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Best AI chatbots for websites in 2026: 9 compared

A website chatbot should answer visitors from your own content, capture the leads worth following up, and hand real problems to a person. We compared nine tools for small and mid-size businesses on setup effort, lead capture, AI resolution and pricing. If you mainly want people on chat, start with our website live chat guide or the best live chat software.

What is the best AI chatbot for a website?

Aftersales is the best pick if your website chatbot has to finish support requests, not just answer FAQs. If the main job is capturing leads, HubSpot or Landbot fit better, and tawk.to is the cheapest way to get live chat on a site.

ChatbotEntry priceHow AI is billedBest at
AftersalesFree plan; Starter $24/seat/mo$0.99 per resolution, unhelped chats freeSupport chat that also takes actions (orders, refunds)
ChatbaseFree (50 message credits); Hobby $40/moMessage credits in plan; $40 per 1,000 extraFast FAQ bot trained on your site and docs
TidioFree; Starter $24.17/mo (annual)Lyro from $32.50/mo for 50 AI conversationsSmall stores wanting chat, AI and Flows in one
CrispFree (2 seats); Mini $45/workspace/moAI credits included from Mini ($5 to $75)Flat workspace price with a shared inbox
tawk.toFree live chatAI Assist from $29/moLowest-cost live chat on a tight budget
HubSpotFree rule-based chatbot builderAI customer agent $0.50 per resolution (Pro/Enterprise)Lead capture straight into a CRM
LandbotFree (100 chats); Starter €32/mo (annual)100 to 300 AI chats included, then €0.10 eachGuided lead-gen flows and WhatsApp
BotpressFree (100 conversations); Plus $150/mo (annual)AI usage allowance included per planCustom bots built by a technical team
SiteGPTStarter $39/mo (annual), no free plan4,000 messages on StarterA single knowledge bot for a content-heavy site

Checked October 2026. Confirm current prices on each vendor's site; annual prices are shown where the vendor leads with them.

How did we compare website AI chatbots?

We looked at each tool from the point of view of a small or mid-size business owner adding a chatbot to an existing website, often without a developer. Every price was checked on the vendor's own pricing page in October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a number, we describe the pricing model.

  • Setup effort. Can you paste a snippet or install a plugin, point the bot at your site and go live without writing code?
  • Answer quality. Does it answer from your own content, and can you control what it says?
  • Lead capture. Can it collect contact details, qualify a visitor or book a meeting?
  • Support depth. Can it hand off to a person with context, and can it take actions such as looking up an order?
  • Pricing model. Per resolution, per message credit, per conversation or per seat, and what happens when traffic spikes.
  • Room to grow. Does it add email, WhatsApp and a shared inbox later, or will you outgrow it?

This list is about chatbots on your own website. If you are choosing AI for a whole support operation across channels, read our customer service chatbot comparison instead.

We are Aftersales, so we put our product first. Each card says where another tool is the better choice, including against us.

What are the 9 best AI chatbots for websites?

Each card lists the pricing unit, because that decides your monthly bill more than the headline price.

1. Aftersales: best for websites where the chatbot needs to resolve support requests

Aftersales puts an AI Agent behind your website chat that resolves conversations end to end. It reads intent, sentiment and language from the first message in 31 languages, answers from one knowledge source shared with your help center, and follows procedures you write in plain language. Where a visitor needs something done, it can verify and act on Shopify orders, issue Stripe refunds or update Salesforce, within spend limits you set.

When Agent can't finish, it hands off to a person in the shared Inbox with the conversation, the data it looked up and what it already tried. The Free plan covers one seat, live chat, an email inbox, a public help center and your first 50 Agent resolutions, so a small business can test it without paying. Customers see a median 71% of conversations resolved by Agent after 90 days.

Best for
Small and mid-size businesses whose website chat is mostly support: orders, bookings, accounts, refunds
Pricing
Free $0 (1 seat). Starter $24, Growth $69, Scale $109 per seat/month billed annually (20% more monthly). Agent $0.99 per resolution, counted once per conversation; conversations Agent can't help with are free
Strengths
Resolves and takes actions instead of only answering; one inbox later covers email, WhatsApp, SMS, social and phone; escalation rules on sentiment, keywords and legal language; GDPR DPA and US-hosted data
Watch out for
Built for support, not marketing. It has no lead-scoring or meeting-booking bot, so pure lead-generation sites are better served by HubSpot or Landbot. A younger company (founded in London in 2024); confirm niche integrations on a call

Try it on your own website traffic.Start free, and pay $0.99 only when Agent resolves a conversation.

2. Chatbase: best for a quick FAQ bot trained on your site

Chatbase lets you build an AI agent from your website, documents and other sources and embed it on your site without code. Paid plans add actions, integrations such as Stripe, Zendesk, Shopify, HubSpot and Calendly, and, from Standard up, a helpdesk, voice and API access.

It is one of the fastest ways to get a knowledgeable bot live. Billing is by message credits, so a long conversation costs more than a short one.

Best for
Owners who want an AI answer bot on the site this week, with minimal setup
Pricing
Free $0 (50 message credits/month; agents deleted after 14 days of inactivity). Hobby $40, Standard $150, Pro $500 per month (20% off yearly). Extra credits $40 per 1,000; removing Chatbase branding is a $99/month add-on
Strengths
Very quick setup; choice of AI models; wide integration list; GDPR DPA and US-hosted data
Watch out for
Credits scale with messages, not outcomes; human handoff and a full inbox need higher plans or another tool

3. Tidio: best for small online stores that want chat, AI and Flows together

Tidio combines live chat, ticketing, its Lyro AI Agent and Flows, which are no-code automations for lead capture and sales prompts. It is popular with small ecommerce stores and is easy to install on common site builders.

Lyro is priced separately from the helpdesk, so check both numbers.

Best for
Small stores that want one widget for chat, AI answers and pop-up Flows
Pricing
Free plan. Starter $24.17/month billed annually (100 billable conversations, 50 one-off Lyro conversations). Growth from $49.17/month. Plus from $300/month plus usage. Lyro on its own from $32.50/month for 50 AI conversations
Strengths
Simple setup, Flows for lead capture, Lyro can also run inside other helpdesks
Watch out for
Separate meters for human conversations, Lyro conversations and Flows visitors make costs harder to predict as you grow

Compare it with us in Tidio alternatives and Tidio pricing.

4. Crisp: best for a flat workspace price with a shared inbox

Crisp offers a website chat widget, shared inbox, CRM, knowledge base and its Hugo AI agent. Plans are priced per workspace with a set number of seats included, which suits small teams that do not want per-seat billing.

Best for
Small teams that want predictable monthly pricing with several seats
Pricing
Free (2 seats, website chat, no AI credits). Mini $45, Essentials $95, Plus $295 per workspace/month. AI credits included: $5 on Mini (around 90 automated conversations), $25 on Essentials, $75 on Plus
Strengths
Seats bundled into the plan; WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS from Essentials; ecommerce plugins for Shopify and WooCommerce
Watch out for
AI volume on lower plans is small; heavy AI use means moving up a tier

See Crisp alternatives.

5. tawk.to: best for free live chat on a tight budget

tawk.to is free live chat software for websites, with a ticketing inbox, CRM and knowledge base. Its AI Assist add-on answers chats from your knowledge base and FAQs around the clock.

Best for
Very small businesses that want live chat at no cost and can add AI later
Pricing
Live chat free. AI Assist from $29/month. Removing tawk.to branding costs $29/month
Strengths
Free core product, easy embed, unlimited agents on the free chat
Watch out for
AI is an add-on rather than the core of the product; fewer automation and reporting options than paid platforms

See tawk.to alternatives.

6. HubSpot: best for capturing leads into a CRM

HubSpot's free chatbot builder creates rule-based bots that qualify leads, book meetings, answer common questions and hand off to a live agent, with replies personalized from HubSpot CRM data. Its AI customer agent, which answers from your knowledge base and website, is a separate product for Professional and Enterprise customers.

Best for
Businesses already on HubSpot that want website chat to feed the sales pipeline
Pricing
Chatbot builder free. AI customer agent requires a Professional or Enterprise edition and runs on HubSpot Credits: $0.50 per resolution for messaging
Strengths
Leads land in the CRM with full context; meeting booking; email campaigns triggered after a chat
Watch out for
The free bot is rule-based, not AI; the AI agent needs a paid Professional or Enterprise subscription first

See HubSpot Service Hub alternatives.

7. Landbot: best for guided lead-generation flows and WhatsApp

Landbot is a no-code builder for website and WhatsApp chatbots, with AI agents and a visual flow builder. It leans toward marketing and sales: qualifying visitors, collecting details and pushing them into tools such as HubSpot and Airtable.

Best for
Marketing teams that want structured, conversational lead forms
Pricing
Free €0 (100 chats/month, no AI chats). Starter €32/month billed annually (€40 monthly) with 500 chats and 100 AI chats. Professional €80/month billed annually with 2,500 chats and 300 AI chats. Extra AI chats €0.10. Business from €400/month
Strengths
Visual builder with templates and A/B tests; WhatsApp add-on; published overage prices
Watch out for
Priced in euros; not a support helpdesk, so complex service conversations need another tool

8. Botpress: best for custom bots built by a technical team

Botpress is a platform for building AI agents, with a visual studio, knowledge bases, tables and integrations across channels. It gives the most control on this list, and it rewards teams that can spend time designing the bot.

Best for
Teams with a developer or agency that want a tailored bot
Pricing
Free $0 (100 conversations/month, 3 seats). Plus $150/month billed annually (250 conversations, packs of 100 for $65). Team $750/month billed annually (1,500 conversations)
Strengths
Deep customization; AI usage included in plans; works across many channels
Watch out for
More setup than plug-and-play tools; overkill if you only need FAQs answered

9. SiteGPT: best for a single knowledge bot on a content-heavy site

SiteGPT trains a chatbot on your website content and files, answers visitors around the clock, collects leads and lets visitors escalate to a live agent. Each plan caps the number of chatbots and pages it can learn from.

Best for
Sites with large documentation or content libraries
Pricing
Starter $39/month billed yearly ($59 monthly): 1 chatbot, up to 4,000 messages, 1,000 pages. Growth $79/month yearly ($129 monthly). Scale $259/month yearly ($429 monthly). 7-day trial, card required
Strengths
Learns from up to 500,000 pages on Scale; weekly email digest of unanswered questions; lead collection
Watch out for
No free plan; branding removal and extra messages are paid add-ons; handoff relies on a separate live-chat tool

Which website chatbot should you choose?

Choose by what most of your website conversations are about.

  • Support requests that need an action (order status, refunds, bookings, account changes): Aftersales.
  • An AI FAQ bot live today with almost no setup: Chatbase or SiteGPT.
  • Lead capture into a CRM and meeting booking: HubSpot. Aftersales is not built for this.
  • Conversational lead forms and WhatsApp campaigns: Landbot.
  • Free live chat first, AI later: tawk.to, or the Aftersales Free plan if you want AI resolutions included.
  • Small online store wanting chat, AI and pop-ups in one widget: Tidio.
  • Flat pricing with several seats included: Crisp.
  • A custom bot built by a developer: Botpress.

How much does an AI chatbot for a website cost?

Per-resolution pricing tracks results; credit and conversation pricing tracks traffic. Here is one example using list prices.

Example assumptions: a services business gets 600 website chats a month, has 2 people answering, and Agent resolves 50% of chats (below the 71% median, to be cautious).

  • Aftersales Starter: 2 seats × $24 = $48 per month, billed annually.
  • Agent: 300 resolutions × $0.99 = $297 per month. The other 300 chats go to your team and cost nothing extra.
  • Total: about $345 per month, or roughly $0.58 per website chat.

If your volume is low, start on the Free plan: the first 50 resolutions are free. See pricing and our guide to measuring resolution rate.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI chatbot for a small business website?
It depends on what visitors ask. For support questions that need an answer or an action, Aftersales resolves them for $0.99 per resolution and has a free plan. For a quick FAQ bot, Chatbase and SiteGPT are fast to set up, and for lead capture into a CRM, HubSpot is the stronger choice.
Is there a free AI chatbot for websites?
Yes. Aftersales Free includes live chat and the first 50 Agent resolutions, Chatbase Free includes 50 message credits a month, and Botpress Free includes 100 conversations a month. Tidio, Crisp and tawk.to have free live chat with AI as a paid extra, and HubSpot's free chatbot builder is rule-based rather than AI.
How do I add an AI chatbot to my website?
Most tools give you a snippet of code or a plugin for your site builder. You point the bot at your website pages, help articles or documents, set what it should and should not answer, decide when it hands off to a person, then test it before switching it on for visitors.
Can an AI chatbot capture leads?
Yes, but tools differ. HubSpot, Landbot, Tidio Flows and SiteGPT are built to collect contact details or book meetings. Aftersales is focused on resolving support conversations, so pair it with a lead tool if lead generation is your main goal.
How much does a website AI chatbot cost?
Most tools here start free, and the cheapest paid plans run from about $24 to $150 a month, but usage drives the real cost. Billing units include per resolution (Aftersales $0.99, HubSpot $0.50 on paid editions), message credits (Chatbase), AI chats (Landbot, Tidio) and conversations (Botpress).
What is the difference between a website chatbot and a customer service chatbot?
A website chatbot is judged on how quickly it goes live and how well it answers visitors and captures leads. A customer service chatbot is judged on resolving support across every channel, including email, WhatsApp and phone. Aftersales covers both, and our customer service chatbot comparison covers the second in depth.
AS
The Aftersales teamCustomer service product specialists

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