Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026

Chatbot and conversational-marketing software puts a proactive, often AI-driven widget on a website to start conversations with visitors rather than only answer the ones who already reached out — qualifying a lead, booking a meeting or routing a buyer to sales before a human ever joins.

This guide is aimed specifically at that job, not at plain support live-chat: several tools below also handle support tickets, but they are ranked here on chatbot flow builders, proactive triggers, lead routing and marketing automation. We checked what each vendor's own pricing page and legal notices actually say, not its marketing claims.

Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.

In short

What chatbot software does

Chatbot / conversational marketing software is a website widget, usually paired with a no-code flow builder and increasingly an AI agent, that proactively engages a visitor, qualifies them as a lead, and either answers them automatically or routes them to a salesperson — distinct from a plain support live-chat queue that waits for the visitor to ask first.

01

The top three

16 tools reviewed
02

How we ranked these

5 criteria, in order

The ranking follows five checks. Setup effort comes first, then real cost, then the route for getting data out, then lock-in, then the intended buyer. Vendors outside the best-known names fill places 1 to 3 when they exist, and the big brands rank from place 4. Our how we work page explains the choice of these five and why we give no mark out of ten.

16tools reviewed
7publish a price
7have a free tier
10countries represented
03

Compared at a glance

16 tools
#ToolCountryPricingFree tier Right forNot for
#1LandbotSpainFree €0 (100 chats/month, 1 seat); Starter €32/month billed annually (€40 monthly): 500 chats, 100 AI chats, 2 seats; Professional €80/month annually (€100 monthly): 2,500 chats, 300 AI chats, 3 seats; Professional + WhatsApp €160/month; Business from €400/month by contract; overage €0.05/chat, €0.10/AI chat, €25/extra seatYesSpanish no-code chatbot builder purpose-built for lead qualification and WhatsApp conversion, not support tickets—
#2SmartsuppCzech RepublicFree (1 operator, 25 conversations/month); Solo $17/month; Plus $25/month; Expert $83/month; Enterprise from $280/month — up to 30% off on annual billingYesSmall Central European ecommerce teams wanting cheap chat hosted in the EUCompanies needing deep CRM or order system integration
#3TiledeskItalyPro €149/month (€124/month billed annually) — 3 users, 20 AI agents, 5M AI tokens, 3,000 conversations/month; Business €499/month (€416/month annually) — 5 users, 50 AI agents, 10M tokens, 5,000 conversations/month; Enterprise and White Label quoted; 14-day free trial—Technical European teams wanting self-hosted chat with visual flow designSupport managers expecting a polished agent workspace day one
#4CrispFranceFree (2 seats); Mini $45/month (4 seats); Essentials $95/month (10 seats); Plus $295/month (20 seats); Enterprise quoted; priced per workspace with a block of seats included, extra seats $10/month eachYesA small company where the whole team answers customersA support organisation with queues, SLAs and shift reporting
#5LiveChatPolandStarter $19/person/month (annual) or $25 (monthly); Team $49/$59; Business $79/$89; Enterprise quoted—Support or sales teams handling steady daily chat volume properlySites with a handful of conversations a week
#6Lime Connect (formerly Userlike)GermanyFree €0; Pro from €105/month (€87/month billed annually); Enterprise quoted. Add-ons: Connect AI Agent from €99/month, AI Copilot from €19/month per seat, Workflows from €50/month, WhatsApp Campaigns from €20/month plus Meta feesYesGerman-speaking companies needing EU hosting and WhatsApp in one inboxTeams needing detailed routing logic and deep reporting
#7TrengoNetherlandsBoost €299/month billed annually (€349 monthly) for 10 users and 6,000 conversations a year (500 a month on monthly billing); Pro €499/month annually (€599 monthly) for 20 users; Enterprise quoted; AI-handled conversations carry a €0.25-0.30 surcharge each; broadcasting is an add-on; free trial available—European teams merging chat, email and WhatsApp into one queueCompanies that only want a widget on one website
#8KindlyNorwaySession-based pricing on an annual commitment; not published — quoted per organisation—Norwegian AI support platform mixing branched dialogue flows with generative answers in 100+ languages, aimed at high-volume customer service—
#9IntercomUnited StatesEssential $19/seat/month; Advanced $85/seat/month; Expert $132/seat/month (billed annually); Fin AI Agent billed separately at $0.99 per outcome on every plan; SMS, WhatsApp, phone and email campaigns billed on usage; 14-day free trial—A product company that supports users inside the productA team handling phone and email only
#10ZendeskUnited StatesSold as "Messaging and live chat" inside Zendesk Suite plans: Suite Team $55/agent/month; Suite Professional $115/agent/month (annual billing); Suite Enterprise + Copilot quoted—A support organisation that values the ecosystem and hiring poolA five-person team on a budget
#11DriftUnited StatesNot published; Drift is being sunset and Clari + Salesloft refers existing customers to 1mind—Existing Drift users planning a move to a successor productNew buyers looking for a stand-alone product to purchase
#12TidioPolandFree tier; paid by monthly conversations reached, publishedYesSmall online shops where the owner answers the chats personallySupport teams of more than three or four agents
#13FreshchatUnited StatesFree tier; paid per agent per month, published; AI sessions extraYesA support team that already runs Freshdesk or Freshsales for its customersA team that wants a standalone chat widget and nothing more
#14QualifiedUnited StatesQuoted per organisation—B2B sales teams chasing named accounts on a marketing websiteCustomer support teams answering questions about existing orders
#15ChatfuelUnited StatesBusiness US$18/month billed yearly (includes US$20 AI credits a month); Agency US$90/month billed yearly (3 companies, US$100 AI credits); monthly billing about 10% higher—Small businesses and agencies that sell through Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp conversationsB2B teams that need website visitor routing to account executives
#16TypebotNot stated by the vendorFree plan; paid plans monthly only, by chats per month, published; Enterprise quotedYesSmall teams building lead forms and chat flows that connect to common toolsBuyers needing a named company, address or governing-law country

Country means the vendor's head office or contracting company. Where your data sits is a separate question, and entries note it when it matters.

04

The 16 tools, reviewed

Ranked

1. Landbot · 2. Smartsupp · 3. Tiledesk · 4. Crisp · 5. LiveChat · 6. Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) · 7. Trengo · 8. Kindly · 9. Intercom · 10. Zendesk · 11. Drift · 12. Tidio · 13. Freshchat · 14. Qualified · 15. Chatfuel · 16. Typebot

#1 Landbot

Spanish no-code chatbot builder purpose-built for lead qualification and WhatsApp conversion, not support tickets

Ranked #1 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingEurope

Landbot was built from the ground up as a conversion and lead-generation chatbot builder, not a support-chat tool with a bot bolted on afterwards — the cleanest "conversational marketing" fit of the vendors in this category.

What stands out
  • Built for lead qualification
  • Native WhatsApp tier
  • Genuine free tier
SpainFree €0 (100 chats/month, 1 seat); Starter €32/month billed annually (€40 monthly): 500 chats, 100 AI chats, 2 seats; Professional €80/month annually (€100 monthly): 2,500 chats, 300 AI chats, 3 seats; Professional + WhatsApp €160/month; Business from €400/month by contract; overage €0.05/chat, €0.10/AI chat, €25/extra seat

#2 Smartsupp

Czech chat and automation platform for online stores, with a Mira AI shopping agent sold as an add-on

Ranked #2 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere

Smartsupp combines a competent chat widget with WhatsApp, Messenger and email in one inbox, and sells Mira, an AI shopping assistant that recommends products, as an add-on from $16 a month for 100 conversations.

At this price that is genuinely useful, and hosting in the EU removes a procurement conversation. Two caveats: plans come in operator bundles of one, three and five, so a fourth person means the top plan, and the integration list is short enough that connecting it to a warehouse or ERP means custom work.

What stands out
  • Mira AI shopping agent
  • Unlimited conversations on paid plans
  • EU vendor
Where it costs you
  • The AI agent is a separate add-on with its own conversation limit
  • Fewer integrations than the bigger platforms
Right for

Small Central European ecommerce teams wanting cheap chat hosted in the EU

Wrong for

Companies needing deep CRM or order system integration

Czech RepublicFree (1 operator, 25 conversations/month); Solo $17/month; Plus $25/month; Expert $83/month; Enterprise from $280/month — up to 30% off on annual billing

#3 Tiledesk

Italian open-source conversational AI platform: build chatbots and AI agents visually, deploy across channels or self-host

Ranked #3 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Open sourceSelf-hostablePricing on requestEurope

Tiledesk is an EU-based open source project with a visual designer for conversation flows and the option to run everything on your own infrastructure, which is a rare pairing. For a technical team on a small budget with data residency to satisfy, it does the job.

Expect rough edges: the agent console is the less-developed half of the product, the community is small, and upgrades occasionally require reading the repository rather than the manual.

What stands out
  • Open source, self-hostable
  • Multi-channel flow builder
  • EU vendor
Where it costs you
  • Human agent tooling is secondary to the bot builder
  • Documentation gaps show up during version upgrades
Right for

Technical European teams wanting self-hosted chat with visual flow design

Wrong for

Support managers expecting a polished agent workspace day one

ItalyPro €149/month (€124/month billed annually) — 3 users, 20 AI agents, 5M AI tokens, 3,000 conversations/month; Business €499/month (€416/month annually) — 5 users, 50 AI agents, 10M tokens, 5,000 conversations/month; Enterprise and White Label quoted; 14-day free trial

#4 Crisp

French all-in-one messaging platform with a no-code AI chatbot builder and flat per-workspace pricing

Ranked #4 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingEurope

Crisp inverts the pricing model that makes this category expensive: you pay for the workspace, with a block of seats included, not for each person who answers a message. Essentials covers ten people for $95 a month, so a company of fifteen where support is everyone's occasional job adds five agents at $10 each rather than buying fifteen full seats.

The product is strongest where it started, with live chat, a chatbot and a shared inbox, and thinner where the enterprise tools are strong, which is queue management, SLA reporting and workforce planning.

What stands out
  • Flat per-workspace pricing
  • No-code AI chatbot builder
  • EU vendor
Where it costs you
  • Email inbox not on the free plan; ticket portal only on Plus
  • Analytics start at Essentials
Right for

A small company where the whole team answers customers

Wrong for

A support organisation with queues, SLAs and shift reporting

FranceFree (2 seats); Mini $45/month (4 seats); Essentials $95/month (10 seats); Plus $295/month (20 seats); Enterprise quoted; priced per workspace with a block of seats included, extra seats $10/month each

#5 LiveChat

Polish sales-chat platform built around targeted campaigns and proactive outreach, not just support queues

Ranked #5 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestEurope

LiveChat is the specialist's specialist: canned responses, transfers, supervision of live conversations, and reporting that answers whether staffing matches demand. Agents who use it all day notice the difference from the cheaper widgets within a week.

The commercial shape is the objection. The AI agent and the ticketing live in Text, the company's own separate product at another per-user price from $19 a month, so a team wanting one integrated stack should price both products before comparing.

What stands out
  • Proactive sales campaigns
  • Campaign conversion tracking
  • Contract with Text, Inc. (US)
Where it costs you
  • The AI agent and ticketing are a separate Text subscription
  • Little value if chat volume is only a few conversations a week
Right for

Support or sales teams handling steady daily chat volume properly

Wrong for

Sites with a handful of conversations a week

PolandStarter $19/person/month (annual) or $25 (monthly); Team $49/$59; Business $79/$89; Enterprise quoted

#6 Lime Connect (formerly Userlike)

German chat platform, rebranded Lime Connect, with a no-code Workflows builder and paid WhatsApp marketing campaigns

Ranked #6 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingEurope

Userlike, now sold as Lime Connect, answers the compliance question directly, with hosting in Germany and contract terms written for a German buyer, and it adds WhatsApp, Facebook and SMS to the same agent inbox on the Pro plan without an extra product.

For a mid-sized European company that is usually enough. Push it harder and the limits appear: advanced and skill-based routing are Enterprise-only, the reporting will not tell you much about queue behaviour, and customisation of the widget beyond colours is limited compared with the Polish competition.

What stands out
  • No-code Workflows builder
  • WhatsApp Campaigns add-on
  • EU vendor
Where it costs you
  • Advanced and skill-based routing only on the Enterprise plan
  • Analytics stay at the surface level
Right for

German-speaking companies needing EU hosting and WhatsApp in one inbox

Wrong for

Teams needing detailed routing logic and deep reporting

GermanyFree €0; Pro from €105/month (€87/month billed annually); Enterprise quoted. Add-ons: Connect AI Agent from €99/month, AI Copilot from €19/month per seat, Workflows from €50/month, WhatsApp Campaigns from €20/month plus Meta fees

#7 Trengo

Dutch omnichannel inbox where website chat sits beside a WhatsApp Business number for outbound marketing

Ranked #7 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestEurope

Trengo treats website chat as one inbox channel among many, which is the correct model for a company where customers also write on WhatsApp, email and Instagram, and where nobody should have to check six tools. Rules, assignment and reporting work across all of it.

Buy it only for the widget and you overpay for scope you do not use. Plans come with ten or twenty users and a conversation allowance (yearly on annual billing), which suits ten occasional answerers better than three constant ones, and AI-handled conversations are charged on top.

What stands out
  • WhatsApp Business inbox
  • Broadcasting as an add-on
  • EU vendor
Where it costs you
  • Entry plan is priced for ten users, dear for a small team
  • Heavier than needed if the website is the only channel
Right for

European teams merging chat, email and WhatsApp into one queue

Wrong for

Companies that only want a widget on one website

NetherlandsBoost €299/month billed annually (€349 monthly) for 10 users and 6,000 conversations a year (500 a month on monthly billing); Pro €499/month annually (€599 monthly) for 20 users; Enterprise quoted; AI-handled conversations carry a €0.25-0.30 surcharge each; broadcasting is an add-on; free trial available

#8 Kindly

Norwegian AI support platform mixing branched dialogue flows with generative answers in 100+ languages, aimed at high-volume customer service

Ranked #8 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestEurope

Kindly's AI agents speak 100+ languages by default, which matters for a European retailer or marketplace serving many language markets from one bot, though the vendor now pitches it as a customer-service platform rather than a marketing tool.

What stands out
  • 100+ language AI agent
  • Deep CRM/helpdesk integration
  • Quote only
NorwaySession-based pricing on an annual commitment; not published — quoted per organisation

#9 Intercom

US messaging platform built around the Fin AI agent, sold as an outcome-priced add-on to every tier

Ranked #9 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestNorth America

Intercom owns in-product support: the messenger, product tours and an AI agent that resolves a real share of conversations rather than deflecting them into a queue. For a software company supporting users inside the application, nothing else is as coherent.

Pricing combines seats from $19 to $132 a month on annual billing, $0.99 for each outcome the AI agent delivers and usage charges for SMS, WhatsApp and phone, which makes forecasting the bill genuinely difficult before you have run it for a quarter.

What stands out
  • Fin AI Agent
  • Outcome-based AI pricing
  • Omnichannel
Where it costs you
  • Seats plus a per-outcome AI charge plus usage-billed channels
  • Budgeting is genuinely hard
Right for

A product company that supports users inside the product

Wrong for

A team handling phone and email only

United StatesEssential $19/seat/month; Advanced $85/seat/month; Expert $132/seat/month (billed annually); Fin AI Agent billed separately at $0.99 per outcome on every plan; SMS, WhatsApp, phone and email campaigns billed on usage; 14-day free trial

#10 Zendesk

Messaging and chat bundled inside the Zendesk Suite, not sold as a standalone chat product

Ranked #10 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestNorth America

Zendesk's advantage is the ecosystem: an app for every adjacent system, a large pool of agents who already know it, and reporting mature enough for a support operation to be managed on. Everything works and nothing surprises.

The cost climbs in steps: Suite Team at €55 per agent billed annually includes messaging and voice, but satisfaction surveys and a second brand need Professional at €115, and Copilot and the workforce engagement bundle are €50 per agent each on top, with automated resolutions beyond the monthly allowance at €1.50 each.

What stands out
  • Bundled in Zendesk Suite
  • Omnichannel AI routing
  • Not sold standalone
Where it costs you
  • Copilot, workforce management and extra AI resolutions are paid add-ons
  • CSAT surveys and multiple brands need the Professional plan
Right for

A support organisation that values the ecosystem and hiring pool

Wrong for

A five-person team on a budget

United StatesSold as "Messaging and live chat" inside Zendesk Suite plans: Suite Team $55/agent/month; Suite Professional $115/agent/month (annual billing); Suite Enterprise + Copilot quoted

#11 Drift

The conversational-marketing category pioneer, now being sunset by Clari + Salesloft in favour of partner 1mind

Ranked #11 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestNorth America

The redirect meta tag sends drift.com visitors to the Salesloft Drift page. That page describes a transition from Drift to 1mind, with 1mind's buyer signals feeding Salesloft's revenue system, and lists a Drift login link in the Salesloft menu.

Salesloft, Inc. gives an Atlanta, Georgia postal address in its privacy notice. The page shows no pricing or trial, so evaluating Drift now means asking Salesloft what contract applies.

What stands out
  • Category pioneer
  • Being sunset
  • Customers referred to 1mind
Where it costs you
  • Drift's domain redirects to Salesloft, and the page lists no stand-alone price.
  • Drift's Salesloft page points customers to 1mind for conversational AI.
Right for

Existing Drift users planning a move to a successor product

Wrong for

New buyers looking for a stand-alone product to purchase

United StatesNot published; Drift is being sunset and Clari + Salesloft refers existing customers to 1mind

#12 Tidio

Chat widget for small shops, with bots on a separate meter

Ranked #12 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingEurope

Tidio is built for the shop owner, with a free tier that works, ecommerce integrations that pull order data, and an interface nobody needs training for.

The pricing unit deserves attention before anything else: plans are sized by monthly conversations reached, so success on the marketing side raises the support bill, and the AI answering carries its own meter on top. As a multi-agent tool it runs out of routing, permissions and reporting quickly.

What stands out
  • Free tier
  • Ecommerce focus
  • Conversation pricing
Where it costs you
  • Billing counts conversations, so a busy month costs more
  • Falls apart as a team tool beyond a few agents
Right for

Small online shops where the owner answers the chats personally

Wrong for

Support teams of more than three or four agents

PolandFree tier; paid by monthly conversations reached, published

#13 Freshchat

Freshworks messaging product with a free tier and AI add-on

Ranked #13 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingNorth America

Freshchat is the messaging part of Freshworks, the listed American suite vendor. It covers web chat, mobile SDKs and messaging apps, and the free tier is generous for a first test. The case for it is integration with Freshdesk and Freshsales.

The case against is the bill: AI sessions are sold in blocks, routing and reporting sit on higher tiers, and Freshworks bundles its products into suites that make comparing prices across years awkward.

What stands out
  • Free tier
  • Omnichannel
  • Suite vendor
Where it costs you
  • AI agent sessions are billed separately from seats
  • Plans and bundles are repackaged frequently
Right for

A support team that already runs Freshdesk or Freshsales for its customers

Wrong for

A team that wants a standalone chat widget and nothing more

United StatesFree tier; paid per agent per month, published; AI sessions extra

#14 Qualified

Pipeline-focused chat that routes named accounts to sales

Ranked #14 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestNorth America

Qualified, now a Salesforce company, is a pipeline tool: its AI agent Piper matches the visitor to a company record, wakes the account executive, and lets them jump into the conversation or book a meeting on the spot.

Where there is a target account list and a Salesforce instance behind it, that is measurably different from generic chat. For support use it is the wrong shape and the wrong price, and every tier says contact us, so each evaluation starts with a sales process.

What stands out
  • B2B pipeline
  • Salesforce-native
  • Quote only
Where it costs you
  • Priced for enterprise sales teams, with no published rate
  • Built around Salesforce, which now owns it
Right for

B2B sales teams chasing named accounts on a marketing website

Wrong for

Customer support teams answering questions about existing orders

United StatesQuoted per organisation

#15 Chatfuel

Bots and AI agent for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and websites, sold by 200 Labs, Inc.

Ranked #15 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Pricing on requestNorth America

Chatfuel lists channels for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and the website, with features for replying to Reels and post comments, qualifying leads from ads and sending bulk WhatsApp campaigns.

The Business plan is US$18 a month on annual billing and includes US$20 of AI credits each month; the Agency plan at US$90 covers three companies with US$100 of credits and a dedicated account manager. Its terms name 200 Labs, Inc., d/b/a Chatfuel, with an address in San Francisco. Checked 28 October 2026 on chatfuel.com pricing and terms of use.

What stands out
  • Social DMs
  • WhatsApp
  • Agency plan
Where it costs you
  • AI use is metered in monthly credits (US$20 on Business), so heavy bot use costs more
  • Centred on Meta and social channels; website chat is one channel among them
Right for

Small businesses and agencies that sell through Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp conversations

Wrong for

B2B teams that need website visitor routing to account executives

United StatesBusiness US$18/month billed yearly (includes US$20 AI credits a month); Agency US$90/month billed yearly (3 companies, US$100 AI credits); monthly billing about 10% higher

#16 Typebot

Chatbot builder priced by monthly chats, with a free plan

Ranked #16 of 16 in Best Chatbot & Conversational Marketing Software in 2026.

Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere

Bots can pass hidden fields through the form URL to segment users, run on a custom domain, and accept custom JavaScript and CSS.

Listed integrations are HTTP requests, OpenAI, Google Sheets, Google Analytics and Meta Pixel, and bots can be deployed on WhatsApp. Free allows 200 chats a month, Starter has 2 seats, Pro has 5, and Enterprise is quoted. No free trial is mentioned.

What stands out
  • Free plan
  • Priced by chats
  • WhatsApp deployment
Where it costs you
  • Billing is monthly only, so there is no yearly option to lower the cost.
  • Starter includes 2,000 chats, and extra chats are charged at $10 per 500, so busy bots add cost.
Right for

Small teams building lead forms and chat flows that connect to common tools

Wrong for

Buyers needing a named company, address or governing-law country

Not stated by the vendorFree plan; paid plans monthly only, by chats per month, published; Enterprise quoted
06

How to choose chatbot software

Chatbot / conversational marketing software is a website widget, usually paired with a no-code flow builder and increasingly an AI agent, that proactively engages a visitor, qualifies them as a lead, and either answers them automatically or routes them to a salesperson — distinct from a plain support live-chat queue that waits for the visitor to ask first. A feature table will not settle this choice. These steps will.

  1. 01

    Check who publishes a price

    9 vendors on this page sell by quote, while 7 publish a pricing model you can read today: Landbot, Smartsupp, Crisp, Lime Connect (formerly Userlike), Tidio, Freshchat, Typebot.

  2. 02

    Decide how much the jurisdiction matters

    3 regions are represented (Europe 8, North America 6, Elsewhere 2). A vendor outside your own legal area is not a problem as such, but it changes who can compel it to hand over data.

  3. 03

    Decide if open source matters

    1 of these are open source: Tiledesk. Hosting one yourself trades a subscription for maintenance.

A bot built to qualify leads, or a support inbox with a bot attached

Landbot was designed for lead qualification and conversion, and LiveChat for proactive sales campaigns whose conversion it tracks.

Zendesk sells chat only inside its Suite, Intercom is at its best supporting users inside a product, and Trengo is an omnichannel inbox. A marketing team buying from the second group pays for ticketing; a support team buying from the first misses its queues.

  • Name who owns the bot: marketing, sales or support.
  • Walk through how a qualified lead reaches a salesperson's calendar or the CRM, step by step.
  • Check whether proactive triggers can fire on page, referrer or time on site.

Seats, workspaces, chats, sessions and resolutions

Crisp charges per workspace with a block of seats included, so occasional answerers cost little. LiveChat, Intercom and Zendesk charge per person.

Landbot meters chats and AI chats with overage fees, Tiledesk bundles conversations and AI tokens, Kindly prices by session on an annual commitment, Intercom's Fin costs $0.99 per outcome and Trengo adds a surcharge when the AI handles a conversation. A bot that works raises most of those bills.

  • Estimate monthly bot conversations from site traffic, then price the overage.
  • Ask what counts as an outcome or an AI-handled chat, and who decides.
  • Find out what happens when the monthly allowance runs out: bot switched off, or billed on.

The widget conversation often ends on WhatsApp

Landbot has a dedicated WhatsApp tier, Userlike sells WhatsApp Campaigns as an add-on with Meta fees on top, and Trengo is built for the visitor who starts on website chat and wants to finish on WhatsApp.

If your buyers live in a messaging app, the widget is only the opening move and the cost of the second channel deserves the closer look.

  • Ask whether outbound WhatsApp messages carry Meta's fees on top of the vendor's.
  • Move a test conversation from widget to WhatsApp and see whether the history follows.
  • Confirm that opt-in is captured in the bot flow before any broadcast is sent.

Who builds the flows, and where the bot runs

Every bot here needs someone to write and maintain its dialogue. Tiledesk has an open-source core a technical team can self-host, though its agent console is the weaker half.

Kindly covers more than 100 languages for retailers selling across markets. Smartsupp sells its Mira shopping agent as an add-on metered by conversation. Drift is being sunset, and Clari + Salesloft refers its customers to 1mind.

  • Ask what the AI answers from, and what it does when it has no answer.
  • Check whether the AI agent is metered separately from the chat plan, and at what rate.
  • If you run Drift today, ask Clari + Salesloft for the sunset date and what moving to 1mind involves.

What goes wrong most often when buying chatbot software

  • Putting a reactive support chat queue on the pricing page and calling it conversational marketing.
  • Pricing an AI agent on current chat volume when proactive triggers are meant to multiply it.
  • Launching a qualification flow that asks eight questions before the visitor gets anything back.
  • Adding WhatsApp broadcasts without counting Meta's fees per message.
07

Frequently asked questions

8 answers
What is the best chatbot software in 2026?

First of 16 on this page is Landbot. Landbot was built from the ground up as a conversion and lead-generation chatbot builder, not a support-chat tool with a bot bolted on afterwards — the cleanest "conversational marketing" fit of the vendors in this category.

Which chatbot tools publish their pricing?

7 of the 16, with the pricing model each one publishes:

  • Landbot: Free €0 (100 chats/month, 1 seat); Starter €32/month billed annually (€40 monthly): 500 chats, 100 AI chats, 2 seats; Professional €80/month annually (€100 monthly): 2,500 chats, 300 AI chats, 3 seats; Professional + WhatsApp €160/month; Business from €400/month by contract; overage €0.05/chat, €0.10/AI chat, €25/extra seat.
  • Smartsupp: Free (1 operator, 25 conversations/month); Solo $17/month; Plus $25/month; Expert $83/month; Enterprise from $280/month — up to 30% off on annual billing.
  • Crisp: Free (2 seats); Mini $45/month (4 seats); Essentials $95/month (10 seats); Plus $295/month (20 seats); Enterprise quoted; priced per workspace with a block of seats included, extra seats $10/month each.
  • Lime Connect (formerly Userlike): Free €0; Pro from €105/month (€87/month billed annually); Enterprise quoted. Add-ons: Connect AI Agent from €99/month, AI Copilot from €19/month per seat, Workflows from €50/month, WhatsApp Campaigns from €20/month plus Meta fees.
  • Tidio: Free tier; paid by monthly conversations reached, published.
  • Freshchat: Free tier; paid per agent per month, published; AI sessions extra.
  • Typebot: Free plan; paid plans monthly only, by chats per month, published; Enterprise quoted.

The remaining 9 sell by quote.

Is there a free chatbot tool?

Landbot, Smartsupp, Crisp, Lime Connect (formerly Userlike), Tidio, Freshchat, Typebot offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.

Where are these chatbot software vendors established?

Across 10 countries (Europe 8, North America 6, Elsewhere 2):

  • Landbot: Spain.
  • Smartsupp: Czech Republic.
  • Tiledesk: Italy.
  • Crisp: France.
  • LiveChat: Poland.
  • Lime Connect (formerly Userlike): Germany.
  • Trengo: Netherlands.
  • Kindly: Norway.
  • Intercom: United States.
  • Zendesk: United States.
  • Drift: United States.
  • Tidio: Poland.
  • Freshchat: United States.
  • Qualified: United States.
  • Chatfuel: United States.
  • Typebot: Not stated by the vendor.
Which chatbot tools are open source?

Tiledesk.

Which chatbot tools can you host yourself?

Tiledesk. 15 products offer no self-hosted option.

What should you use instead of Landbot?

Second is Smartsupp, which suits small Central European ecommerce teams wanting cheap chat hosted in the EU. Third is Tiledesk, which suits Technical European teams wanting self-hosted chat with visual flow design.

Who should not buy Landbot?

Landbot was built from the ground up as a conversion and lead-generation chatbot builder, not a support-chat tool with a bot bolted on afterwards — the cleanest "conversational marketing" fit of the vendors in this category.

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