The Best Free Conversational AI Platforms in 2023
With the advent of AI, businesses have embraced the useful tool to streamline both their communications and workflow. Conversational AI Platforms, in particular, play an important role in handling customer relations and as assistants, while lowering costs and manpower required.
Today, we’re showcasing the best of the best free conversational AI platforms to try in 2023! There are plenty of conversation AI free trials to explore, each with distinct toolsets and features, so read through the list to find the best fit for your business!
What are Free Conversational AI Platforms?
Conversational AI Platforms are a new iteration of the original chatbot that recognized keyword input and listed possible responses/links to solutions.
The best free conversational AI Platforms, on the other hand, take this to the next level.
They utilize a combination of natural language understanding and machine learning to logically respond to queries. This allows it to naturally answer questions, respond to messages, and understand contextual cues while retaining a natural flow of conversation.
It’s the closest we’ve come to emulating human conversation, which helps build trust with customers while improving the efficiency of agents and support services. You can also employ these AI agents 24/7, so you’ve always got a reliable problem solver on hand.
What to Look for in a Conversational AI Chatbot?
A few considerations exist when looking for a free AI conversation generator depending mostly on your business and needs. Here are a few of the most important features & functionality to look for –
A Rule-Based Chatbot or AI Chatbot?
The rule-based chatbot responds according to predetermined keywords and commands to respond to customers/users. These are useful if you need the chatbot to handle limited questions before transferring to a human agent.
Alternatively, a conversational AI chatbot uses machine learning and advanced language processing to understand the question before answering. You can also train these AI platforms with specific data sets to better serve your customers.
This is the best way to future-proof your customer support but will take a little longer to implement as it requires a team of data scientists and training data to ensure the AI is as comprehensive as possible.
Integration Support
If you have an expansive system consisting of payment channels, social media platforms, and CRM (customer relationship management) software, you’ll want to ensure your AI platform integrates seamlessly with your existing system.
This creates a wonderful synergy that connects all your data with the AI conversational platform, further enhancing efficiency since data is shared across your network.
For example, integration allows your AI chatbot to seamlessly pull data from trackers, recommend products, link to appropriate payment channels, or transfer lead data from social media.
Find the Right Chatbot / Industry Expertise
AI chatbots are only as good as their training data, so you’ll want to ensure your chatbot generator has the appropriate chatbot for your industry. Not all chatbots are interchangeable, and they’re ‘unique’ as they cater to certain industries.
An e-commerce site will have different requirements for its AI conversational platform compared to logistics and hotel/travel sites. Make sure to check if the provider is experienced in your industry or has relevant training data before settling on a platform.
The Top 11 Best & Free Conversational AI Platforms
1ChatInsight
ChatInsight is a knowledge-based conversational AI tool designed to interact with users in a manner that's insightful, engaging, and informative. Unlike traditional chatbots that might focus on specific tasks or function within a narrow scope, ChatInsight is envisioned to be capable of deeper, more meaningful interactions, aiming to provide thoughtful responses and insights across a wide range of topics.
The core of ChatInsight's functionality would rely on advanced natural language processing, machine learning algorithms, and a vast knowledge base, enabling it to understand and respond to a wide array of inquiries thoughtfully and contextually.
2Dialogflow
Key Features :30+ Language Support / Supports Voice Interfaces (Google Assistant, Alexa, etc.) / Visual Builder & Preset Agents
Dialogflow by Google is one of the best conversational AI platforms around and supports a wide variety of platforms and channels. You only need to build the chatbot once and can deploy it across your social media channels, websites, mobile apps, and messengers.
It uses the latest BERT-based natural language understanding (NLU) frameworks, so they’re adept at recognizing context in complex conversations. It also features a fantastic visual builder which saves you time during development.
Dialogflow is available for a 90-day free trial, after which you can subscribe to either Dialogflow ES (Essentials) or Dialogflow CX.
3Tidio
Key Features: Customizable No-Code Workflows / 35+ e-Commerce Templates / User-Friendly Interface
Tidio is a great solution for small-medium businesses who want to dip their toes in an AI conversational platform. It has an easy-to-use interface to create and train your chatbots, including a visual chat builder if you’re not familiar with coding.
It has a decent list of supported integrations & channels too, including WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and more. It isn’t as comprehensive compared to its competitors, but it’s a good starting point to dabble with AI chatbots.
The good news is Tidio has a completely Free plan which allows you to use up to 3 live chatbots at once. You are limited to 50 AI & live chat conversations, but it’s perfect for small businesses looking to employ chatbot support at an affordable price.
4Freshchat
Key Features: 33+ Language Support / Comprehensive Chatbot Analytics / Extensive Channel & Integration Support
Freshchat is an excellent option to transform your business with its Freddy AI. It’s a powerful chatbot that can intelligently respond to customer queries and messages, while accurately understanding contextual cues.
Freshchat also has great support for a vast number of channels including web, Google Business Messages, Facebook Messenger, Email, WordPress, Instagram, WhatsApp, Line, Telegram, and more.
It also supports 33 languages so you’re covered no matter what language your customers speak.
The best part is Freshchat has a pretty comprehensive free plan, that includes 100 campaign contacts, chatbot & analytics, grouping, a dedicated inbox, and more.
5IBM Watson Assistant
Key Features: Wide Variety of Integrations & Extensions / Built-in Analytics / Expansive Language Model (LLM)
Watson Assistant by IBM is a powerful AI conversational platform that focuses on customer service, HR, and marketing. It uses a combination of deep & machine learning based on natural language processing (NLP) models to ensure a comprehensive & optimized conversational AI.
Similar to Dialogflow, the Watson Assistant also features a visual builder and preset templates to smoothen the development process.
One of the most impressive features though is the wide variety of integrations support like Slack, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, web, SMS, Gmail, and more.
There are three plans to choose from, including the Lite, Plus, and Enterprise. The Lite plan is a free plan that allows you to have 3 assistants, and up to 1000 monthly active users.
![IBM Watson Assistant](https://images.airdroid.com/2023/07/IBM-Watson-Assistant.png)
6Kore.ai
Key Features: Wide Channel Support / 100,000 Monthly Request Limit / No-Code Builder
onversational platform builder for both your customers and staff. Using both Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI, Kore.ai streamlines the development of highly versatile Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs).
And if you’re building a chatbot for your small business by yourself, Kore.ai has a no-code builder which uses a drag-and-drop interface and templates to get familiar with the platform and AI chatbots.
Not to mention the vast integration support including social media, messengers, mobile, SMS, and email, as well as official support for over 30 digital & voice channels.
Kore.ai is free to start and supports up to 100,000 monthly requests on the free trial. The standard plan is also relatively affordable costing 20¢ per conversation in case you’d like to scale on the platform.
7Landbot
Key Features: Visual Drag & Drop Builder / Reusable Bricks & Templates / GPT-3 Integration
Landbot is another great option to create no-code chatbots to improve conversational experiences for your business. They’ve recently started betas combining GPT-3 integrations and machine learning to optimize the chatbot training experience.
There’s a great variety of preset templates and bricks to create complex chatbots right away. Paired with the simple-to-use visual drag & drop builder, it won’t take very long to get a reliable chatbot up and running.
The downside is the free version is pretty limited and only provides 1 chatbot, with up to 100 chats a month. You’re also limited by the included integrations and building flows on the free tier, but otherwise, Landbot is a great starter chatbot to test out.
8UChat
Key Features: Expansive Omni Channel Support / Drag & Drop Flow Builder / Google Business Messenger Integration
UChat is a well-connected & easy-to-use AI conversational platform with a unpretentious user interface. It makes it much easier to navigate the software and develop your own smart AI chatbot using the drag & drop flow builder.
Like other options on the list, you don’t need to know how to code to create a dependable AI chatbot.
What makes UChat stand out though, is the excellent omni-channel support. You can deploy your chatbot across multiple channels and platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, Slack, Telegram, Google Business Messenger, Gmail, and much more.
UChat also has a free-forever plan, that includes 1 bot and 200 bot users, and if you require additional bots/members, it’s only an additional $5/month.
9Botpress
Key Features: Free 1K Incoming Messages per Month / OpenAI Powered Chatbot Builder / 100+ Customizable Templates
Botpress is a free, open-source chatbot builder that’s based on OpenAI’s framework, allowing you to create ‘ChatGPT-like’ chatbots. It’s a pretty comprehensive builder, with over 100+ customizable templates and a generative AI you can feed data to learn and build chatbots.
It’s also got great integration support, like Gmail, GitHub, Instagram, LINE, Notion, Slack, Shopify, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more. The only real downside is the interface can be a little buggy/laggy, so make sure to try it out before going all in.
The free plan allows up to 1000 incoming messages per month, and it costs USD 0.005 for additional messages.
10Chatfuel
Key Features: Optimized for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger & Instagram / Variety of Ready-to-Use Templates / Powered by GPT-4 Integration
If your business is predominantly on one of Meta’s networks – Facebook Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp, Chatfuel is one of the best options for you. But with such a focus on these platforms, it might be slightly limited depending on your channels.
Chatfuel is an all-in-one chatbot that can handle Instagram DMs, story replies, Facebook ad clicks, WhatsApp chats, and much more. With GPT-4 integration, it can naturally recommend products to potential customers, answer queries, and handle any FAQs.
Chatfuel has a free plan which allows for 50 conversations per month across Facebook and Instagram. While it is one of the more popular chatbots for Meta’s platforms, its template selection is pretty limited so you’ll need to make sure there are chatbot templates that fit your business.
11Microsoft Bot Framework
Key Features: Expansive Toolset for Building Chatbots / Advanced NLP Framework
Microsoft Bot Framework is an excellent and in-depth platform to develop enterprise-grade bots and virtual assistants. It also uses one of the most comprehensive, and advanced natural language processing (NLP) frameworks around.
If you’re looking to build a proper, complex, and well-integrated AI chatbot, this is one of your best bets.
The major downside though is you need to be well-versed in coding on C#, Azure, and Node.js which can be difficult for beginners/non-developers. In this case, we’d recommend checking out one of the other options we’ve listed.
While it’s free to create bots and use some of the tools, you will need to connect to some of Microsoft’s other services like Azure Bot Service which requires a monthly subscription.
![IBM Watson Assistant](https://images.airdroid.com/2023/07/IBM-Watson-Assistant.png)
Why Conversational AI Chatbots are Essential to Optimize Your Business
As we’ve mentioned throughout the article, AI chatbots can create a wonderful synergy with your existing systems while taking a substantial workload off your shoulders. Here are a few reasons why they’re essential in today’s market:
1. Reliable Customer Support 24/7
Possibly the most important reason to use AI chatbots is their availability. You can deploy a chatbot to handle potential customer queries and messages 24/7, without worrying about missing out on leads.
2. Cost Saving Measures
While a reliable AI chatbot may require an initial investment, it will pay off in the long run by cutting the costs of needing to train and hire customer service agents/assistants. It will also be able to handle a larger volume of requests/messages, making it more efficient over time.
3. Improved Productivity
A properly trained AI Chatbot can completely change your workflow, improving efficiency substantially, especially for smaller businesses. Since you have an extra hand to handle mundane tasks or repetitive customer queries, you have more time to solve complex problems that require a human touch.
4. A Chatbot that Talks Like a Human
We’re slowly transitioning away from rule-based chatbots which were obviously robotic and can drive away customers. AI Chatbots converse using naturally formed sentences and understand context, without the need to look for specific keywords.
This improves the overall experience, which helps make sales and answer queries with higher customer satisfaction.
5. Faster Turn-Around Times
Answering customer inquiries are essential for businesses to grow. And in most cases, a potential customer waiting for a response will simply leave, never to return. AI chatbots remedy this by being immediately available and being able to handle multiple customers at once.
This improves request turnover times, making it more efficient for both your business and customers.
Final Thoughts
Conversational AI platforms and chatbots are undoubtedly the future to optimize your business’s workflow, both in the front-end and back-end.
AI chatbots can handle exponentially more work than a human ever could, improving productivity and satisfaction for both employees and customers. Not to mention there are so many no-code options available, making it accessible for small businesses without dedicated development teams.
There are plenty of great, free AI conversational platforms to start future-proofing your business, so make sure to look through the list and find the best fit for you!
Leave a Reply.