Cheapest Website Chatbot (2026): 6 Low-Cost Options

Cheapest website chatbot: six low-cost options compared

The cheapest chatbot is the one that costs least for the volume you actually have. Six options publish low prices: Elfsight, tawk.to, Smartsupp, Tidio, AnveVoice and Botpress. Each prices a different unit, so this page translates them into what a small site pays. Researched from the sources below on 2026-10-14. AnveVoice is our product and appears in this list. Other tools are described from their own websites, checked on 2026-10-14. We do not receive payment from any tool listed.

How we chose

Cheap should still work. We ordered tools by the lowest published price for a working AI or chat setup on a small site, and listed what the price excludes.

• Lowest published entry price for an AI chatbot, not for live chat alone (weighted most).
• Whether a free tier exists and how large it is.
• What the cheap price leaves out, such as AI, branding removal or extra seats.
• The unit that drives cost as you grow: views, conversations, chats or tokens.
• The next price step, because a cheap start with a steep climb is not cheap.

The shortlist at a glance

Tools are ordered by fit to the criteria above, not by price or popularity. Pricing columns describe how each vendor charges, using the vendor's own pricing page checked on 2026-10-14.

• Tool | Best for | Voice on website | Pricing basis | Free plan
• Elfsight (AI chatbot widget) | Tiny sites that want the lowest paid price | Not published | Flat tiers by widget views, from $5 per month billed yearly | Yes: 50 messages a month
• tawk.to | Owners who answer chats themselves and add AI later | Not published | Free core chat; paid extras from $29 per month | Yes: core live chat free
• Smartsupp | Small shops needing both chat and an AI assistant | Not published | Flat tiers; paid from $17 per month | Yes: 25 conversations a month
• Tidio | Stores that want AI and chat in one low-cost plan | Not published | Flat tiers by conversations, from $24.17 per month | Yes: 50 billable conversations a month
• AnveVoice | Sites that want voice at a flat price | Yes, in the browser | Flat tiers: Free, $39, $129 per month | Yes: $0, 50,000 tokens a month, 1 bot, no card
• Botpress | Builders who can stay on the free plan | Not published | Flat tiers by conversations, paid from $150 per month billed yearly | Yes: 100 conversations a month

1. Elfsight AI Chatbot Widget: from $5 a month, with a free plan

Elfsight has the lowest paid entry in this group: Basic is $5 a month billed yearly ($6 monthly) for 5,000 widget views on a single-app plan, and a free forever plan gives 50 messages a month with 10M characters of knowledge storage. The widget is trained on your files, pages and Q&A and pasted into your site's HTML. Higher plans climb to about $80 a month. Limitation: the pricing is by widget views and not chatbot messages, the page does not give message limits for paid tiers, and it is text only.

2. tawk.to: free live chat, AI Assist from $29

tawk.to's core live chat, knowledge base and ticketing are free, so the cheapest setup is a human answering visitors. AI Assist adds an AI that answers from uploaded files and linked help pages, with a forever-free plan for limited chat volume and paid plans from $29 a month. Removing 'Powered by tawk.to' branding is $29 a month; hired live chat agents start at $1 an hour. Limitation: costs stack when you add branding removal and AI, and several messaging channels are still beta.

3. Smartsupp: $17 chat plus $16 AI

Smartsupp's Solo plan is $17 a month for one operator with unlimited conversations, and the Mira AI agent is $16 a month for 100 conversations, so a chat-plus-AI setup is about $33. There is a free plan with 25 conversations a month. Prices exclude VAT, and annual billing is shown as saving up to 30%. Limitation: Mira's 100-conversation allowance is small, and you pay for the chat product as well as the AI.

4. Tidio: a free tier with AI conversations included

Tidio's free plan allows 10 seats and 50 billable conversations a month, with the first 50 Lyro AI conversations free for life. Starter is $24.17 a month for 100 billable conversations. Lyro alone starts at $32.50 a month for 50 Lyro conversations, and Growth is from $49.17. Limitation: the pricing page does not say whether $24.17 is the annual or monthly price, and it climbs quickly past Growth (Plus from $300 a month plus usage).

5. AnveVoice: a free voice and chat agent, then flat $39

AnveVoice's Free plan is $0 with 50,000 tokens a month, one bot and no card. Paid tiers are flat: Growth at $39 a month (₹2,999) for 2M tokens and 5 bots, and Scale at $129 (₹9,999) for 8M tokens and unlimited bots. There are no per-minute or per-seat charges. Limitation: it is not the cheapest paid plan on this list, and token-based allowances need a test to translate into conversations. You pay for voice, which text widgets do not offer, and it is website only.

6. Botpress: a free plan with a high first paid step

Botpress's free plan is $0 with 100 conversations a month, 3 seats and 3 AI agents and no overages. If you stay under the limit, it is effectively free, and it states the AI usage per conversation is covered. Plus is $150 a month billed annually for 250 conversations; extra conversations come in packs of 100 for $65 (Plus). Limitation: it is cheap only while free, and the first paid step is the highest here.

Pricing is not comparable at face value

Views, messages, conversations, chats, tokens and operators are different units. A site with 30,000 monthly visitors but few chats may do well on Elfsight's views plans, while a busy support site might blow through a free message allowance within days. Count your real chats first. Also add the extras you will actually need: branding removal, a second operator, AI on top of chat. Our table shows the headline basis; the profiles show the common add-ons.

How to keep costs near zero

• Start on a free plan and measure two weeks of real use before paying.
• Choose annual billing only after you know you will keep the tool.
• Cap AI use where the vendor allows it, and review conversations to remove wasted answers.
• Do not pay for a feature your visitors do not use, such as voice if they prefer text.

Sources

• Elfsight (AI chatbot widget): Elfsight AI chatbot widget (https://elfsight.com/ai-chatbot-widget/) — checked 2026-10-14
• Elfsight (AI chatbot widget): Elfsight pricing (https://elfsight.com/pricing/) — checked 2026-10-14
• tawk.to: tawk.to pricing (https://www.tawk.to/pricing/) — checked 2026-10-14
• tawk.to: tawk.to home (https://www.tawk.to/) — checked 2026-10-14
• Smartsupp: Smartsupp pricing (https://www.smartsupp.com/pricing) — checked 2026-10-14
• Smartsupp: Smartsupp homepage (https://www.smartsupp.com) — checked 2026-10-14
• Tidio: Tidio pricing (https://www.tidio.com/pricing/) — checked 2026-10-14
• Tidio: Tidio home (https://www.tidio.com/) — checked 2026-10-14
• Tidio: Lyro page (https://www.tidio.com/lyro/) — checked 2026-10-14
• AnveVoice: AnveVoice pricing (https://anvevoice.app/pricing.md) — checked 2026-10-14
• AnveVoice: AnveVoice agents overview (https://anvevoice.app/agents.md) — checked 2026-10-14
• Botpress: Botpress pricing (https://botpress.com/pricing) — checked 2026-10-14
• Botpress: Botpress home (https://botpress.com/) — checked 2026-10-14
• Botpress: Botpress webchat docs (https://botpress.com/docs/webchat/get-started/introduction) — checked 2026-10-14
• AnveVoice install guide: wordpress (https://anvevoice.app/install/wordpress) — checked 2026-10-14

Related

• Best free AI chatbot for websites: six tools with a real free tier
• Best AI chatbot for small business websites: six options compared
• Best voicebot for websites: four options compared

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