Cost guide for UK buyers
AI chatbot, AI receptionist and CRM costs for UK businesses
Most of what you pay for AI automation is set by the software vendors, and they publish their prices. This guide lists those prices with the page each one came from and the date it was read (22 October 2026), sets them beside official UK pay data, and shows how to work out whether the spend is worth it for your own volumes.
- Vendor prices checked
- 22 October 2026
- Currency
- GBP where the vendor shows it, otherwise dollars as shown
- Our own fees
- Not listed. Request a quote
Five things that set the bill
Whether you ask what a chatbot costs, what an AI receptionist costs or what a CRM costs, the same five drivers decide the answer.
Software plan
The vendor subscription
Seats, conversations, minutes or outcomes, depending on the vendor. The tables below show how each one meters usage.
Usage
How much passes through
Chatbots are often metered by conversation, voice agents by minute or call, CRMs by seat. The same business can land on different plans depending on which unit applies.
Connections
What it has to talk to
Linking an assistant to your CRM, calendar, phone system or store is build work, and some plan tiers restrict API access.
Setup
Who builds and tests it
Setup is either your own staff time, a vendor onboarding fee where one is published, or a quoted project from a delivery team.
Running it
Review and changes afterwards
Answers need checking against real conversations, and policies, prices and opening hours change. Someone owns that.
Tax
VAT on top
Some vendors state that their prices exclude VAT and others do not say. Check the tax line on your invoice, and ask your accountant about services bought from overseas suppliers.
Published chatbot prices: Botpress, Tidio and Intercom Fin
Read from each vendor's own pricing page on 22 October 2026. None of these pages shows a GBP price to our reader, so figures are dollars as displayed. Where a page does not name the currency or state VAT treatment, that is said in the last column. Prices change, so treat this as a snapshot and confirm on the vendor page before you buy.
| Vendor and plan | Published price | What the page says is included | Currency and VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Botpress Free | $0 | 100 conversations a month, 3 agents, 3 seats | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
| Botpress Plus | $150 a month, billed annually | 250 conversations a month, $25 of AI usage, WhatsApp. Extra conversations in packs of 100 for $65 | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
| Botpress Team | $750 a month, billed annually | 1,500 conversations a month, $150 of AI usage. Extra conversations in packs of 100 for $50 | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
| Botpress Enterprise | Custom | Dedicated support, uptime SLA and voice channel are listed | Contact the vendor |
| Tidio Free | $0 a month | First 50 conversations free (lifetime) | Dollar prices, an add-on note reads USD. VAT not stated |
| Tidio Starter | $24.17 a month | 100 billable conversations, 50 one-off Lyro AI conversations | As above |
| Tidio Growth | From $49.17 a month | From 250 billable conversations on the plan card | As above |
| Tidio Plus | From $300 a month plus monthly usage | Custom conversation volume | As above |
| Tidio Lyro add-on | From $32.50 a month | From 50 Lyro AI conversations | As above |
| Intercom Fin | $0.99 per Fin outcome | The page notes a minimum monthly commitment applies when Fin is used with an existing helpdesk, for example 50 outcomes | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
| Intercom seats | $29 (Essential, with $19 shown for new customers), $85 (Advanced), $132 (Expert), per seat a month | Helpdesk seats. The page does not state which price belongs to monthly or annual billing | As above |
Sources are listed in the sources block below. Botpress meters in conversations, Tidio in billable conversations plus Lyro AI conversations, and Intercom Fin in outcomes, so the three cannot be compared by headline price alone. Run your own monthly volume through each vendor's unit.
Published voice agent prices: Retell AI and Vapi
Hosted AI receptionist products are usually quoted after a demo, so there is little to compare on a public page. Two voice agent platforms do publish per-minute rates. A receptionist built on one of them also needs a phone number, a script, calendar and CRM connections and testing, which is build work on top of the usage charge. Read 22 October 2026.
| Platform | Published price | Detail from the page | Currency and VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retell AI voice agents | $0.07 to $0.31 per minute pay as you go | Example setup on the page totals $0.11 per minute: model $0.04, voice infrastructure $0.055, speech $0.015, telephony $0.00. Page states no platform fees. Billing covers silence and hold time. Phone numbers $2.00 a month, verified number $10.00 a month | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
| Vapi | $0.05 per minute hosting | Pre-paid. Transcription, model and voice are charged on top by the provider at cost, and the page shows a sample total of $82 to $129 a month for a thousand minutes. Core plan $29 a month, Pro with a $999 monthly minimum | Dollar sign, currency not named. VAT not stated |
Per-minute rates are the platform and its components only. The quote for building and testing a receptionist is separate, and it is the part a delivery team prices.
Published CRM prices: HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce and Pipedrive
Read from each vendor's pricing page on 22 October 2026. Salesforce shows pounds sterling. The others showed dollars to us. Per-seat prices multiply by the number of people who need a login, so a five-person team pays five times the seat price.
| Vendor and plan | Published price per user a month | Billing basis on the page | Currency and VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce Starter Suite | £20 | Billed monthly or annually | GBP shown. VAT not stated |
| Salesforce Pro Suite | £80 | Billed annually | GBP shown. VAT not stated |
| Salesforce Core | £156 | Billed annually | GBP shown. VAT not stated |
| Salesforce Advanced | £316 | Billed annually | GBP shown. VAT not stated |
| Salesforce Max | £440 | Billed annually | GBP shown. VAT not stated |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Starter | From $7 per seat, with $20 also shown | Pay Monthly or Pay Annually options | Dollars. VAT not stated |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Professional | From $90 per seat, with $100 also shown | Pay Monthly or Pay Annually options. Required one-time onboarding of $1,500 is not included in the price shown | Dollars. VAT not stated |
| HubSpot Sales Hub Enterprise | From $150 per seat | Required one-time onboarding of $3,500 is not included in the price shown | Dollars. VAT not stated |
| Zoho CRM Standard | US$14 | Page offers annual and monthly toggles | US dollars. Page says local taxes such as VAT are charged in addition |
| Zoho CRM Professional | US$23 | As above | As above |
| Zoho CRM Enterprise | US$40 | As above | As above |
| Zoho CRM Ultimate | US$52 | As above | As above |
| Pipedrive Lite | US$14 | Per seat, billed annually (US$168 a year) | US dollars. Page says prices are VAT exclusive |
| Pipedrive Growth | US$24 | Per seat, billed annually (US$288 a year) | As above |
| Pipedrive Premium | US$49 | Per seat, billed annually (US$588 a year) | As above |
| Pipedrive Ultimate | US$69 | Per seat, billed annually (US$828 a year) | As above |
HubSpot, Zoho and Salesforce also list free or entry tiers with limits on users and features. A custom-built CRM is priced by scope rather than by seat, so it has no published figure. See custom CRM development and CRM automation for how that is scoped.
What UK employers pay for the same work today
To compare software with a person, start from published pay. These are official figures. They are pay to the employee, not the full cost to an employer, which also includes employer National Insurance, pension contributions, equipment, management time, cover for leave and recruitment.
- Receptionists (SOC 4216)
- ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2026 provisional release published 22 October 2026, Table 14.7a: median gross annual pay for full-time employees £25,865. Table 14.6a: median hourly pay excluding overtime across all employee jobs £13.50.
- Customer service occupations (SOC 721)
- Same release: median gross annual pay for full-time employees £29,103 (Table 14.7a). Median hourly pay excluding overtime across all employee jobs £14.38 (Table 14.6a).
- All full-time employees
- Same release: median gross annual pay £40,911 for full-time employees (Table 14.7a).
- National Living Wage
- £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026, per GOV.UK national minimum wage rates. The page states that rates change on 1 April every year.
A monthly view you can fill in with your own numbers
We do not publish a typical saving, because the result depends on your volumes and on how much of the work an assistant can finish without a person. Use the structure below with your own figures.
Cost of the current way = (hours spent a month on the task x loaded hourly cost of the people doing it) + cost of missed or late replies.
Cost of the automated way = software subscriptions and usage charges + monthly review time x hourly cost + a share of the one-off build fee spread over the months you expect to use it.
- Hours spent a month: count from a sample week of real enquiries, calls or admin, not from memory.
- Loaded hourly cost: start from the ONS or National Living Wage figures above, then add your employer on-costs.
- Share handled without a person: measure it on real past conversations. Anything the assistant hands to staff still costs staff time.
- Missed enquiries: how many calls or messages go unanswered out of hours, and what an enquiry is worth to you.
- One-off build fee: from a written quote, divided by the months you plan to keep the build.
If the second figure is not clearly below the first with realistic inputs, a smaller scope, or leaving that task as it is, may be the better answer. We say so on scoping calls.
AI and personal data: what the ICO says to read
A chatbot, receptionist or CRM handles names, phone numbers, messages and call content, which is personal data under UK GDPR. You remain responsible for how it is processed, whichever vendor or supplier you use. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance for organisations using AI. Its guidance on AI and data protection describes how to apply the data protection principles to AI systems, including chapters on accountability and governance, transparency, lawfulness, fairness, security, data minimisation and individual rights. The page shows a last updated date of 15 March 2023 and says the guidance is under review because of the Data (Use and Access) Act, so check it for changes.
The ICO's artificial intelligence hub also lists an AI and data protection risk toolkit and the resource Explaining decisions made with AI. Questions worth settling before launch include where each tool stores data, whether a data processing agreement is in place with each supplier, how customers are told they are talking to an assistant, and who reviews what it says. This is a reading list, not legal advice.
Having a Philippine team build and hand over the work
Software subscriptions are the same whoever sets them up. The part that differs is the build: scoping, connecting your tools, testing against your real enquiries, and writing the handover. A Philippine team does this remotely. The UK morning overlaps with the Philippine afternoon and evening, and each stage ends with a written note and a recorded walkthrough that is waiting when your day begins. The pairing is set out on hiring from the United Kingdom.
Tool subscriptions stay in accounts you own and are billed to you by the vendors, so the vendor prices above are what you would pay in either case. Our fees are quoted per project from a written scope and are not listed here. How a quote is built is explained on what outsourcing AI automation costs, and the general cost drivers are on the pricing page. To see how the engagement works, read hire a Philippine automation team.
The services most UK buyers ask about on this page are the AI chatbot for business, the AI receptionist, CRM automation and custom CRM development.
Sources, all checked on 22 October 2026
- Botpress pricing: plans, conversation limits and AI usage
- Tidio pricing: plans, Lyro AI conversations and add-ons
- Intercom pricing: Fin per-outcome price and seat prices
- Retell AI pricing: per-minute voice agent rates
- Vapi pricing: hosting rate and plans
- Salesforce UK Sales pricing: GBP editions
- HubSpot Sales Hub pricing and onboarding fees
- Zoho CRM pricing and editions
- Pipedrive pricing: plans and VAT statement
- ONS ASHE Table 14, occupation by four-digit SOC, 2026 provisional
- GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
- ICO: Guidance on AI and data protection
- ICO: Artificial intelligence guidance hub
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Questions we get asked
How much does an AI chatbot cost for a UK business?
It depends on the vendor's unit and your volume. Among the published plans above, Botpress lists a paid plan at $150 a month billed annually with 250 conversations a month, and Tidio lists a Starter plan at $24.17 a month. Add any build work and the time to review answers.
What is Botpress pricing and what counts as a conversation?
Botpress lists Free, Plus, Team and Enterprise plans with prices and conversation allowances as shown in the table above. Its page measures usage in conversations, with extra conversations sold in packs on the paid plans. Read the vendor page for its current definition before you plan volumes.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Hosted products are usually quoted after a demo. Voice platforms such as Retell AI and Vapi publish per-minute rates, shown above, and a working receptionist also needs a number, a script, connections and testing. A quote for that build is separate from the per-minute charge.
What does an AI assistant or agent cost?
An assistant or agent has a usage charge from the platform (per conversation, outcome or minute) plus the cost of building and checking it. The vendor tables above show how each platform meters usage so you can run your own volume through them.
What does CRM software cost for a small team?
Per-seat plans multiply by the number of users. Salesforce shows £20 to £440 per user a month across its editions in pounds, and the other vendors above list dollar prices. Some also list free tiers with user limits. Check onboarding fees, which HubSpot lists for its higher tiers.
What does a custom CRM cost?
There is no published seat price, because it is built to a scope. The quote follows the number of record types, integrations, users and reports. See custom CRM development. You could also start by configuring an existing CRM, which is covered under CRM automation.
Is AI automation worth it?
It is worth it where the work is repetitive, the volume is steady and an assistant can finish a good share of it without a person. Use the monthly view above with your own hours, loaded hourly cost and measured share handled. If the inputs do not support it, the answer can be no.
Do these prices include VAT?
Pipedrive states its prices are VAT exclusive and Zoho states local taxes such as VAT are charged in addition. The other pages we read do not state VAT treatment, so check the invoice. Ask your accountant how VAT applies to each purchase.
Are your own fees in this guide?
No. Our fees are quoted per project after a written scope, so this guide lists only third-party prices with their sources. Use the form on this page to request a quote.
Next step
Request a quote.
Describe the chatbot, receptionist or CRM work, the tools you use and where in the UK you are. You receive a written scope and a quote with our fees and the vendor costs listed separately.