add-on options.
Customer service chatbot services compared side by side
Criterion | Tidio | Crisp | Zendesk | |
Main product | Live chat with an AI add-on | AI chatbot trained on your content | Shared inbox with AI | Ticketing helpdesk with AI agents |
Where answers come from | Website scraper, FAQs, uploads | Website, files, cloud drives, Notion, GitHub, YouTube | Knowledge base in the plan | Knowledge base in the plan |
Handoff to a person | Built in | Built in, every plan | Built in | Built in |
Pricing model | Plan plus separate AI quota | Flat plan with a message quota | Flat per workspace plus AI credits | Per agent plus fees per AI resolution |
Free plan | Yes | No | Yes, without AI | No |
Trial | 7 days, no card | 7 days, card required | 14 days, no card | Not shown on the pricing page |
How much does a customer service chatbot for a website cost?
A customer service chatbot for a website costs $59 to $110 a month at the entry level of these four services. The chart shows the cheapest plan of each that includes an AI chatbot and a route to your team.
Paying yearly lowers the bill where the vendor offers it:
Setup | 12 months billed monthly | 12 months billed yearly | Saved per year |
SiteGPT Starter | $708 | $468 | $240 (34%) |
Tidio Starter plus Lyro | $816 | $680.04 | $135.96 (17%) |
Crisp Essentials | $1,140 | Not listed | Not listed |
Zendesk Suite Team, 2 agents | Not listed | $1,320, before AI resolution fees | Not listed |
The entry plans cover different amounts of work. SiteGPT Starter includes 4,000 GPT-4.1-mini messages a month but only 1 team member. Tidio's $39 Lyro tier covers 50 AI conversations a month. Crisp Essentials includes 10 seats and $25 of AI credits. Compare plans at your real monthly volume. The guide to how much a chatbot costs covers other platforms and build costs.
How a chatbot works with your live chat or helpdesk
A chatbot does not have to replace the inbox your team already uses. SiteGPT can run as the answer layer inside Crisp and Zendesk, so the AI answers first and your agents take over in the tool they know.
Layer | Job | Tool |
Answer layer | Answers repeat questions from your website and docs | SiteGPT, or the vendor's own AI |
Inbox | Where your team reads and replies to chats | Crisp, Tidio, or SiteGPT Chat History |
Ticketing | Tracks issues that take days to solve | Zendesk |
SiteGPT connects to Crisp from the Growth plan ($129 a month billed monthly, or $79 a month billed yearly). It installs as the Zendesk AI Agent from the Scale plan ($429 a month billed monthly, or $259 a month billed yearly). Teams that want a custom build instead can read about a chatbot development service for websites.
How to launch a customer service chatbot on your website
Launch a customer service chatbot on your website in five steps. The example uses SiteGPT, and the same order works in the other tools.
- List your top 20 questions. Pull them from your inbox, email and phone notes. These are the questions the bot must answer on day one.
- Train the bot on your content. In SiteGPT, create a chatbot, open Website Links, then Scrape Website, and enter your home page address. A sitemap works too.
- Test the 20 questions. Ask each one in the test chat. Fix wrong answers by adding the missing page or text before launch.
- Set the route to a person. Under Leads, then Human Support, turn on Enable Human Support. Show the escalation buttons and pick a chat mode, such as following your working hours.
- Install and review weekly. Paste the embed script into the head section of every page. Read real conversations each week and fill the gaps.
The guide to an AI chatbot for your website shows where the script goes on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and Webflow. If you picked SiteGPT and want every setting explained, use the tutorial on how to build a customer support chatbot from a help center.
Which customer service chatbot fits your website?
If you need | Pick | Why |
Live chat and AI in one cheap widget for a small site | Tidio | Starter at $29 a month plus Lyro from $39 a month, billed monthly |
Answers from hundreds of pages, docs or files | Trains on the whole site and connected sources, up to 50,000 pages on Scale | |
A person one click away, on the cheapest plan | SiteGPT or Tidio | Both include handoff on their entry plans |
One inbox for a team of up to 10 at a fixed price | Crisp | Essentials includes 10 seats and an AI chatbot for $95 a month |
The chatbot inside an existing ticketing system | Zendesk | AI agents, messaging and tickets in one helpdesk |
A signed HIPAA BAA or DPA | Ask each vendor. SiteGPT signs both on Enterprise | Paperwork is often limited to top plans |
A free start | Tidio or Crisp | Both have free plans. SiteGPT has none |
Common mistakes with a website customer service chatbot
- Launching on every topic at once. Start with questions that have a written answer and expand later.
- Hiding the route to a person. Show the button. The list of AI chatbots with human handoff compares how tools handle it.
- Letting the bot guess. Train it on your content and tell it to say when it does not know. The guide to chatbot hallucinations covers the fixes.
- Training once and never refreshing. Re-train after every price, policy or product change.
- Comparing entry prices only. Check what each plan includes at your real monthly volume.
To test a chatbot trained on your own website, start a 7-day SiteGPT trial. Plans start at $59 a month billed monthly, or $39 a month billed yearly. The trial requires a credit card.
Frequently asked questions
Basics
What does a customer service chatbot do on a website?
A customer service chatbot on a website answers visitors' questions in a chat window, using your pages and help content. It passes chats it cannot solve to a person on your team.
Is a website chatbot the same as live chat?
A website chatbot is not the same as live chat. A chatbot answers on its own. Live chat is answered by people. Many sites run both, with the chatbot answering first.
Can a chatbot answer from my own website?
A chatbot can answer from your own website if it trains on your pages. SiteGPT and Tidio's Lyro both list website training on their pricing pages. Crisp and Zendesk include a knowledge base in their AI plans, so check how each one reads your site before you buy.
Choosing
Which customer service chatbot is best for a small website?
Tidio is a strong fit for a small website where the owner also answers chats, because live chat and AI share one inbox. SiteGPT fits a small site with a lot of content that needs answers from every page.
Do I need a helpdesk to use a website chatbot?
You do not need a helpdesk to use a website chatbot. Tidio and SiteGPT each have their own inbox for handoffs. A helpdesk such as Zendesk helps when issues need tickets that stay open for days.
Cost
How much does a customer service chatbot for a website cost?
The four services here start at $59 to $110 a month. SiteGPT Starter is $59 a month billed monthly, Tidio Starter plus Lyro is $68 a month billed monthly, Crisp Essentials is $95 a month, and Zendesk Suite Team is $110 a month for 2 agents paid yearly.
Is there a free customer service chatbot for websites?
Tidio and Crisp have free plans. Tidio's includes 50 Lyro conversations one time. Crisp's free plan has no AI credits. SiteGPT has no free plan, only a 7-day trial with a credit card.
Setup and handoff
How long does it take to add a chatbot to a website?
Adding a chatbot takes as long as training on your pages, testing your top questions and pasting one script. Reviewing real conversations in the first week takes longer than the install.
How does a visitor reach a person from the chatbot?
A visitor reaches a person by clicking an escalation button or asking for a human. In SiteGPT, the AI also escalates by default when the situation is urgent or the visitor is frustrated, and your own rules can replace those triggers.
Sources
Sources checked on October 23, 2026.
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