Alternatives
The 7 best Chatbase alternatives in 2026
Chatbase is the best-known way to train an AI chatbot on your own content — and for many people the pricing is the reason to look elsewhere: $40/month covers 500 message credits, free agents are deleted after 14 idle days, and the feature-complete Standard tier is $150/month. Here are seven alternatives, each with real numbers from their public pricing (checked July 2026) and a straight answer about who it suits. One of them — Kelma — is ours; we say so, and we link everyone else so you can check.
- 1.
Kelma
- Pricing
- Free plan; paid from €15/mo
- AI capacity
- 5M tokens ≈ 1,500–2,500 AI replies on the €15 Starter plan
- Best for
- Small businesses that want real capacity, every channel and no branding for the price of lunch
Full disclosure: Kelma is our product, so weigh this entry accordingly — but the numbers are checkable. Where Chatbase's $40/month Hobby plan includes 500 message credits, Kelma's €15 Starter covers roughly 1,500–2,500 replies, includes a second agent, removes the branding, and connects WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Slack, SMS and email. The free plan's agent is never deleted for inactivity — Chatbase deletes free agents after 14 idle days. What Kelma doesn't have: voice calls and Chatbase's big selectable model menu.
- 2.
Chatling
- Pricing
- Free plan; paid from $29–40/mo
- AI capacity
- 3,000 credits/mo — one reply costs 0.5–14 credits depending on the model
- Best for
- Tinkerers who want a visual flow builder and lots of model choice on a budget
The friendliest cheap alternative, with a real free tier and a drag-and-drop builder. The credit system is the catch: capacity depends entirely on which model you pick, and removing the 'Powered by Chatling' badge requires the $99+/month Ultimate plan.
- 3.
SiteGPT
- Pricing
- No free plan; from $39/mo
- AI capacity
- 4,000 messages/mo (visitor + AI messages both count ≈ 2,000 exchanges)
- Best for
- Site owners who want simple flat pricing and don't mind paying for de-branding
Honest flat pricing and a focused product. Downsides: no free tier (7-day trial), one chatbot on Starter, API only from the $79 Growth plan, and branding removal is a +$39/month add-on — a de-branded starter bot is effectively $78/month.
- 4.
Tidio (Lyro AI)
- Pricing
- Plans from $29/mo + Lyro AI add-on from $39/mo
- AI capacity
- Entry Lyro add-on covers 50 AI conversations/mo
- Best for
- E-commerce stores that want human-first live chat with native Shopify/WooCommerce tooling
A mature live-chat and helpdesk suite — but the AI is a separately billed add-on, so a working AI setup starts around $68/month for 50 AI conversations, plus ~$20/month to remove branding. Great if humans answer most chats; expensive if the AI should.
- 5.
Crisp
- Pricing
- From $45/mo per workspace
- AI capacity
- ~$5 of AI credits (≈90 automated conversations) on Mini; real AI chatbot needs the $95/mo Essentials plan
- Best for
- Seat-heavy human support teams who want flat workspace pricing and unlimited human chat
Excellent value for human support: flat per-workspace pricing, bundled seats, unlimited conversations. The AI side is metered dollar credits on top, at a much higher effective rate per automated conversation than token-based tools.
- 6.
Botpress
- Pricing
- PAYG $0 + usage; Plus $150/mo (annual)
- AI capacity
- 250 conversations included on Plus, then $0.65 each
- Best for
- Developers and agencies building custom conversational software
Not really a Chatbase competitor — it's an agent-building platform with a studio and SDK. Enormous power if you're building something bespoke; overkill and over-budget (roughly $0.65 per conversation) if you just need your website answered.
- 7.
Intercom Fin
- Pricing
- Seats $29–139/mo each + $0.99 per AI resolution
- AI capacity
- Pay per success — 500 resolutions ≈ $495 + seats
- Best for
- Funded support orgs that want the strongest resolution engine inside a full enterprise helpdesk
Probably the best AI support agent on the market, attached to the most expensive pricing model: every resolved conversation costs $0.99 on top of per-seat fees. Superb for scale-ups with support budgets; the wrong shape entirely for a small business website.
The short version
- Most AI capacity per euro: Kelma (€15/mo ≈ 1,500–2,500 replies, badge-free, all channels).
- Cheapest with a flow builder: Chatling ($29–40/mo, watch the per-model credit burn).
- Simplest flat pricing, no free tier: SiteGPT ($39/mo + $39 to de-brand).
- Human-first live chat: Tidio (e-commerce) or Crisp (flat workspace pricing).
- Building something custom: Botpress. Enterprise support org: Intercom Fin.
Frequently asked questions
Three reasons come up most: price per conversation (Hobby's $40/month includes 500 message credits), the free plan deleting agents after 14 days of inactivity, and the jump to $150/month for the Standard tier where most business features live.
For AI-led support capacity, Kelma's €15/month Starter (~1,500–2,500 replies, branding removal and all channels included) is the strongest value in this list. Chatling's $29–40 Starter is close behind if you stick to its cheaper models and can live with the badge.
Crisp (flat workspace pricing, unlimited human conversations) or Tidio (deep e-commerce integrations). Both treat AI as a metered add-on, which is fine when humans do most of the answering.
All pricing was taken from each vendor's public pricing page as of July 2026. Kelma is our own product — the comparison discloses that and links each competitor's site so you can verify every figure.
Competitor names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Figures reflect public pricing pages as of July 2026 and may have changed — always confirm on the vendor's site. Corrections welcome via the chat widget.