Disclosure: Dante AI publishes this guide. Dante AI figures come from our own pricing page and Help Center, read on 29 October 2026. We compare pricing models here and quote no other company's prices, because vendor plans change often and we only publish figures we can check.
Chatbot pricing in 2026 comes in five models: message credits, per conversation, per resolution, per seat and flat plans. On Dante AI, plans run from $0 to $400 a month. Compare them as a cost per conversation at your real volume, not by the sticker price.
In this article
- How is chatbot pricing structured in 2026?
- Which chatbot pricing model fits your volume?
- What does Dante AI cost?
- What do 2,000 conversations a month cost? A worked example
- How do agencies price chatbots?
- What does it cost to implement a chatbot beyond the plan?
- How do you compare chatbot quotes fairly?
- Sources
How is chatbot pricing structured in 2026?
Every chatbot price is one of five pricing models, or a mix of two. The model decides how your bill moves when traffic grows, which matters more than the starting price.
| Pricing model | What you pay for | How the bill moves as you grow | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message credits | A monthly pool of credits; each AI reply spends some | Steps up a tier or add-on when the pool runs out | Heavier AI models spending more credits per reply |
| Per conversation | Each customer conversation the AI takes part in | Rises in line with traffic | What counts as one conversation |
| Per resolution | Each conversation the AI closes without a person | Rises as the AI gets better | How a resolution is defined and checked |
| Per seat | Each team member with a login, AI often on top | Rises with headcount, not traffic | AI usage billed separately from seats |
| Flat plan | A fixed monthly price with set limits | Flat until you pass a limit | What happens at the limit |
Which chatbot pricing model fits your volume?
- Low or uneven traffic: a free tier or a small flat or credit plan keeps the bill near zero while you test.
- Steady traffic you can predict: flat and credit plans are the easiest to budget, because the price only changes when you choose a bigger tier.
- Spiky or seasonal traffic: per conversation pricing tracks the spikes, so model your busiest month before you sign.
- A large human team already on a help desk: per seat pricing is what you pay anyway; check whether the AI is extra.
A per resolution price looks fair because you only pay when the AI does the job, but the better it gets the more you pay, so put your expected resolution rate into the sum.
What does Dante AI cost?
Dante AI uses flat monthly plans with a monthly credit allowance. Every plan trains on your website, files and written answers with no code.
| Plan | Price a month | Credits a month | AI agents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | 100 | 1 |
| Starter | $40 | 2,000 | 1 |
| Advanced | $120 | 8,000 | 3 |
| Pro | $400 | 30,000 | 10 |
One visitor turn (a message in and a reply out) costs 1 to 25 credits depending on the AI model you pick. The default model, GPT-5.4 Nano, costs 1 credit a turn; standard models cost about 10 and premium models 25. If you run low, the Extra Credits add-on is $20 a month for 1,000 more credits. Unused credits do not roll over, and paying yearly costs 10 times the monthly price. Human handover to your team is included on Advanced and Pro. Full details are on the Dante AI pricing page.
What do 2,000 conversations a month cost? A worked example
Take a business with 2,000 customer conversations a month, each with three visitor turns. That is 6,000 turns a month. These are assumptions for the example; use your own numbers.
- On the default model (1 credit a turn): 6,000 credits. The Advanced plan includes 8,000, so the bill is $120 a month, about 6 cents a conversation. Starter plus four Extra Credits add-ons also comes to $120 ($40 + 4 x $20), but Advanced adds human handover and two more AI agents.
- On a standard model (about 10 credits a turn): about 60,000 credits. Pro includes 30,000, plus thirty add-ons at $20 brings it to about $1,000 a month, about 50 cents a conversation. Most businesses only need a heavier model for some questions, so test the default first.
To price the same 2,000 conversations on another pricing model, use the vendor's own published rate:
- Per conversation: 2,000 x the price per conversation, plus any platform fee.
- Per resolution: 2,000 x your expected resolution rate x the price per resolution, plus seats if they are billed separately.
- Per seat: seats x the seat price, plus any AI usage charge on top.
Divide each total by 2,000 and you have a cost per conversation you can compare like for like. The calculator below turns a monthly price into a first-year cost and payback.
How do agencies price chatbots?
An agency or freelancer usually quotes a one-time setup fee for planning, content and integrations, then a monthly retainer for hosting, upkeep and changes. The platform subscription underneath is often passed on to you on top. Ask for the three parts as separate lines: setup, retainer and platform, and ask who owns the account if you part ways. For a full build vs buy breakdown, see how much does a chatbot cost.
What does it cost to implement a chatbot beyond the plan?
- Your setup time: adding your website and files, then testing real customer questions before you go live.
- Keeping knowledge current: a chatbot that re-reads your website on a schedule saves you redoing this by hand. The cost of preparing that content is covered in chatbot training data pricing.
- Add-ons: extra AI agents, extra credits or removing branding are often priced separately.
- Voice and phone: AI phone answering is usually metered by the minute; see API costs for AI agents for how that adds up.
How do you compare chatbot quotes fairly?
- Count your monthly conversations and the average turns in each.
- Turn every quote into a monthly total at that volume, using the vendor's own pricing page.
- Repeat it for your busiest month, not just an average one.
- Divide by conversations for a cost per conversation, then add setup for the first-year cost.
- Test the cheapest good fit on your own content before you commit.
Choosing between tools, not just prices? Our guide to the best AI chatbot for small business compares the options on fit. The fastest way to replace every assumption here with your own data is to get started free on dante-ai.com and read a week of real conversations.
Sources
- Dante AI plan prices, credits and agents: dante-ai.com/pricing, checked 29 October 2026.
- Credits per turn, Extra Credits add-on and roll-over: Dante AI Help Center, credits, checked 29 October 2026.
- Conversation volume and turns in the worked example are illustrative assumptions stated in the text, not market data.