AI Chatbot Pricing Compared: Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias, Tidio, Crisp, Chatbase and More (2026)

Chatbot pricing is hard to compare. One vendor charges per seat, another per ticket, another per conversation, and the AI is billed in different ways: some plans bundle credits or resolutions, while others charge for it separately. A plan that looks cheap at $24 a month can become expensive once the AI is switched on.

This guide puts the published prices side by side so you can see what you would actually pay. Prices were collected on 3 October 2026 and change often, so check each vendor’s pricing page before you buy.

The short version

• Seat-based tools (Intercom, Zendesk) are built for support teams and charge per agent, plus AI per resolution.
• Ticket-based tools (Gorgias) fit Shopify stores with predictable ticket volume.
• Conversation-based tools (Tidio, Botpress) charge per volume, with AI sold separately.
• Credit-based tools (Crisp, Chatbase) bundle a quota of AI usage into monthly tiers.
• Contact-based tools (Respond.io, ManyChat) charge per contact, not per message.
• Pay-per-use tools (ProxyAI) have no subscription, and you pay for the AI you actually use.

Pricing snapshot

Wati and ManyChat figures come from third-party review sites rather than the vendors’ own pages, so treat them as indicative.

What does $10 of AI actually buy?

Plan fees differ too much to compare directly, and many plans bundle credits. So here is a simpler test: ignore the plan, and look at the rate each vendor charges for AI. How much AI does $10 buy?

Vendors count AI in different ways, so there are two charts: tickets, and chat. A ticket is a support request that gets resolved. Chat is live conversations, messages and credits. These are not the same unit, so each vendor appears in the chart that matches how it bills. ProxyAI appears in both, because it handles both: $10 buys about 33 ticket resolutions on the built-in desk, or 1,000+ chat messages.

Tickets: what does $10 buy in resolved tickets?

1. ProxyAI about $0.30 per ticket 33
2. Gorgias $0.90–1.00 per interaction 10–11
3. Intercom $0.99 per resolution 10
4. Zendesk $2.00 per extra resolution 5

Chat: what does $10 buy in conversations?

No vendor publishes how many messages make one conversation, and the definitions differ (Tidio counts a conversation once however long it is, Botpress needs at least 2 user messages, Chatbase bills credits per reply). To put everyone in the same unit, this chart uses Botpress’s definition: a conversation is an exchange with at least 2 messages from the customer, so 1 conversation = 2 messages. That is the minimum a real conversation can be, so treat the bars as a consistent yardstick, not an exact count. Real conversations are often longer.

1. ProxyAI pay per use from a credit balance 500
2. Crisp about $5 per 90 conversations 180
3. Chatbase $40 per 1,000 credits 125
4. Botpress $65 per 100 conversations 15
5. Tidio $32.50 per 50 conversations 15

Wati and ManyChat have no AI rate in this scan, and Shopify Inbox is free with every Shopify plan, so they are left out of both charts.

Read the units carefully. In the ticket chart, a resolution is a finished support ticket, so the comparison is like for like: about $0.90 to $2.00 per resolved ticket on Zendesk, Intercom and Gorgias, against about $0.30 on the ProxyAI desk. In the chat chart, everything is converted to conversations using the Botpress definition (1 conversation = 2 customer messages), so the bars are estimates.

These are estimates from published rates. Real cost depends on the model used (premium models cost more per message on ProxyAI, Chatbase and others), message length, annual versus monthly billing, and how each vendor counts a resolution.

When each tool makes sense

• Intercom or Zendesk: you have a support team, need ticketing and reporting, and want a mature helpdesk.
• Gorgias: you run a Shopify store with steady ticket volume and want order data inside the helpdesk.
• Tidio: you want a simple live chat and chatbot on a modest budget, and can live with AI as an add-on.
• Crisp: you want a flat workspace price with bundled credits, and need channels like LINE or Viber.
• Chatbase or Botpress: you want a builder for custom bots and are comfortable with credits or conversation packs.
• Respond.io, Wati or ManyChat: you do most of your selling over WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger.
• Shopify Inbox: you want a free starting point on Shopify.

Where ProxyAI fits

ProxyAI is built for small businesses and stores that do not want a subscription or per-seat bill.

• No subscription: the Basic Chatbot starts at $0, and AI is pay-per-use from a credit balance. A new bot includes $1.00 of AI credit, and $10 of credit covers 1,000+ messages.
• A built-in desk: ProxyAI includes its own ticket desk, which averages about $0.30 per ticket resolution. Compare that with $0.90 to $2.00 per resolution on per-resolution plans.
• Seven channels, one bot: web chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, Messenger, Instagram and Discord. Meta’s own business messaging charges apply on its channels.
• WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify and Wix: a free WordPress plugin, a Shopify connection and a Wix app.
• Add only what you need: Bot Knowledge, Human Handoff, Helpdesk Connect, Abuse Guard, Agent Tasks and Sentry visitor analytics.

ProxyAI is not a full helpdesk replacement. If you need multi-agent ticketing, SLAs and deep reporting, Intercom, Zendesk or Gorgias are better suited. If you need an AI bot that answers customers across channels and costs nothing when it is quiet, that is where pay-per-use works out cheaper.

See current AI rates on the pricing page.

How to compare for your own business

1. Estimate monthly conversations. Count chats or tickets from the last 90 days.
2. Estimate the AI-resolved share. A reasonable starting guess is 30 to 60 percent of routine questions.
3. Price the AI separately. Check what $10 of AI buys on each vendor (see the charts above), then multiply by your volume.
4. Count seats. Per-seat plans multiply with every team member.
5. Check channel fees. WhatsApp and other Meta channels carry separate charges from Meta.
6. Run a trial month. Most vendors offer a trial or free tier.