Chatbase made "train an AI chatbot on your website" easy, and it's grown into a mature AI agent platform with many integrations, voice agents and enterprise features. But for a small business that just wants a chatbot on its website, the costs can add up: the entry plan is $40 a month, live chat with your team starts at $150, and removing the Chatbase branding is a $99 a month add-on.
A note before we start: we make ConvoAsk, so we're not neutral. To keep this useful, every price below comes from each company's own public pricing page (checked on 14 and 15 October 2026), and we say where each tool is stronger than ours. Prices change, so check their sites before you decide.
Chatbase alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Paid plans start at | Remove branding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ConvoAsk | Small businesses: AI chatbot, live chat and bookings | No; 7-day free trial, no card | $19/month | Included on Pro ($49/month) |
| Botpress | Developers building custom AI agents | Yes, 100 conversations | $150/month, billed yearly | White-label webchat from Plus |
| Tidio | Live chat first, with an AI add-on | Yes, live chat | $24.17/month, plus Lyro AI | Add-on on Growth; included on Plus |
| Crisp | One inbox for chat, email and messaging apps | Yes, without AI | $45/month | Plus ($295/month) |
| Intercom | Larger teams needing a full support platform | 14-day trial | $29 per seat/month | Not covered here |
| LiveChat | Teams that chat with customers all day | 14-day trial | $19 per user/month, billed yearly | White-label widget on Enterprise |
For reference, Chatbase has a 7-day trial, Hobby at $40 a month (700 message credits, 1 AI agent), Standard at $150 a month (4,000 credits, with the helpdesk, API and voice), and a $99 a month add-on to remove branding.
Why look for a Chatbase alternative?
- Branding costs extra. Removing "Powered by Chatbase" is a $99 a month add-on.
- Live chat with your team starts at $150. The helpdesk is on the Standard plan.
- You need more than one chatbot. Extra agents are $25 a month each.
Why you might stay with Chatbase
Chatbase is stronger than most alternatives on integrations (including Stripe, Zendesk and Salesforce), voice agents and telephony, and enterprise needs like SSO, audit logs, white-labeling and HIPAA eligibility. If those matter to you, it's worth the price.
The alternatives, one by one
1. ConvoAsk: the small-business version, at a lower price
ConvoAsk does what most people choose Chatbase for: it learns from your website, files, Notion pages and Google Drive documents, and answers customers from that content, day and night, in their own language. Each answer shows its sources, and it says when it isn't sure.
It adds what small businesses usually ask for next: live chat with your team and bookings (Cal.com and Calendly) from the $19 Starter plan, a handoff on WhatsApp, phone or email, and lead capture.
- Price: 7-day free trial (Pro features, 300 message credits, no card); Starter $19/month (2,000 credits, 3 chatbots, 3 team members); Pro $49/month (5,000 credits, 10 chatbots, helpdesk, API, no ConvoAsk branding).
- Good for: small businesses that want a website chatbot plus live chat and bookings at a low monthly price.
- Watch out for: fewer integrations than Chatbase, and no voice agents or enterprise features like SSO.
Read the full comparison: ConvoAsk vs Chatbase
2. Botpress: build your own agent
Botpress is a platform for designing custom AI agents with your own flows, tools and integrations, popular with developers and agencies.
- Price: free plan with 100 conversations a month; Plus from $150/month billed yearly (250 conversations).
- Good for: teams with developers who want full control.
- Watch out for: you build the agent yourself, which takes time. ConvoAsk vs Botpress
3. Tidio: live chat with the Lyro AI add-on
Tidio is a live chat and helpdesk tool popular with online stores, with Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp on every plan.
- Price: free live chat plan; Starter $24.17/month; Lyro AI from $32.50/month for 50 AI conversations.
- Good for: teams that mainly chat with customers themselves.
- Watch out for: the AI is priced separately. ConvoAsk vs Tidio
4. Crisp: a shared inbox with AI on higher plans
Crisp puts chat, email and messaging apps in one inbox, priced per workspace.
- Price: free plan (no AI credits); Mini $45/month; AI chatbot and knowledge base from Essentials ($95/month).
- Good for: support teams that want every channel in one place.
- Watch out for: the AI chatbot starts at $95 a month. ConvoAsk vs Crisp
5. Intercom: Fin, inside a full support platform
Intercom's Fin AI agent sits inside a complete customer service platform.
- Price: from $29 per seat/month, plus $0.99 per conversation Fin resolves.
- Good for: larger teams that need a full platform.
- Watch out for: per-seat plus per-outcome pricing is hard to predict. ConvoAsk vs Intercom
6. LiveChat: live chat with AI as a helper
LiveChat is a mature live chat tool with AI agents and 200+ integrations.
- Price: $19 per user/month billed yearly, with 10 AI resolutions a month.
- Good for: teams who chat with customers all day.
- Watch out for: a small AI allowance on the entry plan. ConvoAsk vs LiveChat
What it costs: a worked example
A small business that wants its own branding (no "Powered by") and live chat with its team:
- Chatbase: Standard ($150/month) for the helpdesk, plus $99/month to remove branding: $249 a month, with 4,000 message credits.
- ConvoAsk: Pro, $49 a month, with 5,000 message credits, live chat, helpdesk and no ConvoAsk branding.
How to switch from Chatbase
- List your top 20 questions. Pull them from your current chat history: prices, delivery, opening hours, bookings, returns.
- Create a free ConvoAsk account and paste your website. It reads your pages and builds your chatbot's knowledge in a few minutes. Add files, Notion pages or Google Drive documents if your answers live there.
- Test it with those 20 questions, in your customers' own words, plus one question your website doesn't answer. Each answer shows the page it came from, and the chatbot should say when it isn't sure.
- Set up the handoff: live chat with your team, WhatsApp, phone, email or a message form, so people can always reach a person.
- Swap the code on your website. Remove the old chat script and paste ConvoAsk's one line in its place. We have step-by-step guides for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and Webflow, and a 2-minute video for the first three.
Our verdict
If you need voice agents, deep integrations or enterprise compliance, Chatbase is the stronger platform. If you're a small business that wants a website chatbot with live chat and bookings, a free trial to start, and your own branding without a $99 add-on, ConvoAsk is the better fit. If you have developers and want to build something custom, look at Botpress.
You can try ConvoAsk free for 7 days, with every Pro feature and no card needed, and see how it answers your own customers' questions before you change anything on your website. Our step-by-step guide to adding an AI chatbot to your website and its video walkthrough cover the whole setup.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to Chatbase?
Botpress has a free plan with 100 conversations a month. ConvoAsk has a 7-day free trial with every Pro feature and no card needed, then starts at $19 a month. Chatbase itself offers a 7-day trial.
Which Chatbase alternative is best for a small business?
For most small businesses, a tool that learns from your website and includes live chat and bookings at a flat price, like ConvoAsk. If you need voice agents or Salesforce-style integrations, Chatbase may still be the better fit.
Can I move my Chatbase content to ConvoAsk?
Yes. Paste your website address into ConvoAsk and it reads your pages again. You can upload the same files and add your questions and answers.
Are message credits the same in ConvoAsk and Chatbase?
Not exactly. Both count credits per AI reply, and both use more credits for more capable AI models, so compare the number of replies you expect rather than the credit totals alone.