The best chatbot for a website depends on the job you need done: an AI chatbot answers questions on its own, a live chat widget connects visitors to a person, and a WhatsApp widget moves the conversation to messaging. For most small businesses, the right pick is an AI chatbot that answers from your own content and captures leads, with a live chat or WhatsApp fallback for the questions it should not handle.
Below we compare eight options, from Intercom and Tidio to a plain WhatsApp button, on the things that matter for a small business site: how fast you get a useful answer, how the tool avoids making things up, whether it captures leads into a CRM, and what it costs. We make one of the eight, the KissMySkills AI Receptionist. We say where it fits and where the others are the better buy.
Prices checked October 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page, except where noted.
How we compared (criteria)
We judged every chat bot for website use on five criteria, in this order:
- Time to first useful answer. How quickly a new owner can go from sign-up to a widget that correctly answers real questions about their business.
- Hallucination guardrails. Can you limit the bot to your own content and make it say "I don't know" instead of guessing?
- Lead capture. Does it collect name and contact at the right moment, and where does the lead go: an inbox, a CRM, nowhere?
- Handoff. Can a human take over, and is there a live chat inbox?
- Price for a small business. The real monthly cost for a site with a few hundred conversations, not the headline number.
Platform fit matters too. All eight work on Shopify, WordPress, Wix and Squarespace through an app or a code snippet.
AI chatbot vs live chat widget vs WhatsApp widget
| AI chatbot | Live chat widget | WhatsApp widget | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers | AI, from your content | Your team, in real time | Your team, in WhatsApp |
| Works at 2am | Yes | Only as a contact form | Message waits until you reply |
| Best at | Repetitive questions, lead capture | Complex sales and support conversations | Customers who prefer messaging; follow-ups on mobile |
| Weak at | Judgment calls, anything outside its content | Coverage; needs someone online | Instant answers; nothing happens until a person replies |
| Typical cost | Subscription, sometimes plus per-conversation fees | Per seat or per workspace | Free or cheap plugin |
Many tools now mix these. Intercom, Tidio, Crisp and Zendesk combine AI answers with a live chat inbox. The question is which part you actually need. If nobody on your team will sit in a chat inbox, a live-chat-first tool turns into a contact form with extra steps.
The 8 options
Intercom
Intercom is the most complete customer messaging platform here. Its Fin AI agent answers from your help content and is included from the Essential plan at $29 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome, which Intercom counts when Fin resolves an issue or completes a workflow. You get a shared inbox, ticketing, a help center and a deep integration catalog. There is a 14-day free trial and no free plan.
Pick it if you have a support or success team and want one serious platform. Skip it if you are an owner who just wants the website to answer questions, because per-seat plus per-outcome pricing adds up.
Tidio
Tidio is popular with small online stores. The free plan includes live chat, basic ticketing and 50 one-time conversations with its Lyro AI agent. Starter is $29 a month on monthly billing ($24.17 billed yearly) with 100 billable conversations; Growth starts at $59 a month ($49.17 yearly). Tidio only counts a conversation as billable when a human agent replies.
Pick it if you want live chat with an AI layer and lots of ecommerce integrations. Tidio's free plan is one of the better ways to start live chat at no cost.
Crisp
Crisp has a free-forever plan with two seats, which makes it one of the best free options for pure live chat. AI features come with paid plans: Mini is $45 a month per workspace with a small AI credit allowance, and Essentials is $95 a month. Paid plans include omnichannel inboxes (WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS), a chatbot builder and a knowledge base. There is a 14-day trial of all features.
Pick it if you want a shared inbox across channels at a flat workspace price rather than per seat.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a full customer service suite. Suite Team starts at $55 per agent a month on annual billing, with a small number of automated AI resolutions included per agent and $1.50 to $2.00 for each extra one. Its strength is everything around the chat: ticketing, SLAs, reporting, macros and integrations. There is a 14-day trial.
Pick it if chat is one channel of a real support operation. It is more than most small business websites need.
Chatbase
Chatbase is a dedicated AI chatbot builder: you upload documents or point it at your site, and it creates an agent that answers from that content. The free plan gives 50 message credits and one agent, and Chatbase deletes free agents after 14 days of inactivity. Hobby is $40 a month for 700 message credits; Standard is $150 a month for 4,000 credits with helpdesk and API features.
Pick it if you want an AI-only bot you can tune in detail and you are comfortable watching message credits.
ManyChat
ManyChat is built for Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and similar social channels rather than website chat. It is strong for creators and brands running DMs, comment-to-DM campaigns and broadcasts. It has a free plan and a Pro plan priced by number of contacts, with AI features as a paid add-on. We could not load ManyChat's pricing page to confirm current numbers, so check them there.
Pick it if most of your conversations start on Instagram or Messenger, not on your website.
WhatsApp widget
A WhatsApp widget for website use is usually a small floating button that opens a WhatsApp chat with your business number. Many plugins for Shopify, WordPress and Wix do this for free or a few dollars a month, and the WhatsApp Business app itself is free. It is not a chatbot: nothing is answered until a person replies. Search interest in WhatsApp widgets is growing fast, and for good reason: many customers simply prefer messaging.
Pick it if your customers already message you and someone on your team replies quickly from a phone.
KissMySkills AI Receptionist
Our AI Receptionist is an AI chat widget for small business websites. You give it your FAQ and knowledge base, and it answers visitors from that content only, takes contact details and appointment requests, and passes everything else to your team. Every lead goes straight into KMS AI CRM, which is free for up to 300 deals and 1 user. You can set it up from the KissMySkills dashboard, or ask Claude or ChatGPT to do it through the KissMySkills connector. It is part of the KissMySkills All-Access subscription at $15 a month or $129 a year, together with the CRM and the other tools.
Pick it if you want a website chatbot that answers and captures leads into a CRM without per-seat or per-conversation billing. Skip it if you need a live chat inbox, WhatsApp, or helpdesk ticketing. It does not do those, and it does not answer phone calls.
Side by side
| Tool | AI answers | Live chat | Free plan | Lead capture → CRM | Setup time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom | Yes (Fin, $0.99 per outcome) | Yes | No, 14-day trial | Yes, via integrations | Longer; full platform |
| Tidio | Yes (Lyro) | Yes | Yes, 50 one-time AI conversations | Yes, via integrations | Fast |
| Crisp | Yes, on paid plans | Yes | Yes, 2 seats, no AI credits | Built-in contacts, integrations | Fast |
| Zendesk | Yes | Yes | No, 14-day trial | Via sales tools and integrations | Longer; full suite |
| Chatbase | Yes | Via helpdesk features on higher plans | Yes, 50 message credits | Lead forms, integrations | Fast |
| ManyChat | Paid add-on | Social inbox | Yes | Integrations | Moderate |
| WhatsApp widget | No | Via WhatsApp | Often free | No | Minutes |
| KissMySkills AI Receptionist | Yes, from your knowledge base | No; hands off to your team | No; part of $15/month All-Access | Yes, straight into KMS AI CRM | About 30 minutes |
Free chatbot options and their limits
Searching for a free chatbot for website use is reasonable, but know what you give up:
- Tidio Free: live chat plus 50 AI conversations, once. After that the AI part needs a paid plan.
- Crisp Free: two seats of live chat and no AI credits. Great for live chat, not an AI chatbot.
- Chatbase Free: 50 message credits and one agent, which is deleted after 14 days of inactivity. Fine for testing, not for running a business.
- ManyChat Free: a limited contact count on social channels, not website chat.
- WhatsApp widget: free, but it is just a doorway to your phone.
The pattern: free plans are good for live chat or for testing AI. Running an AI chatbot that answers every visitor costs money everywhere, because every AI answer costs the vendor money. The useful question is whether you pay per seat, per conversation, per credit or a flat subscription, and which one stays predictable as traffic grows. Tidio and Crisp's free plans beat ours on price for pure live chat; there is no point paying for AI if you want to answer every chat yourself.
How to add a chatbot to your website (step by step)
- Write your top 20 questions and answers. Hours, prices, services, service area, shipping, returns, booking. This is the most important step for any AI chatbot.
- Pick the tool using the table above.
- Load your content. Paste your FAQ, upload documents or point the tool at your site pages.
- Set guardrails. Answer only from the content; say "I'll pass this to the team" when unsure; never give medical, legal or financial advice.
- Set lead capture. Ask for name and contact after giving a useful answer, not before. Connect it to your CRM so leads do not sit in an inbox.
- Install the widget. On Shopify, use the app or paste the snippet into your theme. On WordPress, use a plugin or a header code block. On Wix and Squarespace, use the custom code setting.
- Test with real questions. Use ten questions from past customers, including awkward ones. Fix any wrong answers in the knowledge base.
- Read transcripts weekly for the first month and keep adding answers.
For a deeper walkthrough, see our no-code guide to building a custom AI chatbot and how to use Claude as a chatbot builder.
Which one to pick by business type
- Service business (clinic, law firm, agency, contractor) with leads coming from the website: an AI chatbot that captures leads into a CRM. That is the job our AI Receptionist is built for; see our AI receptionist for small business guide for more options.
- Online store with order questions: Tidio or a helpdesk with order lookups. Order tracking needs a store connection.
- Team that wants to chat live with buyers: Crisp or Tidio, starting on the free plan.
- Support team with SLAs and ticket volume: Intercom or Zendesk. They win on integrations, inbox and reporting.
- Brand that lives on Instagram: ManyChat.
- Local business whose customers already text: a WhatsApp widget, possibly next to an AI chatbot for after-hours questions.
- Owner who wants to tinker with an AI-only bot: Chatbase.
Where the others win, plainly: Tidio and Intercom win on integrations and a proper live chat inbox. WhatsApp widgets win where customers prefer messaging. Free plans from Tidio and Crisp beat us on price for pure live chat. Our AI Receptionist wins when you want the website to answer by itself and send every lead to a CRM, for a flat price that includes the CRM.
FAQ
How do you add a chatbot to your website?
Choose a chatbot tool, load your FAQ and key business information, set rules for what it should not answer, then install the widget with the tool's app or by pasting its code snippet into your site. On Shopify, WordPress, Wix and Squarespace this takes a few minutes. Test it with real customer questions before you rely on it.
How do I add a chatbot to my website for free?
Tidio and Crisp have free plans for live chat, Tidio includes 50 one-time AI conversations, and Chatbase offers 50 free message credits. A WhatsApp button is usually free too. Free plans are good for live chat or testing; an AI chatbot that answers every visitor generally needs a paid plan.
What is the best AI chatbot for a small business website?
For a service business that wants the website to answer questions and capture leads, an AI chatbot that answers from your own content and sends leads to a CRM, such as the KissMySkills AI Receptionist. For live chat with a team, Tidio or Crisp. For a full support operation, Intercom or Zendesk.
Embed the AI Receptionist on your site and let it answer from your own FAQ. Start from the AI Receptionist page; new leads go straight into your CRM.
