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Toolradar Research

Chatbot software statistics 2026

First-party data on the 74 chatbot tools Toolradar tracks: Character.AI at 3.20 from 3,196 reviews against Qualified at 4.90 from 1,555.

Louis Corneloup
Louis Corneloup

Founder, Toolradar & Dupple

Published September 17, 2026
3 min read
Next update Dec 17, 2026
As featured in
  • TechCrunch
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  • Business Insider
  • The Verge

Key findings

What the data shows.

  1. 01

    74 chatbot tools tracked, holding 61,197 aggregated third-party reviews. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  2. 02

    Zendesk for E-commerce leads volume at 4.30 from 11,487 reviews. Zoho Desk holds 10,148 at 4.40. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  3. 03

    Character.AI sits at 3.20 from 3,196 reviews. Qualified sits at 4.90 from 1,555. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

  4. 04

    The review-weighted average is 4.38. (Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.)

About the research

How we built this report.

Data source

Toolradar tool database. Editorial review with weekly pricing verification.

Coverage period

2026. Snapshot taken September 17, 2026. Refresh due Dec 17, 2026.

Methodology

Public scoring rubric. See how we rate for the full criteria.

License

Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse with attribution.

Chatbots here are mostly support suites with a consumer AI leftover. Toolradar tracks 74 tools holding 61,197 reviews. Zendesk for E-commerce holds 11,487 reviews at 4.30. Zoho Desk holds 10,148 at 4.40. Botsonic holds 6,085 at 4.70. Character.AI holds 3,196 at 3.20. Qualified holds 1,555 at 4.90. The consumer companion is the weak score. The B2B qualifier is the strong one.

Every figure below is computed from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026. The live dashboard is Chatbots statistics. The buyer ranking is best chatbot software.

How large the category is

We track 74 published tools, or 0.7% of the 10,619 tools in the directory. 92% (68 of 74) were added to Toolradar in 2026. "Added" means added to our directory, not founded this year.

A $30 chatbot seat is a widget. The $44 mean is a support suite.

How these tools are priced

46% of the 74 tools are paid-only. 54% offer a free tier or freemium plan (40 tools). 4% are fully free.

How chatbot software are priced

n = 74 tools, September 17, 2026

Freemium
50%• 37
Paid
45.9%• 34
Free
4.1%• 3
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Share of published tools in the Chatbots category by pricing model.

For the 22 tools that publish a paid tier, the median entry price is $30 a month and the mean is $44.

Entry price distribution

n = 22 tools with a published paid tier

Under $10
1
$10 to $24
7
$25 to $49
12
$100 to $249
2
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Entry price = the cheapest positive monthly tier each tool publishes.

The catalog-wide median entry is $20 (software pricing statistics).

How these tools are rated

52 of 74 tools carry a rating (70%). Those ratings rest on 61,197 reviews. Unweighted mean 4.40. Review-weighted mean 4.38.

Rating distribution

n = 52 rated tools

Below 4.0
7
4.0 to 4.4
13
4.5 to 4.7
24
4.8 to 5.0
8
Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026. Aggregate rating per tool across G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and other third-party platforms.

The most-reviewed tools on September 17, 2026:

ToolRatingReviews
Zendesk for E-commerce4.3011,487
Zoho Desk4.4010,148
Zendesk Messaging4.307,061
Character.AI3.203,196

Source: Toolradar directory, September 17, 2026.

Character.AI at 3.20 is the consumer leftover inside a B2B support category. Qualified at 4.90 is what a sales chatbot looks like when the job is one thing.

The highest-rated tools with at least 150 aggregated reviews:

#ToolRatingReviews
1Qualified4.901,555
2Retell AI4.801,472
3Botsonic4.706,085
4Smartsupp4.701,419
5Tidio4.602,552
6OpenAI Operator4.602,400
7Wati4.60703
8Landbot4.60404
9WANotifier4.60174
10Ada4.60173

Qualified leads at 4.90.

Review volume by platform:

Review platformTools with a profileAggregated reviewsMean rating
G24941,9774.45
Capterra2611,4504.49
Trustpilot77,6274.14
SourceForge31363.28
TrustRadius174.80

Three tools worth comparing are Qualified, Character.AI, and Zendesk.

How often pricing moves

Our pricing tracker logged 3 pricing changes for these tools in 2026, 0 of them applied.

How this data was measured

Every figure in this report is computed live from the Toolradar directory on September 17, 2026, covering the 74 published tools we categorize under Chatbots. Pricing model is read from each vendor's official pricing page. The entry price is the cheapest positive monthly tier a tool publishes. Ratings and review counts are aggregated from third-party platforms (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and others), not from Toolradar's own reviews. The leaderboard floor is 150 aggregated reviews. This is a directory snapshot, not a survey.

Cite this report

  • APA: Corneloup, L. (2026). Chatbot software statistics 2026. Toolradar Research. https://toolradar.com/reports/chatbot-software-statistics
  • MLA: Corneloup, Louis. "Chatbot software statistics 2026." Toolradar Research, 17 Sept. 2026, toolradar.com/reports/chatbot-software-statistics.

Browse the full category on the best chatbot software page, or explore all of Toolradar Research.

Cite this report

Use the data, credit the source.

Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You may quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution.

Toolradar Research (2026). Chatbot software statistics 2026. Toolradar. https://toolradar.com/reports/chatbot-software-statistics