Top 4 AI Chatbot Platforms for Businesses
Chatbots are rightfully considered one of the most popular and widespread digital products created based on AI technologies. The emergence of such tools is a huge step towards automating online marketing, sales and customer service. Artificial intelligence algorithms have turned these programs into full-fledged virtual consultants and assistants who are in no way inferior to human workers, and even surpass them in many respects.
Today, more and more entrepreneurs and companies are actively introducing chatbots into their businesses, as well as improving the solutions they already use. Not so long ago, developing and training an AI-enabled bot to solve specific problems was a very complex, time-consuming and expensive process. Businesses had to hire teams of specialists in this industry, whose services were not cheap. Fortunately, a number of special chatbot development platforms with wide capabilities have now appeared. They help users independently create chatbots for different purposes and areas of activity in no-code mode, both from scratch and based on ready-made templates. In our article, you will learn about the functional features and costs of the most famous and popular such services. Once you have this information, you can choose the most suitable option.
ManyChat
ManyChat is one of the most famous chatbot platforms. It helps businesses automate communication with audiences via SMS, Instagram Direct, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Users can create and manage interactive chatbots through a user-friendly web interface. The service was launched in 2015. According to the developers, today it is used by more than 1 million entrepreneurs and companies from 190+ countries.
Key features:
- A visual editor with an intuitive interface makes it easy to develop chatbots and fill them with content in drag-and-drop mode. Each thread in it starts with a trigger event. Then you can connect the blocks together by simply dragging them.
- Blocks can be messages, actions, conditions or other elements. After creating a flow, you can test it directly in ManyChat or in the communication channel of your choice. The function of distributing threads into folders simplifies and speeds up bot management.
- You can use conditional logic in chatbot flows to better personalize conversations.
- The functionality of the service helps to combine different channels for automated communication within one bot. For example, you can build functions for collecting emails/phone numbers into chatbots for Instagram/Facebook.
- Thanks to ManyChat, it is possible to automatically send coupons, newsletters, promotions, booking confirmations and other types of messages via email/SMS.
- The presence of many pre-installed integrations allows you to connect the platform with thousands of third-party systems, including Google Sheets, MailChimp, Klaviyo and so on.
- Users can develop a chatbot for businesses from scratch using a visual editor, and also use a ton of professional templates for this. The platform provides ready-made solutions for various business sectors (e-commerce, restaurants, agencies, content studios and more).
You can automate data transfer from chatbots to third-party services by setting up integrations for ManyChat. For this, you can use our service, which allows you to implement automation in no-code mode.
The Free tariff plan allows you to create and launch chatbots for Instagram Direct, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp for free for an audience of up to 1000 contacts. The Pro plan starts at $15/month (price depends on the number of contacts) and supports all channels, advanced settings, segmentation, analytics, and built-in integrations. In addition, the platform offers a Custom plan, whose rates and capabilities are discussed individually.
Chatfuel
Chatfuel, released in 2016, takes a worthy place in our collection of the best AI chatbot platforms. Initially, it was an API for integrating Facebook Messenger with third-party systems. Then its developers concentrated on preparing chatbots for small businesses. At first, these tools were available only for Facebook, but over time they began to support other communication channels: Instagram, WhatsApp and any websites.
- Automate the work of an online store or landing
- Empower through integration
- Don't spend money on programmers and integrators
- Save time by automating routine tasks
Key features:
- The service’s AI algorithms automatically send personalized messages of various types to the audience: advertising or marketing, to stimulate sales, reminders about items in the cart, requests for feedback, and support, and so on.
- Users can flexibly integrate data from an online store, CRM or CDP with the system via the Chatfuel API. This allows them to optimize the messaging process by automatically identifying and tracking customer activity. You can also use our codeless online connector to create integrations with the Chatfuel service.
- The segmentation feature allows you to effectively target audiences based on their behavior and preferences, and then automatically send personalized messages to different groups.
- The analytics module helps you easily and quickly track and analyze various messaging metrics, generate insights about audience engagement, and measure campaign effectiveness, among other things.
- Thanks to the A/B testing tool that this chatbot platform has, you can determine the effectiveness of different combinations of content in messages: text, images, calls-to-action, and so on. The information obtained is a valuable source of data for optimizing communication strategies.
- Chatfuel has a user-friendly visual interface that allows you to quickly create and edit conversation flows for your chatbot, and then structure them using a folder system. The built-in block constructor helps you easily assemble a ready-made chatbot from blocks that display one or more of its elements.
There are 6 tariffs available for Facebook+Instagram messengers: from the shareware Trial (up to 50 dialogues per month) and the basic Entrepreneur for $14.99 per month (500 dialogues, $0.02 per dialogue over the package) to Growing Business for $119.99 per month (10,000 dialogues, $0.01 per conversation above the package). For large businesses, the service offers an Enterprise package with individual conditions. There is a separate tariff schedule for WhatsApp Messenger. The Business package starts at $49 per month and includes 1000 dialogues (each additional one above the package costs $0.02). The most expensive plan is Enterprise (starts at $300 per month). Its subscribers receive the most advanced features.
Tidio
Among the popular chatbot building platforms is Tidio. It allows you to create powerful hybrid communication systems that flexibly combine the use of AI algorithms, NLP support and real employees in their functionality. The service uses its own neural network called Lyro AI, which is capable of correctly answering more than 70% of questions in a natural conversation format. When needed, users can quickly switch to Live Chat for personalized communication.
Key features:
- Tidio chatbots support a variety of use cases, including lead generation, visitor greeting, abandoned cart reminders, phone calls, and so on. In addition, special bots are available here for those who are about to leave the site (Leaver bot) or do not respond to messages (Not responding bot).
- The platform's catalog includes 35 pre-installed chatbot templates for a range of common scenarios. For example, bots can automatically offer discounts and recommend similar products. It is possible for users to add personalized greetings for new or returning visitors.
- Tidio helps you develop, configure and launch a chatbot from scratch. This is easy to do thanks to clear and convenient step-by-step onboarding. For this purpose, the built-in online editor, Visual Flow Builder is offered here. First, the user should select a trigger to launch the bot, then create actions and add the necessary elements (text, images, video, a request for data input, and so on).
- After completing all stages of preparing the chatbot, you can test its performance right here.
- Tidio allows you to create chatbots for different communication channels and manage them through the Tidio Multichannel module. This includes WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, email and any third-party websites.
We included Tidio in our collection of top chatbot platforms not only because of its powerful functionality, but also because of its reasonable price. There is a free plan called Free with support for up to 50 livechat conversations and up to 100 bot triggers, as well as an unlimited number of tickets. The $29 per month Starter plan provides up to 100 livechat conversations and up to 500 bot triggers. Convenient for online support, the Communicator plan ($25 per month per employee) includes up to 100 bot triggers and an unlimited number of livechat conversations. The Chatbots plan (from $29 per month) allows you to use from 2,000 to 40,000 bot triggers and conduct up to 50 live conversations. When purchasing an annual subscription, a discount equal to the cost of 2 months of using the service is provided.
Octane AI
Rounding out our selection of the best chatbot builders is the Octane AI platform, with which entrepreneurs can develop chatbots for websites, Facebook Messenger and SMS, and integrate them with their online stores on Shopify in no-code mode. The AI algorithms used here are capable of answering customer questions, sending them abandoned cart reminders, generating conversational FAQs, sending receipts and shipping information, and providing assistance with product selection.
Key features:
- The chatbot use case templates offered in the Octane AI catalog are designed specifically for the e-commerce industry. Among them, you can choose, for example, to send welcome messages, push notifications, delivery notifications, smart replies, and so on. In addition, there are ready-made bots for data collection, location targeting, order confirmation, product search and other tasks.
- The service is suitable for conducting follow-up campaigns, allowing you to send messages to the target audience at certain intervals. They can be used to inform people about new products, promotions, news, or to collect contacts.
- The platform offers a wide range of chatbot components. These include images, video, audio, file attachments, galleries, emoji, quick replies, buttons, text input fields, and email/phone number/date validation.
- Segmentation and targeting functions help automate the process of distributing users into different categories and further retargeting based on the information received from them.
- Octane AI allows you to create and manage popups for online stores on Shopify. These elements are effective for lead generation and sending notifications.
- The built-in analytics module makes it possible to track a number of important business metrics, including the number of requests, average bill, sales dynamics, volume of abandoned carts, and so on. In addition, here you can collect information about the behavior of visitors on sites and their interaction with the bot.
The service does not offer a free plan, but does offer a 30-day trial period. The Basic plan starts at $9 per month and includes unlimited Facebook Messenger conversations, marketing automation, and technical support. The Pro plan, starting at $209 per month, adds the ability to develop SMS chatbots for an additional fee ($0.02 per message). Its service package also includes expert onboarding with advanced targeting and segmentation.
Conclusion
All the services described in this chatbot platforms comparison are aimed primarily at small businesses, but they may well be suitable for larger companies in various fields of activity. Each platform allows you not only to create chatbots from scratch using a no-code constructor, but also to use ready-made templates for different scenarios. With their help, you can get universal chatbots that are optimally suited for automating a number of processes in marketing, sales and customer service. Almost all services have a free plan with reduced functionality. The most budget-friendly plan is available from Octane AI, starting at $9 per month. However, the exact price of its services is calculated based on the number of contacts, so in fact, it may turn out to be higher.
Time is the most valuable resource for business today. Almost half of it is wasted on routine tasks. Your employees are constantly forced to perform monotonous tasks that are difficult to classify as important and specialized. You can leave everything as it is by hiring additional employees, or you can automate most of the business processes using the ApiX-Drive online connector to get rid of unnecessary time and money expenses once and for all. The choice is yours!