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2026 UK pricing guide

How much does a chatbot
cost in the UK?

THE SHORT ANSWER

In the UK in 2026, a chatbot costs roughly £20–£200 a month for DIY tools, £50–£500 a month for managed services, or £3,000–£25,000 one-off for an agency-built custom bot. HyperChat Live is a flat £49 a month per chatbot with 5,000 AI answers included and no hidden add-on fees.

HyperChat pricing · £49 flat Read the full breakdown
01 // The market

What each tier of chatbot
really costs.

Market ranges per Softomate Solutions' 2026 UK chatbot pricing analysis and Delegait's UK buyer research — sanity-checked against vendor pricing pages in July 2026.

Route Typical cost What you get Who it suits
DIY toolsTidio, Chatbase, Crisp & co. £20–£200/mo Self-serve widgets you configure yourself; AI usually metered by credits or add-ons Hands-on owners who enjoy dashboards and don't mind dollar billing
Managed servicesHyperChat and peers £50–£500/mo Done-for-you setup from your website content, hosting, updates and support included Businesses that want it working, not another tool to learn
Agency-built customDigital agencies, consultancies £3,000–£25,000 one-off Bespoke conversation design, custom integrations, consultancy — often plus a monthly retainer Larger firms with complex systems and a budget to match
HyperChat Live £49/mo flat Website-trained bot, 5,000 AI answers/mo, lead capture, analytics, API, webhooks, UK support UK small businesses that want managed results at a DIY-adjacent price

RANGE SOURCES: SOFTOMATE SOLUTIONS UK CHATBOT PRICING ANALYSIS 2026 · DELEGAIT UK BUYER RESEARCH

02 // Read the small print

The three hidden fees
that double your bill.

The headline price is rarely the price. These are the extras that catch buyers out — all figures from vendor pricing pages as of July 2026.

FEE 01 · DE-BRANDING

Paying to remove their logo

Chatbase charges $1,188 a year to remove "Powered by Chatbase" (chatbase.co/pricing). Tidio charges $16.67 a month for the same privilege (tidio.com/pricing).

HyperChat: no badge tax, ever. Your bot wears your brand.

FEE 02 · CREDIT CLIFFS

Message credits that run dry

Chatbase's Hobby tier is $32 for just 500 credits, with auto-recharge at $40 per 1,000 when you run out. Busy Saturday? That's a top-up.

HyperChat: 5,000 answers included monthly. No meters, no top-ups.

FEE 03 · PER-RESOLUTION METERS

A bill that grows with success

Intercom's Fin AI costs $0.99 per resolution on top of $29 per seat (intercom.com/pricing). The better the bot performs, the bigger the invoice.

HyperChat: £49 whether the bot answers 50 people or 5,000.

03 // Where we sit

£49. The whole
sentence.

HyperChat is deliberately boring about money. £49 a month per chatbot buys the build, the hosting, 5,000 AI answers, lead capture, analytics, the API, signed webhooks, the Zapier/Make/n8n rails and UK support. Building and previewing costs nothing — no card, no time limit.

If you outgrow one bot, agency fleet plans run £499, £1,499 and £3,499 a month. If 5,000 answers isn't enough, the bot pauses safely at the limit rather than billing you — then we talk about capacity like adults.

See the full pricing page
IS IT WORTH IT? · THE ENQUIRY MATHS
1

A visitor asks a question at 10:40pm. No one answers. By morning they've booked with the competitor whose site did.

2

The bot answers in under a second and captures their details with consent. The enquiry is in your inbox at breakfast.

3

One £250 job pays for five months of HyperChat. Everything after that is margin you would otherwise have donated to whoever replied first.

Your numbers will differ — run them honestly with your own average job value and website traffic.
04 // Questions

Chatbot cost questions.

How much does a chatbot cost per month in the UK?
In 2026, DIY tools run roughly £20–£200 a month, managed services £50–£500 a month, and agency-built custom bots £3,000–£25,000 as a one-off build, often plus a retainer (ranges per Softomate Solutions 2026 and Delegait). HyperChat Live is a flat £49 a month with 5,000 AI answers included.
Are there genuinely free chatbots?
Free tiers exist, but they usually cap conversations, carry the vendor’s branding, or lock the useful AI features away. HyperChat’s free tier lets you build, preview and tune a real website-trained bot with no card; you pay £49 a month only when it goes live on your site.
What hidden fees should I watch for?
The big three: de-branding charges (Chatbase $1,188/yr, Tidio $16.67/mo), message-credit limits with auto-recharge top-ups, and per-resolution billing like Intercom’s $0.99 per resolved conversation. Always price your realistic volume, not the headline tier.
Is a chatbot worth the money for a small business?
Usually yes, if your website gets enquiries. If a £49/month bot recovers one £250 job that would otherwise have gone to a faster competitor, it has paid for five months of itself. It suits businesses with traffic to convert; if nobody visits the site, fix that first.
Why are some chatbots billed per resolution?
Per-resolution pricing (Intercom Fin at $0.99 per AI-resolved conversation) ties your bill to the vendor’s definition of "resolved" and scales with your success. Flat-rate plans like HyperChat’s £49 trade that variability for a predictable number.
What’s the difference between a £49 chatbot and a £15,000 agency build?
Scope and service. A £15,000 build means bespoke integrations, custom conversation design and weeks of consultancy. A £49/month product covers the most common small-business need — answering questions from your website content and capturing leads — without the consultancy wrapper.
Do I pay VAT on chatbot subscriptions?
If the vendor is UK VAT-registered and you’re buying in the UK, 20% VAT is typically added at checkout and itemised on the invoice. HyperChat prices exclude VAT where applicable. US vendors handle VAT differently — one more reason UK billing keeps the accounts tidy.

Next reads: HyperChat pricing · vs Tidio · vs Chatbase · AI chatbots for UK small businesses

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