You've googled the price of a chatbot. You landed on pages that say "it depends" without ever giving a single figure. Or worse, on sponsored comparisons that push you toward a SaaS tool at €99/month "all-inclusive" — except nothing is actually included.
Here's the honest answer: in 2026, an AI chatbot for an SME costs between €500 and €50,000. The gap is huge because the word "chatbot" covers completely different realities. A chatbot that answers "our hours are 9am-6pm" and a chatbot that handles complaints by querying your CRM in real time are not the same project, not the same budget, and not the same return on investment.
In this article, I give you the real numbers. No vague ranges, no "contact us for a quote." Concrete prices, real examples, and the criteria that make the bill go up or down.
The 3 types of chatbots (and why the price ranges from 0 to €50,000)
Not all chatbots are equal. The confusion comes from using the same word to describe three fundamentally different technologies.
1. The rule-based (scripted) chatbot
The simplest one. It follows a predetermined script: "If the customer says X, reply Y." No artificial intelligence. Just conditional logic, like a sophisticated interactive form.
- What it does: answers frequently asked questions, routes people to the right department, collects basic information.
- What it doesn't do: understand a question phrased differently, handle complex requests.
- Ideal for: a shop, a restaurant, a tradesperson who wants to filter incoming requests.
- Price: €500 to €3,000 (build) + €0 to €50/month.
Example: a restaurant in Lyon deploys a WhatsApp chatbot for reservations. The customer answers 4-5 guided questions (date, number of guests, allergies) and receives an automatic confirmation. Cost: around €1,200, deployed in one week.
2. The conversational AI chatbot (GPT-4 / Claude style)
The chatbot uses a large language model (LLM) like GPT-4 or Anthropic's Claude to understand messages in natural language. It doesn't follow a script: it understands the intent behind the question, even if it's phrased with typos or mixes several topics together.
- What it does: replies in natural language, keeps the context of a conversation, handles varied requests.
- What it doesn't do: access your internal systems (unless specifically integrated).
- Ideal for: an SME that wants a virtual assistant capable of answering questions about its products and services.
- Price: €2,000 to €15,000 (build) + €100 to €300/month.
Example: a consulting firm deploys an AI chatbot on its website, powered by Claude via Amazon Bedrock. The bot answers questions about practitioners, pricing and specialties, and qualifies leads. Cost: around €5,000, 2-3 weeks.
3. The custom AI chatbot with business integration
The top tier. The chatbot doesn't just chat: it acts. It connects to your CRM, your ERP, your product database. It can look up a customer's history, check an order status, create a support ticket — autonomously.
- What it does: everything conversational + real-time access to your data, execution of actions, smart escalation.
- What it doesn't do: replace your team. It handles 70 to 85% of routine requests.
- Ideal for: an e-commerce business with volume, a service company with structured processes.
- Price: €5,000 to €50,000 (build) + €200 to €800/month.
Example: an e-commerce SME deploys a WhatsApp chatbot connected to Shopify and Zendesk. The customer sends "where's my order?", the bot queries Shopify and replies with the exact status. Cost: around €12,000, 4-6 weeks.
What drives the bill up (or down)
The number of channels
A chatbot on your website costs less than a chatbot available on WhatsApp, Messenger and email. Each additional channel adds complexity. On the upside, the WhatsApp open rate reaches 98%, versus 21% for email.
Impact: +€1,000 to €3,000 per additional channel.
Integrations with your tools
Connecting the chatbot to HubSpot, Doctolib, Shopify or your ERP is what turns it into a genuinely useful tool. But each integration requires dedicated development.
Impact: +€1,500 to €5,000 per integration.
The volume of conversations
LLM API costs (GPT-4, Claude via Amazon Bedrock) are billed by usage. For a typical SME (200 to 1,000 conversations/month), it stays reasonable.
Impact: €30 to €150/month for a standard SME volume.
Training on your data
For the chatbot to answer correctly about your products and procedures, it has to be trained on your data (FAQ, product sheets, history). This is the RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) phase.
Impact: +€1,000 to €5,000 depending on the volume of data.
Comparison: freelance vs agency vs SaaS platform
| Criterion | SaaS | Agency | Freelance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | €0 - 500 | €5,000 - 30,000 | €1,500 - 15,000 |
| Monthly cost | €50 - 500/month | €500 - 2,000/month | €50 - 300/month |
| Customization | Limited | High | High |
| Timeline | 1 - 3 days | 4 - 12 weeks | 1 - 4 weeks |
| Point of contact | Support ticket | Project manager | Direct with the developer |
| Code ownership | No | Yes | Yes |
| Dependency | Strong (lock-in) | Medium | Low |
For 90% of SMEs, an AI-specialized freelancer is the most relevant option. No middleman, no inflated overhead. You talk directly to the person who designs and deploys your chatbot. The code belongs to you, and the timelines are short.
The hidden cost no one ever tells you about
Most quotes cover the build. Full stop. But a chatbot isn't a website you put online and forget. Here are the costs nobody mentions.
Maintenance
Monitoring, fixes, security updates
€50 - 150/month
Continuous improvement
New scenarios, fine-tuning of answers
€100 - 400/month
Monitoring
Dashboard, metrics, reports
€50 - 100/month
Realistic total monthly budget: plan for €150 to €500/month after setup. That's two to five times cheaper than a part-time employee dedicated to customer support.
3 concrete examples of chatbots for French SMEs
Fine-dining restaurant in Bordeaux
WhatsApp chatbot for reservations. The customer sends "I want to book", the bot asks for date, time, number of guests, allergies, and confirms. Automatic reminder 24h before.
Cost
€1,500
Monthly
€60/month
Timeline
5 days
Result
80% auto
Medical practice in Nantes
AI chatbot (Claude via Amazon Bedrock) on the website + WhatsApp. Answers questions about practitioners, pricing, specialties. Connected to Doctolib for available slots.
Cost
€3,500
Monthly
€120/month
Timeline
2 weeks
Result
-60% calls
E-commerce (15,000 orders/month)
Custom AI chatbot on WhatsApp + website, connected to Shopify and Gorgias. Real-time order tracking, automatic return labels, smart escalation.
Cost
€8,000
Monthly
€350/month
Timeline
5 weeks
Result
75% auto
How to estimate your budget
Ask yourself these five questions. They're enough to frame 80% of your budget.
1. What concrete problem do you want to solve?
"Automate customer service" is too vague. "Automatically answer the 50 recurring questions we get each day" is a brief you can put a number on.
2. Through which channel do your customers reach you?
WhatsApp? Web form? Email? Start with the main channel.
3. Do you need integrations?
CRM, booking, e-commerce? More integrations = higher budget but stronger ROI.
4. What volume of conversations?
Fewer than 200/month: negligible API costs. 200-2,000: standard. Beyond that: optimization required.
5. What is your realistic budget?
€1,000-3,000 → a solid rule-based chatbot. €3,000-10,000 → conversational AI. €10,000+ → custom build with integrations.
Further reading
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