I tried 7 free Chatbase alternatives in 2025: Here's what I found

Let's be real, the pitch for Chatbase is tempting. The idea of just dropping in a website link and getting a custom AI chatbot sounds fantastic. I was on board, too. But then you try it, and things get a little shaky. You feed it your sitemap, and it chokes on half the links. You try to give the bot a personality, and the options feel like they came from a corporate template.

And the final straw? Finding out the "free" plan will just delete your AI agent if you don't log in for two weeks.

That simple dream of an easy chatbot quickly turned into a headache. So, I went looking for something better. I spent time testing the most popular free Chatbase alternatives to see if any of them could actually deliver. I wanted a tool that was simple to start with but wouldn't hold me back when I needed to do more. Here’s what I learned.

What is Chatbase?

Chatbase is an AI chatbot builder that creates a bot using your own data. You can upload files or link to your website, and it spits out a simple question-and-answer bot you can put on your site. It’s made for people who want a quick, no-code way to let visitors find answers on their own.

Why look for free Chatbase alternatives?

While Chatbase is an okay starting point, most businesses bump up against its limits pretty fast. After playing around with it and scrolling through user comments, a few common frustrations became clear.

• 

  Spotty data training: Just like folks on Reddit have mentioned, getting the bot to actually learn your content is a toss-up.

  Reddit
  You can give it ten links, and it might only learn from three, leading to half-baked or just plain wrong answers. A bot that gives bad information is honestly worse than no bot at all.

• Limited control: You can name your bot and give it a basic personality prompt, but that’s pretty much where customization ends. You can't build out different conversation paths, fine-tune the AI's persona, or create rules for when the bot should hand things over to a human. You're basically stuck with their one-size-fits-all approach.

• The "free" plan isn't really free: This is a big one. The free tier feels more like a demo that expires. You only get 100 messages a month and can only train it on 10 links. The real kicker is that your agent gets wiped after 14 days of inactivity. It's just not a practical choice for any business that needs a reliable tool.

• It doesn't connect to anything: A Chatbase bot is like an island. It sits on your website but can't talk to any of your other tools. It won't integrate with your help desk like Zendesk or Freshdesk to do useful things like tag tickets, route conversations, or update customer info. It's just a widget, not a real part of your workflow.

My criteria for the best free Chatbase alternatives

To find something genuinely better, I measured each platform against a few key things that directly solve Chatbase's main problems.

• Easy, self-serve setup: How quickly can you get it working without having to schedule a call with a salesperson? A good alternative should let you sign up and see results on your own, right away.

• Flexible knowledge sources: Can it learn from more than just a website? The best AI learns from where your team already does its work, your past support tickets, internal wikis in Confluence or Google Docs, and your help desk knowledge base.

• Real customization and control: Can you actually direct the AI? I looked for tools that let you define the bot's personality, choose exactly what kinds of questions it answers, and even build custom actions for it to take.

• A fair trial or free tier: Is the free version actually useful for testing? A platform that offers a proper trial without a looming 14-day deletion threat shows it's confident you'll want to stick around.

A quick comparison of the top free Chatbase alternatives

For a quick look, here's how the platforms I tested compare.

Feature	eesel AI	Botpress	Tidio	Botsonic	Fini AI	LiveChatAI	BoldDesk
Best For	All-in-one help desk automation	Developer-first customization	E-commerce live chat	No-code bot building	Knowledge base bots	Quick setup for SaaS	Integrated help desk
Self-Serve Setup	Yes, go live in minutes	Yes (requires technical skill)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Trains on Past Tickets	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Free Plan/Trial	14-day trial, then paid plans	Generous free plan	Free plan available	Free plan available	Free plan available	14-day trial	15-day trial
Key Differentiator	Simulation mode & existing tool integration	Open-source & highly extensible	Live chat + AI hybrid	Simple, branded chatbots	High resolution rate	Personalization based on user	All-in-one support suite

The 7 best free Chatbase alternatives for your business in 2025

After spending time with each one, here is my breakdown of the top platforms that give you a much better experience than Chatbase, especially when you're just starting out.

1. eesel AI

eesel AI is more than just another chatbot builder. It’s an AI platform made to plug right into the tools you’re already using, like Zendesk, Intercom, and Slack. Instead of forcing you to build something new, it levels up your current setup to automate support without making you switch help desks.

Why it's a great alternative:

• Live in minutes, not months: This is what "self-serve" should feel like. You can sign up, connect your help desk in a click, and have a working AI agent in less time than it takes to drink a coffee. No need to book a demo just to kick the tires.

• It learns from all your knowledge: This is its secret weapon. eesel AI can train on your most valuable data: your past support tickets. It figures out your brand voice, common problems, and what solutions actually work. It also connects to knowledge bases in Confluence, Google Docs, and over 100 other apps.

A screenshot of the eesel AI platform showing how a lead generation agent connects to multiple business applications to build its knowledge base.

• Test without any risk: Before the AI ever talks to a customer, you can run it in simulation mode. It chews through thousands of your past tickets and shows you exactly how it would have replied, giving you a clear picture of your potential resolution rate and cost savings. It’s a completely safe way to see if it's a good fit.

A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation feature, which provides a safe testing environment for users evaluating free Chatbase alternatives.

• You're in the driver's seat: You get a full workflow builder to decide which tickets the AI should handle. You can start small, customize the AI's personality, and even set up custom actions, like having it look up order information from Shopify.

A screenshot of the customization and action workflow screen in eesel AI, a top choice for free Chatbase alternatives.

Pricing:

eesel AI has a full-featured 14-day free trial. Paid plans are straightforward and based on how much you use it, not on confusing "per-resolution" fees that can make your bill unpredictable.

• Team Plan: $239/month (billed annually) for up to 1,000 interactions/month and 3 bots.

• Business Plan: $639/month (billed annually) for up to 3,000 interactions/month, unlimited bots, and key features like training on past tickets and AI actions.

• Custom Plan: For enterprise needs with unlimited interactions and extra security.

Who it's for: Any support or IT team that likes their current help desk but wants to add smart automation without ripping everything out and starting over.

2. Botpress

Botpress is an open-source AI platform made for developers who want to control every little detail. If you want to build something completely custom and have the coding skills to back it up, Botpress gives you the keys to the kingdom.

• Pros: It’s super flexible, so you can build really unique and complex workflows. Since it's open-source, you can host it yourself for total data control, and there's a big community you can turn to for help.

• Cons: This is definitely not a tool for non-technical folks. It requires coding skills and a good amount of time to get it set up and keep it running. It's the exact opposite of a "plug-and-play" tool.

Pricing:

Botpress offers one of the best free plans out there for developers.

• Pay-as-you-go (Free): $0/month plus what you use for AI. You get a $5 monthly credit for AI, 500 incoming messages/month, 1 bot, and 1 seat. It's perfect for building and testing.

• Plus Plan: $79/month (billed annually) plus AI costs. This bumps you up to 5,000 messages/month and 2 bots.

• Team Plan: $445/month (billed annually) plus AI costs. This gets you 50,000 messages/month and 3 bots.

Who it's for: Engineering teams who need to build a highly custom chatbot and have specific data privacy or hosting rules to follow.

3. Tidio

Tidio markets itself as a complete customer service platform, mixing its "Lyro" AI chatbot with live chat tools and a shared inbox. It's a go-to choice for e-commerce stores that want to be more proactive with website visitors.

• Pros: It's great for generating leads and helping with sales, with features for things like abandoned cart reminders. It also pulls your messages from email and Instagram into one inbox.

• Cons: The AI is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, which can be overkill if you only need a chatbot. The platform is more focused on sales chats than on deep support automation. The "free" plan is also a bit tricky when it comes to the AI part.

Pricing:

Tidio's pricing is a little confusing. You can buy the AI on its own or as part of a bundle.

• Free Plan: You get 50 live chat conversations a month, but zero recurring AI conversations. You get a one-time set of 50 Lyro AI conversations to try, but they don't refresh.

• Lyro AI Agent (Standalone): Starts at $32.50/month for 50 Lyro conversations.

• Starter Plan: $24.17/month gives you 100 live chat conversations, but still no recurring AI.

To get consistent AI, you have to pay for the Lyro add-on.

Who it's for: Small and medium-sized e-commerce shops that want a single tool for live chat and marketing and are okay with paying for basic AI help.

4. Botsonic

Botsonic, from the makers of Writesonic, is a very straightforward, no-code AI chatbot builder. Its biggest selling point is how fast you can create a chatbot that looks like it belongs on your website.

• Pros: It's dead simple to use and has great options for customizing how the chat widget looks. It also works in a bunch of different languages.

• Cons: It's more of a fancy FAQ finder than an automation tool. It can't really connect to help desk systems to do things like tag or close tickets.

Pricing:

Botsonic doesn't have a free-forever plan, but it does offer a 7-day free trial.

• Starter Plan: $16/month (billed annually) for 1,000 messages/month and 1 chatbot.

• Professional Plan: $41/month (billed annually) for 3,000 messages/month and 2 chatbots.

• Advanced Plan: $249/month (billed annually) for 12,000 messages/month.

Who it's for: Marketers or small business owners who need a simple, nice-looking chatbot for their website to handle basic questions or grab leads.

5. Fini AI

Fini is a no-code, GPT-4 platform that's all about turning your existing knowledge base into a chatbot that actually works well. It claims it can resolve a high percentage of support questions right away.

• Pros: It aims for a high resolution rate and connects with chat tools like Slack and Discord. It also has good security features.

• Cons: The bot is only as good as your knowledge base. If your documentation is out of date or incomplete, the bot will be, too. Their main pricing page is also down right now, which makes it tough to know the long-term cost.

Pricing:

Based on what I could find elsewhere (since their pricing page is offline), Fini has a free starter plan.

• Free Plan: Includes up to 50 questions per month and lets you train on up to 50 documents. It’s a good way to see how well it works with your content.

• Paid Plans: You'll need to contact their team to get current details on paid plans.

Who it's for: Businesses that have already put a lot of work into building a great knowledge base and want to use it to power their support bot.

6. LiveChatAI

LiveChatAI is the AI part of the bigger LiveChat customer service platform. It’s designed to be set up incredibly fast, promising a working bot in about five minutes. It's also good at personalizing its answers for different types of customers.

• Pros: The setup is lightning fast. Its ability to change responses for different users (like showing upgrade info to people on a free plan) is really useful for SaaS companies.

• Cons: This isn't really a standalone product. The AI features are part of the main LiveChat platform, and to get a truly automated chatbot, you have to buy a pricey add-on. The focus is less on deep automation.

Pricing:

LiveChat offers a 14-day free trial. The AI features are included in their paid plans, but the fully automated bot is a whole separate thing.

• Starter Plan: $19/agent/month (billed annually). This includes basic AI helpers like chat summaries and suggested replies.

• ChatBot Add-on: For a fully automated bot, you have to add their ChatBot product, which starts at another $52/month.

So, while you can try the AI-assisted features, a free bot isn't really what you get.

Who it's for: Early-stage SaaS companies that need an easy-to-use live chat tool with some AI features to help out their human agents.

7. BoldDesk

BoldDesk is a complete customer service software that includes a powerful AI agent from the get-go. It’s built to be an all-in-one solution for all your support needs.

• Pros: Since the AI is native to the platform, it’s woven into the ticketing and workflow systems. It can perform actions and learns from every chat to get better over time.

• Cons: This is a "rip and replace" deal. To use BoldDesk's AI, you have to switch to their entire help desk. That's a huge project if you're already settled into your current system.

Pricing:

BoldDesk has a 15-day free trial. The price is based on a per-agent fee plus extra costs for using the AI.

• Momentum Plan: $25/agent/month (billed annually). This is the first plan that includes access to the AI.

• AI Agent Add-on: $0.75 per successful AI resolution.

• AI Copilot Add-on: $20/agent/month for AI assistance features.

This pricing can get expensive and hard to predict, especially with the per-resolution fee.

Who it's for: Businesses that are looking for a brand new, AI-first help desk and are ready to move their entire support team to a new platform.

This video explores some of the best Chatbase alternatives available in 2024 to enhance your chatbot experiences.

How to choose the right free Chatbase alternatives for you

Feeling a bit lost in the options? Here’s a quick guide to help you decide.

• For developers: If you want total control, have a tech team, and need to host it yourself, Botpress is your best bet.

• For e-commerce: If your main goal is to turn chats into sales and you want a mix of live chat and AI, Tidio is made for you.

• For a new help desk: If you're starting from zero or ready to switch platforms, an all-in-one system like BoldDesk is a solid choice.

• For everyone else: If you like your current help desk and just want to add powerful AI that works, eesel AI is the clear winner. It fits into your existing tools, learns from your actual customer data, and lets you automate with confidence.

Go beyond basic bots with eesel AI

Chatbase is a simple tool for a simple task. But modern customer support is about more than just answering questions. It’s about solving problems, fixing workflows, and making your entire team's life easier.

The good news is that the world of free Chatbase alternatives has grown up. You can now find tools that are both easy to set up and powerful enough to scale with your business.

With eesel AI, you're not just adding another widget to your website. You're adding an intelligent partner to your support team. It plugs into the tools you already use, learns from your team's experience, and gives you a safe, data-backed way to introduce automation.

Ready to see what a real AI agent can do? Start your free trial of eesel AI and you can be live in minutes.