Best AI chatbots for business in 2026: 12 tools compared

We looked at AI chatbots a business can put on its website to answer customers: tools built for this job, not general assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini. For each one we read the vendor's own pricing and product pages on October 7, 2026 and compared six things:

• Who it's built for: a single owner, a support team, an online store or a technical team.
• Who answers: whether the AI answers on its own, people answer in a live-chat inbox, or both.
• Channels: website only, or also WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and phone.
• How the AI is billed: included in the plan, per conversation, per resolution, message credits or per seat.
• Free plan and entry price, and whether removing the vendor's branding costs extra.
• Setup: whether a business owner can set it up without a developer.

Prices change often. We say whether each price is billed monthly or annually, and link every vendor's pricing page so you can check the current figures.

• Best for small business websites: Nexoply. The assistant answers from your own services, prices, FAQs and policies, in 12 languages, with the AI included in every plan.
• Best live chat plus AI for small teams: Tidio, if people on your team will also answer chats.
• Best for support teams: Intercom Fin, for its per-resolution pricing and full helpdesk; Zendesk for larger, omnichannel teams.
• Best for HubSpot users: HubSpot Customer Agent, because it works with your CRM data.
• Best for ecommerce: Gorgias for Shopify stores that want the AI to act on orders; Tidio for smaller stores.
• Best for building custom AI agents: Chatbase for no-code agents across channels; Botpress for developers.
• Best low-cost team inbox: Crisp, priced per workspace rather than per seat.

Nexoply is an AI assistant for small business websites. You enter or import your services and prices, FAQs, policies, opening hours and service areas, and it answers visitors only from that information. When the answer isn't there, it says so and points to your phone, email or contact page instead of guessing. Every conversation is in your dashboard, and questions it couldn't answer can become FAQs in one click.

• Pricing: Free with 50 conversations a month (no credit card), then Starter $19, Business $49 and Pro $99 a month, with the AI included in every plan. Yearly billing gives two months free. Details on the pricing page.
• Strengths: reads your website for you and suggests services with prices, FAQs and policies; answers in 12 languages; installs with one line of code on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow or any HTML site; built-in spam protection.
• Considerations: it's a website assistant only. There is no live-chat inbox for people on your team, no WhatsApp, Instagram, email or phone channel, and it doesn't take bookings or payments itself (it links to your booking page, phone or WhatsApp).
• Best for: plumbers, salons, clinics, restaurants, hotels, gyms and other local or service businesses whose customers ask the same questions about prices, hours and policies.

Tidio combines live chat, a helpdesk, automation flows and an AI agent called Lyro, which answers from the FAQs, website content and Q&A you give it and hands over to a person when needed. It's popular with small online stores.

• Pricing: Free plan with 50 billable conversations a month and 50 Lyro conversations one-off. Starter $29/month billed monthly ($24.17 billed annually). Lyro is an add-on from $39/month billed monthly ($32.50 annually) for 50 Lyro conversations a month. Removing Tidio branding is an add-on from the Growth plan. Tidio pricing.
• Strengths: real free plan, live chat for your team, ecommerce integrations such as Shopify, channels including email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
• Considerations: conversations, Lyro conversations and automation visitors are counted separately, so costs grow with traffic; the AI allowance on Free and Starter is one-off, not monthly.

See our detailed Nexoply vs Tidio comparison.

Intercom is a full helpdesk (inbox, ticketing, help center) with Fin, a capable AI agent. Fin can also run on top of other helpdesks such as Zendesk, Salesforce or HubSpot.

• Pricing: no free plan; a 14-day free trial. Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, charged at most once per conversation and not when the customer asks for a person. Intercom's helpdesk is priced per seat on top of that. Intercom pricing.
• Strengths: strong AI agent, pricing tied to resolved conversations, a mature helpdesk, spending limits.
• Considerations: two cost parts (seats plus outcomes) are harder to predict at volume, and WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go extras. For a one-person business it's more platform than needed.

Zendesk is a customer service suite for email, messaging, social and phone, with AI agents built in. It's designed for support teams handling a steady volume of tickets.

• Pricing: priced per agent; no free plan, a 14-day trial. AI agents are included in all Suite and Support editions with usage-based pricing that counts only automated resolutions (conversations resolved without a person). On the European pricing page, Suite Team is €55 per agent a month billed annually. Zendesk pricing.
• Strengths: mature omnichannel ticketing, AI agents for messaging, email and voice, replies translated into many languages, a large app ecosystem.
• Considerations: per-agent pricing with AI usage on top; built for teams rather than a single owner.

HubSpot offers free live chat and basic chatbots, and an AI agent called Customer Agent in Service Hub. Its advantage is your CRM: the agent works with what HubSpot already knows about the customer.

• Pricing: free tools with HubSpot branding. Customer Agent is on Service Hub Professional and Enterprise and uses 50 HubSpot credits ($0.50) each time it resolves a conversation without a person. Professional has a one-time onboarding fee. HubSpot pricing.
• Strengths: CRM context, outcome-based AI pricing, a free entry point for basic chat.
• Considerations: the AI agent needs a Professional seat; branding is removed only on Professional and Enterprise. Best value if you already use HubSpot.

Chatbase is a no-code builder for AI agents trained on your documents and web pages, which you can deploy on your website and on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or Slack, with actions and many integrations.

• Pricing: Free with 50 message credits a month (free agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity). Hobby $40, Standard $150 and Pro $500 a month, about 20% less billed yearly. Removing "Powered by Chatbase" is a $99/month add-on. Chatbase pricing.
• Strengths: fast setup from files and URLs, a choice of AI models, many channels and integrations.
• Considerations: message credits make costs harder to predict; no live-chat inbox below Standard.

See Nexoply vs Chatbase.

Crisp is a shared inbox and live chat for teams, priced per workspace instead of per seat, with an AI agent, copilot and knowledge base on its paid plans.

• Pricing: Free plan without AI. Mini $45 a month per workspace with $5 of AI credits (about 90 automated conversations), Essentials $95, Plus $295. Removing the Crisp watermark is on Plus. Crisp pricing.
• Strengths: flat pricing for teams, many channels (email, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS and more), translation in 50+ languages.
• Considerations: small AI allowances on the lower plans; no AI on Free.

Freshchat by Freshworks is messaging and live-chat software with the Freddy AI Agent and Copilot.

• Pricing: Free for up to 10 agents (no AI agent). Growth $19, Pro $49 and Enterprise $79 per agent a month billed annually. The Freddy AI Agent includes the first 500 sessions, then costs $49 per 100 sessions; Copilot is $29 per agent a month billed annually. Freshchat pricing.
• Strengths: generous free seats, AI sessions included, many messaging channels.
• Considerations: per-agent pricing plus AI sessions plus an optional copilot.

Gorgias is a helpdesk with an AI agent built for online stores on Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. It can act on orders, for example to cancel an order or apply a discount, and is never priced per agent.

• Pricing: no free plan; a free trial. Helpdesk with AI agent from $40/month billed monthly (50 tickets and 30 automated interactions); the AI costs $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction depending on the plan. Gorgias pricing.
• Strengths: deep Shopify integration, AI that takes actions, pay only when the AI resolves a conversation.
• Considerations: made for ecommerce; ticket-volume pricing.

Botpress is a platform for building AI agents with a visual studio, a natural-language builder and an API. It suits developers and agencies that want full control.

• Pricing: Free with 100 conversations a month. Plus $150 a month billed annually (250 conversations, white-label web chat), Team $750 a month billed annually. Each conversation includes $0.10 of AI usage. Botpress pricing.
• Strengths: very flexible, unlimited agents on paid plans, many integrations.
• Considerations: a learning curve, and the first paid plan is a lot for a very small business.

ChatBot.com (by Text, formerly LiveChat Software) is an AI agent and chatbot builder for customer support and ecommerce sales, with human takeover.

• Pricing: no free plan; a 14-day trial. Essential $25 per user a month billed monthly ($19 billed yearly) with 10 AI resolutions a month; Growth $99 per user a month billed monthly ($79 yearly) with 200. Extra AI resolutions cost $49.50 per 50. ChatBot.com pricing.
• Strengths: resolution-based AI pricing, 48 languages, ecommerce focus.
• Considerations: per-user pricing, a small AI allowance on Essential, white label only on Enterprise.

Botsonic by Writesonic is a no-code AI chatbot for websites, trained on your pages and documents, with lead-capture forms.

• Pricing: a 7-day trial. Starter $19 a month billed monthly ($16 billed annually) with 1,000 messages a month and one chatbot; Professional $49 ($41). Removing Botsonic branding costs $49 a month. Botsonic pricing.
• Strengths: low entry price, sitemap import, WhatsApp, Messenger and Telegram on Starter.
• Considerations: message caps; stronger AI models only on higher plans.

• Kommunicate: generative AI chatbot with live chat and voice; Starter $40 a month billed monthly ($34 yearly) for 250 conversations; 30-day trial, no free plan. Kommunicate pricing.
• Landbot: no-code chatbots for websites and WhatsApp, focused on lead generation; free plan with 100 chats a month and no AI; Starter €40 a month billed monthly. Landbot pricing.
• Ada, LivePerson and Voiceflow: enterprise platforms with quote-based pricing, for large customer service teams.
• Drift: in 2026 Salesloft announced the gradual sunset of Drift, naming 1mind as its successor, so we don't recommend it for new projects. Salesloft announcement.

• Live chat is an inbox where people on your team answer visitors in real time. It needs someone available.
• An AI chatbot answers visitors on its own from the information it's given, at any hour. The good ones answer only from your information and say when they don't know.
• An AI agent goes further and takes actions in other systems, such as refunding an order, updating a CRM record or booking an appointment, which needs integrations and more setup.

Most small businesses need the second: customers mostly ask the same questions about prices, opening hours, availability and policies, and an AI chatbot answers them at night and on weekends. Support teams with order systems and CRMs benefit from live chat and AI agents.

The same traffic can cost very different amounts depending on how a tool counts usage. Before comparing prices, estimate how many chats you get in a month and how many people on your team need access.

Also check what removing the vendor's branding costs. As of October 7, 2026 it's a $99/month add-on on Chatbase, a $49/month fee on Botsonic, an add-on from Tidio's Growth plan, and included from Nexoply's Business plan ($49/month).

1. 01

   Write down 10 real questions

   Use questions your customers actually ask: a plumber's "Do you do emergency call-outs on Sunday?", a clinic's "Do I need a referral?", a restaurant's "Is the curry gluten-free?".

2. 02

   Add one question it can't know

   For example a price you never published. A good chatbot says it doesn't know and points to your phone or email; a weak one makes something up.

3. 03

   Ask in another language

   If your customers speak several languages, check that answers come back in theirs.

4. 04

   Check the cost at your volume

   Price each option at your real number of chats per month and team members, including branding removal.

5. 05

   Read the conversation history

   Make sure you can see every conversation and the questions it couldn't answer, so you can improve its information.

If you run a small business and want your website to answer customers on its own, you can test Nexoply for free: create a free account, import your website, ask your own questions on a test page, then add one line of code to your site. Our guides show the steps for WordPress, Wix, Shopify and any other website. For a budget-focused comparison, see the best affordable AI chatbots for small business.