Is Chatbase worth it in 2026?
Plan prices, the credits each reply burns, seat and agent limits, and what a document-trained support bot really costs a month.
The quick answer
Chatbase is worth it for a small business that wants a chatbot trained on its own documents and can budget for a credit meter. Plans cost $40, $150 and $500 a month, with 20% off on yearly billing, and there is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Each reply burns 1, 2, 4 or 5 credits depending on the model, so the cheapest plan covers 140 to 700 replies a month. DocsBot AI has a free plan and is the cheaper way to test the idea first.
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Chatbase is worth it when you want a chatbot that answers from your own documents and you can budget for its credit meter. The Hobby plan costs $40 a month, Standard $150 and Pro $500, with 20% off when you bill yearly. There is no free plan. Every paid plan starts with a 7-day trial, and that trial is the only way to test it before you pay.
The real price is the credit, not the plan. A reply costs 1, 2, 4 or 5 credits depending on the model, so the same $40 buys anywhere from 140 to 700 replies. The figures below come from Chatbase’s own pricing page and FAQ, both checked on 12 October 2026.
Chatbase plans, checked 12 October 2026
Prices and limits from Chatbase’s pricing page and the yearly figures in its price data. Rows marked computed are our arithmetic; reply counts assume 2 credits per reply.
| Feature | Hobby | Standard | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $40 a month | $150 a month | $500 a month |
| Billed yearly (20% off) | $32 a month, $384 a year | $120 a month, $1,440 a year | $400 a month, $4,800 a year |
| Message credits a month | 700 | 4,000 | 15,000 |
| Replies a month at 2 credits (computed) | 350 | 2,000 | 7,500 |
| Cost per 1,000 credits, monthly (computed) | $57.14 | $37.50 | $33.33 |
| Workspace members | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Agents included | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Training content (extracted text) | 10 MB | 20 MB | 40 MB |
| Free plan | No, 7-day trial | No, 7-day trial | No, 7-day trial |
What you get
- ✓Every limit sits on one pricing page: credits, members, agents, training size and AI actions for each tier.
- ✓Yearly billing saves 20%: $384 a year on Hobby, $1,440 on Standard and $4,800 on Pro, against $480, $1,800 and $6,000 billed monthly.
- ✓No training on your data: the FAQ says Chatbase does not use customer data to train any AI model, on any plan.
- ✓Model cost is published: the docs give the credit cost of each named model, so you can price a reply before you build the bot.
- ✓Auto-recharge credits do not expire, so a quiet month does not waste a top-up.
The trade-offs
- ✕No free plan: the only way in is a 7-day trial on a paid plan, and the cheapest is $40 a month.
- ✕Actions can double the credits: an agent that calls an action makes a second request, so that reply can cost double the rate in the docs.
- ✕Seats cap the tier: Standard stops at three members, so a four-person team pays $500 a month for Pro.
- ✕Top-ups cost more per credit than Pro: $40 per 1,000 against $33.33 on Pro billed monthly.
- ✕Test credits are unexplained: the pricing page lists 200, 500 and 1,000 test credits for Hobby, Standard and Pro, and neither the page nor the FAQ says what they cover.
Worth it if…
- →A small business whose support questions come from its own documents and that can budget $40 to $150 a month for a reply meter.
- →A solo owner or two-person team on Hobby, billed yearly, with fewer than 700 replies a month on a 1-credit model.
- →A three-person team that wants Standard, API access and helpdesk integrations for $120 a month on yearly billing.
- →Teams that need a no-training commitment, which Chatbase states on every plan.
Skip it if…
- →Anyone who needs a free plan to test with. DocsBot AI, Botpress and Tidio all have one.
- →A team of four or more on a tight budget. Standard stops at three members, so the price jumps to Pro at $400 a month billed yearly.
- →Buyers who want a frontier model on every reply. GPT-5.5 costs 4 credits and Claude 5.5 Opus costs 5, so Hobby covers 175 or 140 replies.
- →Enterprises that need SSO or audit logs on day one. Those sit behind a quote-only plan.
What each plan costs, and what is extra
Hobby is $40 a month, Standard $150 and Pro $500. Billed yearly, the page shows 20% off: $384, $1,440 and $4,800 a year. That saves $96, $360 and $1,200 against monthly billing. Budget at the monthly price unless you commit to a full year, since the 20% applies only to yearly billing.
Three add-ons change the bill. An extra agent costs $25 a month, so a Standard workspace with three agents runs $200 a month before credits. Removing the “Powered by Chatbase” label costs $99 a month. Auto-recharge tops up credits at $40 per 1,000 when your balance drops below a threshold you set, and those credits do not expire.
The credit meter is the real price
The docs set the credit cost by model. Most models cost 1 credit a reply. Eleven, including GPT-6.1 Sol, Claude 5.5 Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Pro, cost 2. GPT-5.5 costs 4 and Claude 5.5 Opus costs 5.
Academy calculation: Hobby’s 700 credits cover 700 replies on a 1-credit model, 350 on a 2-credit model and 140 on Claude 5.5 Opus. Standard’s 4,000 and Pro’s 15,000 stretch in the same proportion. On monthly billing, a 2-credit reply costs about $0.11 on Hobby, $0.08 on Standard and $0.07 on Pro, so reply volume is what decides the tier.
One rule pushes the meter faster than the reply count suggests. An agent that calls an action makes a second request to the model, and the FAQ says that can double the credits for that reply. Subscription credits also renew on the first of each month, and unused credits do not carry over.
Top-ups are the dear part. At $40 per 1,000 credits, auto-recharge is cheaper per credit than Hobby on either billing term, but dearer than Standard and Pro on either term. An agent that runs past its plan every month should move up a tier rather than keep topping up.
Seats, agents and training size pick the tier
Credits are not the only ceiling. Hobby includes 2 workspace members, Standard 3 and Pro 5, so a team of four that needs dashboard logins must buy Pro. Each plan includes one agent. Training content is capped at 10 MB, 20 MB and 40 MB of extracted text, not file size, so check the size the dashboard shows after each upload.
Standard is where the useful features start. Its plan card lists advanced integrations such as Stripe and Zendesk, helpdesk, voice and telephony, outbound campaigns and API access. AI actions per agent rise from 5 on Hobby to 8 on Standard and 12 on Pro.
Enterprise is quote-only, with SSO, custom roles, audit logs and HIPAA eligibility. If a security review asks for those, budget for a sales call, not the $500 Pro price.
What a support bot costs a month, worked through
Each case uses the figures above and counts one set of credits per reply unless noted.
A solo founder with an FAQ bot. 300 replies a month on a 1-credit model use 300 of Hobby’s 700 credits. Cost: $40 a month, or $32 billed yearly.
The same bot on GPT-5.5. At 4 credits, 300 replies burn 1,200 credits, and Hobby runs out after 175. Auto-recharge adds the missing 500 credits for $20, so the month costs $60. Standard covers the load for $150, with 2,800 credits to spare.
A three-person support team. 2,000 replies a month on a 2-credit model use exactly Standard’s 4,000 credits. Cost: $150 a month, or $1,440 a year billed yearly. There is no margin, so a busy month pushes the team into auto-recharge.
A five-person team with 1,500 replies a month on a 2-credit model needs 3,000 credits and five seats. Pro is the only self-serve plan that seats five, so it costs $500 a month, or $4,800 billed yearly. If the bot replaces a human inbox rather than answering FAQs, read the customer service use cases first.
Chatbase against four alternatives
The prices below come from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked 12 October 2026. The units differ, so compare limits as well as price.
DocsBot AI is a free way to test the idea before you pay. Its free plan includes one bot, 50 source pages, 100 monthly AI credits and one team user. Paid plans run $49 (Personal), $149 (Standard) and $499 (Business) a month, with Standard $1 below Chatbase Standard.
CustomGPT.ai offers Standard at $99 a month ($89 billed yearly) and Premium at $499 ($449 yearly), each with a 7-day trial. Its limits count queries, not credits, so check them on its pricing page before comparing.
Botpress has a free plan with 100 conversations. Plus is $150 a month billed yearly for 250 conversations, and Team is $750 a month billed yearly for 1,500. It prices conversations, not credits, so the units do not match Chatbase’s.
Tidio has a free plan and Starter from $24.17 a month for 100 billable conversations, with a 7-day trial. Its plan card pitches one inbox for all customer conversations, so it suits teams that want human chat with AI, not a document bot alone. Its pricing page is the source.
The verdict
Chatbase is worth it for a small team that wants a document-trained bot and will pay for the reply meter. A solo owner on Hobby, billed yearly, pays $32 a month for 700 credits, enough for 700 replies on a 1-credit model. A three-person support team on Standard pays $120 a month on yearly billing, and that is the tier to pick once the volume is steady.
The honest caveats: there is no free plan, credits can double when an action fires, and the seat cap pushes a four-person team to Pro. If you need to test the idea for nothing, start with DocsBot AI’s free plan, then come back to Chatbase once you know the reply count.
Better alternatives?
If it is not the right fit, these are worth a look.
DocsBot AI
Free plan with one bot, 50 source pages and 100 monthly AI credits. Personal $49, Standard $149 and Business $499 a month. A free way to test a document bot before you pay.
CustomGPT.ai
Standard $99 a month ($89 billed yearly) and Premium $499 ($449 billed yearly), with a 7-day trial on both. Enterprise is custom.
Botpress
Free plan with 100 conversations. Plus $150 a month billed yearly for 250 conversations. Priced on conversations, not credits.
Tidio
Free plan. Starter from $24.17 a month for 100 billable conversations. Suits teams that also run a human inbox.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Chatbase cost?▾
Chatbase costs $40 a month on Hobby, $150 on Standard and $500 on Pro. Billed yearly, those drop 20% to $32, $120 and $400 a month. Each extra agent adds $25 a month, and auto-recharge credits cost $40 per 1,000.
Is there a free Chatbase plan?▾
No. The pricing page checked on 12 October 2026 lists three paid plans, each with a 7-day trial, and no free tier. Some third-party guides still describe a free plan with 50 credits, so check the live pricing page before you rely on one.
How many credits does one reply use?▾
It depends on the model. Chatbase’s FAQ lists 1 credit for most models, 2 for models such as GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude 5.5 Sonnet, 4 for GPT-5.5 and 5 for Claude 5.5 Opus. When an action sends a second request to the model, that reply can cost double.
What happens when the credits run out?▾
The agent shows an unavailable message until credits renew on the first of the next calendar month, unless auto-recharge is on. Auto-recharge adds non-expiring credits when the balance falls below your threshold.
Does Chatbase train AI models on my data?▾
No. Chatbase says it does not use customer data to train, retrain, fine-tune or otherwise improve any AI model, on any plan, and it uses the data solely to deliver the service to that customer.
Is Chatbase cheaper than DocsBot AI?▾
At the entry paid tier, yes: Hobby is $40 a month against DocsBot Personal at $49. But Chatbase has no free tier to test with, and DocsBot’s Standard sits $1 below Chatbase Standard. Compare the credit and source limits, not the sticker price.