Best 15 AI chatbot software for 2024

Overview

Modern customers are clear on what they want — 24/7, immediate customer support. 

But that’s not always practical in the business world. You’d have to worry about overtime pay, holiday pay, and facilities to house human support agents (all day, every day) to meet that demand. 

Thankfully, there’s another way. With the help of an AI chatbot, you can provide instant, 24/7 customer support, and handle incoming queries with human-like conversational dialogue. 

Some of these AI solutions have become so advanced, that many customers don’t even know they’re speaking with a machine. Effective AI chatbot tools can resolve simple support issues and forward more advanced problems to human agents. 

But to succeed profitably, you’ll need to find the best AI chatbot to accomplish your needs without wasting your profits. 

This article will lay out 15 leading AI software solutions and free chatbots to help you make a more educated decision. 

Let’s take a look.

What is chatbot software?

As the world of customer support rapidly evolves, it’s important to understand the key distinctions between chatbots, widgets, and software:

• The chat widget that pops up in the bottom right-hand corner of some websites — typically with an automated question to start — is a chatbot. 

• A chatbot is defined today as an application that’s capable of having online conversations with your website visitors.

• Customer service chatbot software is the technology that makes chatbots perform different customer support functions. 

Thankfully, today’s chatbot software solutions are advanced enough to make the setup process hassle-free. They offer intuitive and easy-to-use chatbot builders that don’t require coding skills.

The three main types of chatbots are rule-based chatbots, AI chatbots, and hybrid chatbots. Here’s a quick breakdown of all three:

• Rule-based chatbots follow predefined workflows and are great at basic chats and resolving simple and repetitive issues.

• AI chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) for human-like conversations. AI chatbots can work on their own to an extent.

• Hybrid chatbots involve a mix of chatbot technology and human input. This technology is the best of both worlds. It offers automated customer support to reduce ticket overload and hands-on support from a live agent to help customers with more advanced issues.

Whether you’re a business looking to provide pristine customer service, generate leads, or set up guided selling experiences, chatbot software has got you covered.

How does AI chatbot software help your business?

AI chatbot software offers a wide range of tools that can optimize your response times, provide 24/7 support, free up your customer support team for more challenging tasks, and save on overall labor costs.

For businesses that handle customer communications via email and chat, AI chatbots can:

• Shorten customer wait times and optimize agent response time

• Support customers instantly, every day of the week

• Improve efficiency by handling a large volume of queries simultaneously

• Free up your customer support team to work on more complex tasks

• Improve customer satisfaction scores and encourage more upsells

• Offer personalized and engaging customer experiences with NLP, which can lead to a higher retention rate

• Generate quality leads for potential sales opportunities and marketing campaigns

In short, chatbots help businesses by providing better customer service, improving efficiency, generating leads, and retaining customers through a stellar CX.

Use cases for chatbot software

Now that you have a strong concept of what chatbots are and how they work, let’s examine some industry-specific chatbot use cases. AI chatbots are useful across a wealth of different industries, helping out in many ways. Here are three real-life use cases broken down by industry. 

SaaS support chatbots

Software companies can get a lot of mileage out of AI chatbots. Their customers are constantly in need of support, and a lot of the issues they experience boil down to user error. 

A SaaS customer could engage a chatbot because they’re having an issue with a particular software feature. The bot can then ask clarifying questions about the issue to narrow down its list of answers. 

It’s very possible that this issue could be resolved through self-service articles in the company's knowledge base. By explaining the potential cause of the problem and providing a link to that article, the chatbot has resolved the customer’s problem without escalating the issue to a human representative. 

Ecommerce chatbots

In the ecommerce world, chatbots can save customer support departments a lot of time and energy. Typically, when a customer has a question about their order or another purchase-related issue, they call ‌customer support. 

This can contribute to longer hold times and lower customer satisfaction scores. It can also lead to emotionally burnt-out and exhausted support agents. 

However, a quality AI chatbot can step in to take away some of the pressure plaguing these incredibly important departments. When a customer contacts the chatbot with simple questions about their orders, the chatbot can verify their identity and provide the necessary information. 

For instance, say, a customer is contacting a chatbot to ask about the status of a recently shipped order. The chatbot can provide them with the latest information and tracking data for the package. 

That’s one less person calling in, clearing up phone lines, and making the support department a more pleasant place for one and all. 

Chatbots can also help ecommerce brands minimize unnecessary customer support tickets that shoppers send in via online forms. Ecommerce customers want help as quickly as possible. If they have to submit a form and wait 12 to 24 hours for a response, it bruises their experience. 

Utility service chatbots

When utility services suffer an outage, they become inundated with angry phone calls from concerned customers looking for an update. An AI chatbot can help them head off these issues before they disrupt support operations. 

For instance, if there’s an outage, customers can reach out to the chatbot with their service area information. The chatbot can then provide the latest information on the outage, along with an estimated time to resolution. 

Utility companies can also set up chatbots to automatically determine where the customer has service without having to ask. It can then offer that information on its own. 

For starters, have a strong understanding of what it is you want the chatbot to do. This entails understanding your target audience and keeping goals in mind. 

If you’re trying to chop down support hold times and free up human support agents, you’ll need to figure out how to accomplish that while keeping the audience’s wants and needs front of mind. 

Remember to stay true to your brand identity by giving your chatbot a personality and programming a welcoming greeting that reflects your brand values and voice.

Ongoing management 

Thankfully, as the chatbot continues to work, it continues to learn. The more it communicates with your target audience, the more it comes to understand their behaviors. That means it gets smarter and more effective as time goes on. 

The bot should be implemented into as many chat systems as possible. 

If it’s popular with your audience, then it needs to be an option. That could mean WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, and more. 

Make sure to periodically poll your audience after they interact with your chatbot. For instance, sending out a Net Promoter Score survey, where users rate their interaction between 1-10, can be especially helpful. It’ll keep you updated on how people feel about the system and whether it’s working.

Take the feedback you get into account and make changes accordingly. Be on the lookout for trends that start to pop up and roll that feedback into your next update. 

Make sure to keep your chatbot up to date with the latest patches and updates. This will make the bot more effective and keep up with industry standards. You should also make sure that its security is ready to fight off any advanced cyber-crime attacks. 

Measuring success

You can measure success by keeping track of certain key metrics. 

For example, has your average hold time gone down? Are your support agents fielding fewer calls? Are your guided selling templates converting visitors? If not, then your chatbot isn’t as effective as it should be and it’s time to figure out why. 

It could be that the technology isn’t set up properly or maybe the scripts the bot uses are unaligned with your audience’s core pain points and FAQS. 

Customer feedback analysis is another way to measure a chatbot’s success. If the audience is trying to make its voice heard, don’t ignore them. 

Buyer’s guide: How to select a good AI chatbot software

With AI taking over, finding the perfect chatbot software for your business has become more important than ever. With so many options to choose from, you’ll want to be sure that you’re selecting a chatbot that meets all your needs.

Selecting the wrong chatbot software can lead to needless problems for your business, including the inability to store chat transcripts for an extended period, challenges in handing over chats to agents for complex queries, or lack of insightful statistics.

To avoid problems like these, it’s crucial to define your criteria before making a choice about chatbot software. 

Here are some features to look for in a good AI-powered chatbot software:

• Intuitive flow builder: A good chatbot platform should help you map out conversations easily and design common chat scenarios in only a few clicks.

• Templates: The software should offer chatbot templates that guide you through the most common scenarios to help you get started.

• Customization: The software should help you design a widget that matches your brand and website easily.

• Dynamic Reporting: Quality chatbot software should provide chat analytics that improves virtual assistants' performance continuously.

• Easy deployment: Your chatbot software should be easy to install, and you shouldn't have to be a developer to do it.

• Live chat handover: While chatbots are great, there are times when you need human intervention. A good AI chatbot software should allow live agents to join conversations whenever necessary. Look for software options that include hybrid features.

Consider the following questions to help you choose the right software for your specific needs:

• How big is your target audience?

• How much can you afford to pay for chatbot software? 

• What are you hoping to accomplish with your chatbot?

• How will a chatbot fit into your current support structure?

• What kind of features will resonate best with your audience?  

By selecting a chatbot software that matches your needs, you'll be able to take advantage of AI and provide customers with exceptional support, encouraging better customer satisfaction and loyalty.

With that said, there are a few extra measures you can take to build a supreme chatbot.

Key features of chatbot software

Here’s how to take your chatbot to the next level:

Delight, don't just deflect

Build a chatbot that understands customer intent, provides the right information instantly, and saves time for your customers and agents. Completely remove the guesswork from your responses. 

Offer seamless self-service with a chatbot that learns

88% of customers expect companies to offer an online self-service portal. Use chatbots to ask and answer common customer queries and train your chatbots on different variations.

Give the chatbot plenty of resources it can provide, such as Help Desk Articles and FAQ pages, so the customer can read into their issue and take any necessary steps to solve their problem.

Offer support in multiple languages

Respond to your customers in their native languages. Upload bot conversation scripts in any language so your bot can speak in your customers’ preferred language.

Customize to reflect your brand

Adjust the chat widget’s look and feel so it reflects your brand. For instance, with our chatbot software, you can customize the shape, color, size, and everything about your widget with our simple CSS editor.

Boost your engagement on messaging channels

Use chatbots to support your customers 24/7 on messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, and LINE.

15 best chatbot software in 2023

Now that we’re clear on what to look for, here are 15 of the best chatbot software options available in 2023:

1. Freshworks Customer Service Suite

Freshworks Customer Service Suite offers AI-driven, omnichannel chatbots for customer service. They’re a great addition to your support strategy and help your team provide a delightful support experience every time.

Key features

Freshworks Customer Service Suite’s key features include:

• Live chat support

• Chat routing

• Email campaigns

• Proactive messaging

• Automatic support ticket routing

• An activity dashboard

• Advanced reporting options

• Machine learning systems that get smarter the more they interact

• Social media integration

• Assignment management

• Agent scheduling

• A web widget

Pros and cons

Some pros of using Freshworks Customer Service Suite include:

• Advanced analytic reporting

• Personalization options

• Lots of integrations

• Conversion automation

Freshworks Customer Service Suite’s cons include the following: 

• Small bugs here and there that are typically fixed efficiently

Pricing and trial options

Freshworks Customer Service Suite has a free plan for up to 10 agents. Its paid plans start at $19 per agent per month with $49 and $79 options also available with additional features.

There’s a 14-day free trial available, too.

2. Drift chatbot

The Drift chatbot is primarily focused on lead generation and is more suitable for sales teams. 

Key features

The key features of Drift’s cloud-based AI chatbot solution include: 

• Customizable widgets

• Email campaign automation

• The ability to manage multiple inboxes

• Automatic routing

• Integration with calendars in both Google and Outlook

Pros and cons

Some of the commonly reported pros of Drift include:

• Good contact management

• Easy to set up and use

• Solid customer support

Reported cons of using Drift are:

• Difficult to cancel

• Reports of pushy account executives

• Quickly becomes expensive

• No option for multiple teams outside the Enterprise plan

• Bugs present in both web and mobile apps

• Limited chatbot builder

Pricing and trial options

Drift’s Premium plan for small businesses starts at $2,500 per month, billed annually. So that’s $30,000 upfront. It also has advanced and enterprise plans, but doesn’t make pricing publicly available for those. 

Drift has a free trial available. 

3. Intercom

Intercom offers chatbots for sales, support, and marketing. 

Key features

Some of the key features offered through Intercom include: 

• Customizable bots

• No code options

• Web form replacements

• Live chat widgets

• Omnichannel support

• More than 300 integrations

Pros and cons

Some of the pros reported in online reviews of Intercom include:

• Easy to-use

• Simple setup

• Integrations work well

The cons reported online regarding Intercom’s chatbot service are:

• Poor customer support

• Easy to lose track of messages

• Chatbot API is not user-friendly

• Menu layouts cause confusion

Pricing and trial options

Intercom’s pricing starts at $39 per seat per month. It has additional plans for $99 per seat per month, $139 per seat per month, and a proactive support plan for $499 per month. 

There’s a free 14-day trial available. 

4. Chatfuel

Chatfuel is a chatbot platform specifically designed for websites, Facebook and Instagram. 

Key features

Some of the key features of Chatfuel include:

• A/B testing

• Automated scheduling

• Automated publishing

• Campaign management

• An activity dashboard

• Analytics capabilities

Pros and cons

A few of the pros reported by Chatfuel users include: 

• Simple UI

• Links well to Facebook

• Detailed chatbot analytics capabilities

• Navigation is straightforward

The cons associated online with Chatfuel include:

• Poor template quality

• Sign up is only available through Facebook

• Pricing can be confusing

• The system is buggy

Pricing and trial options

Chatfuel has different pricing plans for Facebook/Instagram and Whatsapp. 

The plan for Facebook and Instagram starts at $14.39 per month with a limit of 500 conversations. Each additional conversation costs $0.03.

The WhatsApp plan starts at $41.29 per month with 1,000 conversations included. 

It also has an enterprise solution starting at $300 per month. 

There’s a free trial offered. 

5. Landbot.io

Landbot is a chatbot platform best suited for independent and small businesses. 

Key features

Some of the main features of Landbot include: 

• Integrations with popular systems like Google Sheets

• A team inbox

• Lead generation assistance

• A WhatsApp business number

• API

Pros and cons

The pros reported about Landbot’s product include: 

• Flexible software

• Easy to get started

• Responsive customer service

Reported cons of using Landbot’s service are: 

• A steep learning curve

• High pricing

• Slow speeds

• A clunky user interface

Pricing and trial options

Landbot has a free plan with 100 chats per month and a paid Starter plan that costs $45 per month. Additional plans are $110 and $450 per month. 

You can get a 20% discount by paying for an entire year upfront. 

A free trial is available with all paid plans.  

6. Mobile Monkey

Mobile Monkey is a mobile messaging platform that focuses on Facebook Messenger support. 

Key features

Some of the key features of Mobile Monkey include: 

• A chatbot builder

• Automated drip campaigns

• Analytics

• Facebook Messenger ads

• Website chat integration

• Zapier integrations

• Bulk messaging

Pros and cons

The pros reported for Mobile Monkey online include: 

• Easy to-use

• Offers a free plan

• Includes a mobile app

• Solid chatbot templates

The cons that many have complained about include: 

• Lack of third-party integrations

• Can get expensive

• Ineffective customer support team 

Pricing and trial options

Mobile Monkey has a free plan and several paid options. The annual plans start at $14.25 per month and go up from there to $36.75 per month and $299 per month. 

There’s a free trial offered with Mobile Monkey.

7. Pandorabots

Pandorabots is one of the oldest and largest chatbot service providers. 

Key features

Some of the key features offered through Pandorabots include: 

• Interactive content creation

• Knowledge base creation

• Integrations with Slack

• API

• Chat widget

Pros and cons

Common pros associated with Pandorabots are: 

• Highly customizable

• Testing playground feature

• Chatbot creation 

• Open-source libraries for chatbots

Some common Pandorabots cons are:

• Phone support limited to more expensive options

• Correct answer rate of under 80%

• Not user-friendly

• Third-party integrations cost more

Pricing and trial options

Pandorabots offers a free plan and several paid options ranging from $19 per month to $199 per month. There’s also an enterprise plan with no public pricing available. 

A two-week free trial comes with Pandorabots.

8. Tidio

Tidio is a chatbot platform that helps with lead generation, third-party integrations, and triggered messages for small and medium businesses.

Key features

Some of the key features of Tidio include:

• Integrations with existing systems

• A support ticketing system

• Live typing

• Offline messaging

• A pre-chat survey

• Multiple languages

Pros and cons

Some common pros associated with Tidio are: 

• Easy to-use

• Intuitive system

• Plans are scalable

• Provides full context on customers, including shopping history

Some of the reported cons of the service are: 

• A lack of advanced features

• Analytics aren’t very advanced

• High pricing

Pricing and trial options

Tidio has a free plan that comes with three seats. It also has plans ranging from $39 per month to $25 per seat per month. You can also bundle services together. 

Tidio offers a one-week free trial. 

9. Aivo

Aivo is a chatbot platform that offers both text and voice messaging for customer interactions. 

Key features

Some of the key features of Aivo include:

• Video content

• Predictive analysis

• Issue tracking

• Task management

• Knowledge management

• Multi-channel communication

Pros and cons

Pros associated with Aivo include: 

• Enhanced control over the customer experience

• Adaptive conversations based on context

• Options for chatbot personality

Reported cons of the Aivo service include: 

• Chatbots require a lot of personal data to function

• Complex chatbots have a higher price tag

• Formatting issues with data reports

• Can’t easily upload a lot of information at the same time

Pricing and trial options

Aivo’s pricing starts at $99 per month, with the advanced plan coming in at $399 per month. 

It comes with a 30-day free trial. 

10. ManyChat

ManyChat is a popular chatbot platform more suited for social media support. 

Key features

The key features of the ManyChat platform include:

• A/B testing

• Lead conversion features

• Six channels for chatbot publishing

• Drip marketing management 

• Message broadcasting

Pros and cons

Some of the pros associated with ManyChat are: 

• Official Facebook marketing partner

• Easy to-use

• Powerful segmentation features

• Fair pricing

The cons reported online for ManyChat include:

• Not a great fit for small businesses

• No support for email marketing

• Limited support for integrations

Pricing and trial options

Manychat has a limited free plan and a Pro plan that starts at $15 per month and can go all the way up to $835 per month depending on how many contacts you have. There’s a customized Enterprise plan that has no public pricing available. 

Manychat has a free 30-day trial. 

11. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer experience platform that provides live chat and chatbot functionality in a single solution.

Key features

The key features for Zendesk include: 

• SLA management

• Custom views

• Reporting options

• Role management

• Multiple languages

• Phone support

• Access to a knowledge base

• Advanced reporting and analytics

Pros and cons

The pros associated with Zendesk include: 

• CRM included with helpdesk software

• FAQ-creation tool included

• Manages client contacts

• Simple to-use

Commonly listed cons of the Zendesk service include: 

• Challenges with uploading and exporting data

• Difficult navigation

• Too pricey for SMBs

• Difficult to collaborate with coworkers

Pricing and trial options

Pricing for Zendesk starts at $55 per agent per month. Other options include $89, $115, and custom enterprise pricing. 

Zendesk offers a free trial.

12. Brevo (ex SendinBlue)

Brevo Conversations (formerly Sendinblue) provides businesses with a chatbot software solution with live chat, customizable widgets, and more.

Key features

Some key features of Brevo include: 

• SMS marketing

• WhatsApp campaigns

• Email marketing

• Transactional campaigns

Pros and cons

Brevo has the following pros listed online: 

• Easy to-use

• Good feature set

• Drag-and-drop interface

• Free option available

• Multi-channel campaigns

Some of the Cons associated with the service are: 

• Lack of data importing

• No CRM connections

• Difficult to embed videos

• Slow loading times

Pricing and trial options

Brevo has a free plan and pricing that varies based on your needs. You can get Brevo for as low as $25 per month and as high as $669 per month. 

Brevo offers a free trial for new customers.

13. Ada

Ada is an AI-driven chatbot automation platform that supports chatbot functionality.

Key features

Some key features of Ada include:

• Reading customer intent

• API

• Integrations

• Customizable branding

• Drag-and-drop interface

• Reporting and analytics

Pros and cons

Some of the Ada pros listed online include: 

• Solid customer support

• Intuitive chatbot tools

• Easy to-use

• Straightforward system

Ada’s cons include: 

• Conflicting numbers in reports

• Major bugs reported

• Some phrases and text not editable

• Issues with language translation

• Needs more customization options

Pricing and trial options

Ada doesn’t have pricing listed on its website, but third party sites have reported that pricing for the system starts at $60,000 for the entire year. 

There’s a free trial available with Ada. 

14. HubSpot

HubSpot's Sales Hub has chatbot builder software that offers basic and advanced features to free and paid users for automated customer interactions.

Key features

Hubspot’s key features include: 

• Lead-capture forms

• Real-time chatbots

• CRM solution

• Pipeline management

• Activity logs

• Segmentation

• Email marketing

Pros and cons

The pros associated with Hubspot include: 

• Free plan available

• Intuitive system

• Automatic data analysis

The cons commonly associated with Hubspot are: 

• High pricing with more contacts 

• Poor templates

• Not user-friendly

• Contracts aren’t flexible

• Limited reporting

Pricing and trial options

Hubspot’s chatbot pricing starts at $50 per month. It also has options for $500 and $1,200 per month. 

The platform comes with a 14-day free trial. 

15.ChatBot.com

ChatBot.com is a platform dedicated to providing tools for creating, managing, and refining chatbots.

Key features

The key features of ChatbBot.com include: 

• No code chatbot builder

• Testing tools

• Customizable widgets

• Templates

Pros and cons

Some of the common pros associated with ChatBot.com include: 

• Reliable system

• Good canned responses

• Easy integrations

Some common cons of ChatBot.com are: 

• Learning academy training not sufficient

• Difficulty dealing with more complicated customer dissatisfaction issues

• Not practical for smaller businesses

Pricing and trial options

Pricing for ChatBot.com starts at $52 per month, with additional options for $142 per month and $424 per month. There’s also custom Enterprise pricing available. 

A free trial for this service is available.

What makes Freshworks the best conversational AI platform?

Conversational AI chatbots that learn

Freshworks Customer Service Suite’s support and sales bots build on top of AI and ML that detect the intent of prospects and learn from the questions asked over time.

Intent detection and faster resolutions 

Freshworks Customer Service Suite’s chatbots understand user intent and instantaneously deliver the right solution to your customers. As a result, customers no longer have to wait in chat queues to get their queries resolved.

Proactive customer engagement

Freshworks Customer Service Suite allows you to proactively interact with your website visitors based on the type of user (new vs returning vs customer), their location, and their actions on your website. This way, you don't have to wait for your customers to initiate conversations. Instead, you can let  AI chatbots take the lead in proactive engagement.

Intelligent agent handoff

Our intelligent agent handoff routes chats based on team member skill level and current chat load to avoid the hassle of cherry-picking conversations and manually assigning them to agents.

Personalize customer conversations 

Our conversational AI chatbots can pull ‌customer data from your CRM and offer personalized support and product recommendations.

Integration with messaging channels and other tools

You can easily integrate our smart chatbots with messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, and other tools for a unified support experience.

Real-time insights

With a real-time dashboard and custom reports, you can analyze your chatbot performance against various metrics and optimize it to perform better.

Pricing and ROI

Freshworks Customer Service Suite has a forever-free pricing plan for up to 10 agents. 

The Growth plan starts at $19 per agent per month for annual plans and goes up to $49 and $79 for higher tiers. You can also buy 1,000 additional Freshbot sessions for $100. 

See why customers rave about Freshworks Customer Service Suite

Freshworks Customer Service Suite has a wealth of positive reviews online, marking it as one of the best chatbot solutions. Customers rave about the quality of the product and how it can streamline customer support. 

For instance, Maria N on the review site, G2, had the following to say: 

“The service is super streamlined and easy to use. I use it at an everyday frequency. There are no confusing menus, no excessive number of features, and everything looks organized and neatly positioned. I rarely encounter issues with the service, and whenever it has happened, the developer and customer support team is always quick to fix it.”

G2 user Shawn J also went on to say: 

“Freshworks Customer Service Suite is one of the unique CRMs that is relatively easy to use and has its own AI assistance for summarizing and paraphrasing conversations. This makes customer support easy and offers an excellent user experience. What I especially admire about Freshworks Customer Service Suite is the features that it provides, like the ability to save your own customized replies and messages…”

Getting started

A quality chatbot takes support team productivity to a new level. The ability to offer 24/7 customer support can help your business meet the needs of modern audiences who don’t want to wait around for help.

Freshworks Customer Service Suite is a responsive and easy-to-use system — it’s one of the world’s best AI chatbot providers that can help optimize any customer support department.