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Chatbase alternatives for small businesses: 5 options compared

Looking for a Chatbase alternative? Compare Ansa, Tidio, Crisp, SiteGPT and Intercom Fin on price, free plans, WhatsApp and what happens at your limit.

The Ansa teamPublished Updated 8 min read

Short answer: If you like Chatbase's idea but want something simpler with a predictable bill, Ansa is the closest small-business alternative: a free plan, a fixed monthly price and a hard limit that never charges extra. If you want a live chat inbox for staff as well as AI, look at Tidio or Crisp. If you have a support team, Intercom Fin is the bigger option. If you have a large website to train on, SiteGPT is worth a look.

We make Ansa, so we've kept this fair: Chatbase is a capable product, and for some businesses it's the right choice. All competitor details were checked on official pages on 20 October 2026. Prices change often, so treat them as correct at the time of writing and check the sources.

Why people look for Chatbase alternatives

At the time of writing, these are the points small businesses most often weigh up on Chatbase's pricing page:

  • No free plan is listed. The cheapest plan, Hobby, is $40 a month, or $32 a month billed yearly, with a 7-day trial.
  • Credits aren't the same as replies. Chatbase's FAQ says the credits a request uses depend on the AI model, and that actions can mean more than one request per reply. Hobby includes 700 credits a month.
  • Running past your credits costs extra. Auto-recharge adds credits at $40 per 1,000.
  • Branding removal is an add-on, listed at $1,188 a year.
  • One agent per plan, with extra agents at $300 a year each.

None of these is a flaw if you need what Chatbase offers: model choice, AI actions, voice, and integrations with helpdesks like Zendesk and Salesforce. But if you mainly want customer questions answered, you may be paying for more than you use.

Quick comparison

Starting paid priceFree planAt the limitWhatsAppRemove branding
Chatbase$40 a month ($32 billed yearly)Not listed; 7-day trialOptional auto-recharge, $40 per 1,000 creditsIncluded from HobbyAdd-on, $1,188 a year
Ansa$25 a monthYes, 20 answers a monthPauses politely, never charges extraYour own number on Starter, Pro and BusinessIncluded on Pro and Business
Tidio (Lyro)$29 a month; Lyro from $39 a monthYes, 50 one-off Lyro conversationsFixed quotas you chooseIncludedAdd-on on Growth; included on Plus
Crisp$45 a month per workspaceYes, without AI creditsIncluded AI credits per planFrom Essentials ($95)White labelling on Plus ($295)
SiteGPT$59 a month ($39 billed yearly)No; 7-day trial, card requiredExtra message packs, $59 a month per 5,000Add-on per numberAdd-on
Intercom Fin$29 per seat a month billed annually, plus $0.99 per outcomeNo; 14-day trialPay per outcomePay-as-you-goNot covered on the pricing page

1. Ansa: the simplest swap for a small business

Ansa answers customers from what you give it (your website, documents, text snippets and Q&A pairs) and nothing else. It doesn't search the internet or make up prices, dates or phone numbers. When it doesn't know, it shows your own message with a button to contact you, or on Starter, Pro and Business emails you the customer's details with a chat summary. Either way it saves the question so you can add the answer in one step.

Pricing:

  • Free ($0): 20 answers a month, 1 MB of knowledge, up to 20 website pages per read, 5 documents, just you, 1 assistant.
  • Starter ($25 a month): 500 answers a month, 5 MB of knowledge, up to 100 website pages per read, 20 documents, 3 team seats, 1 assistant.
  • Pro ($89 a month): 2,000 answers a month, 20 MB of knowledge, up to 500 website pages per read, 50 documents, 10 team seats, 3 assistants, and you can remove “Powered by Ansa”.
  • Business ($199 a month): 5,000 answers a month, 50 MB of knowledge, up to 1,000 website pages per read, 200 documents, 25 team seats, 10 assistants, and you can remove “Powered by Ansa”.

Each reply counts as one answer. At 80% of your allowance you get a warning; at 100% the assistant pauses politely until next month or until you upgrade. There are no overage fees and no automatic upgrades. See What happens at your monthly limit.

Compared with Chatbase: Ansa has a free plan, a lower starting price, branding removal included on Pro and Business, and more than one assistant on Pro and Business. It can answer on your own WhatsApp number on Starter, Pro and Business with no Ansa charge on top; Meta bills its own message fees. It has built-in actions too: a booking link on every plan, Google Calendar or Calendly booking on Pro and Business, and read-only order status from Shopify or Stripe on Pro and Business, after the customer proves their email with a code. Your team can ask it questions in Slack on Business. You can also manage it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor over MCP.

What you give up: Ansa's actions are a fixed set, so you can't build your own, and it has no helpdesk integrations, no voice and no choice of AI model. It doesn't have a live chat inbox (hand-offs arrive by email and you reply from your own inbox), and it works on your website, chat link and WhatsApp rather than directly on Instagram or Messenger.

Switching is quick: give Ansa your website address, upload the same documents (PDF, Word, TXT or Markdown, up to 10 MB each), test, and paste one line into your site. See Set up Ansa in 10 minutes and Ansa vs Chatbase.

Best for: small businesses that want everyday questions answered at a fixed price.

2. Tidio: live chat with an AI agent added

Tidio is a live chat and helpdesk tool with Lyro as its AI agent. At the time of writing, Starter is $29 a month ($24.17 billed annually) and Growth from $59 ($49.17 annually). Lyro is priced separately, from $39 a month ($32.50 annually) for 50 AI conversations a month. Every account starts with 50 one-off Lyro conversations, and the Free plan includes 50 human conversations a month.

Compared with Chatbase: Tidio puts human and AI conversations in one inbox across live chat, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email, with up to 10 seats on self-serve plans.

Best for: shops and service businesses with staff who want to chat with customers themselves. See Ansa vs Tidio.

3. Crisp: a flat-priced inbox with AI credits

Crisp charges per workspace, not per seat. At the time of writing: Free (2 seats, no AI credits), Mini $45 a month (4 seats, $5 of AI credits, around 90 automated conversations), Essentials $95 (10 seats, $25 of credits, around 450 automated conversations, WhatsApp Business, Instagram and SMS in one inbox) and Plus $295 (20+ seats, $75 of credits, white labelling). There's a 14-day trial.

Compared with Chatbase: more of a full support suite, with a shared inbox, help centre and many seats included.

Best for: small teams that want one inbox for every channel at a flat price.

4. SiteGPT: a trained chatbot for big websites

SiteGPT is the closest to Chatbase in approach. At the time of writing, Starter is $59 a month or $39 billed yearly, for 1 chatbot, up to 4,000 messages a month on its standard model, up to 1,000 pages and 1 member. Growth is $129 ($79 yearly) and Scale $429 ($259 yearly). Extra messages, branding removal and WhatsApp are paid add-ons, and the 7-day trial needs a card.

Compared with Chatbase: large page allowances, per-conversation rate limiting, and on Growth and up, an iOS app with a live inbox for taking over from the AI.

Best for: content-heavy websites that need a lot of pages trained.

5. Intercom Fin: for support teams

Intercom is a full customer service platform with Fin as its AI agent. At the time of writing, seats start at $29 per seat a month billed annually on Essential, and Fin costs $0.99 per outcome. There's a 14-day trial with no card. Fin can also run on top of helpdesks such as Zendesk and Salesforce, with a minimum monthly commitment.

Compared with Chatbase: a much stronger human side, with inbox, ticketing and handoff with full context.

Best for: companies with a support team working an inbox every day. See Ansa vs Intercom Fin.

How to choose

  • Keep it simple and predictable: Ansa.
  • Add a live chat inbox for staff: Tidio or Crisp.
  • Train on a very large website: SiteGPT.
  • Run a support team: Intercom Fin.
  • Need custom AI actions, voice or deep integrations: stay with Chatbase.

Whichever you try, load the same content and ask your ten most common questions, plus a couple it shouldn't know. The best tool answers the first set correctly and admits it doesn't know the second.

FAQ

What's the best free alternative to Chatbase?

At the time of writing, Ansa, Tidio and Crisp all have free plans. Ansa's includes 20 AI answers a month; Tidio's includes 50 one-off Lyro conversations; Crisp's Free plan has no AI credits.

Is there a Chatbase alternative without overage charges?

Yes. Ansa never charges more than your plan price: it pauses politely at your monthly limit until next month or until you upgrade.

Which Chatbase alternative works on WhatsApp?

All five offer WhatsApp in some form. Ansa includes it on Starter, Pro and Business, Tidio includes it, Crisp from Essentials, and SiteGPT and Intercom charge for it separately.

Can I keep my content when I switch?

You'll re-add it rather than import it. With Ansa that means typing your website address and uploading your documents again, which usually takes a few minutes.

Ready to try the simplest option? Start free, no card needed, or see pricing.

Sources

Competitor details were checked on 20 October 2026 and may have changed since.