10 Smart Chatbot Platforms for Your Business Needs

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Smart Chatbot Platforms

Today, customer experience stands supreme in this digital age. However, being constantly available and offering quick interactions is still a big challenge for many businesses. Here, chatbots can completely revolutionize the way you connect with your customers.

Let’s dive deep into the 10 smartest chatbot platforms along with their features, pros and cons, and pricing structure to pick the right chatbot partner!

With advanced automation and the emergence of AI (artificial intelligence), businesses can streamline their operations and improve customer interactions. Chatbots are one such powerful tool that answers queries, engages users, and simplifies communications in real time.

Chatbots are a new trend that has made a massive change in the communication industry. Chatbots are artificial intelligence systems that provide text or voice as an answer to varied queries.

From the latest news and weather reports to troubleshooting a complex problem, chatbots can become your personal assistants and provide impeccable support to your customers.

Although chatbots make communication easy and constant using natural language, there is a huge choice in chatbot-building platforms. With countless options boasting different features and pricing structures, picking the right chatbot platform can be difficult.

To make the decision easy for you, we have dug out the 10 smart chatbot platforms for your business from the market. Explore them to offer an unmatched experience to your users!

Let’s get started!

10 Smart Chatbot Platforms For Business Needs

No matter how profitable business ideas you have, if you don’t provide a personalized experience to your customers, your success is highly doubtful. This is because every business niche is competitive today and to stand out from the noise, you have to build strong relationships with your customers. Here, using smart chatbots is a powerful tool to attain this goal.

The following is the list of 10 smart chatbot platforms for businesses that are popular in the market.

1.  Microsoft Power Virtual Agents

Microsoft Power Virtual Agents is one of the most user-friendly options for building chatbots, especially for those who have already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Key Features of Microsoft Power Virtual Agents:

  • The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for beginners to build chatbots.
  • Seamless integration with other Microsoft products like Dynamic365 and Power Automate.
  • Range of pre-built templates to start chatbot development.
  • Leverages Microsoft NLP (natural language processing) to understand the intent of users.
  • Valuable insights into user interactions and chatbot performance.

Pros:

  • The free plan is best for small businesses or those looking for initial testing.
  • Easy-to-use interface with pre-built templates.
  • Streamline workflows of existing Microsoft users.
  • As your needs grow, you can opt for paid plans with advanced features and capabilities.

Cons:

  • Less flexibility for highly customized chatbots.
  • Lacks advanced features like sentiment analysis.

Pricing Structure of Microsoft Power Virtual Agents:

  • For 2000 sessions, it is $1000 per month.

2.  Drift

Drift is another popular chatbot platform for business. Its main focus is on lead generation and conversational marketing.

Key Features of Drift:

  • Chat interactions over forms to capture leads through natural communication.
  • Ease of building chatbots to answer FAQs (frequently asked questions), qualify leads, automate repetitive tasks, and schedule meetings.
  • Allows users to connect with website visitors via live chat.
  • Identifies high-quality leads via chat interactions and website behavior.
  • Video chat for a personalized touch.
  • Seamless integration with various CRM (customer relationship management), analytics, and marketing automation tools.

Pros:

  • Excellent tool to capture leads.
  • Ease of qualifying leads via chat interactions.
  • Robust live chat features.
  • Provides a more engaging and natural way to capture leads.

Cons:

  • The freemium model offers limited features and the premium plan is quite expensive.
  • Might not be suitable for complex conversations.
  • Fewer customization options.

Pricing Structure of Drift:

  • The premium plan starts at $2500 per month (billed annually).
  • The advanced and enterprise plans can be customized.

3.  HubSpot Chatbots

HubSpot Chatbots is another popular chatbot builder that is specifically designed for integrating with your CRM tool. This option is best suited for businesses already using the HubSpot CRM platform.

Key Features of HubSpot Chatbots:

  • Seamless integration with other HubSpot tools for collective customer experience.
  • Utilize contact information to personalize chatbot responses and greetings.
  • Ease of connecting users with the right team based on their queries.
  • Identify areas of improvement by tracking chatbot performance and user behavior.
  • Accessible on mobile devices.
  • Improve response accuracy based on past interactions.

Pros:

  • The freemium plan offers basic chatbot functionality which is ideal for small businesses.
  • Ease of building chatbots without extensive coding knowledge.
  • Connects chatbot data with CRM tool to streamline customer interactions.
  • As your business grows, you can upgrade to premium tiers with more features.

Cons:

  • Lacks advanced features like deep conversation flows or sentiment analysis.
  • Building complex chatbots requires practice and learning.
  • No access to customer support in the free tier.

Pricing Structure of HubSpot Chatbots:

  • The free plan comes with limited chat features and contacts.
  • The Starter plan is $50 per month.
  • The Professional plan is $800 per month.
  • The Enterprise plan is $3200 per month.

4.  Intercom

Intercom is another popular chatbot builder platform designed to streamline engagement and communication with your customers.

Key Features of Intercom:

  • Inbox to manage all queries of users coming from chat, emails, and apps.
  • Live chat to provide consistent and real-time support to website visitors and app users.
  • Build automated chatbots to qualify leads and address common issues.
  • Interactive product tour to guide users through the app or product features.
  • Data and analytics feature to provide valuable insights into customer interactions and behavior to improve communication.
  • Seamless integration with third-party apps like CRM tools, marketing, and analytics platforms.

Pros:

  • Manage all customer interactions and communication channels in a centralized location.
  • Self-service options for users.
  • Automate repetitive tasks and workflows, freeing up agents for handling complex queries.
  • Valuable insights into customers’ behavior help in making data-driven decisions.
  • User-friendly interface.
  • Suitable for all business sizes.

Cons:

  • The pricing structure is expensive and complex.
  • The free plan comes with limited features.
  • Majorly focus on website and app interactions.

Pricing Structure of Intercom:

  • The starter plan is $74 per month (billed annually).
  • The Pro plan and Premium plan require custom pricing based on monthly users and team size.

5.  Salesforce Einstein

Salesforce Einstein is another chatbot builder that significantly improves your CRM capabilities. This platform is designed to boost productivity across business operations and enhance customer experience.

Key Features of Salesforce Einstein:

  • Complex data can be converted into easy-to-understand graphs and charts.
  • Predictive analytical capabilities analyze historical data to forecast sales opportunities.
  • Build AI-powered chatbots to automate communications.
  • Extract valuable information from large datasets.
  • Real-time insights for faster decision-making.
  • Automate repetitive tasks like lead scoring.
  • Captures data from emails and calendars automatically.
  • Get recommendations for better engagement.

Pros:

  • Using predictive analytics and sales automation, you can boost your salesforce.
  • Automate repetitive tasks and gain valuable insights.
  • Chatbots to offer personalized communication.
  • Make data-driven decisions based on deep customer insights.
  • Ease of upgrading to high tiers as your business grows.

Cons:

  • Accessing additional features requires purchase which makes it expensive for small businesses.
  • AI effectiveness depends on your existing quality and quantity of data.
  • Limited customization for some features.

Pricing Structure of Salesforce Einstein:

  • The plan starts at $75 per user per month.
  • The CRM Analytics Products cost range from $125 to $200 per user/month depending on features.

6.  ManyChat

ManyChat is one of the most popular platforms that allows businesses to build chatbots for Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and SMS. This platform doesn’t require any coding knowledge, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Key Features of ManyChat:

  • Drag-and-drop functionality to build a chatbot without extensive coding knowledge.
  • Centralize communication in a single platform as it creates chatbots for Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and SMS.
  • Capture leads with quizzes, contests, and email signup forms within the chatbot.
  • Segment users based on specific criteria and send targeted messages.
  • Ease of sending bulk messages to subscribers for personalized offers, promotions, or updates.
  • Analytical and reporting capabilities to monitor chatbot performance with insights on click-through rates, engagement, and other metrics.
  • Seamlessly integrates with existing CRM systems and email marketing tools.

Pros:

  • Drag-and-drop functionality and an easy-to-use interface make it accessible for all users, especially non-tech savvies.
  • The freemium plan allows you to test before upgrading to the higher tier.
  • Manage customer interactions across multiple messaging platforms in a centralized location.
  • Automate repetitive tasks like sending personalized messages, lead capture, and email campaigns.
  • Track chatbot performance and user behavior using analytics.

Cons:

  • The free plan offers limited features.
  • Price increases with the number of contacts, making it unsuitable for large-size businesses.
  • Limited live chat support in higher tiers.
  • Not ideal for building complex chatbots with advanced AI capabilities.

Pricing Structure of ManyChat:

  • For 1000 contacts it is free (with limited features).
  • The Pro plan starts at $10 per month (this price might increase with the volume of contact).
  • The Business plan requires custom pricing.

7.  Zendesk Chat

Zendesk Chat is another platform in our list that helps businesses communicate with customers and website visitors in real-time. It is a live chat tool, best for businesses already using Zendesk products and those looking for a user-friendly chat solution.

Key Features of Zendesk Chat:

  • Customize chat windows to match your business brand and personalize greetings.
  • Based on visitor browsing activity or behavior, it initiates the conversation on chat.
  • Build shortcuts for common responses and FAQs (frequently asked questions).
  • Easy team management and set up operating hours for agents.
  • Provide customized messages to visitors when agents are busy or unavailable.
  • Monitor chat performance, customer satisfaction, and agent activity.
  • Safe file sharing during chats.
  • Seamless integration with Zendesk products and other CRM tools.
  • Ease of accessing chat history on iOS and Android devices.

Pros:

  • Simple and easy-to-use interface for both agents and customers.
  • Provides a unified customer experience by integrating with Zendesk products or CRM systems.
  • Customization options to provide tailored customer experience through greetings, branding, and triggers.
  • Reduces email volume, simplifies interactions, and resolves issues promptly.
  • Ease of managing chats and history across all mobile platforms.

Cons:

  • The freemium plan offers limited features.
  • Pricing increases with the number of agents using this platform, leading to expensive costs.
  • Integration with third-party tools requires extra development efforts.
  • Not suitable for building complex chatbots.

Pricing Structure of Zendesk Chat:

  • The Support plan starts at $25 per month (per agent).
  • The Suite plan starts at $59 per month (per agent).

8.  Amazon Lex

Amazon Lex is another popular platform that allows you to create conversational chatbots for several apps. It is a cloud-based service from AWS (Amazon Web Services). This platform is ideal for a business looking for a user-friendly and cost-effective platform.

Key Features of Amazon Lex:

  • The NLP (natural language processing) understands the user interaction flow and intent through audio and text input.
  • Seamlessly integrates with messaging platforms, mobile apps, websites, and voice assistants.
  • The visual interface builds conversation flows and customizes how the chatbot should respond.
  • Smooth integration with AWS services like Amazon (S3) and Amazon Polly (text-to-speech) for improved functionality.
  • Expertly handle a high volume of conversations without impacting performance.
  • Customize chatbot responses and personality tailored to your brand.
  • Ease of testing different versions of chatbot to improve user experience and conversation flow.

Pros:

  • Cost-effective for all business sizes.
  • Pre-built templates and an easy-to-use interface simplify the development of chatbots, especially for non-programmers.
  • Cloud-based infrastructure ensures large volumes of data are handled smoothly.
  • Seamless integration with other AWS services for augmented functionality.
  • Can be deployed on multiple platforms, increasing accessibility and engagement of customers.

Cons:

  • The freemium plan is available for limited usage.
  • Provides comparatively limited control over chatbot behavior.
  • Integration with AWS services would create dependency on the very ecosystem.
  • Understanding conversation design concepts and NLU requires learning effort.

Pricing Structure of Amazon Lex:

As it works on a pay-as-you-go model, you will be required to pay for speech and text requests analyzed by your chatbot.

  • For text requests, the plan starts at $0.00075 per request.
  • For speech requests, the plan starts at $0.004 per request.

9.  Dialogflow (by Google)

Dialogflow (by Google) is another smart chatbot-building platform to build conversational chatbots and virtual assistants. It is a powerful platform for developing chatbots with various intricacies.

Key Features of Dialogflow:

  • Offers two editions namely ‘Dialogflow Essentials (ES) and Dialogflow CX. ES is ideal for creating simple chatbots with NLP capabilities and CX is designed for complex chatbots with machine learning, content management, and advanced conversation flow functionalities.
  • NLU understands the user interaction, and intent and expertly extracts vital details from their input (text and audio).
  • Identifies specific information such as names, dates, or locations within user queries.
  • Track interaction history to offer personalized responses and maintain a logical flow of conversation.
  • Seamless integration with external apps to perform actions or retrieve information.
  • Supports multiple languages to reach a global audience.
  • Integrates with Google Assistant, various development tools, and other messaging platforms.

Pros:

  • The Dialogflow Essentials comes with a freemium tier with decent quotas, making it ideal for small projects.
  • Drag-and-drop functionality and user-friendly interface to build flows of conversations.
  • Google’s robust cloud infrastructure makes it easy to handle large volumes of conversations.
  • Seamless integrations with Google Assistant and other Google products.
  • Customization option to build chatbots matching specific business needs.

Cons:

  • Building complex chatbots with Dialogflow CX requires coding experience or knowledge.
  • The free tier of Dialogflow ES has no access to advanced features.
  • Lacks live customer support options.

Pricing Structure of Dialogflow:

  • Dialogflow ES free model is suitable for low usage and paid plans start at $0.007 per text request.
  • Dialogflow CX offers a free trial with $600 credit to try advanced features without paying for them. The paid plans can be customized based on projected usage.

10.  Chatfuel

Chatfuel is one of the most popular chatbot building platforms for Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp. This platform is best for beginners or businesses looking to build conversational chatbots.

Key Features of Chatfuel:

  • Drag-and-drop visual builder to create chatbots without coding.
  • NLP understands user intent and responds to them with pre-defined messages.
  • Sending targeted messages to chatbot subscribers is easy.
  • Integrates well with Stripe, Google Sheets, and Zapier.
  • Track user engagement, chatbot performance, and identify trends.

Pros:

  • Suitable for users with no coding background.
  • The free plan allows you to experiment with the chatbot without spending a penny.
  • Reach a wide audience on various messaging platforms.
  • Intuitive interface for building chatbot interactions.

Cons:

  • The free plan has limitations on users and broadcasts.
  • Limited customization for advanced needs.

Pricing Structure of Chatfuel:

  • The Free Forever plan has basic features.
  • The Pro Plan starts at $14.39 per month.
  • The Premium Plan requires custom pricing.

The Bottomline

Chatbots offer a powerful medium to improve customer experience, streamline interactions, and boost business growth.

This was our handpicked list of smart chatbot-building platforms. By carefully considering features, pros and cons, and pricing structure, choose the best-suited option for your business and start building strong relationships with your customers!

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