The Cheapest AI Chatbot in 2026: Every Price, Ranked
If you are price-shopping, you want one thing: a list starting at the lowest number that says what is wrong with each option. Cheapest first, catch stated, no vendor number we have not checked ourselves.
Read this bit first
- EzyConn is our product. We appear in the ranking below and have an obvious interest in where. Every EzyConn row is labelled.
- We only quote published prices. Competitor figures were checked in July 2026. Where a vendor publishes no number, we describe how they charge rather than guess.
- This is a shortlist, not a pricing course. For models and hidden fees, read AI chatbot pricing explained. For the per-seat versus per-resolution arithmetic, read AI support pricing models compared.
The short answer
The cheapest AI chatbot is $0, and that is a real answer rather than a trick. Several vendors run a free-forever tier, and the differences between those free tiers matter far more than the gap between the $25 and $29 plans above them.
Most vendors split the bill in two: a plan fee, and a separate meter for the AI. A $0 plan with metered AI can cost more in month three than a $25 plan with the AI included. Read the third column, not the second.
The price ladder, cheapest first
Monthly list prices in US dollars. Competitor figures checked July 2026.
| Option | Price | AI allowance | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp click-to-chat button | $0 | None | Not a chatbot. No widget, no history, no routing, and the chat leaves your site. |
| EzyConn Free (our product) | $0 | 1,000 AI credits a month, resets | 2 people, 1 chatbot, 500 messages a month. |
| Crisp free | $0 | None | The free tier has no AI, so you cannot test the part you are shopping for. |
| Tidio free | $0 | 50 Lyro, one-off | Not a monthly reset. Once spent, free AI stops for good. |
| EzyConn Starter (our product) | $25, or $240 a year billed annually | 10,000 AI credits a month | 4 people, 3 chatbots, 5,000 messages. Adds Workflows and AI Actions. |
| Social Intents Lite | $29 | Not verified by us | A close rival on price. We publish the price, not their AI allowance. |
| Tidio Lyro AI | from about $32.50 | 50 a month | An add-on price, not a total. It sits on top of your Tidio plan. |
| Crisp Mini | $45 | About 90 (a $5 credit) | AI is a dollar balance. When it runs dry mid-month, the AI stops answering. |
| EzyConn Professional (our product) | $95, or $912 a year billed annually | 50,000 AI credits a month | 11 people, 10 chatbots, 25,000 messages, and the EzyConn badge removed. |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 | About 450 (a $25 credit) | Ten seats, and the AI is still metered as a balance rather than included. |
| Crisp Plus | $295 | A larger credit balance | This is the first Crisp tier where the watermark can be removed. |
| Intercom Essential plus Fin | $39 per seat, plus $0.99 per resolution | Metered | Two meters at once. Ten seats is $390 a month before a single AI answer. |
Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, LiveChat, Tawk.to, Help Scout, Front, Plain and Pylon are absent on purpose. Zendesk and Freshdesk charge per agent and meter AI on top. Pylon publishes no pricing at all. We will not invent a figure to fill a row.
The free tier is where the real differences hide
Four options above cost nothing, and they are not the same product. Crisp's free plan has no AI at all, so you cannot evaluate the feature you came for. Tidio's free tier includes 50 Lyro AI conversations, but as a one-off allowance rather than a monthly reset, so free AI ends for good once spent. Checked July 2026.
EzyConn's free plan is 500 messages a month that reset, plus 1,000 AI credits, for 2 people. Our best free AI chatbot roundup goes through the no-cost tiers properly.
The three ways a cheap chatbot stops being cheap
The AI is a separate meter. Tidio prices Lyro AI apart from the plan, from about $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations. Crisp meters AI as a dollar balance: roughly $5 of credit on Mini at $45, which Crisp equates to about 90 automated conversations, and roughly $25 on Essentials at $95, about 450. So your quiet month and your busy month are different prices. Checked July 2026.
The branding is an upsell. A widget carrying someone else's logo is the tax on a cheap plan. Removing Tidio branding costs roughly $16.67 a month on lower tiers. On Crisp, the watermark can first be removed on Plus at $295 a month. Add that fee to the plan fee before comparing.
The seats are metered. Intercom Essential is $39 per seat per month on monthly billing, and Fin adds $0.99 per resolution on top. Ten seats is $390 before any AI runs. Both of the things you want, more people on the rota and more automation, push the invoice the same way.
The cheapest option in the wild is free, and also the worst
We scanned 4,278 small business websites across seven countries. Only 7.5% ran any chat widget. Among those that did, a plain WhatsApp click-to-chat button was 53.7%, more than every dedicated vendor combined. The method is in our live chat adoption study. The lesson is blunt: the most popular choice on the real internet costs nothing, and it is also the most limited thing on this page. No AI, no history, no routing, and the conversation happens on somebody's personal phone. If free is all you can spend, a WhatsApp link beats no chat. Just know what you are choosing.
What makes us the right buy at the cheap end
EzyConn answers from your own website pages and uploaded documents and shows the source. When a visitor wants a person, it hands the chat to your team, who reply from the inbox or Slack.
How to decide in five minutes
- Count last month's enquiries. Under 100, start free.
- Count the people needing a login, weekend cover included.
- Ask whether the AI is included or metered. If metered, price your busiest month. The maths is in our cost per conversation breakdown.
- Check what removing the vendor logo costs.
- Run your shortlist on live traffic for a week before paying.
One last note on our own ladder, since we are on it. EzyConn charges per workspace: Starter is $25 a month and Professional $95 a month, with the free plan at $0 forever and Enterprise by agreement. Annual billing takes 20% off, so Starter comes to $240 a year. Details are on our pricing page, and the head-to-heads live in compare.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest AI chatbot in 2026?
The cheapest AI chatbot is a free-forever plan, not a discounted paid one. EzyConn (our product) covers 2 people with 500 messages and 1,000 AI credits a month for $0. Crisp has a free tier with no AI at all. Tidio gives 50 Lyro AI conversations free, but as a one-off allowance rather than a monthly reset. Competitor figures checked July 2026.
Is a free AI chatbot good enough for a small business?
For most small businesses on their first chatbot, yes. Our scan of 4,278 small business websites found only 7.5% ran any chat widget, so the realistic comparison is not a cheaper vendor, it is having nothing. Around 500 messages a month covers a site getting a few enquiries a day. You outgrow it when the cap cuts you off mid-month, or when you add a second website.
Why do cheap AI chatbots get expensive later?
Three reasons, in order of how often they bite. The AI is metered separately from the plan, so a busy month costs more than a quiet one. Removing vendor branding is a paid upgrade, so a professional widget is not really in the cheap price. And per-seat billing raises the bill when you add a weekend helper. Check all three before comparing headline numbers.
What is the cheapest AI chatbot with no branding on the widget?
It depends on how each vendor sells badge removal. On EzyConn, removing the EzyConn badge comes with the Professional plan at $95 a month, with no separate add-on fee. On Tidio, branding removal is an add-on of roughly $16.67 a month on lower tiers. On Crisp, the watermark can first be removed on the Plus plan at $295 a month. Figures checked July 2026.
Start at $0 and move up only when the cap bites
2 people, 500 messages a month that reset, 1,000 AI credits. GPT-4o and Claude on every plan, including this one. No per-seat fee and no per-resolution fee at any tier.
Start freeCompetitor pricing checked July 2026 from each vendor's own published pricing. Prices change, so verify before you buy. Where a vendor publishes no figure we describe the billing model rather than estimate. EzyConn is our own product.