Top 10 Free AI Chatbot Software in 2024 [With Pros & Cons]

It’s been quite some time since humans invented chatbots. 

Thanks to advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP), these bots have become smart enough to understand the customer’s intent and emotions.  

From a point where even the most expensive chatbots couldn’t solve anything beyond basic customer queries, today’s free AI chatbots are more capable and play a significant role in customer support and engagement.

“…44 percent of respondents appreciate the help of chatbots in finding product information before the actual purchase.”

Statista

Now, before you do a Google search for “AI chatbot online free,” I’ll help you narrow down your search with the top 10 free AI chatbot software. 

Here…have a first glimpse of them –

What is a Free AI Chatbot?

An AI chatbot is a software application designed to simulate conversations with humans using artificial intelligence. These chatbots are programmed to comprehend and respond to text or voice inputs, making them valuable for customer service and lead generation.

“Not all chatbots are equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), but modern chatbots increasingly use conversational AI techniques such as natural language processing (NLP) to understand user questions and automate responses to them.” 

IBM

Now, you must be wondering – What is a free AI chatbot?

Well, a lot of software vendors offer their AI chatbot tools for free. For example, Google’s Gemini is one such example. Or, an example of a more business-centric one can be ProProfs Chat.

Let’s now have a closer look at the tools in the next section.

List of Top 10 AI Chatbot Tools for Free

One thing I learned over the last few months while connecting with industry experts (product managers, corporate training managers, HR managers, etc.) is that there aren’t many reliable options if you want your customers to chat with AI free. 

You need platforms that can help your support and marketing teams excel. Down below are the 10 best options you have for that. Let’s get started.

1. ProProfs Chat

Best for 24/7 Delightful Customer Support With AI Chatbots

Targeted toward first-time users (typically startups and SMBs), ProProfs Chat offers a free AI chatbot. You can integrate it with your website, freeing your in-house teams to focus on other tasks while it handles customer inquiries around the clock.  

What I like the most is that building chatbots is a breeze – no coding required. All you need to do is create a new bot, train it with business data, and check how it works.

ProProfs’ AI chatbots can qualify leads by gathering valuable customer data and directing them toward relevant products or services. I believe that’s an amazing way to streamline the sales funnel. And to truly expand your reach, these chatbots can converse 24/7 in multiple languages, fostering connections with a global audience.

Read Customer Sugccess Story

Pros: 

• Real-time chat monitoring to track live conversations
• Automated chat routing to direct queries to the right individuals and teams
• Customizable chat widgets to match your brand’s look
• Canned responses for quick replies to common questions
• Integration with CRM and email for seamless workflow

Cons: 

• Free plan is only available for a single operator
• Lacks an on-premise version

Pricing: A freemium plan is available for a single operator. Paid options start from $19.99/operator/month.

2. Tidio

Best for Live Chat With Ticketing Functionality

Tidio’s Lyro AI chatbot has become a game-changer in our customer service. Imagine having a support executive handling constant questions about order status, shipping details, or basic product features. It does help a lot to free up time. 

Lyro even gathers customer information during chats, saving you time and frustration. Plus, when a question stumps Lyro, it can also seamlessly route it to the right human agent in the team. 

This helped us a lot to focus on high-value conversations that require a personal touch, ensuring customer satisfaction stays high.

Pros: 

• Live chat with a ticketing system for organized customer queries
• Real-time visitor tracking enables tailored interactions, improving engagement
• Customizable chatbots to fit specific business needs
• Specialized tools, such as automated cart recovery
• Real-time notifications to stay updated on new messages

Cons: 

• The mobile app sometimes faces some bugs
• Some users reported the customer service of the company is unsatisfactory at times

Pricing: A free plan is available for up to 50 chatbot conversations. Paid options start from $39/month.

3. ChatGPT

Best for Conversation & Creative Assistance

You must have heard about ChatGPT. OpenAI’s ChatGPT created a wave of new AI experiments a few years ago, and we’ve evidenced it. If you want to chat with AI free, this tool leads the pack.

The tool offers a compelling combination of conversational AI and creative writing assistance.  For professionals facing writer’s block, it can generate content in various styles, from marketing ideas to scripts.

This functionality extends to brainstorming sessions, where ChatGPT’s open-ended dialogue capabilities can facilitate idea generation and exploration of new perspectives.

Pros: 

• Natural language processing (NLP) for understanding complex queries
• Contextual conversation handling for meaningful interactions
• Multi-turn dialogue capabilities for extended conversations
• Customizable responses to fit your brand’s tone
• Integration with various platforms for broad usability

Cons: 

• May not be the most feature-rich option for customer support or engagement requirements
• The free version of ChatGPT does not have access to the internet

Pricing: A free plan is available with limited access to GPT-4o. Paid options start from $20/month.

4. ChatBot

Best for AI-Generated Customer Support

They say – what’s in the name? Well, that’s true. When I heard about this AI chatbot, it took me some time to wonder what the naming inspiration could have been. Anyway, let’s talk business. 

ChatBot is an advanced AI chatbot platform designed to streamline customer service, automate support tasks, and enhance customer engagement. It’s a versatile tool suitable for businesses of all sizes, offering a user-friendly interface for creating and managing chatbots without coding knowledge.

The software integrates seamlessly with various messaging platforms, providing consistent and efficient customer interactions. It is best for businesses looking to improve customer support and automate repetitive tasks with ease.

What you’ll like: 

• Drag-and-drop chatbot builder for easy creation
• Pre-built templates for quick chatbot deployment
• Customizable conversation paths to fit business needs
• Analytics and reporting to track chatbot performance
• Integration with popular messaging platforms like Facebook, Slack, and LiveChat

What you may not like: 

• Only 7 days of accessible chat history in the starter plan
• Some users reported that the AI chatbot sometimes gives generic replies to customers

Pricing: Free Plan Available. Paid Plan Starts at $52/month.

5. Gemini

Best for Multimodal AI Interactions

Google AI’s Gemini isn’t your average chatbot. And if that sounded cliched, let me tell you—it breaks the text-only barrier by understanding and responding to images and even spoken language! 

Picture this: You’re explaining a technical issue to a customer service bot. Gemini could pick up on frustration in your voice and offer calming reassurance while guiding you through troubleshooting steps. 

This “multimodal” ability paves the way for a future where chatbots can move beyond simple text interactions and provide a more natural and interactive user experience.

Pros: 

• Multimodal AI interactions for text, voice, and visuals
• Integration with Google services for enhanced functionality
• Real-time data processing for instant responses
• Customizable AI responses to suit business needs
• Advanced natural language understanding for accurate replies

Cons: 

• Sometimes, it struggles with precise location identification through images
• Pricing for Gemini Advanced is complicated

Pricing: A free plan is available with the 1.0 Pro model. Paid options cost $20/month (approx.).

6. Freshchat

Best for Freshworks Suite Users

I’d recommend this AI chatbot (Freddy) if your business is already on Freshworks products. Seamless integration with their customer relationship management (CRM) and helpdesk software is something you can expect. 

This means you can leverage each platform’s strengths to create a unified customer experience. Freddy (not a Nightmare on Elm Street reference, ha ha) can quickly answer FAQs or gather basic information about customer inquiries. 

If the question is complex, it can transfer the chat to a live agent equipped with the customer’s order details (thanks to Freshworks CRM). This eliminates the need for the customer to repeat themselves, saving them time and frustration.

Pros: 

• Integration with Freshworks suite for a unified experience
• AI-powered chatbots for automated customer support
• Real-time customer insights to understand user behavior
• Customizable chat interfaces to match your brand
• Multi-language support to reach international audiences

Cons: 

• Some users reported difficulty merging a customer with multiple accounts for support
• The support dashboard can be unreliable sometimes and shows inaccurate data

Pricing: A free plan is available for up to 10 agents. Paid options start from $15/agent/month.

7. Zapier

Best for Automation & Customer Support

Things are slightly different for Zapier. Let me frame it the right way –

The tool acts like a bridge between your chatbot and other apps you use in your business. Imagine a customer asking about a product in a chat. The tool can automatically send their details and the inquiry to your CRM so your sales team can follow up with a personalized offer.  

At the same time, it can add them to an email marketing list for updates about new products or promotions. If the customer decides to purchase the product during the chat conversation, the software can trigger an order confirmation email with shipment tracking information, ensuring a smooth buying experience. 

This is just one example, and the possibilities are nearly endless.

Pros: 

• AI-driven task handling for efficient operations
• Customizable triggers and actions for tailored workflows
• Real-time data synchronization for up-to-date information
• Visitor tracking to monitor and engage users
• Mobile app support for managing tasks remotely

Cons: 

• Access to only GPT 3.5 may not be the best option for all use cases
• Expect unreliability in performance as the product is still in its beta phase

Pricing: A free plan is available with access to 2 chatbots. Paid options start from $20/month.

8. HubSpot

Best for Converting Sales & Engaging Customers With Free Live Chat

HubSpot Chat is designed to convert website visitors into leads and customers. What I like about it is how it seamlessly integrates with HubSpot’s CRM. It pretty much gives a complete picture of each contact’s interaction history. 

The powerful chatbots can answer frequently asked questions, qualify leads by gathering valuable information like contact details, budget, and buying interests, and even schedule meetings with qualified leads. 

Apart from that, with live chat functionality, you can anyway connect with website visitors in real time while the chatbots keep the conversation going outside of business hours.

Pros: 

• Integration with HubSpot CRM for seamless data management
• Customizable chat flows for tailored interactions
• Automated lead qualification for efficient sales processes
• Multi-language support to reach a global audience
• Detailed analytics to measure performance and insights

Cons: 

• Some users reported that the chatbot’s performance varies by language
• Initial setup process might be a little complicated for beginners

Pricing: A free plan is available for up to 5 users. Paid options start from $15/month/seat.

9. Zoho SalesIQ

Best for Zoho Suite Users

Next, we have Zobot from the developers at Zoho SalesIQ. This chatbot seamlessly integrates with your existing Zoho Suite, making it a powerful tool for businesses already invested in the Zoho ecosystem. 

I noticed that the AI-powered chatbots act as an extension of your sales and customer support teams. So, no matter what, you’re providing 24/7 assistance to customers. 

Zobot can qualify a lead and automatically route their information to your Zoho CRM. This equips your sales team with valuable context and allows them to reach out to qualified leads with personalized offers at the right moment, significantly improving conversion rates.

The chatbot can also be configured to connect with your Zoho helpdesk, allowing customer service agents to manage support tickets directly within the chat interface.

Pros: 

• Drag-and-drop interface to create chatbots without programming skills
• Tailor responses appropriately by analyzing customer sentiment in real time 
• Engages visitors proactively based on behavior, time spent, or specific actions
• Automatically scores and qualifies leads to improve sales efficiency
• Integration with Zoho applications to enhance functionalities

Cons: 

• Only 100 chat sessions per month in the free plan
• Some users have reported facing issues with extracting the exact report they want

Pricing: A free plan is available for up to 3 operator licenses. Paid options start from $7/operator/month.

10. Smartsupp

Best for Automated Customer Engagement & Service

I recently learned about Smartsupp’s free AI chatbot from a former colleague. They’ve been using the software in their company for quite some time now. 

Smartsupp goes beyond basic chatbots. It offers a multi-channel approach to customer engagement, including chatbots, live chat with co-browsing, and targeted chat invitations. 

As for the chatbots, well they can answer FAQs, qualify leads, and collect customer data. Live chat with co-browsing allows you to see the customer’s screen and guide them in real time. Plus, you can also send proactive chat invitations to website visitors based on their browsing behavior so you can answer their questions before they ask.

In short, it’s a no-nonsense chatbot and live chat tool you may consider if you’re after what the company offers.

Pros: 

• AI chatbots that answer basic questions, qualify leads, and collect customer information
• Live chat with co-browsing to offer real-time assistance to customers, providing troubleshooting assistance.
• Targeted chat invites to website visitors based on browsing behavior, time spent on a particular page, etc.
• Ticketing & chat history to manage customer support tickets directly within the Smartsupp platform
• Tracks key metrics like chat volume, customer satisfaction ratings, and chatbot performance

Cons: 

• AI chatbots available only in the Pro plan
• May not be the best software for middle to larger teams

Pricing: A free plan is available for a single agent. Paid options start from $19.5/month.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation of products or tools chosen for this article follows an unbiased, systematic approach that ensures a fair, insightful, and well-rounded review. This method employs six key factors:

1. User Reviews / Ratings: Direct experiences from users, including ratings and feedback from reputable sites, provide a ground-level perspective. This feedback is critical in understanding overall satisfaction and potential problems.
2. Essential Features & Functionality: The value of a product is ascertained by its core features and overall functionality. Through an in-depth exploration of these aspects, the practical usefulness and effectiveness of the tools are carefully evaluated.
3. Ease of Use: The user-friendliness of a product or service is assessed, focusing on the design, interface, and navigation. This ensures a positive experience for users of all levels of expertise.
4. Customer Support: The quality of customer support is examined, taking into account its efficiency and how well it supports users in different phases – setting up, addressing concerns, and resolving operational issues.
5. Value for Money: Value for money is evaluated by comparing the quality, performance, and features. The goal is to help the reader understand whether they would be getting their money’s worth. 
6. Personal Experience / Expert’s Opinion: This part of the evaluation criteria draws insightful observations from the personal experience of the writer and the opinions of industry experts.

Which is the Best AI Chatbot for Free?

Running short on time? No worries. Here are my top three choices from the list –

1. ProProfs Chat: ProProfs Chat offers a free, easy-to-build AI chatbot ideal for startups and SMBs. Integrate it with your website for 24/7 customer support in multiple languages. Chatbots qualify leads and streamline your sales funnel with pre-designed templates requiring no coding.

2. Tidio: Tidio’s Lyro chatbot automates repetitive tasks like answering order & product questions, freeing up human agents for complex inquiries. It even gathers customer info and seamlessly transfers tough questions to the right agent, boosting efficiency and customer satisfaction.

3. Freshchat: Freddy (Freshchat’s AI chatbot tool) is ideal for Freshworks users and seamlessly integrates with their CRM and helpdesk. It handles FAQs, gathers customer info, and transfers complex chats to live agents with context, improving efficiency and reducing customer frustration.For a more detailed review, consider reading the full comparison below. 

How Free AI Chatbots Can Benefit your Business?

I know a lot of you are already acquainted with AI chatbots and are well aware of their possible benefits, too. For them, the video below is going to be just the right content to have a quick recap –

As for the rest, let’s have a look at the top benefits businesses get after integrating free AI chatbot platforms into their digital platforms –

Enhanced Customer Experience

AI chatbots ensure customers receive immediate responses to their queries, significantly reducing wait times. With the ability to provide 24/7 support, they cater to global audiences without any downtime. This continuous availability leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, fostering a positive brand image.

Chatbots provide exactly that –  around-the-clock assistance, answering questions, resolving issues, and guiding users even outside of business hours!

Cost-Efficiency

Integrating AI chatbots on your website or other digital platforms can substantially cut operational costs by automating routine inquiries and tasks. 

Businesses save on hiring additional customer service representatives, and chatbots handle multiple conversations simultaneously, boosting efficiency. This allows companies to allocate resources to more complex issues, maximizing overall productivity.

Plus, as we are talking about free AI chatbot tools, the cost factor is even more superior here. For example, if you look at ProProfs Chat, you’ll find that the AI chatbot tool is included in the free plan. 

That means if you have a single customer service executive on your team, using such a software solution will be absolutely free!

Personalized Interactions

Treat every customer like a VIP. AI chatbots can analyze user data to deliver personalized recommendations and responses. 

By learning about a customer’s preferences and past purchases, they recommend relevant products, suggest add-ons, and streamline the checkout process – creating a more personalized shopping experience. 

This personalized approach not only meets customer needs more effectively but also builds stronger relationships and increases retention rates.

Scalability

Unlike human agents, AI chatbots can easily scale to handle an increasing volume of inquiries without compromising performance. 

This scalability is particularly beneficial during peak times or promotional events, ensuring seamless customer support. Businesses can maintain consistent service quality regardless of demand fluctuations, improving operational resilience.

But here’s a small disclaimer based on my own experience with different chatbot platforms –

Consistency does not come with a ‘guarantee’ certificate for all AI chatbot platforms. 

It all depends on how reliable the software vendor is and how they handle downtime issues. Of course, you cannot test each software during peak hours to determine reliability. Your best bet? Try checking customer feedback on software review sites.

Lead Generation & Qualification

AI chatbots excel at engaging potential customers and collecting relevant information to qualify leads. By asking targeted questions and gathering data, they help identify high-quality prospects. Most live chat and chatbot platforms usually have this feature for automated lead qualification.

For reference, ProProfs Chat has a feature called  .’ 

You can configure the form fields and save them to display on your digital platforms. It will look something like –

Read more: Top 15 Benefits of Chatbots for your Business & Customers in 2024

What Are the 5 Most Common Features of AI Chatbots?

“Artificial intelligence, deep learning, machine learning — whatever you’re doing if you don’t understand it — learn it. Because otherwise, you’re going to be a dinosaur within three years.” 

Mark Cuban, American Entrepreneur & Investor

AI chatbots offer a multitude of features for customer support, engagement, lead generation, etc. Here are some of the most common ones –

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Chatbots understand the intent behind a user’s question or request, even if phrased in an informal way or with typos. NLP enables chatbots to respond in a natural and engaging way, mimicking human conversation.
• Intent Recognition: You can analyze user input and identify the underlying purpose of their message using AI chatbots. 

For example, if a customer types “My order is late,” the chatbot can recognize the intent as “Track order status” and provide relevant information or options for assistance.

• Conversational Management: Chatbots can maintain a coherent conversation by remembering previous interactions and tailoring their responses accordingly.
• Knowledge Base Integration: Chatbots usually connect to a central knowledge base containing information about products, services, policies, or troubleshooting steps – empowering them to answer a wide range of questions accurately and consistently.
• Multi-Channel Communication: Advanced chatbots can interact with users across various channels like website chat, messaging apps, social media platforms, and even voice assistants.

Read more: 12 Essential Chatbot Features to Consider in 2024

Redefine Future Interactions With Customers With Free AI Chatbots

AI chatbots have emerged as indispensable tools that streamline interactions, enhance customer service, and automate responses efficiently. These intelligent systems understand and process user requests and learn and adapt over time, offering increasingly personalized experiences. 

They represent a significant leap forward in how businesses engage with their customers, offering real-time solutions and support around the clock.

If you are still looking for a free AI chatbot software, I’d suggest you try ProProfs Chat. Why? 

Well, firstly because it can really help you scale customer engagement and support. The software is particularly targeted towards businesses going to use such a software solution for the first time. And yes, it has a free plan, where you can explore the waters without spending a penny.

Sign up today to ensure you have an AI chatbot that doesn’t make a hole in your budget.