How much does a website chatbot cost, and when is it worth it?
A chatbot pays off when your website gets the same questions over and over and you want to accept enquiries in the evening or at the weekend. It does not pay off when it is just another pop-up visitors close. The cost depends less on the bot itself than on what it must know and where it should send enquiries.
Three types of website chatbot
Before comparing quotes, decide which type you need. They differ a lot in effort and running cost.
- Guided bot with buttons: asks for the request, location and contact details and creates an enquiry. Cheap, predictable, no AI cost per message.
- AI bot on your own content: answers free-text questions from your service pages, prices and FAQ. Needs knowledge upkeep and costs money per conversation.
- AI bot with human handover: as above, but passes to a person when it comes to a quote, booking or complaint.
What the cost is made of
One-off, you pay for setup: conversation flow, connecting your content, routing enquiries into a CRM, email or Telegram, testing and embedding on the site. For AI bots, running costs add the language model usage per conversation, possibly a chat platform subscription, and upkeep of the knowledge base.
The biggest cost after launch is stale knowledge. If prices or services change and the bot is not told, it gives wrong answers. Decide who updates the content. At Onravetoni a bot that answers common questions and passes enquiries with their source into your CRM is part of a process automation from €600; we confirm the fixed price after a brief.
Data protection and disclosure
A chatbot processes personal data. Have a data processing agreement with the providers involved, cover the bot in your privacy policy and do not collect sensitive data you do not need. Check where the data is processed.
Label the bot clearly as automated. The EU AI Act requires that people are told when they are interacting with an AI system. Clear labelling is also simply honest and avoids disappointing customers who expected a person.
When a good form is the better choice
If your prospects mostly call or want a quote, a short, clear form with three fields often brings more than a chatbot. First measure which questions people actually ask, from emails, call notes and messengers. If the same five questions keep coming up, that is a good candidate for a bot.
Frequently asked questions
- Can the chatbot answer in WhatsApp or Telegram too?
- Yes. The same flow can run on the website and in messengers, with all enquiries landing in one place. Our article on a unified inbox for messengers shows how.
- Does an AI bot make up answers?
- The risk exists. We restrict the bot to your approved content and have it hand over to a person when it has no reliable answer.
- How fast can a chatbot go live?
- A guided bot is usually live in one to two weeks. An AI bot needs extra time for the knowledge base and testing with real questions.
Sources
Send us your customers' ten most common questions and where enquiries should go. We tell you whether a bot is worth it, which type fits and what it costs.
Discuss a chatbot