Cost guide for US buyers
What an AI chatbot, AI assistant or AI receptionist costs in the US
Chatbot pricing comes in four shapes: a monthly plan, a per-conversation or per-resolution fee, a per-minute rate for voice, and the model usage underneath. This guide lists the prices vendors publish, shows the US wage data for the human alternative, and gives you a monthly value check you can fill in with your own numbers.
- Vendor prices checked
- 22 October 2026, on each vendor page
- Wage data
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
- Our own fees
- Quoted per scope, none listed here
Five things that set the cost of an AI chatbot or AI assistant
Whether you are reading chatbot pricing, AI assistant cost or the cost of a chatbot built for you, the same five items move the total.
Platform
The monthly plan
Most platforms charge a monthly plan that includes a set number of conversations or a bundle of AI credits. Higher plans add bots, seats, channels or business features.
Volume
Conversations, resolutions or minutes
Some vendors bill by conversation, some per resolved conversation, and voice platforms bill per minute of talk time. Your inquiry volume decides which model is cheaper for you.
Model usage
What the AI model itself charges
The language model reads and writes text and is billed per million tokens. Longer conversations, long knowledge bases and larger models use more. Some platforms bundle this as credits, others pass it through.
Build
Setting it up properly
Writing the answers, connecting your calendar and CRM, testing against real past questions and setting the hand-off to a person is work. It is done in-house, by a freelancer or by a team, and it is the part no price list shows.
Channels
Where it answers
A website chat widget, a phone line, text messages and social messaging each add connections, rules and fees. Voice adds telephony charges on top of the platform rate.
Upkeep
Keeping answers current
Prices, opening hours and policies change. Someone has to review transcripts and update the assistant, whether that is your staff or a support arrangement.
AI chatbot pricing: what vendors list on their own pricing pages
Prices in US dollars as listed on each vendor page on 22 October 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on the page before you budget. Sources are linked at the end of this guide.
| Platform | Plan | Listed price | What the page says it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatfuel | Business | US$18 per month, billed yearly (US$216 per year) | US$20 of AI credits per month. The page points to a separate plan-limits page for usage limits. |
| Chatfuel | Agency S | US$90 per month, billed yearly (US$1,080 per year) | US$100 of AI credits per month, 3 companies, bulk pricing and an agency management dashboard. |
| Botpress | Free | US$0 | 100 conversations and 3 bots. |
| Botpress | Plus | US$150 per month, billed annually | US$25 of AI spend, 250 conversations, unlimited bots. |
| Botpress | Team | US$750 per month, billed annually | US$150 of AI spend, 1,500 conversations, unlimited bots. |
| Tidio | Starter | US$24.17 per month | 100 billable conversations and 50 Lyro AI conversations (one-off). |
| Tidio | Growth | From US$49.17 per month | From 250 billable conversations. |
| Tidio | Plus | From US$300 per month plus monthly usage | Custom conversation volume. |
| Intercom | Fin | US$0.99 per Fin outcome | A usage fee. Seats for the Intercom help desk are billed separately: Essential US$19 for new customers (US$29 regular), Advanced US$85, Expert US$132 per seat. |
| Retell | Voice agents, pay as you go | US$0.07 to US$0.31 per minute | No platform fee listed. The page example totals US$0.11 per minute (language model US$0.04, voice infrastructure US$0.055, speech US$0.015). Telephony through Twilio or Telnyx is US$0.015 per minute. |
| Bland | Start | US$0.14 per minute, US$0 monthly platform fee | Talk-time billing. |
| Bland | Build | US$0.12 per minute plus US$299 per month platform fee | Talk-time billing. |
| Anthropic API | Claude Haiku 5.5 (prompts up to 100,000 tokens) | US$0.10 per million input tokens, US$0.50 per million output tokens | Model usage only. Platforms that bundle AI credits are buying this kind of usage. |
| Anthropic API | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | US$2 per million input tokens, US$10 per million output tokens | A larger model for harder reasoning. Model usage only. |
Not every vendor is listed. A vendor is left out when its pricing page could not be read in full on the check date. Free and starter plans often limit channels, branding and integrations, so read the plan comparison on the vendor page.
How to turn those prices into a monthly figure
Start with the shape of your traffic. A website chat widget handling a few hundred conversations a month fits a flat plan with included conversations, such as the Chatfuel, Botpress or Tidio plans above. A support team that wants to pay only when the assistant resolves a question may prefer a per-outcome fee like Intercom's Fin. A phone line is billed by the minute.
For voice, multiply the minutes you expect by the rate. As an arithmetic illustration using the Retell example rate of US$0.11 per minute: a thousand minutes of calls is US$110, before telephony at US$0.015 per minute (US$15 for the same thousand minutes). Your own mix of model, voice and add-ons will change the rate, which the vendor lists as US$0.07 to US$0.31 per minute.
Add the fixed pieces: the monthly plan, any seats, and the person or team who reviews transcripts and keeps answers current.
AI receptionist cost against a human receptionist
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median pay of US$38,010 per year, or US$18.27 per hour, for receptionists and information clerks (SOC 43-4171), from its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program for May 2025. That is about US$3,168 per month in wages for one full-time person, before payroll taxes, benefits, equipment and cover for breaks and absences. It covers the hours that one person is at the desk.
An AI receptionist is priced the other way round: a platform plan or per-minute rate plus telephony, then the set-up work. The comparison that matters is hours covered and calls handled, not the headline number. Use the per-minute rates in the table with your own call minutes, and the wage figure above with the hours you actually need covered.
The same Bureau reports a median of US$44,770 per year (US$21.53 per hour) for customer service representatives (SOC 43-4051), May 2025, which is the reference point for a chatbot that takes over routine support questions.
A fuller side-by-side is on AI receptionist or human receptionist. The service itself is described on AI receptionist and AI voice agent.
What it costs to build it yourself, or have it built
The platforms above are the running cost. The build cost is the work of getting a useful assistant live: gathering the answers customers need, writing and testing them against real past conversations, connecting the calendar, CRM or store, and agreeing when it hands over to a person.
One in-house reference point: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median of US$135,980 per year for software developers in May 2025 (Occupational Outlook Handbook, based on OEWS). That is wages only. A platform build and a custom build need different amounts of developer time. The figure shows why many businesses compare a hire against a project fee. Custom work, such as an agent that reads your documents and acts in several systems, sits at the larger end of scope and is quoted from a written brief.
Agencies price this work per project, per month or by retainer, and published ranges vary widely because scope varies. For that reason this page lists no agency price, ours included. AI automation agency pricing is easiest to compare when every quote lists the same items: what is built, the channels, testing, handover and support.
See AI chatbot for business and Agent development for what is in scope, and what moves the price of outsourcing.
Is AI automation worth it? A monthly view you fill in
No result is claimed here. Replace each variable with a number from your own records and compare the outcome with the monthly cost you have worked out above.
| Variable | Where to find it | Role in the sum |
|---|---|---|
| A. Inquiries per month | Your call log, form entries, chat transcripts and inbox | The volume the assistant could answer |
| B. Share currently missed or answered late | Missed-call report, unanswered messages, after-hours inquiries | The part of A the assistant could rescue |
| C. Close rate | Your CRM or sales records: bookings or sales divided by inquiries | How many rescued inquiries become customers |
| D. Average order or job value | Your invoices or accounting package | Revenue per customer won |
| E. Monthly cost | Platform plan, usage, telephony, upkeep and any support | What you compare against |
Revenue at stake each month is A x B x C x D. Compare it with E. Include the staff time the assistant saves only if you will actually redirect that time. If the answer is close, test with one channel before widening it.
Having a Philippine team build and maintain it
The platform fees in this guide are the same whoever sets the assistant up, because they are paid to the vendor in your account. A Philippine team changes the build and upkeep side.
Time zone
An agreed overlap window
The Philippines is UTC+8 all year. The scope fixes a window in your US time zone when both sides are online. Details are on hiring from the United States.
Handover
Documented, in your accounts
Assistants are built in accounts you own, with written notes and a recorded walkthrough, so the assistant keeps working if you change who maintains it.
Quote
Request a quote
Fees are quoted per scope, with vendor costs listed separately. See how a Philippine automation team works and our pricing approach.
Request a quote
Tell us what you want the assistant to do
Include your state and time zone, the channels (website, phone, text), roughly how many inquiries you get a month and the tools you use. This goes to our team and helps us prepare for the call.
Questions we get asked
How much does an AI chatbot cost per month?
On the plans listed above, published monthly prices run from US$0 on free plans through US$18 (Chatfuel Business, billed yearly), US$24.17 (Tidio Starter), US$150 (Botpress Plus, billed annually) to US$750 (Botpress Team, billed annually) and higher. Usage, set-up work and upkeep come on top, so use the five cost drivers above for your own figure.
What is the difference between a chatbot and an AI assistant that takes actions?
A chatbot answers questions on a channel. An AI assistant of the second kind also takes actions in other systems, such as booking, updating a CRM or processing a request. The platform fees can look similar, but an agent has more to connect, test and supervise, so the build is often a larger part of the total.
How does AI receptionist cost compare with a human receptionist?
A human receptionist is paid a wage for the hours worked: the median in the US is US$38,010 per year, from BLS data for May 2025, before benefits and payroll taxes. An AI receptionist is billed per minute or by plan, so cost follows call volume. Work out the minutes you need covered and the hours a person would sit at the desk, then compare.
Is an AI chatbot worth it for a small business?
It depends on four numbers you already have: how many inquiries arrive, how many are missed or answered late, your close rate and your average order value. The monthly view above sets them out. If the revenue at stake is larger than the monthly cost, it is worth testing on one channel.
Why does a chatbot cost more than the plan price?
The plan price covers the software. Writing the answers, connecting your systems, testing and keeping content current are separate work, done by your staff or a provider.
What is Chatfuel pricing, and what is Botpress pricing?
As listed on 22 October 2026, Chatfuel Business is US$18 per month billed yearly with US$20 of AI credits, and Agency S is US$90 per month billed yearly. Botpress lists a free plan, Plus at US$150 per month and Team at US$750 per month, both billed annually. Check each vendor page for current plans.
Do you list what you charge for an AI automation build?
No. Our fees are quoted per scope after we see your channels, systems and volume. Request a quote and you receive a written scope with our fees and the vendor costs listed separately.
Sources and date checked
Every figure above was read on the page linked here on 22 October 2026. Prices change, so treat the vendor page as the current source.
- Chatfuel pricing: Business US$18 per month billed yearly, Agency S US$90 per month billed yearly
- Botpress pricing: Free US$0, Plus US$150, Team US$750 per month billed annually
- Tidio pricing: Starter US$24.17, Growth from US$49.17, Plus from US$300 per month
- Intercom pricing: Fin US$0.99 per outcome, seats US$19, US$85, US$132
- Retell AI pricing: US$0.07 to US$0.31 per minute, example US$0.11, telephony US$0.015
- Bland pricing: Start US$0.14 per minute, Build US$0.12 per minute plus US$299 per month
- Anthropic API pricing: Haiku 5.5 US$0.10 and US$0.50, Sonnet 5.5 US$2 and US$10 per million tokens
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, receptionists: US$38,010 per year, US$18.27 per hour, May 2025
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, customer service representatives: US$44,770 per year, US$21.53 per hour, May 2025
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, software developers: US$135,980 per year, May 2025
Next step
Request a quote.
Describe the assistant you want, the channels and your US time zone. You receive a written scope with our fees and the vendor costs listed separately.