Best AI Chatbot Plugins for WordPress, Priced
Five AI chatbot plugins and services for WordPress, compared on the conversation or credit limits each vendor publishes, whether you bring your own AI key, and what it documents about your data. AI Engine was read on October 30, 2026 and the other four on October 31, 2026. I have not used these plugins for this list, so nothing here is a speed or answer-quality test.
Alston AntonyUpdated
How I choose
Products are ranked by the criteria below, in this order of importance. Commission rate is not a criterion. I earn commission on some links and mark them. Every price carries the date I checked it and a link to the page it came from.
- Published conversation or credit limits. Whether the vendor's pricing page states how many conversations, billable conversations or AI credits each plan includes. A page that states no limit ranks below one that does.
- Your own AI provider key. Whether the vendor's pages say you need your own account and API key with an AI provider. The provider's usage charges are extra and are not covered on this page.
- Data handling. What the vendor's own terms, docs or listing say is sent where and who may train on it, in a short quote. A short sentence ranks below a full statement, and silence ranks lowest.
- WordPress.org install base and last update. Active installs and last-updated date from this site's WordPress.org data or the WordPress.org plugins API, read October 31, 2026. It breaks ties and does not otherwise set the order.
- Entry price and renewal. The cheapest paid plan listed, with its billing term and renewal price where the page states one. Weighed last so a low price cannot outrank the other criteria. Currencies differ and are never converted.
Quick picks
- Top pickAI Puffer · best for a chatbot with a free monthly credit allowance and a choice between the vendor's Cloud and your own provider key
- No. 2Chatway · best for a hosted live chat with a free plan and an AI agent billed per resolved conversation
- No. 3Tidio · best for a hosted service that combines live chat, Flows and an AI agent, priced by conversation rather than by plugin licence
At a glance
| # | Product | Best for | Pricing | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI Puffer | A chatbot with a free monthly credit allowance and a choice between the vendor's Cloud and your own provider key | Free: 2,000 website actions and 25 AI credits a month, $0. Pro: $9.99/month, billed monthly (the monthly view, as read), with 10,000 plus 2,000 free actions and 1,000 plus 25 free AI credits. Pro Plus is $14.99/month and Pro Max is $29.99/month on the same view. A yearly toggle says Yearly saves 20%; I did not read the yearly prices, so no yearly figure is given. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices are in USD, before tax. (checked Oct 31, 2026) | VisitAI Puffer |
| 2 | Chatway | A hosted live chat with a free plan and an AI agent billed per resolved conversation | Free: $0, 50 conversations a month, 1 seat. Business: $31/month, billed yearly (the yearly view, as read), shown beside $39 with the line Save $96 yearly, with 200 conversations a month and 2 seats. Plus: $159/month, billed yearly, shown beside $199 with the line Save $480 yearly, with 1,000 conversations a month and 10 seats. I did not read the monthly view as its own price list. The AI Support Agent add-on is $0.50 per resolved conversation, with 10 AI conversations free. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices are in USD. (checked Oct 31, 2026) | VisitChatway |
| 3 | Tidio | A hosted service that combines live chat, Flows and an AI agent, priced by conversation rather than by plugin licence | Free: $0, 50 billable conversations, 50 Lyro AI conversations (one time) and 100 Flows visitors reached. Starter: $24.17/month on the Annually (2 months free) view, as read, with 100 billable conversations; I did not read the Monthly view in dollars, and the euro page showed €29/month on its Monthly view. Growth: from $49.17/month on the Annually view, from 250 billable conversations. Plus: from $300/month plus monthly usage. Lyro AI Agent alone: from $32.50/month, from 50 Lyro conversations. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices were shown in dollars in the US view. (checked Oct 31, 2026) | VisitTidio |
| 4 | WPBot | A chatbot on your own server that works with or without an AI service, licensed by site count | Free plugin on WordPress.org. WPBot Pro Starter: $39/year for 1 WordPress site. Professional: $99/year for 2 sites. Master: $189/year for 5 sites. Lifetime tab: Starter $149 (struck-through $230) for 5 sites, Professional $279 (struck-through $480) for 10 sites, Master $369 (struck-through $680) for 50 sites. Prices are in USD and exclude VAT and taxes. The page does not state a renewal price for the yearly plans. AI features need your own API key, and the provider's usage charges are extra and not covered here. (checked Oct 31, 2026) | VisitWPBot |
| 5 | AI Engine | Chatbots on your own server with your own AI account, and answers from your own content on Pro | Free plugin, with chatbots in the free version. Pro Starter: $59/year for 1 website. Standard: $79/year for 5 websites. Professional: $149/year for 20 websites. The page does not state the renewal price; it says: Emails are sent before each renewal, and you can stop anytime. An API key from your AI provider is required, and the provider's usage charges are extra and not covered here. (checked Oct 30, 2026) | VisitAI Engine |
Comparison
| Product | Where it runs | Own AI key | Limit as published | Renewal price | Active installs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Puffer | Plugin on your site, Cloud optional | Not with AI Puffer Cloud; own keys optional | 25 AI credits and 2,000 actions a month free | Not stated | 10,000 |
| Chatway | Hosted service, WordPress plugin | No for the built-in AI agent; own AI optional | 50, 200 or 1,000 conversations a month | Not stated | 30,000 |
| Tidio | Hosted service, WordPress plugin | Not stated | 50 billable conversations free; Starter 100 | Not stated | 70,000 |
| WPBot | Plugin on your site | Yes, for the AI features | Not stated | Not stated | 5,000 |
| AI Engine | Plugin on your site | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | 90,000 |
1. AI Puffer
Best for: A chatbot with a free monthly credit allowance and a choice between the vendor's Cloud and your own provider key
AI Puffer's WordPress.org listing says you can create unlimited chatbots, each with its own model, instructions, colors and welcome message. The pricing page counts two things separately: website actions, and AI credits that run the chatbot, writer, forms and images.
Pricing: Free: 2,000 website actions and 25 AI credits a month, $0. Pro: $9.99/month, billed monthly (the monthly view, as read), with 10,000 plus 2,000 free actions and 1,000 plus 25 free AI credits. Pro Plus is $14.99/month and Pro Max is $29.99/month on the same view. A yearly toggle says Yearly saves 20%; I did not read the yearly prices, so no yearly figure is given. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices are in USD, before tax.. Checked Oct 31, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page. Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Pros
- The free plan lists 25 AI credits and 2,000 website actions a month; the page says free AI credits need a verified AI Puffer Cloud account
- The listing says no own key is needed with AI Puffer Cloud, and that your own API keys are optional and billed by your provider
- The listing says visitor messages go to the provider selected for that chatbot, chat logs are stored in your WordPress database and Cloud keeps diagnostic reports for 30 days
- The page says unused actions and included credits do not roll over, and extra AI credits never expire
Cons
- The page does not state how many chatbot conversations one AI credit covers, so the free 25 credits cannot be turned into conversations
- The yearly prices and any renewal price are not stated in what I read
- Prices are for a licence on one site; for two, you choose 2 sites at checkout, and checkout is handled by a reseller, Freemius
2. Chatway
Best for: A hosted live chat with a free plan and an AI agent billed per resolved conversation
Chatway is a hosted live-chat service with a WordPress plugin. The AI Support Agent is an add-on on every plan, trained on your website and knowledge base, and the page also lists Bring Your Own AI through API, webhooks or MCP.
Pricing: Free: $0, 50 conversations a month, 1 seat. Business: $31/month, billed yearly (the yearly view, as read), shown beside $39 with the line Save $96 yearly, with 200 conversations a month and 2 seats. Plus: $159/month, billed yearly, shown beside $199 with the line Save $480 yearly, with 1,000 conversations a month and 10 seats. I did not read the monthly view as its own price list. The AI Support Agent add-on is $0.50 per resolved conversation, with 10 AI conversations free. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices are in USD.. Checked Oct 31, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page. Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Pros
- Conversation limits are printed per plan: 50, 200 and 1,000 a month
- The AI agent is priced per resolved conversation at $0.50, so its cost follows resolutions rather than a flat fee
- The built-in AI agent is listed with no key requirement, and Bring Your Own AI is shown as optional
- The FAQ states a refund within 30 days of purchase
Cons
- Seats and conversations are priced together: extra seats are $16/month each billed yearly, shown beside $19
- The free plan keeps 30 days of chat history, and unlimited chat history needs a paid plan
- The page does not state a renewal price, and I read only the yearly billing view
- The pages I read do not name the AI provider behind the AI Support Agent; the FAQ says Chatway's AI is trained only on the data sources you provide
3. Tidio
Best for: A hosted service that combines live chat, Flows and an AI agent, priced by conversation rather than by plugin licence
Tidio is a hosted chat and help-desk service with a WordPress plugin. Its Lyro AI Agent is counted by Lyro conversation: a conversation with at least one AI reply counts once, however many replies follow.
Pricing: Free: $0, 50 billable conversations, 50 Lyro AI conversations (one time) and 100 Flows visitors reached. Starter: $24.17/month on the Annually (2 months free) view, as read, with 100 billable conversations; I did not read the Monthly view in dollars, and the euro page showed €29/month on its Monthly view. Growth: from $49.17/month on the Annually view, from 250 billable conversations. Plus: from $300/month plus monthly usage. Lyro AI Agent alone: from $32.50/month, from 50 Lyro conversations. The page does not state a renewal price. Prices were shown in dollars in the US view.. Checked Oct 31, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page. Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Pros
- The page defines its limits: a billable conversation includes a message from a human agent, and responses from Flows and Lyro are not counted as agent replies
- The terms, last updated March 12, 2026, say third-party AI providers are contractually prohibited from training their own foundation models on customer data
- The terms say customers may opt out of improvement training via support
- The first 50 Lyro conversations are listed as free for life in the plan table
Cons
- Each paid plan has two prices depending on the billing toggle, and the page does not state a renewal price
- The terms say Tidio may use aggregated, anonymised interaction data to tune model performance, and that input and output are not used to train foundation models exposed to other customers except in irreversibly aggregated form
- Higher tiers are chosen on a slider, and the Plus plan starts at $300/month plus monthly usage
- The pricing page does not say whether you can use your own AI key
4. WPBot
Best for: A chatbot on your own server that works with or without an AI service, licensed by site count
WPBot's WordPress.org listing says it can be powered by OpenAI ChatGPT, Gemini or OpenRouter, or work without the AI services. Pro tiers add modules such as WooCommerce, conversational forms and voice chat, depending on the plan.
Pricing: Free plugin on WordPress.org. WPBot Pro Starter: $39/year for 1 WordPress site. Professional: $99/year for 2 sites. Master: $189/year for 5 sites. Lifetime tab: Starter $149 (struck-through $230) for 5 sites, Professional $279 (struck-through $480) for 10 sites, Master $369 (struck-through $680) for 50 sites. Prices are in USD and exclude VAT and taxes. The page does not state a renewal price for the yearly plans. AI features need your own API key, and the provider's usage charges are extra and not covered here.. Checked Oct 31, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page. Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Pros
- The listing says the built-in features are all free and the AI features need your own API key only when you enable them
- The listing states what is sent: chat messages, AI prompts and the site content you choose to train on go to the AI service you select
- A lifetime tab is printed: Starter $149 for 5 sites, Professional $279 for 10 sites and Master $369 for 50 sites, with Product Lifetime Updates listed on each
- The pricing page states a 14-day money-back guarantee
- The chatbot can run without an AI service, per the listing
Cons
- No conversation or message limit is stated on the pricing page or the listing
- The page does not state a renewal price; the yearly plans are shown as $39, $99 and $189 a year
- The yearly tiers cover 1, 2 and 5 WordPress sites, the lifetime tiers cover 5, 10 and 50, and the listing says multilanguage needs the Master licence
5. AI Engine
Best for: Chatbots on your own server with your own AI account, and answers from your own content on Pro
AI Engine's chatbots are in the free plugin, with popup, inline or full-screen display, voice and files. The vendor says Pro grounds the chatbot in your own content with embeddings and adds cross-site chatbots and usage insights.
Pricing: Free plugin, with chatbots in the free version. Pro Starter: $59/year for 1 website. Standard: $79/year for 5 websites. Professional: $149/year for 20 websites. The page does not state the renewal price; it says: Emails are sent before each renewal, and you can stop anytime. An API key from your AI provider is required, and the provider's usage charges are extra and not covered here.. Checked Oct 30, 2026 on the vendor's pricing page. Prices change; confirm at checkout.
Pros
- The free plugin lists chatbots with custom themes, voice chat, file uploads and persistent memory, per the vendor
- Pro adds a usage panel the vendor calls Usage Insights and Control, covering token spend, costs and access
- The disclaimer page says you connect your own provider account and are bound by that provider's terms and privacy policies
- The plugin shows 90,000 active installs and a last update of October 30, 2026, the largest install base of the five
Cons
- Chatbot replies run on your own provider account: the vendor page asks for an API key or a local model, and the provider bills usage on top of any licence
- No conversation or message limit is stated on the vendor pages I read
- No renewal price appears on the pricing page, only a note that renewal emails are sent
- Answers from your own content (embeddings) are listed under Pro, not the free plugin
What a chatbot costs per month
This table uses only published plan limits and prices, in each vendor's own currency, with the arithmetic shown. Where a page does not state how a limit maps to conversations, the cell says so and no figure is made up. AI provider usage charges are not included for any option that needs your own key.
| Option | Limit as published | Price as published | Per month, with arithmetic | Left out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Puffer Free | 2,000 website actions and 25 AI credits a month | $0 | $0 | Credits per conversation is not stated |
| AI Puffer Pro | 10,000 plus 2,000 free actions; 1,000 plus 25 free AI credits | $9.99/month, billed monthly | $9.99 | Credits per conversation is not stated |
| Chatway Free | 50 conversations a month, 1 seat | $0 | $0 | 30 days of chat history only |
| Chatway Business | 200 conversations a month, 2 seats | $31/month, billed yearly | $31 a month, or $31 times 12 = $372 a year | Renewal price is not stated |
| Chatway Plus | 1,000 conversations a month, 10 seats | $159/month, billed yearly | $159 a month, or $159 times 12 = $1,908 a year | Renewal price is not stated |
| Chatway AI Support Agent | Per resolved conversation | $0.50 per resolved conversation | 100 resolved conversations: 100 times $0.50 = $50, before any free conversations | The page says 10 AI conversations are free and does not say whether that repeats monthly |
| Tidio Free | 50 billable conversations; 50 Lyro conversations one time | $0 | $0 | Lyro conversations are one-off on the free plan |
| Tidio Starter | 100 billable conversations | $24.17/month (Annually view, as read) | $24.17 a month as shown; the euro page showed €29 on its Monthly view | The page does not print an annual total |
| Tidio Lyro AI Agent alone | From 50 Lyro conversations | From $32.50/month | $32.50 for the entry tier | Higher tiers are chosen on a slider |
| AI Engine Pro Starter | No limit stated; 1 website | $59/year | $59 divided by 12 months = $4.92 a month (to the nearest cent) | Provider usage; renewal price is not stated |
| WPBot Pro Starter | No limit stated; 1 site | $39/year | $39 divided by 12 months = $3.25 a month | Provider usage for AI features; renewal price is not stated |
| WPBot Pro Professional | No limit stated; 2 sites | $99/year | $99 divided by 12 months = $8.25 a month | Provider usage for AI features; renewal price is not stated |
Privacy and data handling, from each vendor's own words
- AI Puffer (WordPress.org listing): Visitor messages go to the provider selected for that chatbot. Chat logs, usage records and Local knowledge are stored in your WordPress database. Cloud keeps diagnostic reports for 30 days.
- Tidio (terms, last updated March 12, 2026): Customer Data may be routed through Third-Party AI Providers solely to deliver the Service, and these providers are contractually prohibited from training their own foundation models on such data. Customers may opt out of improvement training via support.
- WPBot (WordPress.org listing): Chat messages, AI prompts and the site content you choose to train on are sent to the AI service you select.
- AI Engine (disclaimer page): users connect their own account with their chosen provider, and are bound by the terms of use, privacy policies and other legal agreements of that provider.
- Chatway (pricing page FAQ): Chatway's AI is trained only on the data sources you provide, like text and website links. The pages I read do not describe where messages are processed.
How the order was set
The first three criteria are scored from 0 to 2 on what the vendor's own pages answer: 2 is a clear statement, 1 is a partial one, 0 is no statement on the pages I read. The totals set the order, and every product has WordPress.org data, so install base only breaks ties. Price was not used.
Tidio and WPBot tie on 4. Limits come first among the criteria, and Tidio publishes limits where WPBot does not, so Tidio ranks first.
| Product | Limits published | Own key stated | Data documented | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Puffer | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Chatway | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Tidio | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| WPBot | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| AI Engine | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
How I checked
Every price and statement comes from the vendor's own pricing page, terms or WordPress.org listing. AI Engine was read on October 30, 2026 and the other four on October 31, 2026; the WPBot lifetime tab was read on October 31, 2026 through a US-region page fetch. I did not buy a plan, and I have not used these plugins for this list.
Prices are in the currency each page showed and were not converted. Tidio was read in its US view in dollars, with one euro figure for its Monthly view noted where it appears. The other four showed dollars.
No vendor printed a renewal price on the pages I read, so every renewal line says the page does not state it.
AI Engine ranks last on the scores because its pages publish no conversation limit and its only plugin data statement is the disclaimer page. I read Meow Apps' privacy policy and disclaimer page on October 31, 2026. The privacy policy covers meowapps.com, the licence checks Pro plugins make and the site's own assistant, and says nothing about what a customer's AI Engine installation sends, so its data score stays at 1.
Questions
Do AI chatbot plugins for WordPress need an OpenAI key?
It depends. AI Engine and the WPBot AI features say you need your own provider account and API key. AI Puffer says no key is needed with its Cloud and your own keys are optional. Chatway lists its built-in AI agent with no key requirement. The Tidio pages I read do not say.
Are AI chatbot plugins free?
Each has a free tier or free plugin, with limits. AI Puffer lists 25 AI credits a month, Chatway lists 50 conversations a month, Tidio lists 50 billable conversations and a one-time 50 Lyro conversations, and AI Engine and WPBot have free plugins whose AI use is billed by your provider.
Did you test these chatbots?
No. This list is based on what each vendor publishes. I have not used these plugins for this list and have not tested how well any chatbot answers.