Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
Chatbots reduce customer support costs while maintaining 24/7 availability. With generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, more businesses are adopting them.
Ambiguous pricing models create barriers to adoption. Here’s what chatbot platforms actually cost, explained clearly.
We built a calculator showing pricing options for top chatbot platforms selected based on market presence metrics like review count. Pricing simplified based on average monthly message requests.
*Intercom doesn’t specify text request limits on website; contact sales for accuracy.
**Prices are for deepseek-chat. Input tokens distinguish between cache hits and misses; we’ve provided pricing for hits (requests the chatbot can fulfill). We’ve assumed average input and output tokens are 20.
Understanding large language model pricing can be challenging. Check LLM pricing guide to understand how tokens work.
Products sorted alphabetically in 2 groups: Fixed pricing first, then usage-based pricing.
Fixed pricing model: Doesn’t change with usage level. Costs $200, handles 10,000 text requests. Price stays $200 whether chatbot handles 1 or 10,000 conversations. Some fixed plans limit the number of agents who can access the platform.
Usage-based pricing model: Changes with usage. Charges $0.50 per conversation. One conversation costs $0.50. 10,000 conversations cost $5,000.
Each product on our table except Drift provides free trial. Drift doesn’t share pricing information publicly contact sales to employ it.mation publicly, so you must contact sales to employ it.
Fixed models offer different features within themselves according to price plan:
* Drift does not offer multiple prices for different plans with various features.
Offered by proprietary chatbot companies
Most chatbot companies offer a free plan for their standard package chatbot. Free chatbots offer basic features, such as 3rd party application integration, basic analytics, and a ticketing system. But they have limitations, such as:
Free plans are ideal for businesses that lack the budget to invest in chatbots or want to explore the chatbot’s capabilities before making an investment.
Offered by open-source vendors
The other type of free chatbots is offered by open-source chatbot vendors. Open-source chatbots offer more customizability than free versions of traditional vendors’ chatbots. However, they may not provide extensive customer support and may require programming knowledge to develop the bot.
Standard packages of chatbots charge a monthly fixed or usage-based fee. The benefits tend to be a step-up from free packages, generally providing users with:
Standard packages are most suitable for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have outgrown the limitations of free plans, but do not yet require the Enterprise package.
Enterprise packages offer the most features, are the most expensive, but pricing is flexible. User chooses and pays only for what they need (number of customized integrations). Case-by-case pricing requires calling the sales department for a personalized quote.
In addition to offering more features in the Standard package (such as deployment on multiple channels or handling multiple languages), Enterprise chatbots:
The Enterprise packages are the most suitable for large companies with scalable, complex automation and integration needs.
Companies may wish to develop their own custom chatbots rather than use a pre-built platform.
Developing an in-house bot gives you control over the platform, customization, and data. However, it requires time, technical skills, and ongoing maintenance.
To build your custom chatbot, you’d roughly have to pay for the following factors:
To ensure that you only pay for what you need – whether picking a chatbot off the rack or building your own – consider the following best practices. If you still have questions, reach out to us:
Define the objective of your chatbot, including:
Compare your budget with the total cost of ownership of using a pre-built or customized chatbot. Some conversational AI plans might not fit your business interests. Personalized chatbot development cost varies case by case, depending on production factors.
To create a shortlist amongst all chatbot platforms, focus on vendors with the highest employee count as an indicator of market success and overreach. Read users’ reviews on aggregators’ websites like G2 and customers’ case studies.
Especially if you are in a data-sensitive industry, like healthcare, see if they have developed chatbots for that sector before. Take advantage of vendors’ free chatbots and demos to see if they suit your needs.
Running a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a chatbot involves creating a scaled-down, operational version to test its feasibility, functionality, and effectiveness before full-scale development and deployment.
The PoC helps businesses validate assumptions, evaluate technical requirements, and assess user engagement and satisfaction, thereby reducing risks and offering insights for improvement.
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