Chatbot Development Cost

A chatbot is a computer program or piece of software that uses voice or text interactions to mimic human communication. Chatbot virtual assistants are being used more often by users in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) contexts to complete basic tasks. By implementing chatbot assistants, businesses can lower overhead expenses, make better use of support staff time, and offer customer help during non-live agent hours. Minimal or no code is needed to integrate a chatbot into a sales or service division. Developers are able to create conversational user interfaces for third-party business applications with the help of numerous chatbot service providers. Businesses that want to boost customer service or sales productivity employ chatbots because they are efficient and save time. Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots may have conversations with users and respond to frequently asked queries.

The cost of developing a chatbot can vary depending on a number of factors, including the complexity of the chatbot, the platform on which the chatbot is developed, the amount of customization required to meet the specific needs of the business and the experience and expertise of the development team.

It is significant to remember that the price of creating a chatbot might differ significantly based on the particular elements involved. Obtaining estimates from several developers is always a good idea before making a choice.

Different Types of Chatbot Pricing

Pricing for chatbots can range greatly, from free to enterprise-level options. The complexity of the chatbot, the features it provides, and the vendor’s quality of support are some of the variables that affect its price.  The costs can vary from $0 to $1,000 or more, based on the tasks we want the chatbot to complete.

Free Plan

If we want to automate self-service and customer assistance with a chatbot but don’t currently have the funds, this is an ideal solution. A new business can build a chatbot widget and utilise it for free client support. Customer segmentation, limitless chats, customised chatbot design, a number of unique attainable visitors, desktop and mobile apps, integration with third-party apps, and the crucial NLP (Natural Language Processing) are among its functions. They are typically offered by chatbot platforms as a way to attract new customers and showcase their features. They are easy to set up without prior knowledge of chatbots. They are best suited for small and growing businesses.

The free chatbot’s capabilities will be limited in:

• The number of clients we can connect with
• How many staff accounts are available for use
• The platform on which we can incorporate the chatbot

The most popular vendors of free chatbots include:

1. Chatbot.team: India’s top platform for building no-code chatbots, Chatbot.team, aids companies in automating their sales and customer service procedures. It has the ability to target and segment audiences precisely, redefine customer engagement and create more individualized experiences. With features like chatbots powered by AI, customization choices, integrations, NLP, analytics, multi-platform support, and 24/7 accessibility, it gives your business a boost.
2. Tidio: It works best for small and medium businesses and enables you to use the chatbots on your website, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp SMS.
3. Mobile Monkey: MobileMonkey is the World’s Fastest Growing, Official Facebook Messenger solutions provider partner, providing a comprehensive Facebook Messenger Marketing platform for messaging contacts, running Facebook Messenger Ads, Drip campaigns, Website chat, messenger contact growth tools, social media messaging tools and more.
4. Many Chat: It works best for smaller businesses and can be used for chat marketing campaigns through social media platforms and text messaging.

Some cases where a free chatbot would be sufficient:

• A new and small business that is about to start but has a higher chance of not being successful. The owner has a limited budget and needs a simple chatbot just to answer customer questions and collect leads.
• A growing startup that is reluctant to go ahead with chatbot technology and does not want to invest in a paid subscription until it is sure that chatbots are right for its business.
• A business that needs a chatbot for a fixed time period such as a government scheme which will end after a particular period and does not want to invest by paying for a chatbot.

Subscription-based Chatbots

We should switch to paying plans as soon as our company expands and we require more features and bots to deploy. Enterprise-level chatbots are usually more expensive than subscription-based chatbots. Compared to free chatbots, they provide a greater range of capabilities, like appointment scheduling, payment processing, and system integration. Chatbots designed for consumers are a viable choice for startups and small enterprises. The functionalities included in these models vary from full customization and templates, Conversational AI and machine learning, Chatbot statistics, unlimited active bots, unlimited reachable unique visitors and many more.

The monthly fee we pay may range from $15 to $1,000.

Some of the providers here are

1. Octane provides dynamic quiz tests and results, A/B tests on pop-ups along with all the functionalities of the free plan.
2. Chatbot provides 5000 valid chats, 5 live bot agents, all integration, unlimited history access and many more functionalities with all the functionalities of the free plan.

Enterprise Chatbots

These chatbots cover all the functionalities of the free and subscription-based chatbots. In addition to that, they specialize in serving large organizations by offering features like booking meetings, paying directly on the chatbot, deep dialogue context technology, multi-language chatbots, video and interactive content, audit logs and many more.

The exact pricing plan is available to the sales team of the developing company. It is usually $1000 monthly approximately including all the major functionalities.

Engati  has a pricing plan under the enterprise plan which is more than $249 per month including, advanced NLP with script nodes, message broadcast campaigns, multilingual support and so on.

Custom Chatbot Development

A custom chatbot is an AI bot that we design to fit our company’s unique needs. They can automate tasks like answering frequently asked questions, providing support, and even making sales.m Chatbot Development.

In-house custom chatbot development

Using your own development team, an in-house custom chatbot is created from the ground up. You have the greatest control over the development process and the finished chatbot when you use this method. It is the most costly and time-consuming method, though.

cost to develop a custom chatbot

• Hiring a developer: the average salary is $82,585/year or around $47/hour
• Graphic designer: the average salary is between $33,000 and $76,000 per year
• Additional costs for integration costs range from $19.99 to $599 per month

Agency-led creation of personalised chatbots

Hiring a chatbot development company to create a chatbot on your behalf is known as “agency-led custom chatbot development.” Compared to in-house development, this method is less costly and time-consuming, but you will have less control over the workflow and the result.

Advantages of Custom chatbot development

• Full control over your chatbot’s features
• Customized chatbot functionalities
• Ability to develop your bot on voice-enabled devices
• Customized integrations
• Full control over the security of the chatbot

Chatbot agency pricing ranges from $1,000 to $5,000/mo and additional costs for maintenance of the chatbot later down the line.

Cons of developing custom chatbots

• Cost: The most costly method of creating a chatbot is custom chatbot development.
• Time: Developing a custom chatbot might take a lot of time. A sophisticated chatbot may take months or even years to construct.
• Expertise: Creating a personalised chatbot calls for a great deal of knowledge and experience. In the event that you lack the necessary internal knowledge, a chatbot development company must be hired.

Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs)

Intelligent virtual agents, or IVAs, are software applications driven by artificial intelligence that can converse with clients. These are artificial intelligence (AI) digital assistants that can comprehend human speech and react in a manner similar to that of a human, particularly for routine, basic requests. These chatbots are able to start human-like conversations with context. Virtual agents, or IVAs, are becoming more and more popular among organisations as an affordable and user-friendly alternative to chatbots. Regardless of whether they have been specifically programmed to interpret and respond to queries, IVAs are capable of doing so. Intelligent virtual agents can recognise human speech, comprehend its intent, and respond in a way that is appropriate by utilising a combination of machine learning, generative and conversational AI, natural language processing (NLP), and natural language understanding (NLU).

How IVAs differ from standard chatbots

• Virtual Assistants and Chatbots are often synonymous but IVA’s is more advanced and sophisticated than a simple chatbot, which is automated but not powered by AI. Chatbots are restricted by a programmed script, while IVAs have contextual conversations.
• Chatbots are limited to identifying return users in the context of talks. IVAs, on the other hand, go considerably further by retaining data gleaned from previous user behaviour and actions. It then makes use of this data to provide further context in talks going forward.
•  Understanding complicated phrase structures: Spelling mistakes, slang, negative statements, and “negations” are frequently encountered in casual talks. But unlike IVAs, chatbots lack the AI models necessary to discern precise intents and provide precise answers to user inquiries.

Costs involved in developing IVAs

The cost of developing an IVA can vary depending on a number of factors, including the complexity of the IVA, the features it offers, and the experience and expertise of the development team. IVAs are typically more expensive to develop than standard chatbots. This is because IVAs require more complex AI technology and more experienced and skilled developers.

virtual assistants can cost somewhere between $15 to $30 per hour.

Benefits of IVA

The main benefits of an intelligent virtual agent (IVA) are:

• Personalized customer experience
• Reduced wait times
• Around-the-clock service
• Improved agent efficiency
• Lower business costs
• Business Insights

Examples of platforms for developing IVAs and their pricing

• IBM Watsonx
• Kore AI
• Hyro
• Moveworks

Factors Affecting Chatbot Pricing

Based on the Development of the Chatbot

One of the key elements affecting a chatbot’s cost is the kind of development that goes into it. Depending on the developer and how they design it, it can differ significantly. Chatbots can be created via an external chatbot platform from a third party or by hiring in-house developers to create them from the ground up through code. The in-house approach to creating a chatbot is frequently the most expensive since it takes specialised developers to create one and meet business demands. However, it also allows a great deal of customization and may be created to meet the needs of your company. In order to assist with the creation of your chatbot and with any necessary maintenance, we can also engage independent developers. On the other hand, you can opt for subscription-based like Ochatbot, which helps to build our chatbot based on your business needs in addition to providing assistance and support from the builder’s side.

According to the needs of the business

The number of features that would enable us to create the perfect chatbot depends on the objectives of a business. More functionality and features are added to the chatbot as the aims and use cases become more sophisticated, which in turn affects the pricing of the chatbot.  

According to Complexity

AI chatbots may carry out easy to difficult jobs. Their price increases with the complexity of jobs they can perform. A basic FAQ chatbot can be cheaper, but an AI chatbot with sophisticated security features, intricate data handling, AI and ML capabilities, and predictive analytics would inevitably cost more.

Based on the type of Bot

The market offers a range of chatbot types with differing characteristics; selecting the best chatbot for your company will impact the chatbot’s cost. For instance, you may use a rule-based or keyword-based chatbot if you are working on a basic business platform with a tiny user base and little automation. To respond to user inquiries, these chatbots primarily use pre-programmed routines or basic decision trees. As a result, they can accomplish basic activities and provide answers to questions at a comparatively lower cost. Conversely, natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities of AI chatbots allow them to accomplish a number of tasks, such as responding to user inquiries according to their intent and being able to learn on their own. As a result, these chatbots can be quite pricey. Hybrid chatbots which include the features of both rule-based and AI chatbots can offer flexible pricing.

Is it worth it to have a chatbot?

A chatbot is a computer program that can simulate a conversation with a human user. Chatbots are often used in customer service applications, where they can provide support to customers without the need for human intervention.

There are several potential benefits to using a chatbot, including:

• Chatbots can help to reduce costs by automating customer service tasks.
• Chatbots can provide 24/7 customer service, which can be a major advantage for businesses that operate during off-hours.
• Chatbots can be used to generate leads and sales by qualifying potential customers and providing them with information about the product or service.
• Chatbots can also be used to upsell and cross-sell products and services.

To assess whether a chatbot is required or not, the customers can perform a cost-benefit analysis of a chatbot:

• The cost of developing and implementing the chatbot
• The cost of maintaining the chatbot
• The expected benefits of the chatbot, such as increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, or increased sales
• The risks associated with the chatbot, such as technical issues or customer dissatisfaction

Once these factors have been considered, businesses can make an informed decision about whether or not to implement a chatbot.

How to choose the best chatbot Platform?

With the abundance of chatbot-related technologies available, choosing the perfect chatbot platform can be overwhelming. There are various chatbot development platforms, applications, builders, social messaging platforms, chatbot analytics, and advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) tools and navigating these options can be challenging, but finding the most suitable chatbot development platform is essential.

Define your objectives

It is worth looking at your needs before you search for the best chatbot platform for you and your company. Defining your objectives might be a time-saver when choosing the right chatbot tool.

Determine the purpose of your chatbot

As you define the purpose of your chatbot platform, envision the impact it will have on your business. However, you need to remember that each business’s purpose will differ. Pay particular attention to what is important to you.

1. Identify specific goals and requirements for your chatbot platforms : When choosing the best chatbot and platform solution, we must consider the primary purpose of the chatbot, and identify and tailor the chatbot’s interactions to meet their needs, preferences, and communication style. We need to determine the breadth and depth of topics the chatbot should be able to handle and focus on providing a seamless and intuitive user experience, ensuring the chatbot is easy to interact with and understand.
2. Consider user experience : Chatbots need a well-designed user interface to have a smooth and enjoyable conversation with customers. A clutter-free layout, intuitive navigation, and visually pleasing design are the ingredients that create a positive and memorable user experience.
3. Analyze the interface and ease of use : We need a user-friendly, well-organized layout that keeps distractions at bay, allowing you to focus on the magical chatbot development process. It should ensure that even those without technical expertise can bring their chatbot visions to life. It should have an intuitive drag-and-drop functionality and straightforward workflows, accompanied by abundant resources.
4. Customization options and branding capabilities : One essential aspect of customization is the ability to personalize the chatbot’s appearance. It must have a range of visual customization options, allowing us to tailor the chatbot’s avatar, colour scheme, and overall design to reflect your brand’s aesthetics.
5. Seamless integration with CRM, CMS, and other relevant applications : Integrating with CRM software, Content Management Systems (CMS), and other pertinent applications is critical to a robust chatbot platform.
6. Multichannel support : It should be capable of supporting multiple communication channels in a chatbot platform. Customers have diverse preferences when interacting with businesses in today’s dynamic business landscape.
7. A chatbot platform can significantly enhance customer engagement and satisfaction by offering multiple communication channels.

Which is the best chatbot Platform?

Chatbot.team is the best chatbot platform. It is a conversational messaging platform that offers chatbot development services for businesses of all sizes. It helps businesses automate their customer service and marketing operations, improve customer engagement, and increase sales. Our chatbots can be integrated with any platform, including websites, mobile apps, and social media.

Features

This tool offers a variety of chatbot features.

• Natural language processing, Machine learning, Conversational analytics, Multi-channel support and Customization help understand and interpret user demands and offer support accordingly.
• It is the World’s number 1 no-code Chatbot builder platform that helps businesses automate customer and sales processes. Its no-code feature allows a naive user to build a customised chatbot flow.
• It supports precise audience targeting and segmentation, revolutionizing customer engagement and personalized experiences.

Benefits

• It improves our communication strategy with our chatbot solutions and allows us to craft personalized messages for better connect with the audience.
• It allows us to deliver tailored content, recommendations and offers that resonate, fostering deeper engagement, building trust, and driving conversions for our business.
• Its AI-powered chatbots, customization options, integrations, natural language processing, analytics, multi-platform support, and 24/7 availability improve overall customer experiences leading to increased sales and revenue.

Conclusion

In 2024, the price of a chatbot will differ based on its complexity and feature requirements.  With the increasing adoption of this technology, chatbot costs should fall down.  More sophisticated and feature-rich chatbots will cost more money.  The region in which chatbots are developed and used will determine their cost. The price of chatbots is probably going to play a big role in how organisations make decisions. For many firms, though, the advantages of chatbots—such as higher customer happiness, lower expenses, and enhanced efficiency—are probably going to exceed the drawbacks.

Chatbots have the power to completely change how companies communicate with their clients. By being aware of the expenses and benefits of chatbots, businesses can make an informed decision about whether or not to adopt this technology.