Figuring out a chatbot's cost is essential for businesses looking to upgrade customer service with automation.
But as chatbots become important for personalized interactions, the big question is: What's the best budget for a chatbot?
In this article, we'll give you insightful information about how much a chatbot will cost for businesses in 2024, whether you're building one from the ground up or upgrading an existing one.
Types of Chatbots
Chatbots can be broadly categorized into two types, each serving different purposes based on your business needs:
1. Simple Rule-Based Chatbots
These are easy-to-use chatbots that follow a set of predefined rules. They are great for answering frequently asked questions, guiding users on your website, or handling basic tasks. Because they operate within a fixed framework, they're reliable but limited to specific scenarios.
2. AI-Powered Chatbots
These chatbots use artificial intelligence, including natural language processing, to understand and respond to a wider range of questions. They can handle more complex interactions, learn from past conversations, and provide personalized responses.
AI-powered chatbots are the best choice if you aim to offer in-depth customer support or engagement automatically.
How Much Does It Cost To Build A Chatbot?
If you're curious about how much a chatbot costs these days, it can range from $0 for basic ones to $10,000 for advanced AI-powered versions. The price depends on the chatbot's complexity, its technologies, and the customization required.
Keep in mind that adding chatbot features or integrating it with multiple platforms will increase the cost, as will ongoing maintenance.
In short, the simpler your chatbot, the cheaper it will be; the more complex and customized it is, the higher the price.
What Influences Chatbots Cost?
The cost of creating a chatbot depends on several key factors:
Advanced AI Capabilities
Chatbot's cost can go up depending on how smart you want it to be. Adding advanced AI, like understanding natural language or learning from conversations, makes the chatbot more user-friendly and expensive.
Creating these features involves complex programming and large amounts of data to train the chatbot.
Integration with Multiple Platforms or Systems
Extra work is involved when a chatbot needs to work across various messaging and mobile apps, platforms, or internal business systems like CRM or ERP.
Each additional platform or system integration requires additional coding and testing, which increases the overall project budget.
Number of Domains
The more topics or areas (domains) a chatbot needs to know, the more it will cost to build.
For example, a chatbot designed just for customer service questions is simpler and cheaper than one that also handles sales and appointments. Each new topic adds to the development price and requires more programming and testing.
Type of Plan (Basic vs Premium)
Basic plans are usually more affordable but have limited features and AI capabilities.
Premium plans offer advanced features like more sophisticated AI capabilities, higher interaction limits, and additional integration options.
Custom Chatbot Development vs. Chatbot Builder
In-house Chatbot Development
If your business opts for in-house chatbot development, you have complete control over every aspect of the chatbot's functionality, design, and integration. This allows deep customization to meet your business needs and customer expectations precisely.
However, the costs for a chatbot in-house development can vary widely based on:
- Team's necessary skills (e.g., programming, AI, machine learning). Otherwise, you may need to invest in training or hire new talent.
- The complexity of your chatbot might require you to invest in specific tools, platforms, or technologies.
- Time spent in developing the chatbot as it diverts resources from other projects.
- Ongoing maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting add to the long-term chatbot cost.
Chatbot Agency
Choosing a chatbot development agency for your business means you pay for their expertise and the convenience of having them manage the project from start to finish.
Chatbot prices can change widely, from a few thousand dollars for basic chatbots to much higher for complex ones, depending on what you need.
Chatbot agencies might offer a flat rate for the whole project or charge by the hour, with additional costs for maintenance, updates, and integrating the chatbot into your existing systems.
Chatbot Builder
Chatbot builders are easy-to-use online platforms that allow you to make chatbots without much technical knowledge and provide a cost-effective option for companies.
They typically use subscription models, with prices going from free for simple features to hundreds of dollars a month for more advanced options.
Deciding whether to build your own chatbot or go with an agency also makes a big difference in costs. Being clear about these aspects from the start can help you manage your budget better and ensure your chatbot project doesn't just meet your needs but is also cost-effective.
Custom Chatbot Pricing Models
Free Chatbots
These cost-free options are an excellent choice for businesses exploring how chatbots work. While they typically come with certain limitations, they offer valuable insights into how chatbots can improve customer engagement and even sales processes.
Denser.ai
Denser.ai offers a free plan, an ideal option for individuals or businesses to experiment with basic features before committing to a paid subscription. It already includes:
- 1 DenserBot
- 200 queries
- Maximum of 100 docs/webpages or 50MB doc storage
Tidio
Tidio has a free plan covering basic features, which is perfect for getting started and creating a custom chatbot. This Plan includes:
- Live chat
- Ticketing
- Social media integrations
Chatsonic
Chatsonic lets you build bots for free and is smart enough to pull in real-time web data for fresh, accurate responses. Their Free Plan includes:
- 100 messages/month
- 1 chatbot
- 1M uploaded characters
Small Business Scale
Typically, small businesses can expect to spend from $100 to $500 monthly on chatbot tools. Many platforms offer free plans with basic functionalities, and premium plans can go up to a few hundred dollars per month for more advanced features.
Intercom
Intercom boosts customer interactions with automated chats for support, engagement, and marketing. Their Advanced Plan includes:
- Basic chatbots and automation
- Workflows for advanced automation
- Fin AI Autofill
- Fin AI Summarize
- Unlimited articles & collections
Smartsupp
Smartsupp provides enhanced chatbot capabilities by combining chatbots, live chat, and video recordings. Their Pro Plan is built for smaller customer care teams, which includes:
- 3 agents
- 5 automatic messages
- Priority support
- Unlimited conversations volume
- 100 chatbot conversations per month
Mid-Level Businesses
Mid-sized businesses that require more integrations and higher volumes of interactions might see costs ranging from $100 to $500 per month. These costs accommodate more sophisticated AI functionalities, CRM integrations, and support services for a larger number of conversations.
Drift
Drift enhances sales and marketing by helping generate leads and book meetings through chatbots. Their Premium Plan includes:
- Live Chat
- Meetings
- Custom Chatbots
- Intel
- Real-Time Notifications
- Conversational Landing Pages
Zendesk Chat
Offers a chat widget that allows customer conversations using AI chatbots. Zendesk Chat offers Team plans (Suite Team and Suite Growth), which includes:
- Ticketing system
- Email, chat, voice, social messaging (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and more)
- Standard bots
- Prebuilt analytics dashboards
- 1,000+ apps & integrations
Enterprise-Level Businesses
For enterprises needing extensive customization, security, and scalability, monthly costs for chatbot tools can range from $500 to $1000 or higher. This already includes access to detailed analytics, strong security, integration with multiple platforms, and personalized support.
Freshchat by Freshworks
Freshchat focuses on improving customer service with personalized messaging and chatbot services. This chatbot software offers an Enterprise Plan that includes:
- Live Translate
- Advanced Dashboard
- Conversation APIs
- Allowed Domains
- User Authentication(JWT)
- Skill based routing
Denser.ai
Denser.ai provides custom solutions that are perfect for larger businesses with specific needs. Pricing is based on your requirements, so you must contact them.
- 8 DenserBots
- 15000 queries per month for all DenserBots combined
- Maximum of 10000 docs/webpages or 5G doc storage per DenserBot
- REST API
What makes this chatbot software platform stand out is that it simplifies chatbot integration into your website. It uses options like widgets, iframes, or REST API for a smooth setup.
Unlike many chatbots that seem stiff, this intuitive chatbot is built with intrinsic NLP (Natural Language Processing) capabilities that allow it to interact like humans.
How to Implement Denser.ai Into Your Website
1. Sign up with Denser.ai
Sign up for free to get your first Denserbot and free monthly queries. You can also book a demo to learn more and build a chatbot tailored to your own data.
2. Integrate Your Chatbot Quickly
With a simple code snippet, you can easily add your Denserbot to your website or internal system and get it running in no time.
3. Train Your Chatbot
Improve your chatbot by feeding it information from customer service chats, FAQs, and product details. The more you update it with new information, the better it will perform.
Reduce Chatbot Costs With the Best Chatbot Builder
Looking to cut down on chatbot costs without compromising quality? Denser.ai combines the best of AI chatbot technology for a more human-like interaction. It offers chatbot solutions for everyone, from personal users to businesses of any size.
Here's a quick look at their full pricing plans:
- Free Plan: This is ideal for individuals or businesses wanting to test the waters before committing to a paid subscription.
- Starter Plan: $19/month, great for personal use, and offers all the basic features.
- Standard Plan: $89/month, suitable for small teams and provides more capacity and features.
- Custom Plan: Offers custom solutions perfect for larger businesses with specific needs. Pricing is based on your requirements, so you'll need to contact them.
Explore Denser AI's smart features by trying out a free Account or scheduling a demo now.
Conclusion
Choosing the right chatbot plan depends on your business's needs and budget. For simple tasks or small businesses, a chatbot builder with a subscription model is cost-effective and easy to start with. It's great for basic support tasks and FAQs.
For more complex requirements, like deep system integration or specific custom features, going for a custom-built chatbot platform might make more sense despite the higher initial cost. It ensures your chatbot fits exactly what you need.
Start with a free chatbot builder if you're exploring, and consider custom solutions as your needs grow. The best choice balances your budget, needs, and how well it can serve your customers.
FAQs About How Much a Chatbot Costs
Can I upgrade or downgrade my chatbot plan in the future?
Yes, most chatbot platforms and services allow you to upgrade or downgrade your Plan based on your changing needs.
Is building and deploying a chatbot possible without hiring a development agency?
Absolutely; with many user-friendly chatbot builders available, you can create and launch a chatbot without needing an external development agency.
How much time will the company take to build the chatbot?
Building a chatbot can take anywhere from a few hours using pre-made templates on chatbot platforms to several weeks or months for custom solutions.