The best free AI chatbots in 2026, fine print included
Every vendor says free. The fine print says 50 replies, forced logos, or agents deleted after 14 days of inactivity. We audited 7 free plans on their live pricing pages so you can pick one without surprises.
Verified July 2026 • 7 free plans audited • Every catch listed, including ours
Disclosure, and how we audited
EzyConn is our product, and it appears first on this page. To keep the comparison honest, every price, limit, and catch below was verified on each vendor's live pricing page in July 2026, and every tool's catch is listed, including ours. Where a vendor does not state a number plainly in public, we say "not verified" instead of guessing.
What free actually means
If you just want a free AI chatbot for your website, this table shows what each vendor actually includes at $0, and where the meter, the logo, or the deletion policy is hiding.
| Vendor | AI conversations or credits / month | Seats or agents | Branding on widget | Biggest catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EzyConn Basic | 100 AI conversations | 2 seats | None, your logo | Beta product; 100 conversations a month cap |
| HubSpot free | Limited bots, no AI allowance | 2 users | Forced HubSpot branding | Deep bot features need paid Service Hub |
| Tidio free | 50 Lyro AI conversations | Not verified | Not verified | Per-conversation billing above the cap |
| Chatbase free | 50 message credits | 1 AI agent | Powered by Chatbase; removal costs $1,188/yr | Agents deleted after 14 days of inactivity |
| Botpress free | 100 conversations | 3 seats, 3 agents | Not verified | Next paid tier jumps to $150/mo |
| Landbot Sandbox | 100 chats; AI chats metered separately | 1 seat | Not verified | AI is a separate metered unit; EUR pricing |
| ManyChat free | 25 contacts, not conversations | Not verified | ManyChat branding | Built for social DMs, not website support |
"Not verified" means the vendor does not state the figure plainly on its public pricing page. All other numbers were read directly from live pricing pages on July 15, 2026. Intercom and Zendesk are absent because neither has a free plan: both offer 14-day trials only.
The 7 free plans, audited
Each entry below states what the free plan includes, then names its catch. Ours included.
1.EzyConn Basic
$0 forever, no credit cardEzyConn’s free Basic plan gives you 2 seats, 100 AI conversations a month, and an unlimited website widget that carries your logo, not ours. No credit card is required, and the plan does not expire. The AI is multi-model, running on GPT-4o and Claude, and the same bot answers on your website and natively inside Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, and Google Chat. It is the only plan in this audit with no vendor branding at $0.
The catch: the product is in beta, and the 100 AI conversations a month cap is a hard limit.
See the full free plan details2.HubSpot free live chat
$0 for 2 usersHubSpot’s free tier is genuinely $0 for 2 users, and it includes live chat plus limited bots. If your company already runs on HubSpot’s CRM, it is a reasonable way to put a chat box on your site without adding another vendor. The trade shows up in front of your visitors: on the free tier, the widget carries forced HubSpot branding, and the deeper bot features sit behind paid Service Hub, which starts at roughly $7 to $15 per seat.
The catch: your free widget advertises HubSpot to every visitor, and real bot depth requires a paid Service Hub subscription.
3.Tidio free
Free, paid from $24.17/moTidio’s free plan includes 50 Lyro AI conversations a month and Flows for up to 100 visitors, which is enough to see whether the AI can actually answer your customers. Paid plans start at $24.17 a month. Fifty AI replies sounds workable on paper, but on a site with steady traffic that allowance can be gone well before the month ends, and the billing model above the cap deserves a careful read.
The catch: 50 AI replies runs out fast, and above the cap you move onto per-conversation billing.
Compare EzyConn vs Tidio4.Chatbase free
Free, 50 credits/moChatbase’s free tier gives you 50 message credits a month and 1 AI agent, and it is a quick way to test a bot trained on your docs. Two lines of fine print matter more than the headline. First, free agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity, so a bot you built in March may simply be gone in April. Second, the widget says Powered by Chatbase, and removing that branding costs $1,188 a year.
The catch: inactivity deletes your agent after 14 days, and a branding-free widget costs $1,188 a year.
5.Botpress free
Free, next tier $150/moBotpress gives free users 100 conversations a month, 3 seats, and 3 agents, which is one of the more generous allowances in this audit, and there are no top-ups to meter you beyond that. The structure is the story here: when you outgrow the free tier, there is no gentle middle step. The next tier jumps straight to $150 a month, which is a hard landing for a small team that only needed a little more room.
The catch: the first paid tier is $150 a month, the steepest jump from free of any tool here.
6.Landbot Sandbox
Free forever, 1 seatLandbot’s Sandbox plan is free forever with 100 chats a month and 1 seat, and the visual builder makes it easy to assemble a structured flow without code. Read the meter definitions before you commit. AI chats are a separate metered unit from regular chats, so the 100-chat headline does not describe what the AI itself will handle for you. Pricing is also listed in EUR, which matters if your budget lives in dollars.
The catch: AI conversations are metered separately from the 100 free chats, and pricing is in EUR.
7.ManyChat free
Free, 25 contacts/moManyChat’s free plan covers 25 contacts a month across 2 channels, with ManyChat branding attached. It is a genuinely capable tool for what it was built for: automated conversations in Instagram and Messenger DMs. That focus is also the limitation. If your customers arrive through your website rather than through social inboxes, ManyChat is the wrong shape for the job, because it is not designed to be a website support widget.
The catch: it is built for Instagram and Messenger DMs, not website support, and the free tier caps at 25 contacts a month.
Missing from this list: Intercom and Zendesk
Neither has a free plan. Both offer 14-day trials only, so once the clock runs out, every seat is paid. If you are evaluating either one, our Intercom alternative page walks through the cost math.
Which free plan fits you
There is no single best free chatbot, only a best one for the job in front of you. Match the scenario, then check the catch before you commit.
Website support
EzyConn Basic is the strongest fit: 100 AI conversations a month, an unlimited widget with no vendor branding, and human handoff across 2 seats. If your company already runs on HubSpot’s CRM and the forced branding does not bother you, HubSpot’s free live chat is the runner-up.
Teams, Slack, and internal support
EzyConn is the only tool in this audit whose bot works natively inside Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, and Google Chat, so IT and HR teams can answer employees where they already work, with no separate portal to log into.
Ecommerce stores
Tidio’s 50 free Lyro conversations are a reasonable way to test AI answers on a small store, as long as you watch the per-conversation billing above the cap. If a branding-free widget on your storefront matters more, start with EzyConn Basic instead.
Instagram and Messenger DMs
ManyChat is the only tool here built for social DMs, and it is good at them. Accept the 25-contact monthly cap and the ManyChat branding, and know going in that it is not designed to be a website support widget.
Weighing live chat as much as AI? See our guide to the best live chat software or the full website AI chatbot feature tour.
Free AI chatbot FAQ
Is there a truly free AI chatbot without branding?
Most free plans keep the vendor’s logo on your widget: HubSpot forces its branding on the free tier, Chatbase charges $1,188 a year to remove Powered by Chatbase, and ManyChat keeps its branding on free accounts. EzyConn Basic is the exception in this audit: the widget carries your logo at $0, with 2 seats and 100 AI conversations a month, and no credit card is required.
How many conversations do free plans include?
The spread is wide. Tidio includes 50 Lyro AI conversations a month, Chatbase gives 50 message credits, EzyConn and Botpress each allow 100 conversations, Landbot allows 100 chats but meters AI chats separately, and ManyChat counts 25 contacts rather than conversations. Intercom and Zendesk include zero, because neither offers a free plan at all, only 14-day trials.
Do free chatbots train on my data?
It depends on the vendor, so check each privacy policy before you upload your docs. EzyConn’s answer is simple: there is no LLM data retention and zero training on your data, on the free Basic plan and on paid plans alike. Your content is used to answer your customers, not to improve anyone’s models.
What happens when I hit the free limit?
Each vendor handles it differently. Tidio moves you onto per-conversation billing above its 50-conversation cap, Botpress sells no top-ups so your next step is the $150 a month tier, and Chatbase deletes an agent entirely after 14 days of inactivity. On EzyConn, the 100-conversation cap resets every month, and if you need more you can upgrade to Pro at $25 a month or Unlimited at $95 a month.
Free should mean free
Start on EzyConn Basic: 2 seats, 100 AI conversations a month, your logo on the widget, and no credit card. When you outgrow it, Pro is $25/mo and Unlimited is $95/mo flat.