AI Chatbot Pricing: How Much Does It Cost to Build One?

Are you in the dark regarding the cost of building an AI chatbots? Well, first up, we would like to point out that numerous factors govern AI chatbot pricing. The two most important factors among them are the manner in which you want to use the chatbot and your specific goals, in mind. Not just that, the cost would greatly vary depending on the chatbot’s features, functionalities, types, integration, and so on.   

Supremely engineered AI chatbots come in handy for simulating human conversation.They provide customized support to businesses’ clients, making the experience more interactive and enhancing customer engagement in the process.

Studies show that the chatbot market is growing at a gargantuan pace since its inception in 2016. While the market revenue was a mere 190.8$ in 2016, it is expected to balloon to a whopping figure of around 1,250$ in 2025. Isn’t that amazing?  

If you plan to integrate an AI chatbot into your website, you are at the right place. Here, we will examine what an AI chatbot actually is, the cost of developing one, ways to reduce the costs, and the time required for development. So, let’s delve right in.  

What Do We Actually Mean by AI Chatbot?

Well, as the name suggests, AI chatbots are typically AI-based technology that can both provide and collect online information from customers interactively. Since they are meant to provide 24×7 service, they come in handy to handle common inquiries and help with customer service as well. But how do they make such daunting tasks seem like a cakewalk? The fact of the matter is that they employ AI algorithms to understand and reply in natural language to user prompts or inquiries.   

Some common applications where AI chatbots can prove to be greatly effective include virtual assistants, customer service, and entertainment. They are so designed that they can ensure effective interaction and user-friendliness, by leveraging the potential of machine learning and natural language processing. Thus, users can now have conversations, perform activities, or obtain information, without human intervention.

What Is the Actual Cost of Building AI Chatbots?

We are no strangers to the fact chatbots have grown to become an integral part of the e-commerce business. Their decision to invest in AI chatbots will certainly prove to be beneficial in more ways than one. However, before that, you need to make yourself familiar with the exact cost to develop one.   

For a beginning, you can start with a simple chatbot software. It will cost you anywhere between $ 9000-$16000. However, if your chatbot calls for machine learning and extensive computation, the cost can push up to as much as $25,000+. However, these complex chatbots packs the potential to manage a wide array of business solutions

Is There Any Way You Can Reduce the AI Chatbot Building Cost?

Are you a startup business and cannot afford such huge expenses? Well, fret not. The good thing is that you can create an AI chatbot, even at a lower price, than what’s aforementioned. Here are some tips that will help you build an AI chatbot without burning a hole in your pocket. Let’s take a look at them.  

Focus on Your Scope and Objectives 

Before you start building an AI chatbot, have a clear scope and objectives for your project. The best way to achieve this is to define your target audience, your purpose, and expected results. Once you have a well-defined scope, you can avoid integrating unnecessary features, while ascertaining all the resources are employed effectively and efficiently.  

Opt for The Cost-Effective Platforms 

The cost of building an AI chatbot can also vary depending on the platform where you intend to create it. With that in mind, you should always be on the lookout for platforms with flexible pricing plans, open-source options, and free tiers. 

Adopt Agile Procedures 

Embracing agile procedures is a good way to develop and integrate AI chatbots. Such an approach would promote collaboration, flexibility, and better adaptability to rapid changes, thereby ensuring quicker and cost-effective time-to-market development. This allows you to break down the entire project into achievable tasks and deliver incremental updates as well. 

Regular Surveillance and Optimization 

You can make use of a top-notch surveillance tool, which can track the performance of the AI chatbot and user feedback continuously. This tool will help you analyze metrics and user interaction, thereby helping you figure out areas for improvement, and optimizing the AI chatbot’s functionality accordingly. This, in turn, would bring down your long-term maintenance and development costs to a great extent.

Automate Testing and Deployment   

Are you finding it too expensive to develop an AI chatbot? Then, you can opt for automated testing and deployment processes, to simplify the development process. It boosts the test cycle, and reduces manual effort, all while ensuring a quicker deployment of updates and enhancements. Once you automate such tasks, you can reduce the development cost significantly, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of the AI chatbot development.  

How Much Time Would It Take to Build an AI Chatbot? 

Well, truth be told, there is no straightforward to this question, as this single aspect depends on several other factors, such as the resources available, the experience of the development team, and the complexity of the chatbot. For instance, if you want to integrate a simple chatbot, it can be built within a few weeks. However, if you want a more complex chatbot, packed with top-notch features, it can take several months or even longer. Here are some of the factors that can directly impact the time consumed to craft an AI chatbot. Let’s take a look at them.   

The Complexity of Your Product

Compared to the time taken to integrate voice functionality into an existing product like Alexa or Google Assistant, it would definitely take much more time to develop a website or app that employs AI bots to interact with users. 

The Size of Your Company

If you happen to own a small business, you can easily manage the various aspects of chatbot creation. However, if you have a large business, with multiple departments and teams, you will need more coordination in creating a chatbot, which, in turn, would further extend the timeline.   

Your Budget

Are you tight on a budget when considering the time taken to create a chatbot? If yes, then you might have to do away with certain functionalities or features when choosing a platform. This means investing less time in chatbot development and investing a significant amount of time in testing your bot in production. 

The Number of Languages You Would Like the Bot to Support

If you happen to run a worldwide business, you will have to integrate an AI bot that can converse seamlessly with users in their native language. Thus, the developers need to feed various languages into the bot, thereby significantly increasing the development time.   

Get in Touch with Us to Develop Your Own AI Chatbot   

AI chatbots can prove to be a boon for businesses to assist customers 24X7, share proactive thoughts and messages, generate more leads, and thus boost sales. Numerous businesses across the globe have perceived the importance of employing AI chatbots at work, and the few remaining are also inclined to develop their own AI chatbots on their website.   

If you are looking to build your own AI chatbot, as per your specific project’s requirements, and within your budget, you should definitely consider getting in touch with APPWRK, a reliable and trusted website and app development company, operating both in the US and India. We offer on-demand AI chatbot development services, thereby bringing clients ideas for development.   

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