How Much Did It Cost To Build a Chatbot

January 16, 2025

Chatbots are rapidly becoming the norm of doing business today. They enable companies to accomplish work faster and at a lower cost, and offer a more intimate user experience. But perhaps one of the first questions that companies would like to have answered is: How much does it cost to build a chatbot?

The price is not standard. It ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on type, feature, platform, and level of customization. In this article we will break down everything that goes into payment for chatbots so you have an idea what to do with it for your business.

Chatbot Types and Prices

There are many types of chatbots, and they each come at a different price.

1. Rule-Based Chatbots

These are simple bots with pre-set rules. They respond to pre-set commands or choices (e.g., “Type 1 for assistance”).

Best used for: FAQs, straightforward customer service
Development time: 1–2 weeks
Cost: $500 to $2,000

2. AI-Driven Chatbots

These use machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to know and talk like human beings.

Best used for: E-commerce, banking, healthcare, or if you desire intelligent conversation
Development time: 1–3 months
Cost: $5,000 to $50,000 or more

3. Hybrid Chatbots

They marry rule-based flow and AI to make it smooth.

Suited for: Businesses that want control and intelligences as well
Time to create: 3–6 weeks
Cost: $2,500 to $15,000

Chatbot ROI: Is It Worth Every Cent?

A chatbot may seem like a huge upfront investment but typically pays for itself in relatively short order. This is the way you calculate the return on investment (ROI) of a chatbot—and why it is usually worth every cent.

1. Lower Support Costs

One of the best benefits is reduced labor cost. A single chatbot can perform what a support team can do—no breaks, no holidays, and no training cost. Most businesses save thousands of dollars a month after they have installed a chatbot.

2. Increased Conversions

Bots also push customers into the sales funnel. For example, bots will answer questions about products, offer alternatives, and even give a discount voucher. Businesses that use chatbots normally see an increase in conversions of 10% to 30%,

3. Reduced Abandoned Carts

Bots on shopping websites minimize abandoned carts because they remind consumers or guide them through checkout. This generates real-time revenue.

4. Increased Leads Captured

Lead Gen Bots grab email addresses, phone numbers, and interests on the spot. Less structured and official than forms—enabling organizations to grab more and higher-quality leads.

5. Improved Customer Retention

Improved Customer Experience translates to customers returning. Regular and punctual in service, text-based bots create loyalty over time.

6. Time Saved

With repeat questions and small support removed by the bots, your human personnel can reserve their energies for high-end work—saving time and making your team efficient.

Chatbot Development Cost Influencing Factors

Let us talk about the largest drivers of a chatbot’s price.

1. Bot complexity

A simple bot that provides yes/no answers is much cheaper than one that schedules appointments, takes payments, or converses with your CRM.

Basic chatbot: $500 – $2,500
Moderately complex bot: $2,500 – $10,000
Very complex bot: $10,000 – $100,000+

2. Integration with a Platform

Where will your bot live? Cost depends on whether you want the bot to live on:

Some have easy-to-integrate APIs and SDKs. Others require more code, which makes them pricier.

3. User Experience and Design

There is increased expenditure of money and time on bespoke window look of the chat, avatars, and flow of conversation.

Basic design: Templates are employed – negligible or low cost
Custom UI/UX: $500 to $5,000 depending on number of screens and designer experience level

4. NLP and AI Training

If your bot needs to work with natural language, you will need NLP tools like Dialogflow, Microsoft LUIS, or OpenAI. Training and testing of AI are development time.

Pre-trained AI services: Lower priced
Custom training: Extremely time- and cost-oriented

5. Backend Development and APIs

Your bot might need to interact with other systems: a CRM, payments processor, booking system, etc. Integrating APIs is costly.

Simple API connection: $500 to $2,000
Complex system integrations: $5,000+

In-House vs Agency vs Chatbot Builders

You have three options, and each affects cost in a distinct way.

1. Creating on a Chatbot Builder Platform

There are also platforms with no coding like Chatfuel, ManyChat, Landbot, and Tidio.

Best for: Small businesses and start-ups
Cost: Free to $300/month depending on plan and features
Downside: Less customized

2. Freelancing a Developer

You can also freelance a chatbot developer from Upwork or Fiverr agencies.

Best for: Medium-size bots with mid-level features
Price: $15-$100/hour
Disadvantage: You do everything yourself

3. Employing a Chatbot Development Agency

Companies like Get AI Chatbots offer full chatbot development from strategy to design, build, test, and deploy.

Best for: High-level chatbot projects or big business applications
Price: $5,000-$100,000+
Advantage: Done-for-you solution, professional assistance, and long-term stability

Top Chatbot Platforms of 2025 (Free & Paid)

It is simple to host and build a bot in 2025 for all of the chatbot platforms—whether you are beginning from scratch or require a high-level AI solution. Some of them are free to begin with, and some of some other ones have fantastic paid versions.
Free or Low-Cost Platforms

Tidio – Best suited for small businesses and websites. Offers live chat + chatbot feature. Chatbot flows can be achieved easily with the free version.

SeveralChat – Perfect for Messenger and Instagram bots. Free plan accommodates basic automation. $15/month and more for paid tiers.

Chatfuel – Drag-and-drop Facebook bot builder with ease. Free for 50 or fewer subscribers. Paid tiers uncover analytics and integrations.

Landbot – Enables you to create conversational bots for websites and WhatsApp. Basic usage is free; Pro tiers start at $30/month.

Advanced Paid Platforms

Dialogflow (Google) – Ideal for NLP-based bots. Great option for voice bots, mobile apps, and customer service platforms. Pay-as-you-use business model.

Botpress – Devs’ open-source platform for creating, training, and running conversational interfaces. Host on your server. Enterprise feature set with paid licenses.

Intercom – Advanced customer service automation platform. Offers live chat, bots, and help desk. Starts at $74/month.

Drift – B2B sales automation. AI bot and sales software combination. A few hundred dollars per month to get started.

Recurring Costs Post Deployment

Chatbots are not a capital cost. When you release the bot, there will be some recurring costs.

1. Server and Hosting Charges

If you’re hosting the chatbot on your server, then you’ll be paying server and database fees.

Average Cost: $20 to $500/month depending on traffic

2. AI/NLP Service Subscription

OpenAI or Google Dialogflow style services are pay-as-you-use (tokens, messages, etc.)

Average Cost: $10 to $100/month or more

3. Maintenance and Updates

Staying current is important in order to enhance performance, introduce new features, and fix bugs.

Average Cost: $500 to $5,000/year based on scope

4. Analytics and Reporting Tools

You might want access to high-level dashboards, reports, and monitoring of user behavior.

Average Cost: $10 to $100/month depending on the tool (e.g., Botanalytics, Dashbot)

Real-Life Chatbot Cost Examples

Following are some practical examples to help you navigate chatbot pricing.

Example 1: Small Business FAQ Bot

A small dental clinic requires a basic FAQ bot to respond to common questions.

Platform: Website
Type: Rule-based
Features: Pre-defined questions and answers, appointment form
Cost: $800 to $1,200 (one-time)

Example 2: Sales Bot for E-commerce Store

An e-commerce website requires a Messenger bot to enable product search and promotional push.

Platform: Facebook Messenger
Type: AI-based
Features: Order tracking, product recommendation, promotion notifications
Cost: $3,000 to $7,000

Example 3: Enterprise Banking Chatbot

A bank needs an AI chatbot to execute account balance checks, money transfers, and detecting fraud.

Platform: Mobile application and website
Type: AI + backend integration
Features: NLP, multilingual support, secure authentication
Cost: $50,000+

Conclusion

The cost of creating a chatbot depends on your functional, complex, and platform requirements. You can begin with a basic chatbot for under $1,000 or opt for a totally personalized AI product over $50,000.

If you’re a small business, try one of the chatbot builders yourself to test the waters. If you’re a large or medium-sized company, getting the services of a chatbot building agency like Get AI Chatbots will provide you with a better quality output, easy delivery, and a long-term success.