The closest Chatbase alternatives in 2026 are SiteGPT and Chatling, which also sell an AI bot trained on your content and price it by message volume. The other six put the bot inside a team inbox or help desk, so a chat it hands over lands in the queue the team already works. They are Tidio, Crisp, Sektra, Freshchat, Intercom and Zendesk. This guide compares all eight on what each is built for, what the entry and middle plans include, how AI is billed and where the price starts. Every figure was checked on the vendor's pricing page or product documentation in November 2026.
A team that only needs a bot answering from its own content can compare Chatbase with SiteGPT and Chatling, which are priced by message credits and include a few member seats. A team that also answers customers itself has to weigh the inbox the bot is attached to as well. Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat and Sektra attach the bot to chat and email handled by the team, while Intercom and Zendesk attach it to a ticketing help desk. The billing unit differs most across the eight: message credits, AI conversations or sessions, resolved outcomes, or an allowance included in the plan.
What Chatbase costs in 2026
Chatbase is an AI agent builder: a team connects its content as data sources, and the agent answers visitors from that material in a chat widget. Its pricing page lists Hobby at about $32 a month on annual billing, or $40 monthly, with 700 message credits and two members. Basic is about $120 with 4,000 credits, three members and a help desk inbox, and Business is about $400 with 15,000 credits and five members. Extra credits cost $40 per 1,000, and removing the Chatbase badge costs $99 a month. The page lists a 7-day trial on each plan and no free plan, checked November 2026.
We build Sektra, so read our entry with that in mind. Every other figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page or product documentation as it stood in November 2026, in US dollars. Prices are the monthly cost on annual billing with the monthly rate beside it, and each linked page carries the current quotas.
Chatbase alternatives compared
| Tool | Built for | Channels | AI pricing | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbase | An AI agent trained on your content | Website widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Slack | Message credits, 700 to 15,000 a month, then $40 per 1,000 | About $32 a month |
| SiteGPT | A website chatbot trained on pages and files | Website widget, WhatsApp and email as add-ons | Message quota, up to 4,000 to 40,000 a month | About $39 a month |
| Chatling | An AI agent builder with a free plan | Website widget on Free, messaging apps from Starter | AI credits, 200 to 35,000 a month, then $10 per 1,000 | Free, then about $21 a month |
| Tidio | Website chat and ticketing with the Lyro agent | Chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp on every plan | Per AI conversation, $39 a month for 50 | Free, then about $24 a month |
| Crisp | Website chat and a shared inbox per workspace | Chat on Free, email from Mini, WhatsApp and SMS from Essentials | Dollar credit in the plan, $5 on Mini and $25 on Essentials | Free, then $45 a month per workspace |
| Sektra | A shared inbox with a website bot that hands over | Website chat beside Gmail, Outlook, IMAP and WhatsApp Business | Included, with an allowance set by the plan | From $18 per seat a month, billed yearly |
| Freshchat | A chat inbox with the Freddy AI Agent | Chat and email on Free, social, SMS and WhatsApp from Growth | Per session, $49 per 100 after 500 free | Free for 10 agents, then about $19 per agent |
| Intercom | The Fin agent on its help desk or another | Chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS and social | Fin at $0.99 per outcome | About $29 per seat, or Fin alone per outcome |
| Zendesk | A ticketing suite with AI agents | Email on Support Team, chat and voice on the Suite | Per automated resolution, $1.50 to $2.00 past the allowance | About $19 per agent, or $55 for the Suite |
How to choose a Chatbase alternative
The first question is where a conversation goes when the bot cannot answer. Chatbase, SiteGPT and Chatling pass it to their own live inbox, or to a separate help desk such as Zendesk through an integration on the plans that include one. The inbox and help desk tools hand it to a teammate in the same queue that holds the team's email and messaging. Which arrangement fits depends on whether the team already has a place where customer conversations are answered.
The second question is the unit of the AI bill, because the same traffic produces different totals under each. Message credits and quotas count the bot's replies, and at SiteGPT and Chatling the rate depends on the AI model chosen. Tidio counts each AI conversation and Freshchat each session, whether or not the customer got an answer, while Intercom and Zendesk charge per resolved conversation or outcome. At 500 bot conversations a month, the published rates come to $245 at Freshchat and $350 at Tidio. If all 500 are resolved, they come to $495 at Intercom and to between $750 and $1,000 at Zendesk.
AI chatbot builders priced by message volume
1. SiteGPT: a website chatbot trained on your pages and files
SiteGPT is built for one job, a chatbot that answers visitors from the content of a website and uploaded files. Starter includes one chatbot, one member and up to 4,000 messages a month on the smaller of its two AI models. Growth includes two chatbots, four members and up to 10,000 messages, and adds integrations and an iOS app with a live inbox for taking a chat over.
The message quota is the AI price, and the larger model uses it ten times as fast as the smaller one. Extra messages, a WhatsApp number and an email inbox for the bot are add-ons at about $39 a month each on annual billing. Starter is about $39 a month on annual billing, or $59 monthly, and Growth is about $79, with no free plan, checked November 2026. It suits a site owner or small team that wants answers drawn from site content alone.
2. Chatling: an AI agent builder with a free plan
Chatling is built for teams that want to design an AI agent and pay by usage, and it is the one builder here with a free plan. Free includes 200 AI credits a month, one agent and one seat on the website widget. Starter includes 1,750 credits, two agents, two seats and the WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Telegram channels. Growth includes 6,000 credits, five agents, five seats and round robin routing for chats handed to a person.
Credits are the AI price, and the number a reply uses depends on the AI model selected. Extra credits cost $10 per 1,000 a month, an extra seat costs $10, and removing the Chatling badge costs $35 a month. Starter is about $21 a month on annual billing, or $25 monthly, and Growth is about $63, checked November 2026. It fits a small team that wants to test a bot at no cost before committing to a quota.
Chat tools where the bot hands over to the team's inbox
3. Tidio: live chat and a help desk with the Lyro agent
Tidio combines website live chat, a ticketing help desk and Lyro, an AI agent that answers from an uploaded FAQ, a scanned website or imported help articles. Every plan includes live chat, ticketing and the Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp integrations, so a chat Lyro hands over arrives where the team already answers. The free plan covers 50 billable conversations a month, Starter covers 100, and Growth starts at 250.
Lyro is sold separately from the plan and billed for each AI conversation, whether or not the question was resolved. The first 50 conversations are free once, 50 a month cost $39 on monthly billing, and the published tiers run to 1,000 a month at $700. Starter is about $24 a month on annual billing, or $29 monthly, checked November 2026. It suits a small store or service site, and Tidio pricing and Tidio alternatives cover it in detail.
4. Crisp: website chat and a shared inbox with AI credits included
Crisp is built around the website chat widget with a shared inbox behind it, and it prices a whole workspace instead of each seat. The first paid plan, Mini, includes four seats, a shared email inbox and the AI agent. Essentials includes ten seats and adds WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS, a knowledge base, and the option to train the AI on your own content.
AI runs on a dollar credit included with the plan, and the free plan carries none. Mini includes $5 a month, which Crisp puts at around 90 automated conversations, and Essentials includes $25, or around 450. Mini is $45 a month and Essentials $95 for the whole workspace, checked November 2026. It fits a small team that wants chat, email and a bot under one flat price, and Crisp pricing and Crisp alternatives go further.
5. Sektra: a website bot inside a shared inbox for email and WhatsApp
Sektra, which we build, is an AI shared inbox for Gmail, Outlook, IMAP mailboxes and WhatsApp Business that includes a chat widget and a website bot. The bot answers from the hosted help center and the public knowledge library, and it hands over when a visitor asks, sounds upset or gets no answer. The teammate who picks up receives a summary and a drafted reply, and the chat sits beside email and WhatsApp under the same owners, notes and rules.
AI is included in the plan price with no fee per conversation or resolution. The bot's replies draw on a monthly allowance set by the plan, after which chats go straight to a person. Sektra costs $18 per seat a month on Starter or $29 on Team, billed yearly, and the plans, which differ in seats, shared inboxes and that allowance, are on the pricing page. It suits a team that already answers customers by email or WhatsApp and wants website chats in the same queue, and it does not sell the bot without the inbox.
6. Freshchat: a chat inbox with the Freddy AI Agent
Freshchat is the messaging product from Freshworks, built around a chat widget for websites and mobile apps with a shared team inbox. The free plan covers up to 10 agents with the widget, the inbox and a connected support mailbox, without the AI agent. Growth adds the Freddy AI Agent, social messaging, SMS and WhatsApp, and Pro adds multilingual conversations, intelligent routing and SLA policies.
Freddy is billed per session, which Freshworks defines as all of one customer's exchanges with the bot within 24 hours. Each account gets 500 sessions free once, further sessions cost $49 per 100, and purchased packs expire at the end of the billing cycle. Growth is about $19 per agent a month on annual billing, or $23 monthly, and Pro is about $49, checked November 2026. It suits a team that wants a free chat inbox first and a bot later.
Help desks that bill the AI agent per resolution
7. Intercom: the Fin AI agent on Intercom's help desk or yours
Intercom is built for support inside a software product, and Fin is the AI agent that answers first across chat, email, WhatsApp and SMS. On Intercom's own help desk, Essential includes Messenger live chat, a shared inbox with ticketing and a public help center, and Advanced adds workflows and multiple team inboxes. Fin is also sold on its own for teams that keep another help desk, such as Zendesk, Salesforce or HubSpot.
Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, meaning a conversation it resolves or a procedure it completes, charged at most once per conversation. On another help desk the same rate applies, with a minimum of 50 outcomes a month and no seat fee. Essential is about $29 per seat a month on annual billing, or $39 monthly, and Advanced is about $85, checked November 2026. It fits a software company that supports its users in chat at volume, and Intercom alternatives covers the field around it.
8. Zendesk: a ticketing suite with AI agents billed per resolution
Zendesk is built for support operations that run on tickets, with routing, a knowledge base and voice in its Suite plans. Support Team covers email and ticketing, and Suite Team adds messaging and live chat, a knowledge base, AI agents and telephony. Suite Professional adds skills-based routing and is the first plan on which the Copilot add-on for agents can be bought.
AI agents are billed per automated resolution, counted when the bot settles a request without passing it to a person. The Team plans include 5 resolutions per agent a month and Suite Professional includes 10, and further resolutions cost $1.50 each on a committed volume or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Support Team is about $19 per agent a month on annual billing, or $25 monthly, and Suite Team is about $55, checked November 2026. It suits a support operation that already works in tickets, and Zendesk alternatives lists what else sits in that category.
What are the alternatives to SiteGPT?
A team leaving SiteGPT is choosing from the same list, with Chatbase in SiteGPT's place. Chatbase prices by message credits from about $32 a month on annual billing and adds a help desk inbox on its Basic plan, and Chatling is the builder with a free plan. Where the reason for leaving is that chats need a person more often than expected, the inbox tools above apply unchanged. Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat and Sektra cover chat and email, and Intercom and Zendesk cover a ticketing help desk.
Where Sektra fits
Sektra is our own product, and it differs from Chatbase in what is being sold. Chatbase sells the agent and prices it by message credits, while Sektra sells the shared inbox per seat and includes the website bot in it. The bot answers only from the help center and public knowledge with a source on every answer, and a Talk to a person button stays visible throughout the chat. The live chat page describes the handover, Sektra vs Intercom compares it with a per-outcome agent, and the plans are on the pricing page.
Choosing a Chatbase alternative
The decision turns on whether the team answers customers itself. Where the bot is the whole requirement, SiteGPT and Chatling are the like-for-like options, and the comparison comes down to quota, members and the cost of extra messages. A team whose own people answer as well has to compare the tool they work in. Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat and Sektra keep the bot beside chat and email, and Intercom and Zendesk keep it beside tickets.
A fair comparison estimates a month of bot traffic in each vendor's own unit, whether messages, conversations, sessions or resolutions, and prices that volume on the plan with the seats the team needs. The handover is worth testing during the trial with real questions, including one the bot cannot answer and one from a visitor who asks for a person. Crisp alternatives covers the same decision for teams that start from live chat instead of a bot.
Common questions
What is the best Chatbase alternative?
The answer depends on what happens when the bot cannot answer. SiteGPT and Chatling are the closest in kind, since both sell a bot trained on your content and price it by messages or credits. Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat and Sektra attach the bot to an inbox the team answers from, and Intercom and Zendesk attach it to a ticketing help desk. Prices and plan contents for all eight were checked in November 2026.
Is there a free alternative to Chatbase?
Chatling has a free plan with 200 AI credits a month, one agent and one seat. Tidio's free plan includes 50 Lyro conversations once and 50 billable conversations a month, and Crisp and Freshchat have free plans without an AI agent. Chatbase and SiteGPT list no free plan, and both offer a 7-day trial, checked November 2026.
Chatbase vs SiteGPT: what is the difference?
Both sell an AI bot trained on your content, and they differ in the quota and the seats. Chatbase starts at about $32 a month on annual billing with 700 message credits and two members. SiteGPT starts at about $39 with up to 4,000 messages on its smaller AI model and one member. Chatbase lists a help desk inbox from its Basic plan at about $120, while SiteGPT lists a live inbox in its iOS app from Growth at about $79, checked November 2026.
What are the best SiteGPT alternatives?
Chatbase and Chatling are the closest SiteGPT alternatives, because both are bot builders priced by message credits. Chatbase starts at about $32 a month on annual billing, and Chatling has a free plan with 200 credits a month. A team that needs people to take over chats can compare Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat and Sektra, where the bot sits inside the team's inbox, checked November 2026.
Can an AI chatbot hand a conversation to a human?
Yes, and the tools differ in where the conversation lands. Chatbase lists a help desk inbox from its Basic plan, SiteGPT lists a live inbox in its iOS app from Growth, and Chatling includes live chat on every plan. In Tidio, Crisp, Freshchat, Intercom, Zendesk and Sektra, the handed-over chat joins the queue that holds the team's other conversations. Sektra's bot hands over when the visitor asks, sounds upset or gets no answer, and the teammate receives a summary and a drafted reply.
