How we write these comparisons
- Dated. Every page shows when it was last checked. Vendors change plans and prices often, and you should confirm on the vendor’s own pricing page, which each comparison links.
- Careful with numbers. Where we mention a competitor’s price we label it “reported”, because we have not verified it on the vendor’s page on the day you read this. Structural facts, such as billing units and whether a product supports bringing your own key, are more durable than prices.
- Fair. We describe what each product does well, and we list the things SiteTrellis does not do yet. We are not neutral, so we try to be checkable.
If you find something wrong or out of date, please tell us and we will fix it.
Why chatbot prices are hard to compare
Chatbot vendors count different things. A price per month means little until you know the unit behind it.
| Unit | What it counts | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Seats | People who use the inbox | Is the AI part of the seat price or billed on top? |
| Credits | Units that different models consume at different rates | How many credits does one reply cost on the model I want? |
| Messages | Often both visitor and agent messages | How many messages is a typical conversation? |
| Conversations | Sessions, sometimes including human chats | Does a conversation that a human handles count too? |
| Resolutions | Questions the AI settles without a person | Who decides what counts as resolved, and what is the fee each? |
SiteTrellis bills the platform by conversation, one unit whichever model answers, and your AI provider bills the tokens. Our cost calculator and the guide on what an AI chatbot really costs show how to turn any quote into a cost per 1,000 conversations.
Where SiteTrellis is behind today
You should know the gaps before you compare prices. Knowledge is text you paste, with no website or PDF training yet. There is no WhatsApp, voice or social inbox, no visual flow builder and no native CRM or helpdesk connectors. SiteTrellis is also a new product, so there is no long public review history. If any of those matter more than cost transparency and control of the AI account, one of the products compared here may be the better fit, and each page says when.
A quick way to choose
- You want a trained-on-my-website bot with minimal setup: look at products built around website training first.
- You want one inbox for chat, email and messaging channels: look at the helpdesk-style products.
- You want to choose and pay the AI provider yourself, keep a fallback chain and run a focused website agent: SiteTrellis, or another BYOK AI chatbot such as the one in BYOKChat vs SiteTrellis.