Disclosure: we make Resolve247, an AI support chatbot that competes with Chatbase. Our claims about Chatbase come from its own website, docs and terms, its own website bot and public user reviews, all checked in October 2026.
Introduction
A Chatbase bot stops answering customers if the account runs out of message credits mid-month and auto-recharge is off. Chatbase’s own website bot told us exactly that when we asked.
That’s the kind of detail this Chatbase review is about. Chatbase is one of the best-known AI chatbot platforms, used by more than 10,000 businesses by its own count, and it does a lot. But the headline price rarely tells you what you’ll actually pay, and “integrates with HubSpot” can mean less than you’d expect.
Below you’ll find our verdict, what Chatbase is, how its credits work, the features that matter for a support team, what users say about it, its pros and cons, and a plain comparison to help you decide whether it fits.
Is Chatbase Good? Our Verdict
Chatbase is a broad AI agent platform. One agent can work across your website, WhatsApp, Instagram, email and phone. You can choose from dozens of AI models, Actions can look up Shopify orders or Stripe invoices, and its AI works inside Zendesk and Salesforce. If you want that breadth and are happy to manage credits, it’s a strong option.
The catch for a small support team is the bill and the fit. Some models use more credits per reply (1 to 6), and when credits run out you choose between a bot that stops answering and auto-recharge, which leaves the monthly bill open-ended. And its HubSpot integration is narrower than the name suggests: a handover opens a HubSpot ticket (Standard plan and above), but its docs don’t describe the AI answering inside HubSpot’s own chat widget.
Chatbase is a strong fit for:
- Teams that need WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger or phone support from one agent
- Zendesk or Salesforce teams that want AI replies inside the helpdesk
- Shopify stores that want the bot to look up orders and handle returns
- Teams that want to choose their AI model and connect their own Actions
Look elsewhere if you need:
- A predictable monthly bill, with no credits to track
- AI answering inside your own HubSpot or Crisp chat widget
- AI-drafted replies inside Help Scout or Front
- A refund safety net (Chatbase’s terms make fees non-refundable, with limited exceptions)
| Chatbase at a glance | |
|---|---|
| What it is | A platform for AI agents trained on your own content |
| Company | Chatbase Inc., bootstrapped; founder and CEO Yasser Elsaid |
| Scale | 10,000+ businesses (Chatbase); $10M ARR (founder, May 2026) |
| Paid plans | $40, $150 and $500 a month, 20% off yearly |
| Channels | Website, help page, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email, phone, Zendesk Messaging |
| Security | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR; HIPAA-eligible on Enterprise |
| Consider Resolve247 instead if | You want a flat monthly fee, or AI inside HubSpot, Crisp, Help Scout or Front |
How we checked: we read Chatbase’s pricing page, documentation and terms on 6 and 9 October 2026. We asked Chatbase’s own website bot buyer questions on 6 October and quote its answers below, with screenshots. And we read user reviews on Trustpilot, Capterra, the Shopify App Store and AppSumo. Prices are in US dollars on monthly billing unless stated.
What Is Chatbase?
Chatbase is a platform for building AI agents that answer from your own content. You add sources such as your website, files, Q&A pairs or Notion pages, and the agent uses them to reply to customers.
It has grown well beyond a website chat bubble. The same agent can run on a hosted help page, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email and, on the Standard plan and above, the phone.
“Actions” let the agent do things during a chat, such as book a meeting, show a customer their Stripe invoices or look up a Shopify order. “Procedures” let you write step-by-step workflows in plain language. Since May 2026 there’s also a built-in Helpdesk where your team can take over conversations and work tickets.
Does Chatbase use ChatGPT? It uses OpenAI’s GPT models, the family behind ChatGPT, among many others. Its pricing page lists more than 35 models from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, Meta and Mistral, and you choose one per agent.
Chatbase is run by its founder and CEO, Yasser Elsaid. The company is bootstrapped, and Elsaid announced $10M in annual recurring revenue in May 2026.
Chatbase Pricing and Credits in Brief
Chatbase has a free plan with 50 message credits a month, then Hobby at $40, Standard at $150 and Pro at $500 a month, with 20% off yearly. They include 700, 4,000 and 15,000 credits a month. Every plan includes one AI agent.
Credits are where the real cost sits. Each reply costs between 1 and 6 credits depending on the AI model you choose, and an Action can add another request to the same reply. Unused plan credits don’t roll over. When we asked Chatbase’s own bot what happens if credits run out mid-month, it was clear:
To keep answering, you either upgrade or switch on auto-recharge, which adds credits at $40 per 1,000 (top-up credits don’t expire). The add-ons stack up too. Chatbase’s bot confirmed that removing the “Powered by Chatbase” branding is a $99-a-month add-on, and that Standard plus two extra agents comes to $200 a month.
A worked example. A small business sending about 2,000 AI replies a month on one of Chatbase’s 1-credit models would need Hobby ($40, 700 credits) plus about 1,300 extra credits, roughly $52 a month on average through auto-recharge (billed in $40 blocks of 1,000 credits). That’s about $92 a month, or about $191 with the branding removed. Choose a model that uses 2 credits a reply, such as GPT-6.1 Sol or Claude 5.5 Sonnet, and the same volume needs 4,000 credits: the $150 Standard plan, before branding.
For every plan, add-on and credit rule in detail, see our Chatbase pricing guide. To compare credit-based pricing with flat-fee and per-resolution models across providers, see our AI chatbot pricing guide.
Prices checked on Chatbase’s pricing page on 9 October 2026.
Does Chatbase Integrate With HubSpot? Only to Open a Ticket
This is the detail to read twice if your support runs on HubSpot or Help Scout. Chatbase lists HubSpot, Help Scout, Intercom and Freshdesk among its integrations, alongside Zendesk and Salesforce, but they don’t all do the same job. Its own HubSpot guide describes one: letting the AI agent “escalate a conversation by opening a ticket for your support team”.
| Tool | What Chatbase’s docs say it does | Plan (Chatbase’s plan comparison) |
|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | Opens a HubSpot ticket when the bot escalates, with the customer’s details and the conversation context | Standard ($150) and up |
| Help Scout, Intercom, Freshdesk | Open a ticket when the bot escalates | Standard and up |
| Zendesk, Salesforce | AI replies to or drafts tickets inside the helpdesk, plus escalation by ticket | Standard and up |
| Crisp, Front | Not in its integrations list (checked 9 October 2026) | n/a |
For every helpdesk except Zendesk, Chatbase’s escalation guide says the ticket carries an AI-written summary of the chat rather than the full transcript.
So for a HubSpot team, the cheapest Chatbase plan that connects to HubSpot is $150 a month, and the AI answers in Chatbase’s own chat widget on your site rather than in HubSpot’s. At about 2,000 AI replies a month, that’s $150, or $249 with the branding removed, before you add any extra agents.
Resolve247 works the other way round. Its AI answers inside HubSpot’s own chat widget, on any HubSpot plan including Free and Starter, so customers use the chat they already know and conversations stay in your HubSpot inbox. Our HubSpot AI chatbot page shows how it works.
Chatbase Features That Matter for Support Teams
Channels and Actions
This is Chatbase’s biggest strength. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Slack and Shopify are available from the Hobby plan, phone calls and Zendesk Messaging from Standard, and the agent can also answer email. Actions connect the agent to Shopify, Stripe, Calendly, Cal.com and your own APIs, so it can do more than answer questions. If your customers reach you on several channels, one Chatbase agent can cover them.
Training and sources
You can train on websites (a crawl, a sitemap or single links), PDFs and Word files up to 20 MB each, plain text, Q&A pairs, Notion and, on Pro, closed Zendesk or Salesforce tickets. Each plan caps how much text an agent can hold: 1 MB on Free, 10 MB on Hobby, 20 MB on Standard and 40 MB on Pro. Automatic weekly re-syncing of your website and Notion sources comes with Standard and Pro; on Hobby you click “Resync now”.
Human handover and the Helpdesk
On Messenger and Instagram, available from the Hobby plan, your team can take over a conversation directly. Since May 2026, the Standard plan has also included a built-in Helpdesk: the bot can pass a conversation to your team in real time, a team member can take over a conversation, or the bot can open a ticket. The Helpdesk also offers AI draft replies, macros and routing, so a team can run its support from Chatbase itself.
Security and data
Chatbase states it is SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant, and that it doesn’t use customer data to train AI models (security page). Data is hosted on AWS in the US by default; EU or APAC data residency, HIPAA eligibility and SSO are Enterprise features.
What Chatbase Reviews Say
Chatbase’s ratings depend heavily on where you look and when the reviews were written.
| Site | Rating | Reviews | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 3.9 / 5 | 66 | Mostly negative before Chatbase claimed the profile in February 2026, mostly positive since (most labelled organic) |
| Capterra | 4.3 / 5 | 73 | 70 of 73 written in September to October 2023, many labelled incentivised |
| Shopify App Store | 4.9 / 5 | 39 | App launched January 2026; most reviews written within a week of installing |
| AppSumo | 3.95 / 5 | 114 | 2023 lifetime-deal buyers |
Ratings checked 6 to 9 October 2026.
By our count of Trustpilot’s English reviews, those written before February 2026 average 1.7 stars (12 reviews) and those since average 4.2 (45 reviews). Capterra’s 4.3 mostly reflects the 2023 product.
What users praise: how easy it is to get started, the steady stream of new features and channels, and, since 2026, the support team, with several five-star reviews naming the person who helped.
What users complain about:
- Made-up answers. This was the most common complaint in 2023 and 2024, when one Capterra reviewer wrote that “it sometimes makes up URLs with our domain”. It comes up less often in 2026 reviews, but it hasn’t disappeared.
- Refunds and cancellation. Several reviewers from 2023 to September 2026 say refund requests were refused, or that they were charged after asking to cancel by email. Chatbase’s terms say fees are non-refundable, with limited exceptions. You can stop renewal in your account settings or by emailing [email protected], but an email only counts once Chatbase confirms it in writing.
- Support. Hard to reach before 2026; mostly praised since.
- Price and plan changes. Long-time users say allowances and features have moved between plans over time.
Chatbase Pros and Cons
Pros
- One agent across website, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and phone
- Dozens of AI models to choose from
- Actions and Procedures for Shopify, Stripe, bookings and your own APIs
- AI replies inside Zendesk and Salesforce
- Built-in Helpdesk with live takeover and AI draft replies (Standard and up)
- A free plan to experiment on
- SOC 2 Type II and GDPR
Cons
- Credit maths: model choice, Actions and voice (6 credits a minute) all change how fast you use them, and unused credits don’t roll over
- The bot stops answering at zero credits unless auto-recharge is on
- One agent on every plan, even the $500 Pro plan
- $99 a month to remove the branding
- Helpdesk integrations and the Helpdesk itself need the $150 Standard plan
- HubSpot, Help Scout, Intercom and Freshdesk get a ticket, not AI inside the tool
- Fees are non-refundable, with limited exceptions
Chatbase or Resolve247: Which Fits?
Resolve247 is our product, built for one job: an AI support chatbot on a flat monthly fee that works inside the tools a small team already uses. Here’s how the two compare on cost, billing and where the AI works, including where Chatbase is the better choice.
| Chatbase | Resolve247 | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Monthly plan plus message credits (1 to 6 per reply, by model) | Flat monthly plan from $35, with an AI message allowance |
| Past your allowance | Bot stops until the 1st, unless you upgrade or use auto-recharge ($40 per 1,000 credits) | Keeps answering (soft limit); we get in touch if you’re regularly over; nothing charged automatically |
| Example: ~2,000 AI replies a month | About $92/mo, or $191 with branding removed (Hobby $40 + ~$52 credits + $99) | $35/mo, or $50 with branding removed (Starter $35 + $15) |
| Example: 3 bots, ~5,000 AI replies a month | From about $240/mo (Standard $150 + 2 agents $50 + 1,000 top-up credits $40), more on 2-credit models | $97/mo (Core $55 + 1 extra chatbot $30 + 1,000 AI messages $12) |
| Try it free | Free plan, 50 credits a month (free agents deleted after 14 days inactive); 7-day trial on paid plans | 30-day free trial on any plan, no card needed |
| Guarantees | No accuracy guarantee published; fees non-refundable, with limited exceptions | Money-back guarantee, and if the AI ever makes something up, that month is free |
| HubSpot and Crisp | HubSpot: opens a ticket on handover (Standard, $150+). Crisp: not in its integrations list (checked 9 October 2026) | AI answers inside HubSpot and Crisp chat, on any HubSpot or Crisp plan |
| Help Scout and Front | Help Scout: opens a ticket on handover (Standard, $150+). Front: not in its integrations list (checked 9 October 2026) | AI-drafted replies in your Help Scout or Front inbox; with Help Scout, the bot runs as its own widget and “Contact a Human” opens a Help Scout conversation |
| Where AI drafts appear for your team | Chatbase’s own Helpdesk, Zendesk and Salesforce | Help Scout and Front |
| Channels | Website, help page, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email, phone, Zendesk Messaging | Website widget, plus inside HubSpot and Crisp chat |
| AI models | Choose from dozens; credit cost varies by model | The same models on every plan, with no per-model cost |
| Bots included | 1 on every plan, even $500 Pro; extras $25/mo | Up to 5 included (1 Starter, 2 Core, 3 Pro, 5 Scale); extras $30/mo |
| Branding removal | $99/mo | $15/mo |
Chatbase checked on its pricing page and docs, Resolve247 on our pricing page, both 9 October 2026. The cost examples assume Chatbase’s cheapest 1-credit models and monthly billing, with Chatbase’s top-up credits averaged across months.
Choose Chatbase if you want one agent across WhatsApp, Instagram, email and phone, you run Zendesk or Salesforce and want AI working inside it, you want to pick your AI model, or you’d like a free plan to experiment on.
Choose Resolve247 if you want a flat monthly bill and a bot that keeps answering in a busy month, AI that works inside your HubSpot or Crisp chat on any plan, or AI-drafted replies inside Help Scout or Front. Every plan starts with a 30-day free trial, no credit card needed, backed by a money-back guarantee, and if the AI ever makes something up, that month is free.
If neither fits, we’ve compared eight Chatbase alternatives in one place.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chatbase legit?
Yes. Chatbase is a real, established company: it is bootstrapped, says it serves more than 10,000 businesses, and its founder reported $10M in annual recurring revenue in May 2026. It says it is SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliant. Its user reviews are mixed, with most complaints dating from 2023 to 2025.
Does Chatbase work with HubSpot?
Only for handing conversations to your team. Chatbase’s HubSpot integration lets its AI agent open a ticket in HubSpot when a conversation needs a person, with the customer’s details and the conversation context. It’s listed on the Standard plan ($150 a month) and above, and the AI answers in Chatbase’s own chat widget rather than inside HubSpot’s chat.
Does Chatbase use ChatGPT?
Chatbase uses OpenAI’s GPT models, the family behind ChatGPT, among many others. You choose the model for each agent from providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, Meta and Mistral. Each reply costs between 1 and 6 message credits depending on the model you pick.
Does Chatbase hand conversations to a human?
Yes. On Messenger and Instagram, available from the Hobby plan, your team can take over a conversation. From the Standard plan, the built-in Helpdesk lets your team join or take over chats on other channels, and the bot can open a ticket. For HubSpot, Help Scout, Intercom and Freshdesk, the handover is a ticket with an AI summary.
What happens when Chatbase runs out of credits?
The bot stops answering and visitors see “This AI Agent is currently unavailable” (Chatbase FAQ) until your credits renew on the 1st of the month, unless you’ve switched on auto-recharge at $40 per 1,000 credits. Unused plan credits don’t carry over to the next month.
Does Chatbase offer refunds or a free trial?
Paid plans offer a 7-day trial, and there’s a free plan with 50 message credits a month (free agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity). Chatbase’s terms say fees are non-refundable, with limited exceptions, so use the trial to test it properly before you pay.
Conclusion
This Chatbase review comes down to breadth versus fit. Chatbase covers a lot: many channels, dozens of AI models, Actions, and AI inside Zendesk and Salesforce. Whether it’s right for you depends on how you want to pay and where your support already lives.
Before you choose:
- Do the credit maths for your volume and the model you’d use, including extra agents and branding removal, and decide whether you want auto-recharge on.
- Check what “integrates with” means for your helpdesk: a ticket, or AI working inside it.
If you’d rather have a flat monthly fee, a bot that keeps answering when you pass your allowance, and AI that works inside your HubSpot or Crisp chat, try Resolve247 free for 30 days. No credit card needed, backed by a money-back guarantee, and if the AI ever makes something up, that month is free.