How Much Does an AI Chatbot for Your Website Cost in 2026?

The short answer: anywhere from $0 to well over $1,000 a month. The useful answer depends on three things: how many questions your visitors ask, how many sites or clients you run, and how many people on your team need access.

The sticker price rarely tells you which of those you're paying for. One tool charges per message, another per resolved conversation, another per seat. This guide explains each pricing model, the costs that don't show up on the headline number, and what two real setups would pay with each tool.

The five ways AI chatbots are priced

Almost every website AI chatbot uses one of these models, or a mix:

• Per message or credit. You get a monthly allowance of messages or "credits," and each answer uses some. Chatbase, DocsBot, SiteGPT and CustomGPT.ai work this way.
• Per conversation. You pay for each chat, however many messages it has. Tidio's Lyro AI agent counts conversations.
• Per resolution. You pay only when the AI solves the problem. Intercom's Fin charges per outcome, on top of seat fees.
• Per seat. Help desk tools charge for each team member who logs in, then add AI on top.
• Build your own. You connect a model API (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) to your own code and pay per token, plus hosting and developer time.

None of these is wrong. Per-message pricing is predictable if your volume is steady. Per-resolution pricing feels fair but can get expensive fast once the AI is good at its job.

What each tool charges (checked 1 November 2026)

These are the public plans from each vendor's own pricing page, checked on 1 November 2026, in US dollars per month. Vendors change prices often, so re-check before you budget.

A few notes on reading this table:

• Units aren't equal. A DocsBot credit, a SiteGPT message, a CustomGPT.ai query and a Tidio conversation are all different things. SiteGPT says each message counts both the question and the reply.
• Free plans exist but are small. DocsBot and Vosaire both have a free plan with 100 AI answers a month. Tidio gives 50 Lyro conversations. SiteGPT has no free plan, only a 7-day trial with a card.
• Bigger plans can be better value per message. DocsBot's $499 plan includes 60,000 credits, which is far more than our largest self-serve plan includes in replies.

The hidden costs that change the bill

The headline price is what you pay in a quiet month with default settings. These are the line items that push it up:

AI model multipliers

Many tools charge more credits for smarter models. DocsBot lists multipliers from 1x on its base model up to 50x on its largest one, so 5,000 credits can mean 5,000 answers or 100. SiteGPT counts its larger model at 10 times the rate of its small one. Chatbase offers several models but doesn't state per-model credit costs on its pricing page.

Overages and top-ups

What happens when you run out matters more than the allowance itself:

• Chatbase: $40 per 1,000 extra credits.
• DocsBot: $49 per 5,000 extra credits a month.
• SiteGPT: extra 5,000 messages from $39 a month billed yearly.
• CustomGPT.ai: 2,500 extra queries for $375 a month.
• Intercom Fin: no cap, so a busy month is simply a bigger bill.

Branding removal

The "Powered by" line is often a paid extra. Chatbase charges $99 a month to remove it. SiteGPT charges $39 a month billed yearly. DocsBot includes unbranded widgets on its Business plan only.

Extra chatbots and seats

If you run more than one site, the chatbot count can matter more than the message count. Chatbase plans include one agent, with extras at $25 each. DocsBot charges $19 per extra bot and $19 per extra user. Intercom bills every seat.

What drives your real cost

Before comparing tools, write down three numbers:

1. Monthly questions. Look at your current support inbox or chat volume. A docs site with steady traffic might see a few thousand questions a month; a busy SaaS help center far more.
2. Number of sites or clients. An agency with ten client sites needs ten chatbots, ideally kept apart. A company with a marketing site, docs and an app may want three.
3. Team size. Who needs to read conversations, edit answers or see leads?

Then check which model you plan to use. If you need the largest model for every answer, a credit-based plan shrinks fast.

Worked example 1: one SaaS docs site

A SaaS company wants an AI chatbot on its help docs. About 3,000 answers a month, one site, one person managing it, a small model is fine.

Here DocsBot is the cheapest option, as long as you stay on its 1x model. If those 3,000 answers come from roughly 1,000 conversations and Fin resolves 60% of them, Intercom would be about $594 in outcomes plus at least one seat.

Worked example 2: an agency with 12 client sites

An agency runs AI chatbots for 12 clients. About 8,000 answers a month in total, four team members, and the chatbots should not say "Powered by" anyone else.

SiteGPT's self-serve plans top out at three chatbots, so this setup would need its Enterprise plan. This is the kind of account where per-chatbot pricing, not per-message pricing, decides the bill.

Should you build your own with an API?

Building on a model API is the cheapest per answer on paper. Small models cost fractions of a cent per reply. But you also pay for:

• Crawling and keeping your content up to date.
• A chat widget, lead capture and conversation history.
• Hosting, monitoring and someone to fix it when a page changes.

For a developer team that wants full control, it can make sense. For most businesses, a few hours of developer time costs more than a year of a hosted plan.

How Vosaire prices its website AI chatbot

The Vosaire website AI chatbot uses flat plans with one simple unit: every answer the AI chatbot sends counts as one AI reply, whichever model writes it. There are no model multipliers.

Yearly billing is 10 times the monthly price, and India plans are priced in rupees. Business removes "Powered by Vosaire".

If you need more, monthly add-ons are requested from Billing and invoiced: +5,000 replies for $39, +10,000 for $75, +25,000 for $179, +50,000 for $349, extra AI chatbots at $9, workspaces at $15 and team members at $9. For higher volume, the custom plan section suggests a plan from your numbers.

To be fair: if you send very high volumes on small models, DocsBot's larger plans include more credits than our plans include replies. Where Vosaire tends to win is chatbot count, workspaces and team seats per dollar. The DocsBot alternative page has the full side-by-side.

FAQ

What is the cheapest AI chatbot for a website? For low volume, a free plan: DocsBot and Vosaire each give 100 AI answers a month at $0. For a single site with a few thousand questions, entry plans between $29 and $59 usually cover it.

Is per-resolution pricing cheaper than per-message? Usually not at volume. At $0.99 per outcome, 600 resolved chats cost about $594 a month. Per-message plans cost a fraction of that for the same traffic.

Do AI chatbot prices include branding removal? Often not. Check whether removing the "Powered by" line is a paid add-on or limited to the top plan.

Can I switch tools without rebuilding my chatbot? Yes, if the new tool imports your content. We wrote a guide on how to migrate from DocsBot that covers what should carry over.

Work out your own number

Take your monthly questions, sites and team size, and price them against two or three tools from the table above. If you'd like to test on your own site first, start on Vosaire's free plan with no card, then see every plan in your currency on the website chatbot pricing page.