8 Best Chatbots in 2024
By Joren Wouters • Updated on
As businesses rely more on digital communication, chatbots have become vital. They are key for marketing, customer support, and engagement.
But with so many chatbot platforms available, how do you know which one is right for you?
Some excel at marketing automation. Others are for customer support. And a few combine both.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the 8 best chatbot platforms in 2024.
I’ll break down their strengths, weaknesses, and ideal use cases so you can make the right choice for you.
This is an unbiased review. It’s based on my hands-on experience with over 200 platforms and reviewing 50 of them.
Let’s dive in and find the perfect chatbot for your business!
Table of Contents
Best Chatbot Platforms: Quick Overview
| Name | Rating | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manychat | 4.5/5 ⭐ | Free plan, Pro plan starts at $15/month | Marketing Automation on Instagram, WhatsApp & Facebook |
| Chatbase | 3.9/5 ⭐ | Free plan, Hobby plan starts at $19/month, | AI Beginners |
| UChat | 4.5/5 ⭐ | Free plan; Premium plans start at $15/month | Omnichannel Bots for small and medium businesses |
| Botpress | 4.1/5 ⭐ | Free plan with pay-as-you-go model | Advanced AI Support Chatbots |
| Voiceflow | 4.2/5 ⭐ | Free plan; Paid plan starts at $50/month | AI Chatbots on websites |
| Tidio | 4.0/5 ⭐ | Free plan; Paid plan starts at $33/month | All-In-One Website Chatbots for Small and Medium Businesses |
| Intercom | 4.5/5 ⭐ | Starts at $39 per seat/month, 14-day free trial on every plan | Omnichannel Support Bots for Enterprise |
| Freshchat | 4.3/5 ⭐ | Free plan, Paid plans starting at $15/month | Most Affordable Solution for Large Customer Support Teams |
1. Manychat
Best for: Marketing Automation on Instagram, WhatsApp & Facebook
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
Manychat is one of the best chatbot platforms for automating marketing and customer support. It’s easy to use, thanks to its simple interface and Flow Builder, making it ideal for beginners.
This platform is perfect for marketing automation on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. You can send broadcasts, create message sequences, set up rules, and even test different strategies with A/B testing. These features make it a powerful tool for getting more leads and connecting with your audience.
Manychat is also great for customer support. It has a built-in live chat that lets you switch from automated messages to a real person when needed.
Likewise, Manychat also offers AI Tools. They include an AI Flow Builder Assistant and intent recognition. This can make your chatbot smarter and more helpful.
Pros
- Excellent for marketing automation, especially on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook
- Easy-to-use Flow Builder and beginner-friendly interface
- Unlimited Custom Fields & Tags
- Integrates with WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, SMS & Telegram
- Built-in live chat makes switching to a human agent easy
- Send broadcasts, Sequences and Rules
- Built-in AI: Intents, AI Steps & AI Flow Builder Assistant
- Direct Integrations + Zapier/Make Integrations
Cons
- You need separate workflows for each channel
- Translating your chatbot to other languages is hard
Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes basic features for up to 1,000 contacts
- Pro Plan: Starts at $15/month
- AI Add-On: Costs $29/month
Your Discount Code
joren_wouters_edc
Read my full Manychat review | Read Manychat Beginner Tutorial
2. Chatbase
Best for: AI Beginners
Rating: 3.9/5 ⭐
Chatbase is the go-to platform if you need a chatbot that can quickly train itself on your data and answer questions about it. It’s incredibly easy to use, and you can set up a chatbot in under 10 minutes. This makes it perfect for beginners or businesses that need a fast and simple solution.
To get started, you just upload documents or share website links. Chatbase will learn from your data and be ready to respond to questions right away.
You can even edit the chatbot’s answers if needed, and the system will automatically learn from these updates. This unique feature means your chatbot gives the best responses over time.
While Chatbase is great for quick and easy setups, it’s mostly suited for basic Q&A use cases. If you’re looking for more advanced features like custom chatbot flows or live chat integration, you may need to explore other options.
Pros
- Perfect for quick implementation of AI-powered customer support
- Beginner-friendly and easy to set up
- Lets you upload documents or URLs to train your chatbot fast
- Built-in AI-powered knowledge base
- Easily change responses of your chatbot
Cons
- Limited customization beyond basic Q&A
- Mostly suited for quick, simple AI setups
- No live chat or live chat integration
Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes 20 message credits and training on 400,000 characters
- Hobby Plan: $19/month, offering 2,000 message credits and training on 11 million characters
3. UChat
Best for: Omnichannel Bots for Small and Medium Businesses
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
UChat is ideal for businesses that want to manage many messaging channels. It supports over 10 channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. You can build one chatbot and publish it across all of them with a single click.
The platform comes with a drag-and-drop Flow Builder that makes creating chatbot workflows simple. But, it may take a bit longer for new users to fully grasp its features compared to some other tools.
UChat is ideal for combining marketing and customer support functions. Just like Manychat, it offers tools like broadcasts, sequences, and rules for effective lead generation.
Customer support is also seamless with UChat’s built-in live chat. This allows conversations to be handed over to human agents when needed.
It also includes features like keyword recognition, intent detection, and direct integration with ChatGPT for smarter automation.
On top of that, it connects with over 50 tools, including Zapier and Make, so it’s easy to integrate with your existing software.
Pros
- Easy to deploy across more than 10 messaging channels
- Easy-to-use Flow Builder for creating chatbots
- Combines marketing and support functions in one platform
- Perfect for small to medium businesses needing an omnichannel solution
- Direct integration with ChatGPT for advanced automation
- Built-in Live Chat
- Over 50 direct integrations, including Zapier & Make
Cons
- Higher learning curve for beginners
- Basic analytics
Pricing
- Free Plan: Available with basic features
- Paid Plan: Starts at $15/month
4. Botpress
Best for: Advanced AI Support Chatbots
Rating: 4.1/5 ⭐
Botpress is a top platform for building AI-driven customer support chatbots. Just like UChat, you can create one chatbot and publish it across 10 channels.
It offers a flow builder and built-in AI features. This gives you the flexibility to create custom chatbot flows and use the power of AI in your chatbot.
Botpress stands out due to its cutting-edge AI capabilities. With this platform, you can:
- Train your chatbot on a custom knowledge base
- Change responses to match a specific personality
- Summarize conversations automatically
- Interpret images that users upload
- Translate chatbot interactions into the user’s language
It’s one of the most advanced AI chatbot platforms available.
While it excels in customer support, it can have a high learning curve for beginners.
Likewise, Botpress isn’t ideal for marketing on Facebook or Instagram. Setting up the platform for these channels requires technical steps, such as creating a Meta Developer App. The standard plan also offers only basic analytics.
Pros
- Flow Builder
- Unlimited variables
- Built-in AI features, including knowledge base training, image recognition, and conversation summarizing
- Publish your chatbot on 10 channels
- Website widget in own branding
- Direct integrations with Zendesk & Zapier
- Built-in live chat
Cons
- High learning curve for beginners
- Technical setup needed for Facebook and Instagram connections
- No marketing capabilities for Facebook and Instagram
- Live chat available only on the $495/month plan
- Basic analytics on the standard plan
Pricing
- Free Plan: Includes up to 2,000 messages
- Pay-as-You-Go Plan: Starts at $5/month
5. Voiceflow
Best for: AI Chatbots on Websites
Rating: 4.2/5 ⭐
Voiceflow is an excellent platform if you need an AI Chatbot on your website. Just like Botpress, it combines the simplicity of a drag-and-drop Flow Builder with the power of AI. So it’s easy to create custom chatbot flows and train an AI Knowledge base on your data.
Voiceflow’s flexibility makes it perfect for lead generation and customer support chatbots. Thanks to the platform’s intuitive interface, you can set up flows in minutes, even if you’re a beginner.
They’re easy to work with, much easier than Botpress. Speaking of which, check my comparison of Voiceflow vs Botpress if you’re intested in comparing the two.
Another big pro for Voiceflow is its free plan. The free version is one of the best on the market. It comes with 50 knowledge base sources, unlimited flows and 100K monthly AI tokens.
But, Voiceflow is limited to website chatbots. It does not support other channel unless connected though an API. It also lacks live chat functionality and provides only minimal analytics.
I’d recommend it if you want to have an AI chatbot on a website, and Voiceflow is one of the best for that. But if you want to use chatbots with other channels, there are better options.
Pros
- Easy-to-use Flow Builder for quick chatbot setup
- Flexible chatbot customization without a steep learning curve
- Built-in AI features: Intents, entities, and knowledge base training
- Native website widget for seamless integration
- Very good free plan, ideal for small businesses
Cons
- Limited to website use
- Requires API for integrations with other channels
- No built-in live chat or live chat integration
- Minimal analytics
Pricing
- Free Plan: 50 knowledge base sources, unlimited flows & 100K monthly AI tokens
- Paid Plan: Starts at $50/month
6. Tidio
Best for: All-in-One Website Chatbots for Small and Medium Businesses
Rating: 4.0/5 ⭐
Tidio is a great platform for small and medium businesses that want an all-in-one website chatbot. It combines live chat, AI-powered features, and easy-to-create chatbot flows. So it’s good for both marketing and customer support.
With its flow builder, you can set up chatbots within minutes. Tidio also includes proactive messaging, which lets you engage website visitors before they reach out. The built-in AI assistant, Lyro, can answer questions automatically based on your data. Plus, live chat agents can take over conversations when needed.
Tidio supports integration across multiple channels, including websites, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. However, while you can use it on these channels, it lacks direct marketing features for them.
Also, Lyro (AI assistant) and custom flows can’t be used simultaneously, which limits advanced use cases.
Pros
- Easy-to-use Flow Builder for quick chatbot creation
- Use conditions in your chatbot flows
- Proactive messaging to engage website visitors
- Built-in live chat for seamless customer support
- AI assistant (Lyro) for automated answers
- Supports websites, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
Cons
- No marketing capabilities on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp
- Lyro and custom flows cannot work together at the same time
- Limited analytics for chatbot performance
- Requires Zapier for external integrations
Pricing
- Free Plan: Basic features of Tidio, up to 100 reached visitors
- Paid Plan: Starts at $33/month
7. Intercom
Best for: Omnichannel Support Bots for Enterprise
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐
Intercom is great for Omnichannel chatbots for enterprise. With Intercom, you can create chatbots on 5 channels, including websites, WhatsApp and Instagram.
With its intuitive flow builder, you can create your advanced chatbot flows in minutes. Likewise, you can use its AI features to train the chatbot on your data.
What Intercom really stands out for is its chat widget on websites. It’s one of the best-looking widgets on the market. And you can also pro-actively engage with website visitors, using series, banners and tours.
Likewise, you can use its live chat feature to hand off conversations to agents whenever needed.
It also integrates with over 100 applications, so it’s easy to connect with your existing tech stack. While it offers powerful tools, its pricing and features can be too expensive for small businesses.
Pros
- Easy-to-use Flow Builder
- Advanced website widget with proactive messaging and marketing features
- Built-in AI for knowledge base training and intent recognition
- Assign unlimited custom fields & tags
- Supports publishing across websites, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and SMS
- Many marketing features
- Extensive direct integrations with over 100 tools
- Strong analytics for tracking chatbot performance
Cons
- Expensive for small and medium businesses
- No marketing possibilities for Facebook or Instagram
- Interface may feel overwhelming for new users
Pricing
- Paid Plans: Start at $39 per seat/month
- 14 day Free Trial on every plan
8. Freshchat
Best for: Most Affordable Solution for Large Customer Support Teams
Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐
Freshchat is an excellent platform for large customer support teams that need an affordable solution across multiple channels.
It’s honestly not great for building advanced chatbots, but its live chat features and support tools are amazing. Freshchat is great for teams focused on customer service rather than complex marketing or AI functionalities.
It includes features like a smart inbox, team collaboration, and proactive messaging, which help teams manage conversations efficiently. It also supports 7 messaging channels, including WhatsApp and Instagram.
You can easily hand conversation over to agents, so it’s a reliable tool for businesses that prioritize live chat.
Also, Freshchat integrates with over 400 applications, so it’s easy to connect with your existing tools and streamline workflows.
Pros
- Affordable solution for large customer support teams
- Smart tools like queue management, team collaboration, and proactive messaging
- Built-in AI: Intents, Self Service, Copilot
- Livechat with Auto-Assignment and Automations
- Supports 7 channels, including WhatsApp and Instagram
- Over 400 direct integrations for streamlined workflows
- Advanced Analytics: Many Reports & Add Custom Reports
Cons
- Proactively sending messages on website cannot be connected to specific chatbot flows
- Mostly suited for support teams, not complex marketing needs
- Some features are hidden within the interface
Pricing
- Free Plan: Live chat for up to 10 agents
- Paid Plan: Starts at $15/agent/month
Which one is best for you?
These are the 8 best chatbot platforms in 2024. Each one has its own strengths, weaknesses, and features tailored to different needs.
Which one do you think is the best fit for you?
And is there a chatbot platform you think I forgot to mention?
Let me know in the comments below 👇
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Chatbot Platforms?
Chatbot platforms are software tools that help businesses automate communication with customers. They use AI and predefined workflows to handle various tasks. These tasks include answering frequently asked questions, engaging with customers, and providing support across multiple channels such as websites, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
What Are the Best Chatbots?
Choosing the right chatbot platform is huge! Here are the 8 best chatbots I recommend:
- Manychat (Best for Marketing Automation on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook)
- Chatbase (Best for AI Beginners)
- UChat (Best for Omnichannel Bots for Small and Medium Businesses)
- Botpress (Best for Advanced AI Support Chatbots)
- Voiceflow (Best for AI Chatbots on Websites)
- Tidio (Best for All-In-One Website Chatbots for Small and Medium Businesses)
- Intercom (Best for Omnichannel Support Bots for Enterprise)
- Freshchat (Most Affordable Solution for Large Customer Support Teams)
Each platform offers unique features to help businesses. They automate communication and streamline workflows across multiple channels.
How Do Chatbots Improve Customer Experience?
Chatbots improve customer experience by providing instant responses to queries, personalizing interactions, and automating repetitive tasks. They can assist with product recommendations, guide users through purchase processes, and resolve common issues without the need for human intervention.
Can Chatbots Work Across Multiple Channels?
Yes, many chatbot platforms are multi-channel, meaning they can work on websites, messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, and even social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. This allows businesses to provide consistent support and engagement across all customer touchpoints.
Do Chatbots Use Advanced AI like GPTs or LLMs?
Some of the best chatbot platforms use advanced AI, including large language models like GPTs. These tools allow chatbots to understand context better, provide more natural responses, and even generate creative content for marketing purposes.
How Can Chatbots Help With Business Marketing?
Chatbots can automate marketing workflows by collecting user data, sending personalized messages, and analyzing customer behavior. They’re especially effective for running campaigns, improving lead generation, and gathering feedback to refine strategies.
Are Chatbot Platforms Only for Large Businesses?
Not at all! Businesses of all sizes can benefit from chatbots. While enterprise-level tools may offer extensive features, many platforms provide affordable plans and intuitive interfaces suitable for small to medium-sized businesses.
How Do I Choose the Right Chatbot Platform for My Business?
To choose the best chatbot platform, consider your business goals. Are you focused on customer support, marketing, or both? Look for features like multi-channel support, ease of use, AI capabilities, and integration options to ensure the platform fits your needs.
Can you build chatbots without coding?
Yes! Most chatbot platforms offer no-code or low-code solutions. Drag-and-drop Flow Builders allow users to create chatbots without any programming knowledge, making it accessible even for beginners.
