How much does an AI chatbot cost for a small business?
Short answer: for a small business in 2026, expect to pay roughly £20 to £100 per month for a genuinely capable AI chatbot, far less than a part-time receptionist, and often recovered by a single extra booking a month.
But the monthly figure only tells half the story. Below is what actually sits behind the price, the traps to avoid, and a simple way to work out whether it's worth it for your business.
The typical price bands
Most small-business AI chatbots fall into three tiers, based on what they can do rather than just answer:
| Tier | Typical monthly price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Answers only | £20–£30 | 24/7 replies to questions from your website, plus lead capture |
| Answers + actions | £45–£60 | Adds real appointment booking, email confirmations and customisation |
| Full "digital employee" | £90–£150+ | Adds live inventory search, shipping quotes, order status and integrations |
For reference, Dave on Duty sits right in these bands, £24, £49 and from £99 a month, with a 7-day free trial and no card needed to start.
What drives the cost up or down
- Capability, not conversation count. A bot that only answers is cheap. One that books appointments or checks your stock in real time does more work, so it costs more.
- Which AI model it runs on. Better models give more human, accurate replies but cost the provider more to run. Good providers absorb this into a flat fee so you're not billed per message.
- Setup and support. Some tools make you build the bot yourself; others (like Dave) scan your site and set it up for you, which saves you hours.
- Conversation volume. Very busy sites may need a higher allowance, but most small businesses stay comfortably inside a mid-tier plan.
Hidden costs to watch for
- Per-message or per-resolution fees that make a busy month unpredictable. Prefer a flat monthly price with a clear allowance.
- Setup or onboarding fees charged on top of the subscription.
- Long contracts. A month-to-month plan you can cancel any time is lower risk than an annual lock-in.
- "Unlimited" that quietly throttles. Read what happens when you hit a limit, a good bot keeps working in a basic mode rather than going dark.
💡 Rule of thumb: if the chatbot books or saves you just one extra job a month, a £24–£49 plan has already paid for itself. Everything after that is profit.
Is it actually worth it?
Work out the value of one customer to you. For a dentist that might be a £90 hygiene appointment; for a garage, a £250 service; for a salon, a £120 colour. Now consider how many enquiries arrive after you've closed, industry-wide, it's most of them. A chatbot that captures or books even a fraction of those pays back many times its cost. That's why the honest way to judge price isn't "how cheap is it?" but "how many customers is it saving me?"
The bottom line
A capable AI chatbot for a small business costs about the same as a couple of hours of staff wages a month, but it works 24/7 and never takes a break. Start on a low tier, watch what it captures during a free trial, and only move up when the bookings justify it.
Want to see it on your own site? Here's how Dave works for a small business, or start a 7-day free trial, no card needed.