Chatbots are slowly becoming the norm in business as it helps enterprises to answer repetitive questions, generate leads, improve user experience, make more sales and deliver fantastic customer support. As per the Business Insider report, more than 80% of enterprises will deploy chatbots by 2022.
Thats exciting, but how to choose the best chatbot software is always critical due to the crowded market. Some people think - you can choose based on customer testimonials; others say based on the best features.
In this blog, we have listed the best chatbot software based on various factors, but before that, let's understand what it is, the different types of chatbots and their benefits.
What is chatbot software?
As per Oxford Dictionary, “chatbot is a computer program that can hold a conversation with a person, usually over the Internet.”
Chatbots can be coded to perform most of the crucial tasks for a business without supervision.
Besides being a great navigation assistant, chatbots are diverse and automated to perform various business tasks.
What are the benefits of chatbot software?
The best Chatbot can help businesses in many ways. As per the Drift survey, 32% of people use chatbots to answer common questions.
So it entirely depends on how you want to use them for your businesses. Here are some of the common benefits of chatbots.
- Generating leads
- Providing 24/7 customer support
- Easy onboarding of employees and customers' journey
- Booking a meeting
- Automate routine business processes
- Generating more sales
- Work automation
What are the types of chatbot software?
Chatbots could be popularly categorized based on the level of complexity and the quality of user experience. Our list of best chatbot software covers them all.
These chatbots only reply to a set of predefined questions. Then, the user must select a response from a group of reactions that continues an almost-similar conversation.
Keyword-based (NLP) chatbots learn from the characters and words a user puts into the chat and run these entire words through their database to find the most relevant answer. These chatbots are popular with companies using Facebook Messenger as their preferred Chatbot.
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AI-driven, conversational chatbots
These chatbots are the most advanced and informative conversational bots. Since AI runs them, they integrate it with Machine Learning to understand meaningful information from the previous conversations and provide even better responses every time a user interacts.
What are the top best chatbots software?
Chatbots are potent and versatile. However, choosing the right chatbot depends on the need of the company. Therefore, we have curated a list of the best Chatbots for small companies and big enterprises.
1. Qualified
Qualified is a pipeline generation platform that helps enterprises to generate leads, increase sales, and improve customer experiences using next generation chatbot, and signals. It is mainly for Salesforce customer, where you can connects website and Salesforce data to identify account-level prospect data and fulfill real-time sales requests.
Qualified is the #1 AppExchange listing and is ranked #1 across more than 20 categories (including best trending chatbot, satisfaction etc) on G2.
Qualified helps leading B2B companies, such as Adobe, LaunchDarkly, SurveyMonkey, ThoughtSpot, and VMWare, boost their revenue by leveraging their website to identify their most valuable customers, discover buyer signals, and instantly begin sales conversations
Features
- Pipeline cloud: The Pipeline Cloud is engineered to help teams produce more pipeline by personalizing and optimizing outbound marketing, inbound marketing, and account-based marketing.
- Qualified conversion: Quickly begin a conversation with VIPs using live chat, voice-calls, video, and chatbots.
- Outbound: You can create custom campaigns that fit your sales and marketing goals, and find the perfect salesperson for each of your buyers.
- Complete 360 degree view: It provides a complete view of your website visitors, from social media to email to web analytics. Plus, you’ll have one central place for all your contacts, data enrichment, and outbound content.
- Chatbot: Engage visitors and book meetings 24/7 with chatbots that take the pain out of talking.
Pros
- It works better when integrated with Salesforce
- Provide real-time insights of visitors so you can reach out them without wait.
- Uncover signals of buying intent, shape sales and marketing campaigns, and instantly start sales conversations
- It is only tool which cover all marketing needs including inbound, outbound and ABM.
Cons
- The tool is not free to use, this means that companies will need to budget for this tool in order to take advantage of its features.
- The features may not be suitable for all businesses
- Requires data analysis: In order for Qualified to be effective, someone within the company needs to be able to interpret and act on the data that is generated by the service. This requires both time and expertise that some companies may not have internally available
- High Cost: The software is not cheap and can end up being a large expense for a company, especially if they are not using it to its full potential
- Requires Integration: In order for Qualified to work properly, it needs to be integrated with other systems (CRM, Marketing Automation, etc.)
Pricing
It’s basic growth plan start from $3000 per month with maximum 15 seats. You need to extra if seats going beyond 15. Then, there is premier plan which start from $6000 per month. They also offer customised plan for enterprises.
2. Mobile Monkey
MobileMonkey is a chatbot builder that helps marketers build high-converting chatbots for Facebook Messenger. It’s integration capability allow your bot to connect with your broader marketing stack, ad campaigns, and drip marketing.
Companies, advertisers, and SMBs may use conversational forms, lead magnets, and marketing automation tools, to boost their customer base and convert website visitors into leads.
Features
- The bots work in web chat, in Messenger, and even through SMS text messages.
- It offers integrations with third-party software like CRM software, email marketing software, sales and more.
Pros
- It is available for mobile apps, messenger and web
- It is really good for facebook marketing.
- It is available though all channels including web chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Email
- Excellent support
- A user-friendly interface that makes it easy to build out sales campaigns.
- Robust analytics that help you track the success of your sales efforts and optimize our campaigns.
Cons
- The tool does not support automated sales tasks or a sales pipeline
- Limited to facebook messenger only
- Reports are extremely minimal and lack integration
Pricing
The pricing start from $14.25/month, billed annually, for an unlimited numbers of leads. It also offer a free version with limited features.
3. Tidio
Tidio provides a holistic, proactive chat solution for your website that uses chatbots and live chat software. With Tidio, it is easy to communicate with your visitors in real-time, capture leads, and create tailored offers for your customers-to-be.
Tidio makes it to our list of best chatbot software as it can be integrated with some of the most popular eCommerce platforms, including BigCommerce, Magento, and Shopify, and combined with third-party apps via Zapier. Tidio makes interaction with website visitors easy and enjoyable.
Features
- Huge Free chatbots templates library
- Allows translations in multiple languages
- Advanced NLP technology
Pros
- Excellent reporting and customizing features
- Easy to customize for branding purposes
- The free version itself provides good value and experience
Cons
- Unable to view messages from more than one website in one window
- When a user leaves your page, and an operator responds, the user will not be notified.
- Integrations are all manual, which means. You must reopen all conversations, open the user profile, press the preferences and send the log to the integration.
Pricing
Tidio has several plans depending on the tools you want to buy and your business type. Apart from some free features, the prices range from $10 to $18 per month.
4. TARS
Want your landing pages to be more exciting and dynamic? Are you bored with traditional landing pages? If yes, then TARS is the solution for you.
TARS is an ideal option if you wish to replace your landing pages with a conventional, convincing chatbot.
With an easy conversational bot, generating leads is now easier than ever.
This Chatbot is even optimized to adjust according to the template/theme of your website. Not only that, but it could even be integrated with Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and even Google Ads and ultimately helps you increase your ROI.
Features
- 500+ amazing templates
- Conventional landing page replacement
- It could be integrated with tracking tools
- Easily customizable
Pros
- You can build and launch your first Chatbot on your website only 2 hours from signup.
- The support and development team are responsive and helpful.
- New features are constantly releasing
Cons
- Not many options for customizing the aesthetics according to branding are present.
- The Bot Canvas tends not to work optimally while building complex chatbots
- Basic development skills are required if to integrate other API into the Chatbot
- At times bots will take a while to load, especially when they're embedded on different landing pages
Pricing
TARS has several plans, costs $83.25/month, and is billed annually. While there's no free plan, there is a 14-day trial a customer can take.
5. Ada
Ada is another AI-powered chatbot that gives tailored responses based on the customer's input, responses, and recommendations, making it one of the best chatbot software available.
This Chatbot is simple, gives straightforward responses, and can escalate the conversation to a live agent.
Ada could also be integrated with your team calendar to schedule appointments and bookings. In addition, the customer feedback forms make it learn from its previous conversations and responses to provide better answers the next time.
Features
- You can have separate chatbots for different departments
- Responses can be customized to make them sound natural
- Supports up to 100 languages
Pricing
You need to book a demo to determine how much Ada will cost you.
6. Chatbot
Powered by AI, Chatbot is one of the most powerful solutions on our list. Providing some of the most advanced features without any need for manual coding makes this Chatbot the best AI chatbot on our list.
One of the main reasons this Chatbot is preferable and suitable for businesses of all sizes is that it allows access to additional tools that assist you with your marketing campaigns, sales, lead generation, and provide personalized support to your customers.
With exceptional and responsive default templates and the ability to integrate them with all major platforms, Chatbot understands competitors.
Features
- It could be integrated with LiveChat, Facebook Messenger, Slack, WordPress, Zapier, and more.
- Abundant eCommerce tools
- Templates for all kinds of landing pages
Pros
- No code is required to get started
- Drag and drop feature to build your custom bot
- Extensive pre-build templates
Cons
- Topics in the learning academy can be more thorough
Pricing
Starts at $50 per month with a free plan, making it a free chatbot platform.
7. Drift
Drift can allow you to combine your live chats with an automated bot, similar to most of the chatbots in our list of best chatbots for small businesses and big enterprises.
Drift can start conversations with customers even though they have engaged with the products but haven't made a purchase yet. As a result, it influences the conversion rate on your website and helps you get more sales.
It even allows third-party app integrations and could be integrated with CRM and MAS systems.
Features
- Helps boost conversions and sales
- Has the ability to escalate conversations to live agents
- Perfect for small/large businesses
Pros
- Provides seamless automated communication
- Access to a detailed history of all conversations, which makes it easy to refer to
- Drift attaches to your calendars which provides instant meetings for prospects.
Cons
- Suitable for sales and marketing but not that good for support
Pricing
Drift costs $400/month and is billed annually. However, a free plan is also available, making it a good option for those looking for a free chatbot platform.
8. ManyChat
Another chatbot to find its place in the list of best chatbot tools is ManyChat. It is a Facebook Messenger chatbot builder, making it one of the best chatbots to buy. It also gives businesses a wider reach and more powerful retargeting options on the Facebook platform.
Since Facebook Messenger is a popular messenger, it is wise to retarget and connect with people on Facebook. This Chatbot also comes with an easy drag and drop interface that makes it super convenient to set up as a chatbot messenger for your Facebook business page. It will help you automatically welcome new users, guide them about products, schedule messages with them, and give a personalized experience, among other things.
Features
- Easy DIY Drag-and-drop bot builder
- Automate workflows as per need
- Categorize and Tag subscribers
Pros
- Intuitive UI and easy-to-understand features
- You can tag and identify the users
- Allows for to create of different funnels based on individual needs
- You can trigger other messages to different audiences
Cons
- In some instances, the funnel won't trigger
- It can get challenging to extract the data that was saved
- The paid plan is not affordable for all business sizes
Pricing
It has free plans and a paid plan of $10 per month.
9. Chatfuel
Chatfuel is your alternative to having a chatbot when you don't have any coding skills to set up on your own. It can easily be integrated with Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Telegram. With the freedom to customize your chatbots, Chatfuel is the best chatbot software solution for your business.
Small and large businesses resort because of their ability to assist you with sales, lead generation, and providing answers to some of the most asked questions and queries your customers raise about your business.
With some of the most interactive and responsive templates, It also allows you to alter all kinds of responses you want your Chatbot to provide to your customer. Being a keyword-based chatbot, it simplifies your business's purchasing activities.
If you want a chatbot that fulfills and automates all your customer-support needs, Chatfuel is your go-to solution.
Features
- Ideal for generating leads and promoting sales
- Automated replies to all the keywords you feed it
- It could be integrated with all the major platforms
Pros
- Intuitive user interface
- Gives a good return on cost
- Integrations are possible through API
- Easy to create conversion funnels
Cons
- Works only on Facebook Messenger
- Takes time to set up
Pricing
Chatfuel starts at $15/month with unlimited users. There's also a free plan available for up to 50 users.
10. SmartLoop
SmartLoop made it to our list of best chatbot software because it is one of the finest chatbots out there due to the integration of AI and Machine Learning. This Chatbot not only captures leads for you but even converts them for you.
Since Machine Learning runs SmartLoop, it automatically understands the context of the user's conversations to provide a better experience.
The automated messaging engine also helps a great deal to create textual sequences or to re-engage any of the cold leads.
Overall if your business wants to rely on a chatbot that could take care of your lead generation and conversion tasks for you, SmartLoop is the best choice you could make.
Features
Pros
- Easy to setup no prior knowledge of coding is required
- Uses conversational AI to cater to visitors and customers based on their interests
- Automated messages to efficiently retarget and cold leads or upsell to existing customers
Cons
- It only works on those platforms with Facebook Messenger
- The pricing becomes costly after you cross 1K subscribers
Pricing
SmartLoop will cost you $10/month. However, there's also a free plan with limited features.
11. FlowXo
FlowXo is one of the best solutions for you if your business owns multiple websites and each needs a robust and automated chatbot. This Chatbot can run through various sites simultaneously and is compatible with numerous sites such as Facebook Messenger, Slack, and even Google Drive.
FlowXo takes care of many aspects of your business, like capturing leads, making customers subscribe to feeds, or even allowing notifications from your end.
If you aim to build an audience and retain it as well, FlowXo is the ideal option for your business.
Features
- FlowXo can send attachments to your customers as per the need
- It could be customized to trigger particular responses on specific keywords
- Helps your marketing campaigns and audience retention
Pros
- Easily customizable according to your brand and business needs
- Use AI to have a personalized conversation
- Rapidly bringing new features
- Seamless integration
Cons
- Can have better segmentation features
Pricing
The standard plan costs about $19/month. However, there's also a free plan with limited features.
12. LivePerson
LivePerson made it to our collection of the best chatbot software, one of the most powerful, enterprise-level, AI-powered chatbot solutions that runs on the most potent messaging channels. These channels include SMS, WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. This Chatbot connects a potential buyer with a live agent.
It can schedule appointments and other meetings automatically and provide order status, account balance, and bill-related details to a customer. This Chatbot is an all-in-one solution for an enterprise-level website and can engage customers in meaningful conversations.
Features
- Real-time intent analysis
- Can identify potential buyers
- It can be integrated with many sites
Pros
- Helps track conversions
- Works excellent with Facebook Messenger
- Partners with IBM Watson
Cons
- Has half of the support team in Israel might give customers delayed responses
- That support team is in Israel. Late responses
- Can improve in the area of displaying current page views
Pricing
You have to request a quote to find the prices.
13. Botsify
If you plan to create bots for your site or Facebook Messenger, Botsify makes it to our best chatbot software list. The data is collected in easily customizable forms. In addition, there are a variety of templates that could be used for multiple industries and niches.
It can even escalate conversations to a live agent if or when needed. Typically, a sales chatbot can answer your website's sale-related queries and navigate potential buyers to the right product.
Features
- It can be translated into multiple languages.
- Could escalate conversations to live agents if needed
- Has the ability to be embedded on your website
Pros
- Botsify works not only with Facebook Messenger but also on Slack, Amazon Alexa, Shopify, and WordPress sites.
- Has ready-made templates as per industries like health & beauty, food & restaurant, travel, transportation, education, and finance
Cons
- Outdated technology
- Not updated knowledge base, the most recent article was published on 2017
Pricing
You have to request a quote to find the prices.
14. FreshChat
If your business has a presence across all major platforms, including websites and mobile apps, FreshChat could prove to be a permanent solution for you. With its ability to organize all conversations your chatbots have on all platforms in a single dashboard, FreshChat helps you carry all your conversations from a single page. It allows you to communicate with every customer without the hassle of checking every single platform.
With great eCommerce solutions and hundreds of templates suitable for all kinds of niches, FreshChat is the right solution for all industries.
Like most of the chatbots on our list, FreshChat will communicate with a user until it can. And if it doesn't have the appropriate answer, it can escalate the conversation to a live agent who can continue it from that point onwards.
FreshChat is also powered by Machine Learning, making its answers personalized and precise, so if you want an all-in-one customer assistance solution for your business.
Features
- Powered by ML, provides personalized answers
- Available for iOS and Android
- Engages with customers more frequently
Pros
- Plug and play ease of installation, fantastic configuration
- Superb customer support
- Works great across devices
Cons
- Starts to slow down when data of customers increases
- The paid version can be expensive for some
Pricing
Starts at $13/month. However, there's a free plan available as well.
16. Zendesk Support Bot
Like FreshChat, Zendesk is also an omnichannel chatbot that allows you to manage everything from a single dashboard. That's not But. That since it also can handle all kinds of support tickets and engage in live conversations with your customers.
Zendesk chat is popular for engaging customers based on their activities on your website. This Chatbot allows you to test specific messages to determine how your customers interact with them. But, of course, the ones that bring the most engagement are the ones you could set as default responses for your customers' queries.
Zendesk could also be integrated with all major platforms and social media channels that your business frequently uses. While this Chatbot is an excellent tool for automating responses, it also provides you with dozens of eCommerce tools that assist you with all your online activities.
Pros
- Has a great knowledge base of software
- Good ticketing feature
- Suitable for managing issues and allocating problems across a diversified team
Cons
- It can be easier to use
- Some can experience it
Features
- Sends out responses that encourage more responses
- It could be integrated with all major platforms
- Provides a variety of tools for small/large businesses
Pricing
Starts at $14/month per agent when billed annually. However, you can also try the free plan available.
17. Acquire
Acquire's chatbots are the most potent of the lot, thanks to their super-intuitive nature, ease of deployment, and use. Acquire's conversational chatbots can help you provide a tailored customer experience for your customers and prospects by leveraging Natural Language Processing.
Its plug-and-play simplicity helps you easily integrate with your knowledge base without any coding required. You can also create your Chatbot by integrating with popular chatbot platforms like Dialog Flow, IBM Watson, and Azure QnA.
Acquire's Unified View dashboard allows your sales and support team to have a hawk-eye view of the entire customer journey across channels, all in one place.
Features
- Leverages NLP and AI to provide tailored experience and automation
- Automatically routes to the agent to face complex queries
- Rich analytics function to tweak performance by measuring different KPIs
Pros
- Uses NLP and conversational AI to understand customers better and give tailored experiences
- Automatically detects FAQs which helps you create automatic responses for the same.
- Build your chatbots. Acquire or integrate easily with other chatbot platforms like IBM Watson, Dialog Flow, and Azure QnA
Cons
- Rarely are some delays in video
- Need more alternatives to chatbot notification sounds
Pricing
Book a demo to know more about prices.
18. Pandorabots
Pandorabots is a chatbot packed with exclusive features suitable for all business types. It is one of the best AI chatbots available for your business.
The best part about Pandorabots is that you can run your code in the background, making it highly customizable and curated according to the needs of your business. Pandorabots could also be integrated with all major platforms your company has built a presence upon. It includes websites, social media platforms, and even apps for your business.
Even though this Chatbot is not precisely beginner-friendly, it could still be used for large businesses with serious customer experience enhancement needs.
Features
- Highly customizable
- Powered by AI
- Can learn and adapt to customer requests
Pros
- Comes with in-built dialogues, so you don't need to manually design the Chatbot for everything.
- Works seamlessly on all platforms like WhatsApp, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Twilio, LINE, Viber, WeChat, and others
Cons
- Requires high-level expertise to integrate it from scratch
- Its AI technology is not very efficient
Pricing
Starts at $19/month, with a free plan for primary users.
Conclusion
Chatbot statistics show that 67% of users use chatbots for regular purchase-related activities. This makes chatbots one of the best solutions for a business to automate their business-related activities and drive more conversions and sales.
We hope you found our list of best chatbots helpful software and can quickly identify which Chatbot is perfect for your business.
FAQ
What is chatbot software?
A chatbot is a program that can communicate with people online (your website visitors). Conversations take place in a chat widget, frequently found in a website's bottom right corner. A chatbot is software or a computer program that mimics human conversation through voice or text exchanges.
Who uses chatbot software?
More users are using chatbot virtual assistants to complete simple tasks in business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) situations. For example, chatbot assistants allow businesses to provide customer care when live agents aren't accessible, cut overhead costs, and make better use of support staff time.
What are the benefits of chatbot software?
Increase Customer Engagement Improve Lead Generation Reduce Customer Service Costs Monitor Consumer Data to Gain Insights Devise a Conversational Marketing Strategy Balance Automation with Human Touch
What are the types of chatbot software?
Menu/button-based chatbots. Linguistic Based (Rule-Based Chatbots) Keyword recognition-based chatbots. Machine Learning chatbots. The hybrid model. Voice bots. Appointment scheduling or Booking Chatbots. Customer support chatbots.
