The best AI chatbot for your website in 2026 is the one whose paid plan actually includes the AI replying, at a price you can predict. That sounds obvious. It is not how most of the category is priced. Of the seven products below, four meter the AI separately from the plan, one has no free plan at all, and one deletes your agent if you stop using it for two weeks. Every figure here was read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 15 September 2026, and each page is linked so you can check it.
We build ConvertPilot, and it is on this list. We say so up front, we put it first on the test we set, and we say where each of the others is the better choice. If the test were different, the order would be too.
Compare the cheapest plan that includes the AI answering with no per-reply fee. Entry prices are not comparable, because entry plans do not include the same thing.
The test, and why it is this one
A website chatbot in 2026 is bought for one reason: to answer customers without a person doing it. So the number that matters is not the plan price. It is the price at which the AI is actually answering, and whether that price moves when the AI answers more. Four of the seven products below charge for AI replies separately: per conversation, per credit, per outcome or per automated interaction. That makes the monthly bill a function of how well the product works, which is a strange thing to want.
The ranking is by the cheapest published plan that includes AI replies at a flat monthly price. Ties are broken by whether there is a real free plan (not a trial), and by whether the AI shows its sources. Nothing here is a judgement of answer quality, which cannot be measured from a pricing page.
Seven AI chatbots, side by side
| Product | Cheapest paid plan | Is the AI included at that price? | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| ConvertPilot | $8.99 a month | Yes: 250 AI replies per 30 days, no per-reply fee | Yes: full AI on chat and email for the first 50 customer messages, no card, no expiry |
| Intercom | $19 per seat a month (Essential) | No: Fin AI Agent is $0.99 per outcome on top | No: free trial |
| Tidio | $29 a month (Starter) | Partly: 50 Lyro AI conversations one-off, then AI billed separately | Yes: 50 conversations and 50 AI conversations, one time |
| Chatbase | $40 a month (Hobby) | Metered: 700 message credits | Yes: 50 credits a month; agent deleted after 14 days inactive |
| Gorgias | $40 a month (Starter, with AI Agent) | Limited: then $1.50 per automated interaction | No: free trial |
| Crisp | $45 a month per workspace (Mini) | Partly: $5 of AI credits included | Yes: chat only, no AI credits, no email inbox |
| tawk.to | Free live chat | No: AI Assist is a paid add-on | Yes: live chat is free forever |
Read the third column before the second. Intercom’s $19 looks like the second cheapest until you notice the AI is a separate $0.99 per outcome. Gorgias’s $40 includes a limited number of automated interactions and then charges $1.50 for each one beyond it. Tidio gives fifty AI conversations once, then bills AI separately from human conversations. Only two products on the list put a fixed number of AI replies inside a flat price: ConvertPilot and, at the credit level, Chatbase.
1. ConvertPilot: the AI is inside the price
ConvertPilot has four flat plans. Free runs the full AI on website chat and email for your first 50 customer messages, with no card and no expiry. Plus is $8.99 a month for 250 AI replies per 30 days and no cap on customer messages. Premium, $17.99, adds WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, an SMS number and 1,000 AI replies. Enterprise is $59.99 for 2,000. There is no per-reply fee on any plan.
Two things the others on this list do not publish. Every AI reply opens to a Why this reply trace: the pages, products, orders and rules it used. And the AI answers from your own store data through Shopify and Wix, so it reads the actual order rather than guessing at a delivery date. When it cannot answer, it hands off to the shared inbox with the thread attached.
Where it is the wrong choice. If you need a visual chat-flow builder, a visitor list with proactive triggers, or the app ecosystem of a large helpdesk, the products below have those and ConvertPilot does not. It is built for a store or service business that wants the AI answering on every channel from day one, at a price that does not move.
2. Tidio: the closest comparison, with the AI metered
Tidio is the product most people will compare against, and for good reason: a free plan, a shared inbox, live chat, and Lyro, its AI agent. The free plan gives 50 billable conversations and 50 Lyro conversations, one time. Starter is $29 a month for 100 billable conversations with the same 50 Lyro conversations one-off; beyond that, the page says you pay separately for AI and human conversations. Growth starts at $59, Plus at $300.
Tidio wins on Flows, its visual automation builder for proactive chat, and on the size of its integrations catalogue. If you want a chat that pops up on exit intent with a discount, Tidio has a dedicated product for it. The full side-by-side is at ConvertPilot vs Tidio.
3. Intercom: the most complete, priced per seat and per outcome
Intercom is the reference product in support software, and its pricing page is honest about how it is built: Essential is $19 per seat a month (shown with $29 struck through), and Fin, the AI agent, is $0.99 per resolved outcome on top. Advanced is $85 per seat, Expert $132. WhatsApp and SMS are pay-as-you-go extras. There is no free plan.
Intercom wins for a support team that already has seats, wants Fin on top of a full helpdesk, and can absorb a per-outcome bill. For a single store owner, $19 a seat plus $0.99 an answer is a different category of spend from $8.99 flat.
4. Chatbase: an agent builder first
Chatbase prices everything in message credits: 50 a month free, 700 on Hobby at $40, 4,000 on Standard at $150, 15,000 on Pro at $500. The helpdesk, voice and telephony start at Standard. The free plan’s condition is worth reading: AI agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity.
Chatbase wins for a team that wants to build and tune the agent in detail, with actions and voice, and treats support as one of several jobs for it. Compared at ConvertPilot vs Chatbase.
5. Gorgias: the ecommerce helpdesk, billed per ticket
Gorgias is the deepest Shopify helpdesk on the list. With the AI Agent toggled on, Starter is $40 a month billed monthly (the helpdesk at $10 plus the AI Agent at $30); Basic is $77 a month billed annually or $90 monthly, with 300 tickets and 30 automated interactions; Pro $471; Advanced $1,227. Past the limits, tickets are $0.36 to $0.40 each and automated interactions $1.50 each. No free plan.
Gorgias wins at volume: macros, revenue attribution per ticket, and tiers built for thousands of tickets a month. Compared at ConvertPilot vs Gorgias.
6. Crisp: a generous free inbox, without the AI
Crisp is free forever for a website chat widget with two seats, a shared inbox and mobile apps. The free plan includes no AI credits and no shared email inbox. Mini, at $45 a month per workspace, adds the email inbox, four seats and $5 of AI credits. Above that, Essentials for the full platform.
Crisp wins on breadth: campaigns, a knowledge base product, a CRM and chat SDKs for native apps, all in one suite. Compared at ConvertPilot vs Crisp.
7. tawk.to: free live chat, AI as an add-on
tawk.to is the free-forever live chat, and it genuinely is free for live chat. Its AI, called AI Assist, is a paid add-on rather than part of the plan, and the page describes it as answering from the knowledge base you build. It is on this list because it is the answer to “what if I only want chat,” and it is last because the test is about the AI.
How to choose, in three questions
- Will the AI answer most of your questions? If yes, pick from the products where the AI is inside the plan price, because a metered bill grows exactly when the product is working.
- Do you need a human team in the same inbox? If yes, the pure agent builders are the wrong shape; you want a shared inbox with assignment, priority and handoff, and the AI inside it.
- Which channels do your customers actually use? Check which plan adds WhatsApp and Instagram. On ConvertPilot that is Premium at $17.99; on Intercom they are pay-as-you-go; on Tidio and Gorgias they sit on higher tiers.
If the answer to the first question is yes and you run a store or take bookings, start with the free plan of whichever product you are weighing and ask it your ten most common questions. The one that answers from your actual product and order data, and shows you why, is the one to pay for. That is the whole test, and it takes an afternoon.