The ChatBot.com alternative priced per plan, not per user
HiQBot is a conversational platform for customer service, with AI agents and live chat on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE. If you are weighing a ChatBot.com alternative, start with what ChatBot.com sells today.
Its pricing page is headed “Chatbot pricing and plans with Text’s AI Agent”, and the plans are Text’s: $19 or $25 per user a month with 10 AI resolutions, or $79 or $99 per user with 200. A HiQBot plan has one price for the team, with the AI agent and a monthly allowance of credits in it.
Comparing more than two? The shortlist below has five, and all our comparisons are here.
Every ChatBot.com, Text and shortlist figure was read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 30 September 2026. HiQBot publishes this page.
ChatBot.com alternatives at a glance
The lists that rank for ChatBot.com alternatives name five to eleven tools. These five cover the usual reasons for looking: price, the size of the AI allowance, WhatsApp and a free way to start.
ChatBot.com (for reference)
- Best for
- Teams that want AI, live chat and tickets from one vendor
- Starting price
- Essential $19 per user billed yearly, $25 monthly
- AI allowance at that price
- 10 AI resolutions a month; each 50 after that added automatically for $49.50
- Every plan, no template messages
HiQBot
- Best for
- An AI agent that answers, qualifies and books on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE
- Starting price
- $49 a month billed monthly, 1 seat (pricing)
- AI allowance at that price
- 2,500 credits a month; a Core reply uses one
- Every plan, with template broadcasts
Chatbase
- Best for
- Building an agent on your choice of model, starting free
- Starting price
- Free. Hobby $40 a month, 2 members
- AI allowance at that price
- 700 message credits on Hobby
- Listed on its plans
Landbot
- Best for
- Designing bot flows visually
- Starting price
- Free. Starter $45 a month, or $36 billed annually
- AI allowance at that price
- 100 AI chats on Starter
- Your own number from Professional, $110 a month or $88 billed annually
Tidio
- Best for
- Small stores that want to start free
- Starting price
- Free. Starter $24.17 a month billed annually
- AI allowance at that price
- Lyro AI conversations, metered
- Listed as an integration
Intercom
- Best for
- Software companies that want an AI agent on a mature help desk
- Starting price
- Per seat, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. Seat prices in our Intercom comparison
- AI allowance at that price
- Billed per outcome
- See our Intercom comparison
Chatbase, Landbot and Tidio all have free plans, which neither HiQBot nor ChatBot.com offers. Chatbase and Landbot count requests or chats; Intercom and ChatBot.com count outcomes; HiQBot counts replies.
The rest of this page compares HiQBot with ChatBot.com.
What ChatBot.com sells today
Several of the pages ranking for this search describe ChatBot.com as a bot builder, and its menu still lists an AI Chatbot Builder. Today its logo reads “text by ChatBot”, its signup goes to Text’s app, and its FAQ says it “is available inside Text customer service growth platform”. Text is the company behind LiveChat too, and LiveChat’s own pricing table sends buyers who want an AI agent to the same product (see our LiveChat comparison).
So choosing ChatBot.com means choosing Text: an AI Agent, a shared inbox, tickets, workflows and proactive campaigns on one per-user licence. That is a reasonable product. The questions are what it costs at your volume and whether it reaches your customers’ channels.
Which one you should pick.
We publish this page, and ChatBot.com does several things we do not, so its column is the longer one.
- You expect more than a handful of AI conversations a month and want the price fixed before the month starts.
- Your customers write on LINE or Telegram, or you want Instagram comment replies as well as DMs.
- You send WhatsApp template broadcasts to customers who opted in.
- You want the agent to take bookings into your dashboard and onto Google Calendar, or send a WooCommerce checkout link.
- You want some channels answered only by people, with no AI in front.
- You want a 14-day trial with no card. Ours is 7 days and asks for one.
- You need SMS through your own Twilio account, or email forwarded in as tickets.
- You want revenue, orders and average order value reported against the AI’s chats. HiQBot has no sales attribution report.
- You want the AI to remember a customer’s past conversations, or a Copilot drafting replies for your human agents.
- You need SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, SSO and audit logs on an enterprise contract, or an API and MCP server.
- The AI will answer only a few questions a month. Essential at $19 per user billed yearly is cheaper than any HiQBot plan.
Ten AI resolutions a month, then automatic refills
ChatBot.com Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month. Once they are used, Text adds 50 more for $49.50, and again each time you run out. HiQBot Solo includes 2,500 credits a month and Starter 6,000; when they run out the AI pauses, and nothing is bought for you (pricing).
ChatBot.com counts a resolution when the AI solves at least one question in a conversation, once per conversation; a hand-over to a person without an answer does not count. Essential includes 10 a month and Growth 200. Past that, Text’s pricing FAQ says “a refill package of 50 resolutions is automatically added for $49.50 ($0.99 per resolution)”.
HiQBot plans include credits (pricing): 2,500 a month on Solo, 6,000 on Starter and 10,000 on Growth. One AI reply at the Core level uses one credit, and the stronger Balanced and Max levels use 4 and 8, set per inbox. When the credits run out the AI pauses until renewal or until you add a pack at $20 per 1,000. Nothing is added for you. On monthly plans, unused credits carry over for two billing periods when the renewal is paid on time.
Here is one volume worked through both, billed monthly, for a team of two.
| 300 AI conversations a month | Plan | Allowance used | Refills | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatBot.com Essential, 2 users | $50 | 10 resolutions | 290 more, 6 packs of 50 = $297 | $347 |
| ChatBot.com Growth, 2 users | $198 | 200 resolutions | 100 more, 2 packs = $99 | $297 |
| HiQBot Starter, 2 seats (pricing) | $139 | 1,200 of 6,000 credits | none | $139 |
What 300 AI conversations a month cost
- ChatBot.com Essential, 2 users$347
Plan $50 · automatic refills $297
- ChatBot.com Growth, 2 users$297
Plan $198 · automatic refills $99
- HiQBot Starter, 2 seats$139
Plan $139 · no refills
The assumption: every one of the 300 conversations ends with the AI solving a question, and each runs to four AI replies at Core on HiQBot. If fewer count as resolved on ChatBot.com, its total falls; if your conversations run longer or you choose a stronger level on HiQBot, more credits are used. Put your own numbers in and the ranking can change, but the ChatBot.com total rises in $49.50 steps and ours does not rise at all until you choose to buy more.
What the AI agent can do, side by side
This table uses only what Text publishes on chatbot.com and text.com, and what its dashboard showed on 30 September 2026, against HiQBot’s own feature list. Where Text has a real equivalent, the row says so.
| What the agent does | Text’s AI Agent (ChatBot.com) | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | You write skills in plain language and set their triggers, up to 10 per agent | An industry pack for SaaS, automotive, hospitality, restaurants, travel or e-commerce, with that trade’s questions and closing step, which you then edit |
| Qualifying a lead | A skill can capture contact details and requirements for sales follow-up. A real equivalent | Asks the industry’s qualifying questions, captures the lead and labels it hot, warm or cold on a status pipeline |
| Booking a meeting | Not described on the pages we read | Takes the booking into your dashboard, and onto Google Calendar when it is connected |
| Selling from a store | An AI sales skill recommends products and qualifies | With WooCommerce: finds products from a description, suggests in-stock alternatives, answers price and stock, sends a checkout link with the items in the cart, and reads an order’s status once the shopper gives the order number and email |
| Support questions | A skill can open a priority ticket; tickets are built in. A real equivalent | From Starter, a support agent resolves service questions and opens a ticket itself when it cannot; the ticket can link to Jira or HubSpot |
| Handing over to a person | Transfers with full context, on every plan | Sees when a person is needed, checks working hours, assigns and notifies, in the same thread (Starter and Growth). Solo has no live takeover |
| Keeping the AI out of some chats | You choose which chats are assigned to the agent | A channel can run in live chat mode: no AI, straight to a person, and replies there use no credits (Starter and Growth) |
| Knowledge | Your website, help articles, docs and PDFs | Uploaded files, and your website: one page or a whole site |
| Memory of the customer | Remembers past conversations and personalizes from customer data | Answers from the current conversation and your knowledge base; it does not read the customer’s threads on other channels |
| Languages | Replies in the customer’s language; 48 listed | Replies in the customer’s language; no fixed list published |
| Separate agents | 1 on Essential, 10 on Growth | Each channel’s inbox can run its own agent, on every plan |
| Answers DMs | Answers DMs, and comment rules reply to people who comment on a post | |
| WhatsApp outbound | The integration does not send template messages | Template broadcasts to contacts who opted in, on every plan |
| Voice notes | Not described on the pages we read | Add-on: understands a customer’s voice note and can answer with one, $15 per 150 minutes |
| Help for your human agents | Copilot: reply suggestions, text edits, chat and ticket summaries, tag suggestions | Not offered |
| Actions in other apps | A chat keyword can ping Slack, update HubSpot or add a contact to Klaviyo | HubSpot contacts and deals, Jira and HubSpot tickets, Google Calendar. No Zapier or webhooks |
| Sales reporting | Revenue, orders and order value tied to the AI’s chats | No sales attribution report |
Text’s agent is ahead on memory of past conversations, help for human agents, links to other apps and sales reporting. HiQBot’s agent books meetings, sends a store checkout link, replies to Instagram comments, sends WhatsApp broadcasts and runs a separate agent per channel, none of which appears on the Text pages we read. On qualifying leads, opening tickets and handing over to a person, both do the job.
What a team pays, both billing bases
ChatBot.com’s pricing page opens on yearly billing and says “Save up to 24%”. Both bases are below. HiQBot prices are from our live pricing the same day.
Billed monthly
| Team | ChatBot.com | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person, AI answering (our prices) | Essential $25 (10 resolutions) or Growth $99 (200) | Solo $49, 2,500 credits. The owner reads every conversation; there is no live chat seat |
| 2 people, AI plus human takeover (our prices) | Essential 2 × $25 = $50 (10 resolutions) or Growth 2 × $99 = $198 (200) | Starter $139, 2 seats, 6,000 credits |
| 5 people | Growth 5 × $99 = $495 (200 resolutions) | Growth $229, 5 seats, 10,000 credits |
Billed yearly, shown per month
| Team | ChatBot.com | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | Essential $19, Growth $79 | Solo $490 a year, about $41 a month |
| 2 people | Essential $38, Growth $158 | Starter $1,390 a year, about $116 a month |
| 5 people (our prices) | Growth $395 | Growth $2,290 a year, about $191 a month |
Human takeover is on ChatBot.com Essential. On HiQBot it starts on Starter, so a small team that mostly answers by hand pays less on ChatBot.com Essential. Extra HiQBot seats on Starter and Growth are $15 a month each.
Channels
| Channel | ChatBot.com | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| Website chat | Every plan | Every plan |
| Every plan; the integration does not send business-initiated template messages | Every plan, with template broadcasts to opted-in contacts | |
| DMs, in Text’s dashboard | Every plan: DMs, plus comment rules that reply to post comments | |
| Facebook Messenger | Every plan | Every plan |
| Telegram | “Coming soon” in Text’s dashboard | Every plan |
| LINE | Not offered: not on the pricing page or in the dashboard | Every plan |
| SMS | Through your own Twilio account today; native SMS “coming soon” | Not offered |
| Forwarded emails become tickets | Not offered as a chat channel | |
| In-app chat for mobile apps | Every plan | Not offered |
Every HiQBot channel lands in one inbox, and each one can run its own agent. On Instagram, the agent answers DMs and comment rules reply to people who comment on a post. On WhatsApp you connect your own number inside the dashboard, keep using it in the WhatsApp Business app through coexistence, and send broadcasts with Meta-approved templates to contacts who opted in. Meta bills those template messages to your own WhatsApp account.
LINE is on every plan. If you sell into Japan, Thailand or Taiwan it is often where your customers are.
Where ChatBot.com is the better product
ChatBot.com reports sales. Revenue, orders and average order value are tied to the chats that produced them, including a report for the AI Agent’s own sales. It also runs proactive campaigns and buying-intent prompts to start conversations with visitors.
It reaches SMS through your Twilio account, email as tickets and chat inside mobile apps, has desktop apps for your team, and works in 48 languages for the widget and the AI. The agent remembers past conversations, and Copilot drafts replies and summaries for your team. Workflows connect chats to Slack, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Zapier and Zendesk. The enterprise plan adds SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, SSO and audit logs, and every plan has an API and an MCP server.
The trial is 14 days with no card.
What HiQBot does that ChatBot.com does not
The agent is tuned by industry. Pick SaaS and technology, automotive, hospitality, restaurants, travel, or e-commerce and retail, and it asks the questions a salesperson in that trade would ask, then closes: a booking taken into your dashboard, and onto Google Calendar if you connect it, or for a WooCommerce store, a checkout link with the chosen items in the cart. It can also read an order’s status once the shopper gives the order number and the email used at checkout.
From Starter, a support agent works next to it. It resolves service questions, raises a ticket when it cannot, and the ticket can open a linked issue in Jira or a ticket in HubSpot. Anyone on shift can take a conversation over in the same thread.
You can also switch a channel to live chat mode: no AI answers there, a person on shift gets the conversation, and replies on that channel use no credits.
The AI replies in the language the customer writes in.
Switching from ChatBot.com, step by step
- Start the 7-day trial. Choose Solo if the AI will answer alone, Starter if people will take over. The trial asks for a card.
- Give the agent what the ChatBot.com agent learned from: upload your help articles, policies and price lists as files, and add the website pages it was trained on.
- Pick your industry and check the questions the agent will ask before it books or sends a checkout link.
- Put the website chat widget on one page first, with its single tag, and compare answers side by side.
- Move WhatsApp: disconnect the number in Text’s settings, then connect it in HiQBot, since a number sits with one provider at a time. Turn on coexistence to keep it in the WhatsApp Business app.
- Connect Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE, and set which channels the AI answers.
Questions people ask before switching.
Is ChatBot.com the same as Text?
Its plans are. The ChatBot.com pricing page is headed “Chatbot pricing and plans with Text’s AI Agent”, signups go to Text’s app, and its FAQ says ChatBot.com is available inside the Text platform. LiveChat, from the same company, points to the same AI Agent.
Does ChatBot.com support Telegram or LINE?
Telegram shows as “coming soon” in Text’s dashboard, and LINE does not appear. HiQBot connects both on every plan.
How many AI answers does ChatBot.com include?
Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month and Growth 200. A resolution is a conversation where the AI solved at least one question. Past the allowance, packs of 50 are added automatically at $49.50.
How much does ChatBot.com cost?
Essential is $19 per user a month billed yearly or $25 monthly. Growth is $79 or $99 per user. Enterprise is custom. There is no free plan; the trial is 14 days without a card.
Does ChatBot.com work on Instagram?
Yes, for direct messages: Text’s dashboard lists Instagram with “Answer Direct Messages”, although the pricing page’s channel list leaves it out. HiQBot answers Instagram DMs too, and its comment rules also reply to people who comment on your posts, on every plan.
Can ChatBot.com send WhatsApp broadcasts?
Its WhatsApp page says the integration does not send business-initiated template messages, so no. HiQBot sends template broadcasts to contacts who opted in, on every plan.
Is HiQBot cheaper than ChatBot.com?
At a few AI answers a month, no: ChatBot.com Essential starts at $19 per user billed yearly. At 300 AI conversations a month for two people, billed monthly, ChatBot.com comes to $297 to $347 once refills are added and HiQBot Starter to $139, under the assumptions shown above.
Can I train HiQBot on my website?
Yes. Add a single page or a whole site, up to 50 pages by default, alongside the files you upload, and a recrawl skips pages that have not changed.
Put the same questions to both.
Seven days, your own documents, your own WhatsApp number. Ask each agent what your customers actually ask, then count what the month would cost on each.