Best AI Chatbot Builders for Small Business: 10 Tools Compared

Do customers keep asking the same questions? “What are your opening hours?” “Where is my order?” “Do you ship to Canada?” A chatbot on your website or social pages can answer these for you, day and night.

Today’s chatbot builders use AI. You give the bot your website, your FAQ or a few documents, and it writes answers in plain language. When a question is too hard, a good bot hands the chat to a real person.

This guide compares ten chatbot builders for small businesses. Prices checked on 1 November 2026. Prices are regular US dollar prices, before tax, as each vendor lists them. Your price may differ by country. We did not test these tools ourselves. Everything below is based on what each vendor lists on its official pages.

At a glance

Swipe the table sideways to compare →

Prices from each vendor's official pricing page on the date shown, before tax. No affiliate links. See all tools.

Chatbot, AI agent, help desk: what’s the difference?

• A rule-based chatbot follows paths you draw, like “click 1 for orders, 2 for returns”. It is predictable but can’t handle surprise questions.
• An AI agent (most vendors now use this name) reads your content and answers in its own words. It can handle follow-up questions, but you should check what it says.
• A help desk is the inbox where your team answers chats and emails. Many tools here are a help desk with an AI agent added on top.

If you are a one-person business, you may only need the bot. If you have a small team, a help desk with a bot lets everyone work from one place.

How these tools charge you

This is the confusing part. Almost every tool counts something different:

• Per conversation: Tidio, Botpress and Landbot count chats.
• Per message credit or query: Chatbase and CustomGPT.ai count messages or questions.
• Per resolution or outcome: Intercom and Zendesk charge each time the AI solves a problem.
• Per contact: Manychat counts the people you talk to each month.
• Flat price: Crisp charges one price per workspace, with AI credits included.
• Per agent seat: Intercom, Zendesk and Freshdesk also charge for each team member.

So the “starting price” is only part of the story. Before you pick, guess how many chats you get in a month, then check what that would cost on each plan.

Tidio

Tidio is live chat for websites and online shops, with an AI agent called Lyro. Free plan: yes, with 50 billable conversations a month. Paid: Starter is $29 a month, or $24.17 a month billed yearly, with 100 billable conversations. Lyro is priced on its own, from $32.50 a month. Best for: small online shops that want live chat plus an AI agent.

Tidio only counts a conversation when a human on your team replies, so spam doesn’t use up your plan. It lists a 7-day free trial with no card.

Crisp

Crisp is a shared inbox and chat widget with one flat price per workspace, not per person. Free plan: yes, with 2 seats but no AI credits. Paid: Mini is $45 a month with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits. The no-code AI chatbot builder starts on Essentials, at $95 a month. Best for: small teams that want a predictable monthly bill.

Crisp says it does not limit the number of conversations. VAT is not included in its prices.

Manychat

Manychat automates replies on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, TikTok and more. Free plan: yes. Paid: Essential is $14 a month billed yearly ($168 a year); Pro is $29 a month billed yearly. Best for: businesses that get most of their questions on social media.

Manychat bills by “Active Contacts”, the people you talk to in a month. If you go over, it charges a small fee per extra contact instead of switching off. Essential and Pro have a 14-day free trial.

Landbot

Landbot is a no-code builder for chat flows on websites and WhatsApp, with AI chats added. Free plan: yes, with 100 chats a month but no AI chats. Paid: Starter is $45 a month, or $36 a month billed yearly, with 500 chats and 100 AI chats a month. Best for: lead capture forms and guided chats.

Landbot bills in euros inside the EU and in US dollars elsewhere. WhatsApp with your own number starts on the Professional plan.

Chatbase

Chatbase lets you build an AI agent trained on your website and documents, then add it to your site. Free plan: none listed on the pricing page. Paid: Hobby is $40 a month, or $32 a month billed yearly, with 700 message credits a month. Best for: getting a simple “ask our docs” bot running quickly.

Paid plans have a 7-day trial. Extra message credits cost $40 per 1,000.

Botpress

Botpress is a platform for building custom AI agents, for people who want more control. Free plan: yes, with 100 conversations a month and 3 AI agents. Paid: Plus is $189 a month, or $150 a month billed yearly, with 250 conversations a month. Best for: tech-comfortable owners or a developer helping you.

Botpress includes some AI usage in each plan. When you hit your limit, it adds packs of conversations automatically, so watch your bill.

CustomGPT.ai

CustomGPT.ai builds answer bots from your business content and shows where each answer came from. Free plan: no; there is a 7-day free trial, but a card is needed and you are charged when it ends. Paid: Standard is $99 a month, or $89 a month billed yearly, with 10 agents and 1,000 queries a month. Best for: businesses with lots of documents that want answers with sources.

When you run out of queries, the bot stops answering until the next month or an upgrade.

Intercom (Fin AI Agent)

Intercom is a full customer service platform with an AI agent called Fin. Free plan: no; there is a 14-day free trial with no card. Paid: Essential is $29 per seat a month billed yearly, plus $0.99 for each Fin “outcome” (a solved conversation or a handoff). Best for: growing support teams.

Intercom showed a launch discount for new customers; we list the regular price.

Zendesk (AI agents)

Zendesk is one of the best-known help desks, with AI agents built in. Free plan: no; there is a 14-day free trial. Paid: Support Team is $25 per agent a month, or $19 billed yearly. AI agents for chat need messaging, which starts on Suite Team at $69 a month, or $55 billed yearly. Best for: teams that want a full help desk now or later.

Plans include 5 automated resolutions per agent a month. Extra resolutions cost $1.50 each if you commit, or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.

Freshdesk (Freddy AI)

Freshdesk is a help desk from Freshworks, with an AI agent called Freddy. Free plan: not shown on the pricing page. Paid: Growth is $19 per agent a month, billed yearly. Best for: email-first support teams on a budget.

Each paid plan includes the first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions, once per account. After that, extra sessions cost $49 per 100. There is a 14-day free trial.

Tools we left out

• Voiceflow: its pricing page asks businesses to request a quote and showed no prices when we checked.
• HubSpot’s chatbot and Customer Agent: the Service Hub pricing page did not load its prices for us.

We will add them if their official pages show clear prices.

Connect your bot to the rest of your business

A chatbot gets more useful when it talks to your other tools. For example, a new lead from the bot can go straight into a spreadsheet or your email list. Most tools here list integrations, and you can connect many others with Zapier or the tools in our AI automation tools guide.

Just want a personal AI helper for your own writing and research, not a bot for customers? See our AI chatbots for freelancers guide instead.

A few safety tips

• Check the answers. Ask your bot 20 real customer questions before you go live.
• Always offer a human. Make it easy for customers to reach you.
• Don’t put private data in the bot’s knowledge. Only add content you would happily publish.
• Set spending limits. Many plans add paid packs automatically when you run out.

FAQ

Do I need to know how to code?

No. All ten tools list no-code setup. Botpress gives the most control and suits people who like a bit of tech.

What is the cheapest way to start?

Use a free plan. Tidio, Crisp, Manychat, Landbot and Botpress all list one. Note that some free plans include no AI answers at all (Crisp and Landbot), so you only get rule-based flows.

Which tool is best for Instagram and WhatsApp?

Manychat is built for social media messages. Landbot, Crisp and Tidio also list WhatsApp or social channels on some plans.

Will an AI chatbot replace my support person?

Probably not fully. AI agents can handle common, simple questions. Harder or sensitive questions still need a human, so pick a tool with an easy handoff.

What happens if I go over my plan?

It depends. Botpress and Manychat add paid extras automatically. CustomGPT.ai stops answering. Check each tool’s rules before you launch.

Which one should you pick?

• Small online shop: Tidio.
• Want one flat price: Crisp.
• Most questions come from Instagram or WhatsApp: Manychat.
• Guided chats and lead capture: Landbot.
• Quick “ask our docs” bot: Chatbase.
• Lots of documents, answers with sources: CustomGPT.ai.
• Want to build something custom: Botpress.
• Growing support team that needs a full help desk: Intercom, Zendesk or Freshdesk.

The bottom line

Start with the questions you answer most often. Put those answers on a page, feed them to a bot on a free plan, and test it yourself. Only pay when you know how many chats you get, because that number decides your real price.

You may also like our AI automation tools guide, our solo freelancer stack and our AI tools for office admin.

This guide has no affiliate links. We have not tested these tools ourselves; all facts come from the official pages listed below.

Sources

Checked on 1 November 2026:

• Tidio pricing: https://www.tidio.com/pricing/
• Crisp pricing: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/
• Manychat pricing: https://manychat.com/pricing
• Landbot pricing: https://landbot.io/pricing
• Chatbase pricing: https://www.chatbase.co/pricing
• Botpress pricing: https://botpress.com/pricing
• CustomGPT.ai pricing: https://customgpt.ai/pricing/
• Intercom pricing: https://www.intercom.com/pricing
• Zendesk pricing: https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/
• Freshdesk pricing: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
• Voiceflow pricing (no prices shown): https://www.voiceflow.com/pricing
• HubSpot Service Hub pricing (prices did not load): https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service