Chatbot solution: the 10 best chatbot creation tools

Choosing the right chatbot solution can transform your customer interactions. Discover the best AI platforms and their strengths for creating a truly relevant assistant.

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Chatbot solution: the 10 best chatbot creation tools

Summary

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Whether it's a large structured group or a rapidly growing SME, companies today must face an unforgiving reality: availability, responsiveness, and personalisation are no longer differentiating factors — they have become standards. The slightest failure in these areas is sometimes enough to shake a customer's trust.

It is in this demanding context that chatbots find their full legitimacy. Far from being limited to simple automated scripts, these virtual assistants now rely on sophisticated technologies like AI to reproduce, with disconcerting precision, the logic of a human exchange.

And if you are reading these lines, there's a good chance you're wondering about the boundaries of this technology:

  • How do you design a truly useful chatbot?
  • How far can it be personalised?
  • And above all, what are the most reliable and flexible platforms for creating a chatbot that lives up to your ambitions?

Let's take the time to explore these questions, one by one, with method and clarity.

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10 Best AI Chatbot Solutions

Chatbot solutionStarting priceKey strengths
Ringover's AI Virtual Assistant£89/monthGenerative AI, customisation via your data, unlimited volume, smooth human support
Botnation.aiFree (creation) → about £39/month (Basic)No-code, multi-channel, good feature/price ratio
DyduOn requestProprietary NLP AI, full autonomy, no-code
NociFree up to a limitProduct recommendation, native multichannel, unlimited live chat
Zendesk AIFrom about £55 per agentExcellent integration, powerful AI, omnichannel support
CrispFree → around £300/monthClear interface, omnichannel, many integrations (Ringover, Shopify...)
Zoho SalesIQFree → about £20/operator/monthDetailed stats, multiple chatbots, Zoho ecosystem
IntercomFrom approximately £29/user/monthAll-in-one solution, success-based AI billing, many integrations
Chatbot by TextFrom about £52/monthMobile-first messaging (SMS, WhatsApp), visual builder, smooth escalation
TidioFrom around £25/monthMultichannel, multilingual, designed for support teams

How and why to create a chatbot?

Creating a chatbot is both a strategic and concrete approach that can truly transform how a company interacts with its prospects or clients. It's a carefully considered decision that involves the company on a strategic, operational… and sometimes even cultural level.

What can chatbots accomplish?

Indeed, it's not simply about automating interactions, but about rethinking how a brand connects with those it aims to convince, support, or retain.

Behind this approach lies a fundamental question: what exact role should this chatbot play?

Whether it's to relieve an overloaded customer service, capture leads more efficiently, or provide immediate assistance on an e-commerce site, the design logic and resulting tech choices will vary widely.

It would be a mistake to see it as just a variable adjustment. The heart of conversational architecture is determined right here, in this initial framing.

Choosing your chatbot solution

Next comes the time to choose the tool. The market is full of promising platforms — some very accessible, designed for teams wanting to start quickly without technical expertise. Botnation, for example, offers fast onboarding for standard scenarios. Others, like Target First, focus more on precision: integration of generative AI, natural language understanding, advanced customisation via your own data sets.

The stakes of chatbot creation

A good tool is not enough to make a good chatbot. The core challenge remains designing the conversation journeys. This requires foresight: mapping out the most common intents, without losing sight of the more marginal ones that may reveal deeper needs. A customer doesn't always express their request the way you expect; that's the challenge. You must design flexible scenarios, avoid rigid funnels, and think of the exchange as a constant branching path, not a linear Q&A.

To this can be added a layer of finer intelligence. Some solutions include engines capable of detecting — without predefined markers — whether a user expresses dissatisfaction, wants to file a complaint, or simply seeks human contact. This kind of processing, sometimes close to human sensitivity, doesn't solve everything, but it radically changes how users perceive your service.

Continuously improve your chatbot!

The most common mistake is thinking everything ends once the chatbot is deployed. In reality, that's just the starting point. Interactions must be analysed, misunderstandings identified, unrecognised expressions interpreted and, if necessary, recoded. To remain relevant, a chatbot must be monitored, adjusted, and maintained almost like a living piece of content. This iterative phase is especially valuable because it brings you, day by day, closer to your users' real language.

Deploying your AI assistant properly

One last point, often underestimated: visibility. A chatbot, however efficient, will only fulfil its mission if it's deployed appropriately. Homepage, conversion funnel, customer area, FAQ…

Every touchpoint can become an opportunity for expression. And while it makes sense to give the bot a recognisable tone aligned with the brand, it's still essential to clarify its nature. The user must always know who (or what) they're talking to. Moreover, the virtual assistant must be able to hand off to a human agent when the situation requires it.

Only under this condition will a chatbot stop being seen as a filter, and start playing its true role: that of a discreet but effective relay in the service of customer experience.

What is a chatbot solution?

A chatbot solution is software designed to simulate human conversations in a friendly and familiar way. Designed to interact smoothly with users, it relies on technologies like AI and natural language processing, which allow it to:

  • understand intents
  • formulate coherent responses
  • automate certain tasks

Beyond its technical side, the chatbot now plays a cross-functional role within organisations. It streamlines customer relations, reduces repetitive request flows, and in many cases becomes an autonomous contact point, capable of providing immediate assistance at any time. It's found in customer service, internal IT departments, even some HR or sales processes — anywhere a quick exchange can replace a form or relieve an overloaded inbox.

How do chatbot solutions work?

Chatbot functionality varies significantly depending on the level of sophistication. On one end are so-called "deterministic" models, built on pre-defined scenarios: every conversational path is mapped out, each response planned in advance. If well-designed, these chatbots do the job without surprises — but they hit limits when users stray off-script.

On the other end are so-called intelligent conversational assistants that rely on more advanced AI systems, combining machine learning and natural language processing. Their logic isn't fixed: it adapts, learns, refines. The chatbot detects intentions, reformulates, clarifies if needed, and in some cases improves its responses over time.

This kind of solution doesn't just respond mechanically. It interprets, adjusts — sometimes even anticipates. And it's precisely this adaptive ability that makes it relevant for more complex requests, where a standardised answer would fall short.

We then enter a new dimension of customer relations: that of assistance which, though automated, manages to match the shape of each exchange with a level of personalisation previously hard to achieve.

Ringover Tip🔥

Having an AI chatbot allows you to provide seamless 24/7 customer service to clients, so they’re never left in the lurch.

Advantages of Chatbot Solutions

When talking about the concrete benefits of chatbot solutions, cost reduction is often top of mind. And rightly so: by automating a large share of recurring tasks — the ones that unnecessarily tie up teams — these AI assistants reduce human load on low-value-added tasks.

This isn't elimination, but reallocation of effort. Agents can then refocus on complex interactions where nuance, listening, or negotiation are irreplaceable.

But cost savings are only part of the story. It would be limiting to see chatbots as just cost-cutting machines.

24/7 availability is another decisive benefit. In a world where waiting quickly becomes irritating, immediate responsiveness — even for a minor question — enhances the perceived experience.

To this is added the chatbot's ability to handle high volumes of interactions without loss of quality — where even a well-staffed, trained human team would eventually burn out.

Integration and Personalisation

A chatbot's effectiveness also lies in how it connects with the company's digital ecosystem. Linked to a CRM, ERP, or e-commerce platform, it can use customer history, contextualise responses, even make relevant suggestions in real time. It's no longer just a conversational assistant — it becomes an agile interface between systems and the end user.

Another often overlooked point: tone. A good chatbot doesn't speak into the void — it adopts a style that aligns with the brand identity. Serious, reassuring, accessible, or more cheerful depending on the context, it can be configured to reflect a voice consistent with the company culture, without falling into caricature.

1. Ringover's AI Assistant

AI Assistant

Ringover's AI assistant stands out both for its precision and its many features, making it an advanced and high-performing chatbot solution.

Much more than a simple chatbot, this is a high-value conversational solution designed to meet the expectations of companies looking to deliver fast, consistent, and seamless customer service — regardless of the channel used. It can also be used by sales teams to guide buyers on a website and help them convert better.

The embedded technology is based on next-generation generative artificial intelligence. Concretely? That means the virtual assistant doesn't just unroll pre-written answers.

It understands context, adjusts its phrasing, and can recognise delicate or atypical situations. It pulls data directly from your own sources (FAQ, knowledge base, customer history…), ensuring answers that are always reliable, contextualised, and immediate.

Add to that a smooth transfer to a human advisor when needed, an intuitive management dashboard, quick setup in a few clicks, and responsive support by email or phone — and you get an operational, robust solution, ready to deploy without technical hassle.

This technological positioning isn't just theory: brands like Monoprix or La Maison Convertible already use it daily to streamline their customer interactions.

Ringover AI Assistant pricing

Ringover offers an AI assistant called Target First which offers transparency and simplicity. The company has access to an unlimited number of conversations, with no hidden extra charges, allowing the service to be scaled without volume constraints. This product is £89 per month.

Target First Advantages

Target First offers many advantages that make it an attractive solution for companies. Here are the main benefits:

  • Accurate and contextual responses: Thanks to its generative AI, the chatbots provide reliable and suitable answers, avoiding errors or off-topic responses.
  • Continuity of service: The chatbots ensure continuous assistance, even outside usual hours, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  • Personalisation: Interactions can be adjusted according to each user's preferences, offering an optimised and tailor-made customer experience.

2. Botnation.ai

Botnation

Botnation.ai is a solution developed in France since 2017, designed to make chatbot creation accessible to companies without technical skills.

Botnation.ai pricing

Botnation offers scalable pricing. The free mode allows you to design your bot, but publishing it requires a subscription. It's worth noting that Botnation only lists prices in USD, so these are approximations.

  • The Basic plan starts at around £39/month for 500 users
  • The Pro plan is set at about £59/month for 1,000 users
  • The custom Enterprise plan is available from approximately £249/month

Botnation.ai Advantages

  • Intuitive and no-code interface
  • Multichannel deployment: integrations with websites, Facebook Messenger, and tools like Salesforce, Gmail, or Zapier
  • Precise analytics tracking: access to key data on interactions

Botnation.ai drawbacks

  • Advanced setup can be technical: some options require more expertise
  • Additional fees if the user quota is exceeded
  • Credit-based operation and increased risk of overages

3. Dydu

Dydu

Dydu (short for “Do You Dream Up”) started in 2009, specialising in conversational chatbots for businesses and institutions. Its platform is designed to be used in self-service mode, allowing autonomous deployment without developers.

Dydu pricing

Dydu offers a custom plan tailored to each company's specific needs. Unfortunately, no public pricing is displayed.

Dydu Advantages

  • Intuitive interface: a drag-and-drop editor allows you to create bots without coding
  • Proprietary AI specialised in NLP: Dydu relies on its own natural language processing algorithms to provide fluid and relevant responses
  • Full autonomy: business teams can create, modify, and update their bots without depending on technical resources
  • Simple integrations: bots can be deployed on websites, intranets, and business apps

Dydu drawbacks

  • Limited capabilities for complex queries
  • Some users highlight a somewhat limited interface (Frontend) (Source: Gartner)

4. Noci

Noci

Noci was created in 2020 and designed to support e-commerce brands in automating their customer relationships and intelligently recommending products. It does not require advanced technical skills.

Noci pricing

Noci offers a flexible pricing grid with a no-code solution:

  • Free version (no time limit) called “Start” for sites receiving less than 10,000 visitors per month. It includes access to main features without a credit card.
  • A quote-based “Grow” plan for sites with fewer than 80,000 visitors per month.

Advanced custom plans with more integrations, analytics data, and dedicated support. The following prices are approximate since they are listed in euros on their site:

  • Start (on quote) with setup starting from about £2,000 for sites with less than 10,000 visitors/month
  • Grow (on quote) again with setup starting from about £2,000 for sites with less than 80,000 monthly visitors

Noci Advantages

  • Intelligent product recommendation: bots act like online sellers, increasing conversion rates and average cart value
  • Customer service automation
  • Free and unlimited live chat: advisors can step in in real time for specific requests
  • Native multichannel
  • Analytics dashboard: interaction data is centralised to facilitate continuous optimisation

Noci drawbacks

  • High cost when scaling up: advanced plans can quickly become expensive for high-traffic companies
  • Limits on complex queries: some interactions require human handover to be resolved effectively
  • Unpredictable costs: price increases may occur depending on volume evolution or enabled features

5. Zendesk AI

Zendesk AI

Zendesk AI is an American solution developed by Zendesk, a company founded in 2007 in San Francisco. Generative AI has been progressively integrated since 2023 to automate customer support.

Zendesk AI pricing

Zendesk AI is included in certain Zendesk plans:

  • Suite Team: £45/agent/month
  • Copilot Add-on: £40/agent/month (billed annually), with features such as automatic triage or ticket summaries

Zendesk AI advantages

  • High compatibility: seamless integration into existing workflows
  • AI trained on a large volume of data: for broad use-case coverage

Zendesk AI drawbacks

  • Limited customisation of bot behaviour
  • Implementation can be complex at times

6. Crisp

Crisp

Crisp was launched in 2015, designed to offer a unified omnichannel customer relationship platform. It can be installed without the need for special technical skills and includes a no-code chatbot creation tool.

Crisp pricing

Crisp offers a simple and progressive pricing structure–but keep in mind they only list their prices in USD on their site:

  • Free Plan: for solopreneurs. Includes chatbot, widget, unlimited chat, e-commerce integrations, shared inbox...
  • Mini Plan: About $45/month, adds email campaigns and chat + canned responses
  • Essentials Plan: About $95/month, for SMEs: CRM, real-time translation, ticket system, 10 seats
  • Plus Plan: From about $295/month, for medium-sized businesses: 20+ seats, inbox assistant, automatic summaries, tags...

Crisp advantages

  • Intuitive interface: quick to get started without training
  • Omnichannel support: chat, email, phone, WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, etc.
  • Very good integrations: Ringover, Zapier, Shopify, WordPress, CRMs like Salesforce, Hubspot

Crisp drawbacks

  • Interaction tracking could be improved (Source: Salesdorado)
  • Limited feature depth in entry-level plans

7. Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ is a complete and modular solution combining real-time engagement and in-depth user behavior analysis. Perfect for businesses already using the Zoho suite — provided they have the resources to configure the advanced features.

ZohoSalesIQ pricing

Zoho SalesIQ uses a relatively flexible pricing grid adapted to business size and needs. Here's an overview of the available offers:

  • Free: Includes up to 3 operators, 10,000 tracked visitors/month, and 100 chat sessions. Ideal for small businesses wanting to test the tool at no cost.
  • Basic: From £8/month per operator (billed annually), offers 1 operator, 50,000 visitors/month, and 1,000 chats, plus the ability to create your own chatbot
  • Professional: From £14/month per operator (annual). Adds unlimited chats, 100,000 visitors/month, and up to 5 custom chatbots
  • Enterprise: Offered at £20/month per operator (annual). This plan includes 200,000 visitors/month, up to 10 chatbots, automatic chat translation, profanity management, and integration with cloud telephony solutions

Zoho SalesIQ advantages

  • Smart automation
  • Advanced statistics: traffic, interaction, and user profile analysis to refine strategy
  • Zoho ecosystem: seamless integration with Zoho CRM, Desk, Analytics, etc., enhancing synergy between tools

Zoho SalesIQ drawbacks

  • The chatbot creation tool is not available in the free version
  • Integration with cloud telephony systems like Ringover is only available in the Enterprise plan

8. Intercom

Intercom

Intercom is a solution launched in 2011 in California. Robust and high-end, it targets businesses seeking to centralise customer relations. For smaller structures, cost and complexity can be barriers to adoption.

Intercom pricing

Intercom offers three main plans, billed per seat with several additional options. Take these prices with a grain of salt, as they are listed online in USD:

  • Essential: about £29/user/month. Includes core features like live chat, Fin AI, shared inbox, basic reporting, and public help centre
  • Advanced: approximately £85/user/month (annual). Includes workflow editor, multilingual support, multiple inboxes per team, and 20 “lite” seats offered
  • Expert: around $132/user/month (annual). Adds identity management, HIPAA/SLA compliance, multi-brand support

🔁 At the same time, Intercom charges for certain features based on usage, such as Fin AI resolutions (£0.99 each) or messages sent via email, SMS, or WhatsApp

Intercom advantages

  • All-in-one solution: Chat, bots, help centre, emails, product tours… everything is centralised to manage the customer lifecycle
  • Advanced automation with Fin AI: The AI handles customer requests, and companies only pay for successful resolutions
  • Connected ecosystem: Many integrations with tools like HubSpot, Ringover, Zendesk, GitHub, etc.

Intercom drawbacks

  • Complex pricing: The billing system (between user, add-ons, and usage fees) can quickly become hard to anticipate
  • High per-user cost: Prices rise quickly for large teams or intensive use
  • Difficult budget forecasting: The usage-based model can make monthly costs vary from month to month

9. Chatbot by Text

Chatbot by Text

Chatbot by Text is a solution specialised in the creation and management of chatbots on text messaging channels, including SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Designed for simplicity, it allows businesses to quickly deploy conversational agents capable of answering common customer questions without needing development skills.

Chatbot by Text pricing

The platform offers a flexible pricing model tailored to different levels of need. These prices are approximate because they are only listed in US dollars:

  • Starter Plan at around £52/month for SMEs with AI automation needs
  • Team Plan at approximately £142/month for companies with more advanced needs
  • Business Plan at about £424/month for companies looking for a more complete AI automation solution
  • Enterprise Plan: On quote and custom-built

Chatbot by Text advantages

  • Quick and intuitive onboarding thanks to the visual builder
  • Seamless escalation to a human agent
  • Integrations with many business solutions, such as Zendesk or HubSpot

Chatbot by Text drawbacks

  • Limited in handling complex queries
  • Sometimes, the information is outdated. It doesn't update well if there's not enough information on a specific topic (Source: Capterra)

10. Tidio

Tidio

Tidio is a multichannel customer service platform combining live chat, chatbot, and artificial intelligence. It targets businesses looking to centralise customer interactions from their website, social messaging platforms, or even email. Thanks to its AI chatbot Lyro, it automates a large part of responses, while offering a collaborative environment for support teams.

Tidio pricing

Tidio offers several pricing plans to suit every company's needs. But keep in mind these prices are approximate because Tidio only gives their prices in euros:

  • Starter Plan: About £25/month (annual). 100 live chat conversations, 50 Lyro AI conversations, basic analytics, 100 targeted visitors
  • Growth Plan: About £50/month (annual). Up to 2,000 conversations, advanced analytics, removal of Tidio branding, permission management, 50 Lyro AI conversations
  • Plus Plan: About £750/month (annual) or about £899/month (monthly). Dedicated support, custom branding, multilingual, multi-site, open API, advanced monitoring, up to 5,000 Lyro AI conversations
  • Premium Plan: About £3000/month (annual). Unlimited conversations, guaranteed AI resolution rate, priority support, up to 5,000 Lyro AI conversations

Tidio advantages

  • Intuitive interface, easy to configure
  • Compatible with over 35 tools (CMS, CRM, messengers)
  • Effective Lyro AI for automating customer responses

Tidio drawbacks

  • Entry-level plans are limited
  • Higher-tier plans remain very costly

Chatbot solution: what to remember?

As customer expectations become more demanding, immediacy and relevance are no longer optional. Thus, chatbots are gradually establishing themselves as instruments of regulation and fluidity, capable of leading dialogues where silence or waiting once prevailed.

But choosing the right solution is rarely obvious. The market is teeming with a dizzying variety of tools with diverse ambitions. And beyond the often-highlighted features, it's the pricing structure that sometimes clouds the picture.

Some platforms offer a clear grid, while others have layered models, where everything depends on add-ons, monthly quotas, or support levels. To this must be added significant differences from one offer to another… even within the same vendor.

This confusion, more common than one might think, complicates the comparison of options. It's not so much a question of price as projection: how much does the solution really cost once deployed, integrated, and maintained? And above all, what is its return in value? These considerations, although technical at first glance, weigh heavily in strategic decisions.

In this maze of choices, it becomes essential to prioritise solutions that combine clarity, consistency, and operational efficiency. Not those that promise to do everything, but those that rightly adapt to real field needs, without unnecessarily complicating what should remain fluid.

It's precisely in this spirit that a solution like Ringover's AI assistant stands out: without trying to reinvent everything, it focuses on meeting companies' real expectations — the ones that matter daily. Try it now!

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