So you're using HubSpot and thinking about adding some AI magic to your website chat. Good call. You want to give customers instant answers, qualify leads 24/7, and maybe, just maybe, free up your team from answering the same questions over and over again.
But as you start digging, you realize that turning on AI in HubSpot feels way more complicated, and expensive, than you thought.
HubSpot is a great platform, but its own AI tools for chat are often locked behind their most expensive plans, which just isn't realistic for most businesses.
This guide will give you a clear, no-fluff look at how AI HubSpot Chatflows actually work. We'll get into the features, the drawbacks, and the real cost of HubSpot's built-in solution. Most importantly, we'll walk you through a much better (and more affordable) way to get the job done with a smart integration.
What are AI HubSpot Chatflows?
First up, let's get the terminology right. Chatflows is just HubSpot’s name for the tool you use to build those little chat widgets on your website. When you go to create one, you'll see three main options, and it’s key to know where AI actually shows up.
-
Live Chat: This one is as simple as it sounds. It connects a website visitor directly to someone on your team for a real-time conversation. It’s available on every HubSpot plan (even the free one), but it’s 100% manual. No AI here.
-
Rule-Based Chatbot: This is a basic, scripted bot. You build a decision tree that asks questions and gives pre-written answers, kind of like an old-school phone menu. It can be handy for grabbing basic info, but most of the useful features, like "if/then" branching logic, are only available on HubSpot’s pricey Professional plans. On the Free and Starter plans, it’s not much more than a glorified contact form.
-
Customer Agent (Breeze): This is HubSpot's actual AI HubSpot Chatflows feature. It uses generative AI to understand what people are asking and hold a human-like conversation. It sounds awesome, but there’s a massive catch: you can only get it on the Professional and Enterprise plans.
The bottom line is pretty simple: if you want real, conversational AI that can think on its feet, HubSpot makes you pay for one of their most expensive subscriptions.
A closer look at native AI HubSpot Chatflows: The "Breeze Customer Agent"
Let’s say you decide to bite the bullet and pay for HubSpot's top-tier plans. What do you actually get? The Breeze Customer Agent is meant to be your frontline support, handling common questions so your team can focus on trickier stuff.
AI HubSpot Chatflows features and capabilities
HubSpot’s Breeze Customer Agent is a decent AI chatbot. It can chat with visitors by pulling answers from your HubSpot knowledge base or by scanning your website. Since it’s plugged into the HubSpot CRM, it can use a bit of customer data to make the conversation feel a little more personal. The goal is to deflect the easy questions and let your human agents handle the conversations that actually need a human touch.
AI HubSpot Chatflows limitations and headaches
While the features sound nice on paper, using HubSpot's native AI comes with some big challenges that can make it a rigid and frustrating experience.
-
It’s locked away: This is the biggest deal-breaker. The Breeze Customer Agent is completely off-limits unless you subscribe to the Marketing Hub or Service Hub Professional plan, which starts at $800 a month. The Enterprise plan? That starts at $3,600 a month. If you're on a Free or Starter plan, you’re just out of luck.
-
The setup is a pain: Getting started isn't as easy as flicking a switch. Unlike modern tools designed to get you up and running fast, setting up HubSpot's AI usually means wrestling with a clunky settings menu. You might even need to pay for help just to get it working right.
-
It only learns from HubSpot: HubSpot’s AI mostly learns from things inside its own world: the HubSpot knowledge base and your website. This creates a huge blind spot. What about all the useful information your team has in Google Docs, your internal wiki on Confluence, or your detailed troubleshooting guides in Notion? HubSpot's AI can't touch any of it. That’s a huge problem for teams whose knowledge is spread across different apps. In contrast, a tool like eesel AI can connect to all your sources instantly, including past support tickets, to give much more complete and accurate answers.
An infographic showing how eesel AI can connect to various knowledge sources like Google Docs, Confluence, and Notion, which is a key advantage for AI HubSpot Chatflows.- You can't test it properly: How do you know if your chatbot is ready to talk to real customers? With HubSpot, you kind of have to guess. There isn't a good way to test the AI on real-world questions before you set it live. This means you risk launching a bot that frustrates users and makes your company look bad.
A screenshot of eesel AI's simulation mode, a feature that allows risk-free testing for AI HubSpot Chatflows.The true cost of AI HubSpot Chatflows
That high monthly price for HubSpot's Professional and Enterprise plans? That's just the start. The real cost of using their native AI is much higher, thanks to some required fees and a pricing model that can lead to some nasty surprise bills.
Subscription and onboarding fees
Before you can even start thinking about AI chats, you have to pay just to get in the door. Here's a quick look at the entry fees, based on HubSpot's own pricing page.
-
Marketing Hub Professional: Starts at $800/month.
-
Marketing Hub Enterprise: Starts at $3,600/month.
But wait, there's more. HubSpot also requires a one-time, mandatory onboarding fee. That's $3,000 for the Professional plan and a staggering $7,000 for the Enterprise plan. These are pretty significant hidden costs that you don't always see right away.
The credit-based usage model
After you've paid thousands just to get set up, HubSpot then puts a cap on how much you can actually use the AI. They have a "HubSpot Credits" system, and you’ll burn through them fast.
-
Tiny monthly allowance: The Professional plan gives you just 3,000 credits per month, which is enough for about 30 AI conversations. The Enterprise plan gives you 5,000 credits, or roughly 50 conversations. For most businesses with any decent amount of website traffic, that’s not going to cut it.
-
Pay-per-conversation: Every single AI chat costs 100 credits. Once you blow through your small monthly allowance, you have to buy more credits. This works out to about $1.00 for every extra conversation.
This pricing model means your bill goes up the more your customers talk to your AI. It creates unpredictable costs and basically penalizes you for having a busy month. Let's see how that stacks up against a platform with clear, fixed pricing.
| Monthly AI Conversations | HubSpot Pro Cost (on top of subscription) | eesel AI Cost (Business Plan) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | $70 | $0 (included in plan) |
| 500 | $470 | $0 (included in plan) |
| 1,000 | $970 | $0 (included in plan) |
As you can see, the costs can get out of hand, fast. Platforms like eesel AI have predictable pricing with generous limits, so you can grow your support without worrying about a massive, unexpected bill.
A better way for AI HubSpot Chatflows: Integrating a dedicated AI platform
After looking at the costs and limitations, it's pretty obvious that HubSpot's native AI isn't the right choice for most businesses. Luckily, there's a much smarter approach: integrating a specialized third-party AI platform into your existing HubSpot setup.
Why an integration makes sense
Connecting a dedicated AI tool to your HubSpot chat gives you the best of both worlds.
-
It works on any plan. You can add powerful, conversational AI to your HubSpot chat even if you’re on the Free or Starter plan. No need for an expensive upgrade.
-
It's way cheaper. You get to skip the steep monthly fees, mandatory onboarding costs, and unpredictable pay-per-chat charges.
-
You get better features. You can use platforms built from the ground up for AI support, which means more advanced tools, better accuracy, and more control for you.
-
The experience is seamless. A good integration works right inside your existing HubSpot chat widget and inbox. Your team doesn't have to learn a new system, and your customers get a consistent experience.
Power up your HubSpot Chatflows with eesel AI
This is where you can really turn your HubSpot chat from a simple contact form into an automation powerhouse. By connecting a platform like eesel AI, you solve all the problems that come with HubSpot's built-in solution.
-
Go live in minutes, not months. eesel AI is built to be self-serve. Forget about mandatory demos and long sales calls. You can connect to HubSpot with a single click and get your AI agent running in just a few minutes.
-
Bring all your knowledge together. Unlike HubSpot's walled-off approach, eesel AI instantly connects to all the places your team keeps information. It learns from your past support tickets in HubSpot, your wikis in Confluence or Notion, and your documents in Google Docs to give complete answers right from the start.
-
Test with confidence. With eesel AI's simulation mode, you can test your AI on thousands of your past tickets before it ever talks to a live customer. You can see exactly how it will perform and get real forecasts on resolution rates. It’s a completely risk-free way to roll it out.
-
Get full control over automation. Don’t get stuck with HubSpot's rigid rules. eesel AI's workflow engine gives you fine-grained control. You can set a custom personality for your AI, create specific rules for which tickets to automate, and even build custom actions to look up order info in Shopify or triage tickets on the fly, all from a simple dashboard.
A screenshot of eesel AI's workflow engine, demonstrating the granular control users have over their AI HubSpot Chatflows.Don't upgrade HubSpot, integrate it
At the end of the day, HubSpot's native AI HubSpot Chatflows are powerful, but they’re clearly priced and gated for the enterprise market. For most businesses, they’re just not practical. The mix of high subscription costs, thousand-dollar onboarding fees, and a confusing credit system just creates too big of a barrier.
The most practical, affordable, and powerful way to bring real AI to your HubSpot chat is through a third-party integration. It's the smart move for any business that wants to scale its support without blowing its budget.
By integrating a platform like eesel AI, you get a more powerful and flexible AI solution that works with the tools and budget you already have. It lets you offer fantastic, 24/7 support without the enterprise price tag.
Get started with AI HubSpot Chatflows today
Ready to see what a truly integrated AI can do for your HubSpot chat? Start your free eesel AI trial and launch your first AI agent in minutes.
Frequently asked questions
HubSpot's native AI Chatflows (the Breeze Customer Agent) are locked behind their Marketing or Service Hub Professional ($800/month) or Enterprise ($3,600/month) plans. Additionally, there are mandatory one-time onboarding fees of $3,000 to $7,000, plus a credit-based usage model that charges for every AI conversation beyond a small monthly allowance, quickly accumulating costs.
The Breeze Customer Agent is only available on HubSpot's most expensive plans, has a clunky setup process, and learns exclusively from HubSpot's knowledge base or your website. This creates a significant blind spot as it cannot access information stored in other crucial business tools like Google Docs, Confluence, or Notion.
HubSpot's native AI is not available on Free or Starter plans. However, by integrating a specialized third-party AI platform, you can add powerful conversational AI capabilities to your HubSpot chat regardless of your current HubSpot subscription level.
An integration allows you to use AI on any HubSpot plan, often at a significantly lower and more predictable cost. You gain access to more advanced AI features, the ability to connect to a wider array of knowledge sources, and robust testing capabilities not present in HubSpot's built-in offering.
Integrated AI platforms like eesel AI can connect to diverse knowledge sources beyond HubSpot, including Google Docs, Confluence, Notion, past support tickets within HubSpot, and other internal documents. This comprehensive access allows the AI to provide more complete and accurate answers to customer inquiries.
HubSpot's native AI offers limited testing capabilities, making it difficult to assess performance before launch. In contrast, dedicated AI platforms often include a simulation mode, allowing you to test the AI on thousands of past customer tickets and forecast resolution rates before it interacts with real users.
Integrating a dedicated platform provides greater control over AI automation workflows, allowing for custom personalities and specific rules for ticket handling. It also offers predictable pricing that scales with your business, without the unexpected costs associated with HubSpot's credit-based system, ensuring a more flexible and sustainable solution.
