Chatbot prices range widely, from free plans with tight limits to enterprise contracts, and the price on a vendor's page rarely tells you what you will actually pay. This guide breaks a chatbot's cost into its parts, shows what each part costs in Alma with our published prices, and works through three examples so you can estimate your own number.
Price is only half of the question. Whether a chatbot is worth it depends on what it gives back, which our guide to measuring whether a chatbot pays for itself covers in detail.
What you pay for with a chatbot
Almost every chatbot price is made of the same five parts. Comparing tools is easier once you look at each part separately.
- The subscription. Most chatbot builders charge a monthly fee that sets how many chatbots you can run, how many conversations or messages they can handle, how many contacts you can store and how many people on your team can log in.
- AI answering. A chatbot that answers questions in its own words uses an AI model, and every AI reply has a real cost to the vendor. Many tools charge for it separately, as an add-on or per conversation, rather than building it into the base price.
- Setup. Someone has to write the conversation, fill in your business details and test it. You can do that yourself, or pay someone to do it once.
- Connections to your other tools. Sending leads to a CRM (a customer database), a spreadsheet or a texting tool is often limited to higher plans.
- Your time. A chatbot needs a little upkeep: updating prices and hours, reading conversations and fixing answers that missed. Set aside a little time for it each month.
What Alma costs
These are Alma's published prices. Every plan includes all 145 templates, the full flow builder and the website chat widget, and annual billing saves about 17%.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29 | $24 a month | 1 chatbot, 1,000 subscribers, 5,000 messages a month, 2 team members and email lead alerts |
| Growth | $79 | $66 a month | 5 chatbots, 10,000 subscribers, 25,000 messages a month, 5 team members, Zapier, analytics, and leads sent to CoreCNX once your account is linked |
| Agency | $199 | $165 a month | 20 chatbots, 50,000 subscribers, 100,000 messages a month, unlimited team members, webhooks, API access and client workspaces |
| Enterprise | Custom | Annual contract | Unlimited chatbots, subscribers and messages, plus single sign-on and a dedicated success manager |
The plan you choose mostly sets how busy your chatbots can be, not which features you can use. The builder, the templates, the website widget and lead capture are the same on Starter as they are on Enterprise, so a small business is not paying for a cut-down version of the product.
What costs extra
The parts of a short lead conversation
- Message. The greeting says who you are and what the chat can do.
- Buttons. The common answers are buttons, so the visitor taps instead of typing.
- Collect Input. The bot asks for one detail and saves it to the lead.
- Add Tags. The visitor never sees this step. It labels the lead by its answers, so you can sort your Leads inbox.
- Message. The closing line says what happens next.
Two extras are priced separately, so neither one is ever a surprise on your bill.
- AI answering: $25 a month. It lets the chatbot answer questions your flows do not cover, from business information you write or paste in, and it includes 500 AI-answered messages a month. Flows work without it, so a chatbot that only books appointments or collects leads does not need it.
- White Glove setup: $299, once. We build the chatbot for you from an intake form you fill in, and you get a video walkthrough of how it works and email support while you settle in.
Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and you do not have to choose a plan until the trial ends.
Three examples
A salon with one website
One chatbot books appointments and answers questions about services and parking. Starter covers one chatbot, so the cost is $29 a month, or $54 a month with AI answering for the questions the booking flow does not cover. If the owner would rather not build it, White Glove adds $299 once.
A home services company with several pages
A plumbing and heating company wants one chatbot for emergencies, one for quote requests and one for its maintenance plan, and it wants new leads sent to the software its office uses. That means more than one chatbot and Zapier, so Growth fits: $79 a month, or $66 a month billed annually, plus $25 for AI answering if it wants the chatbot to handle general questions.
A marketing agency with client sites
An agency runs chatbots for twelve clients and needs a separate workspace for each one. Agency covers up to 20 chatbots with client workspaces and webhooks, for $199 a month or $165 a month billed annually, with AI answering as an add-on on top of the plan.
How to compare chatbot prices
Where a lead goes after the chat
- A visitor opens the chatThe widget appears on every page where you pasted the snippet.
- The bot asks your questionsOne at a time, with buttons for the common answers.
- Alma saves the leadIn your Leads inbox, with tags from the visitor's answers.
- You get an emailAs soon as the visitor leaves an email address or phone number.
Where else the lead can go
- Every plan
- Email notification
- Growth and up
- Zapier, and CoreCNX once your account is linked
- Agency and up
- Webhooks to your own systems
When you compare tools, put each one through the same questions.
- What is the real monthly total? Add the plan, any AI charge and any per-seat fee for your team. A low base price with a large AI charge can cost more than a higher plan that includes what you need.
- What happens when you go over a limit? Find out whether the chatbot stops, slows down or bills you extra when you reach your message or contact limit.
- Which plan connects to your other tools? If you need leads in your CRM or texting tool, check which plan includes that connection.
- Who does the setup? A free tool you never finish setting up costs you more than a paid one that is working this week.
- How do you leave? Check whether you can export your leads, and whether the plan is monthly or locked to a contract.
Then set the total against what the chatbot is expected to do. Our post on measuring the return on a support chatbot explains how to count the questions it answers and the leads it brings in, and chatbot analytics covers the numbers to watch each month.
How to keep the cost down
A chatbot does not have to be expensive to work well. A few choices keep the bill small.
- Start on the smallest plan that fits. You can move up at any time, and an upgrade takes effect immediately, so there is no reason to pay for capacity you might need later.
- Add AI answering when the conversations show you need it. Run the flow for a few weeks first. If visitors keep asking questions it was not built for, that is the time to add the $25 add-on.
- Choose annual billing once you are sure. It saves about 17% compared with paying monthly.
- Start from a template. Most of the work in a chatbot is deciding what to ask, and a template has already done that part.
- Turn off what nobody uses. A chatbot on a page with no visitors still counts toward your plan.
Common questions
How much does a chatbot cost per month?
It depends on how many chatbots you run and whether you use AI answering. In Alma, a business with one chatbot on Starter pays $29 a month, or $54 a month with AI answering. Plans for more chatbots are $79 and $199 a month.
Is there a free chatbot?
Some tools have free plans with tight limits, usually on conversations, contacts or branding. Alma has no free plan, but every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, so you can build and test a chatbot before you pay.
Why is AI answering priced separately?
Each AI reply costs money to produce, while a scripted flow does not. Pricing AI separately keeps the base plan low for businesses that only need flows, and makes the cost of AI visible for those that want it.
Does it cost extra to set up?
Not if you build it yourself from a template, which most owners do in under 30 minutes. If you would rather we build it, White Glove setup is $299, paid once.
To see what the builder, templates and integrations do on each plan, read our features page, and the full plan comparison is on the pricing page. When you are ready, start the 14-day free trial and pick a plan later.
