How Much Does an AI Chatbot Cost? A UK Small Business Breakdown
Chatbot pricing is confusing because the word covers everything from a scripted FAQ widget to a bespoke integration project. Splitting the market into three tiers makes the decision straightforward.
Tier 1: Hosted chatbots for local businesses
Roughly £19-£160 per month. You fill in a guided form, the platform handles the AI, and you paste one line of code onto your site. Limits are usually conversations per month and number of chatbots. This is the right tier for the large majority of cafés, salons, gyms, clinics and shops.
- Starter, around £19/month: one business, ~500 conversations
- Growth, around £59/month: higher volume plus messaging integrations
- Premium, around £159/month: multiple locations and priority support
Tier 2: Platform tools built for support teams
£100-£800 per month. Aimed at businesses with a support function: ticketing, seats, workflows, reporting. Powerful, but you pay for infrastructure a five-person business will never use.
Tier 3: Custom builds
£5,000-£50,000 plus ongoing maintenance. Justified when you need deep integration with proprietary systems. Rarely justified for answering questions about opening hours.
The costs people forget
Setup time, content writing, and maintenance. Budget an afternoon to write good answers and thirty minutes a month to keep them current. That is the real cost of ownership at tier one.
Working out your return
Take your average customer value, estimate how many extra enquiries you convert per month, and compare with the subscription. For most local businesses, one or two recovered bookings covers the entire cost.
Frequently asked questions
Are free chatbots any good?
Free tiers are fine for testing. They typically cap conversations tightly, brand the widget heavily and limit how much business knowledge you can load.
What happens if I exceed my conversation limit?
Most platforms either pause the assistant or prompt an upgrade. Check which before you rely on it during a busy month.