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Best Free Chatbots Tools in 2026

Discover the best free chatbots software. No credit card required.

Free= 100% free, no payment ever
Freemium= Free tier + paid upgrades
How we picked·15 verified free options·Ranked by real G2/Capterra signals, not vendor pitch·Quotas re-checked monthly
As featured inTechCrunchForbesBloombergThe VergeBusiness Insider
Key Takeaways
  • Talkie is our free pick for chatbots in 2026. Zoho Desk is our overall pick.
  • We analyzed 15 chatbots tools to create this ranking.
  • 15 tools offer free plans, perfect for getting started.

Top 5 free chatbots tools at a glance

ToolTypeRatingBest for
Zoho DeskFree Tier4.4(9,034)as of Mar 2026
Customer service software for businesses
Character.AIFree Tier4.5(2,117)as of Mar 2026
AI characters you can chat with
TidioFree Tier4.6(2,552)as of Sep 2026
Live chat, AI chatbots, and email to convert visitors
Retell AIFree Tier4.8(1,472)as of Mar 2026
Automate customer interactions with human-sounding AI voice agents
OpenAI OperatorFree Tier4.4(2,403)as of Apr 2026
Engage in natural language conversations with an advanced AI chatbot.

Ratings from G2, Capterra, and other public review sites. Each cell shows the snapshot date so a cited number is never an undated one.

1
Zoho Desk logo

Zoho Desk

Customer service software for businesses

4.4(9,034)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.4/59,034 ratings · Mar 2026

Zoho Desk is an omnichannel help desk that unifies email, live chat, phone, social media, and instant messaging into a single ticket stream. Its Zia AI engine handles sentiment analysis, auto-tagging, and chatbot responses, while Blueprint automation enforces SLA-driven workflows. Used by 100K+ companies, it scales from a free 3-agent plan to a full enterprise suite with custom modules and sandbox environments.

2
Character.AI logo

Character.AI

AI characters you can chat with

4.5(2,117)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.5/52,117 ratings · Mar 2026

Character.AI lets you create and chat with AI characters with distinct personalities. Talk to historical figures, fictional characters, or create your own. Millions of community-created characters to explore. Characters maintain consistent personalities across conversations. Used for entertainment, roleplay, learning, and creative writing. The platform where AI conversations become immersive character experiences.

3
Tidio logo

Tidio

Live chat, AI chatbots, and email to convert visitors

4.6(2,552)
as of Sep 2026
Free Tier Available4.6/52,552 ratings · Sep 2026

Tidio is a customer service platform combining live chat, chatbots, and email. Chat widget engages visitors in real-time. AI chatbots handle common questions automatically. Visual chatbot builder requires no coding. Integrations with popular e-commerce platforms and content management systems. Customer communication that converts visitors to customers.

4
Retell AI logo

Retell AI

Automate customer interactions with human-sounding AI voice agents

4.8(1,472)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.8/51,472 ratings · Mar 2026

Retell AI is an advanced conversational AI platform designed to automate customer interactions across phone calls, chat, and SMS. It enables businesses to create and deploy AI voice agents that sound human, execute tasks, and scale effortlessly. The platform leverages large language models (LLMs) to deliver natural, low-latency conversations, handling complex, multi-turn interactions and edge cases that traditional IVR or IVA systems cannot. This platform is ideal for businesses looking to streamline operations, enhance customer service, and reduce support costs by automating routine requests and qualifying leads. It offers a highly configurable agentic framework with drag-and-drop capabilities, built-in guardrails, and real-time function calling for tasks like appointment booking, payment processing, and record updates. Retell AI also includes comprehensive testing and analytics tools to ensure continuous improvement and performance monitoring of AI agents, making it suitable for various industries and use cases, from customer service and lead qualification to debt collection and appointment setting.

5
OpenAI Operator logo

OpenAI Operator

Engage in natural language conversations with an advanced AI chatbot.

4.4(2,403)
as of Apr 2026
Free Tier Available4.4/52,403 ratings · Apr 2026

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. It can engage in dynamic conversations, answer questions, provide explanations, generate creative content, and assist with various tasks requiring natural language understanding and generation. The AI is trained on a vast dataset of text and code, enabling it to respond coherently and contextually across a wide range of topics. This tool is ideal for individuals seeking quick information, creative inspiration, writing assistance, or simply an interactive conversational experience with an AI. It benefits students, writers, developers, customer service professionals, and anyone who needs to process or generate text efficiently. Key benefits include instant access to information, enhanced productivity through automated text generation, and a versatile platform for exploring ideas and solving problems through dialogue.

6
Smartsupp logo

Smartsupp

Increase sales and customer satisfaction with AI-powered live chat, chatbots, and a shopping assistant.

4.7(1,402)
as of Aug 2026
Free Tier Available4.7/51,402 ratings · Aug 2026

Smartsupp is a comprehensive customer communication platform designed to help businesses, particularly e-commerce sites, engage with their customers, generate leads, and boost sales. It unifies live chat, chatbots, WhatsApp, Messenger, and email into a single dashboard, allowing teams to manage all customer interactions efficiently. The platform features an AI Shopping Assistant named Mira AI, which learns about a business's products and can provide instant assistance, product recommendations, and answer up to 80% of common and technical questions. Smartsupp also offers tools for lead generation, automated visitor engagement, and team management, including agent roles, performance tracking, and conversation history. It aims to streamline customer support, increase conversion rates, and improve overall customer experience by providing timely and relevant assistance.

7
Chatra logo

Chatra

Engage website visitors and manage customer communications across multiple channels from one dashboard.

4.5(551)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.5/5551 ratings · Mar 2026

Chatra is a comprehensive messaging platform designed for businesses to communicate with their website visitors and customers. It offers live chat functionality, allowing real-time interactions, and a messenger mode for asynchronous communication. The platform centralizes messages from various channels including live chat, email, Instagram, and Facebook into a single multichannel dashboard, eliminating the need to switch between different applications. Beyond direct communication, Chatra provides tools for visitor intelligence, such as real-time visitor lists, browsing history, and location tracking, enabling personalized engagement. It also incorporates chatbots for automating routine tasks like collecting contact information, gathering consent, and answering frequently asked questions. The service aims to boost sales by facilitating quick answers, clarifying concerns, and supporting cross-selling and upselling efforts. With mobile apps for iOS and Android, businesses can manage customer conversations on the go. Chatra is suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to improve customer support, increase conversions, and streamline communication workflows.

8
Botpress logo

Botpress

Open-source conversational AI platform for chatbots

4.5(509)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.5/5509 ratings · Mar 2026

Botpress is an open-source conversational AI platform for building sophisticated chatbots and AI agents. Its visual studio lets you design conversation flows without coding, while supporting advanced features like live agent handoff, knowledge base integration, and multi-LLM support (advanced models). Botpress is used by enterprises for customer support, sales, and internal tools. The platform offers both cloud-hosted and self-hosted options, with AI token costs passed through at cost-no markup. Over 750,000 bots have been built on Botpress.

9
Landbot logo

Landbot

Build no-code chatbots for web, WhatsApp, and Messenger

4.6(404)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.6/5404 ratings · Mar 2026

Landbot is a no-code chatbot builder that helps businesses create conversational experiences for websites, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Design interactive flows with a visual drag-and-drop interface without any coding. Use chatbots for lead generation, customer support, appointment booking, and surveys. Landbot integrates with popular tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Sheets, and Zapier to automate workflows and capture data.

10
Crisp logo

Crisp

All-in-one customer messaging: chat, bots, CRM

4.5(350)
as of Sep 2026
Free Tier Available4.5/5350 ratings · Sep 2026

Crisp is a customer messaging platform combining live chat, chatbots, and CRM. Chat with website visitors in real-time. Automate common questions with chatbots. Shared inbox manages conversations across channels. CRM tracks customer relationships. Customer communication for startups and growing businesses.

11
ManyChat logo

ManyChat

Automate customer conversations across Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, and email

4.5(237)
as of Aug 2026
Free Tier Available4.5/5237 ratings · Aug 2026

ManyChat is a leading chatbot and marketing automation platform that helps businesses engage customers through Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, and email. The visual flow builder makes it easy to create automated conversations, lead qualification sequences, and customer support workflows without coding knowledge. The platform enables businesses to automate common interactions like answering FAQs, qualifying leads, processing orders, and booking appointments. ManyChat Growth Tools help capture leads through comments, stories, and ads, automatically starting conversations that nurture prospects through the customer journey. Integration with popular e-commerce platforms and CRMs enables personalized messaging based on customer data. ManyChat serves over 1 million businesses from solopreneurs to large enterprises, with a generous free plan for getting started and scaled pricing based on contact count. The platform AI add-on provides intelligent responses that handle complex conversations beyond traditional rule-based automation.

12
Botsonic logo

Botsonic

No-code AI chatbot builder by Writesonic

4.7(183)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.7/5183 ratings · Mar 2026

Botsonic is a no-code AI chatbot builder from Writesonic that lets you create custom ChatGPT-like assistants trained on your data. Build AI agents for customer support, lead generation, and FAQ automation without coding. Features include website embedding, multi-language support, and integrations with popular platforms. Known for its user-friendly interface and affordable pricing.

13
Yellow.ai logo

Yellow.ai

Transform CX & EX with AI agents that think, act, and resolve autonomously.

4.4(136)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.4/5136 ratings · Mar 2026

Yellow.ai is an enterprise-grade Agentic AI Platform designed to revolutionize customer and employee experiences through autonomous, human-like conversations. It leverages over 15 cutting-edge Large Language Models (LLMs) to deliver speed and accuracy across various communication channels including voice, chat, and email. The platform allows businesses to build, test, and deploy powerful AI agents that understand user intent, maintain context, and achieve complex business goals, significantly reducing operational costs and improving customer satisfaction. The platform is built for rapid deployment with 150+ plug-and-play integrations and pre-built templates, enabling businesses to go live faster without extensive coding or NLP training. It offers omnichannel orchestration with multi-modal support, allowing agents to handle diverse input types like images, voice, and documents while maintaining conversational context. Yellow.ai also provides dynamic analytics to continuously improve AI agent performance and ensures enterprise-grade security and compliance with standards like HIPAA, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 Type II, making it suitable for highly regulated industries like BFSI and healthcare. Yellow.ai is ideal for large enterprises looking to automate a significant portion of their customer and employee interactions, improve agent productivity, and deliver 24/7 support across multiple languages and channels. It helps organizations cut service costs, boost resolution rates, and drive revenue by providing a scalable, secure, and intelligent conversational AI solution.

14
Richpanel logo

Richpanel

AI-powered customer service platform for e-commerce to cut costs, boost agent productivity, and delight customers.

4.8(104)
as of Sep 2026
Free Tier Available4.8/5104 ratings · Sep 2026

Richpanel is an AI-first customer service platform specifically designed for e-commerce businesses. It aims to significantly reduce support costs and ticket volumes by leveraging AI, self-service options, and automation. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools including an AI assistant for agents, a self-service portal for customers, and an AI social media moderator. Richpanel is ideal for e-commerce brands looking to streamline their customer support operations, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce operational expenses. It guarantees a 30% reduction in support costs and a 30% automation rate within 60 days, offering a full refund if these results are not met. The platform also facilitates easy migration from other helpdesks like Zendesk and Gorgias, making the transition process smooth for businesses.

15
Chaport logo

Chaport

An all-in-one messaging platform for sales, support, and customer engagement.

4.8(84)
as of Mar 2026
Free Tier Available4.8/584 ratings · Mar 2026

Chaport is a modern customer messaging platform designed to help businesses communicate more effectively with their customers. It combines live chat, chatbots, multi-channel messaging, and a knowledge base into a single, simple interface. The platform aims to increase sales by enabling real-time customer interaction, improve support efficiency through automation and self-service options, and enhance overall customer engagement. This tool is ideal for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises, across various industries such as e-commerce, education, real estate, and travel. It provides features like auto-invitations, typing insights, saved replies, and detailed customer information to empower support and sales teams. Chaport also offers mobile apps for iOS, Android, Web, Windows, and MacOS, ensuring teams can connect with customers from any location, and integrates with over 4,000 apps via Zapier and a robust API.

Related

Why choose free chatbots software?

Free chatbots tools are an excellent way to get started without financial commitment. Whether you're a startup, freelancer, or small business, these tools offer essential features at no cost.

What to look for in free chatbots tools

  • Feature limitations: Understand what's included in the free tier vs paid plans
  • Usage limits: Check for restrictions on users, storage, or API calls
  • Data ownership: Ensure you own your data and can export it
  • Support: Free tiers often have community-only support
  • Upgrade path: Consider future needs if you outgrow the free tier

Free vs Freemium: what's the difference?

Free100% free, no payment ever

Completely free with no paid upgrades available. Best for simple, focused workflows that don't require advanced features.

FreemiumFree tier + paid upgrades

Generous free tier with optional paid plans that unlock advanced features, higher limits, or team collaboration.

Last updated: September 5, 2026