BotPenguin Alternatives in 2026: 7 Chatbot Builders Compared

BotPenguin is one of the cheapest ways to put a bot on several channels at once: its free plan covers website, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram. Teams look for alternatives when they need a proper live chat inbox for agents, deeper Instagram or WhatsApp tooling, clearer message counting, or Slack and Teams without jumping to the $990 Emperor plan.

On 3 November 2026 BotPenguin listed Baby (free forever, 1,000 messages, 1 chatbot, unlimited subscribers, no card), Little at $29 a month (3,000 messages, 5 chatbots, 5 team members), King at $99 (12,000 messages, unlimited chatbots, 10 team members, Microsoft Teams per its FAQ) and Emperor at $990 (messages as needed, adds WeChat, LINE, Viber, Google My Business, SMS and Slack). Yearly billing charges 10 months for 12, and a white-label chat window is $20 a month per bot.

Entry prices as published on 3 November 2026 (ManyChat from our 6 August 2026 check).

1. ManyChat

The Instagram and Messenger automation specialist.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Per contact; about $14 a month for 250 contacts up to about $139 for 25,000 on our 6 August 2026 check. Its page blocked our check on 3 November 2026.

Where it is strong:

• Instagram comment-to-DM and story automation
• Large template and agency ecosystem

Where it falls short:

• Per-contact billing grows with your audience
• No website chatbot focus

Best for: Instagram growth. See ManyChat vs BotPenguin.

2. WATI

Official WhatsApp API provider with a shared inbox, broadcasts, AI credits and CRM integrations.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Growth ₹2,699, Pro ₹5,799, Business ₹16,799 a month billed quarterly; 3 to 5 users included.

Where it is strong:

• WhatsApp team inbox and broadcasts
• AI credits included

Where it falls short:

• WhatsApp-centred
• Per-user fees

Best for: WhatsApp sales and support teams. See WATI alternatives.

3. Interakt

Indian WhatsApp API platform with unlimited agents and published per-message rates.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Growth ₹2,799 and Advanced ₹3,799 a month plus taxes; Instagram-only Starter ₹999.

Where it is strong:

• Unlimited agents
• Published rates

Where it falls short:

• Linear chatbot on Growth
• AI agents are an add-on

Best for: Large WhatsApp agent teams. See Interakt alternatives.

4. Tidio

Live chat with the Lyro AI agent and Flows, strong on Shopify.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Free with 50 billable conversations; Starter $24.17; Growth from $49.17; Lyro from $32.50 for 50 AI conversations.

Where it is strong:

• Polished live chat and inbox
• Ecommerce depth

Where it falls short:

• Three separate meters
• Fewer messaging channels

Best for: Small stores with human agents. See Tidio vs tawk.to.

5. Chatbase

AI agent trained on your website and files.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Hobby $32 a month billed yearly with 700 credits; Basic $120; Business $400.

Where it is strong:

• Fast AI answers from docs
• Help-desk integrations from Basic

Where it falls short:

• Credits metered
• Branding removal $99

Best for: Support deflection on a website.

6. Botpress

Builder platform with integrations and an agent development kit.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Free with 100 conversations; Plus $150 a month billed yearly; Team $750.

Where it is strong:

• Integrations hub
• Code when needed

Where it falls short:

• More setup work
• Auto-recharging conversation packs

Best for: Technical teams. See Botpress vs Voiceflow.

7. Conferbot

Conferbot is our product, so treat this entry with the scepticism a vendor listing deserves. It is a no-code chatbot builder that runs one bot across a website widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, Discord, Slack and Microsoft Teams, with AI answers trained on your content through the AI knowledge base and hand-off to a person in live chat.

Pricing (3 November 2026 unless noted): Free with 600 conversations a month and 2 chatbots; Starter $19, Pro $39 and Business $59 a month for 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 conversations (pricing). Every channel is on every plan. Webhooks and the API need Starter; native integrations such as HubSpot, Google Sheets and Stripe need Pro.

Where it is strong:

• Per-conversation pricing, no per-contact or per-channel fees
• Structured flows and AI answers in the same bot
• Live chat hand-off and a shared inbox on every plan, including Free
• 21 AI providers to choose from (see AI models)
• Slack, Discord and Microsoft Teams on every plan, not only on a $990 tier

Where it falls short:

• Instagram is still coming soon in the dashboard
• No WeChat or Viber
• Full white-label from Pro

Best for: Teams that want AI, flows and a live chat inbox across many channels at a low price.

Export contacts and leads, list each channel you connected, then rebuild the flows in the new tool. Reconnect channels one by one: the Telegram bot token (see how to get a Telegram bot token), the WhatsApp number (one provider at a time; see WhatsApp API setup), Facebook and Instagram pages, and the website widget. Re-upload knowledge sources and re-test the AI answers with real questions before switching traffic.

A coaching business: website plus WhatsApp, about 900 conversations a month

BotPenguin: Little at $29 has 3,000 messages; a conversation of 6 messages each way uses roughly 3,600 to 5,400 messages a month, so King at $99 may be needed (check how BotPenguin counts messages). Conferbot: 900 conversations fits the free plan's 600 only partly, so Starter at $19 covers it with 2,000 conversations.

An internal IT help bot in Slack and Teams

BotPenguin: Teams on King ($99), Slack only on Emperor ($990). Conferbot: Slack and Teams on every plan. See Slack chatbot for IT support.

An agency reselling 10 bots under its own brand

BotPenguin: King's unlimited chatbots plus $20 per bot for a white-label chat window = $299. Conferbot: Pro at $39 includes 10 chatbots and full white-label. Compare against message or conversation volume per client.

• You use WeChat, Viber or LINE, which few alternatives offer.
• Your volume fits the free or Little plan comfortably.
• You resell bots and BotPenguin's white-label platform fits your business model.

• How is usage counted: messages, conversations or contacts?
• Which channels are on the plan we would buy, not only on the top tier?
• Is live chat hand-off included, and how many agents?
• Which AI models can we choose, and is AI metered separately?

Most of the price differences between these tools come from what they count, not from the headline number. Knowing which model you are buying tells you how the bill will move when your business changes.

Two more lines appear on many invoices: AI as a separate meter (Lyro, Fin outcomes, AI credits, AI spend) and channel add-ons (WhatsApp per number, branding removal). Add both before comparing. A tool that looks cheap on the pricing page can cost more than one that looks expensive once these are in.

For WhatsApp in particular, Meta's own per-message fees sit underneath every model. They depend on category and country, not on the vendor you choose, except where a vendor adds a markup.

Feature lists do not tell you which tool will work for your customers. A short, structured test does. This takes about a week of light effort:

1. Write down your 30 most common customer questions from last month, plus 5 the bot should refuse or hand over.
2. Set up a free plan or trial on two or three shortlisted tools with the same content and the same channel.
3. Run the 35 questions through each and score them: correct, partly correct, wrong, handed over.
4. Rebuild your most-used flow in each tool and time it.
5. Connect your CRM or spreadsheet and confirm the data lands in the right fields.
6. Check what happens at the plan limit: hard stop, overage or automatic upgrade.

Pick the tool that answers best on your own questions and whose bill you can predict. If two tie, pick the one your team found easier to change, because you will change it every week.

If AI answers are part of the test, our guides to training on a knowledge base and human hand-off explain what good looks like.

Prices, allowances and plan features were read from each vendor's public pricing page on 3 November 2026, unless a different date is shown next to a figure. Where a page contradicted itself, we say so instead of picking a number. We did not run every tool in production for this article; it compares what vendors publish, plus how each pricing model behaves at realistic volumes. ManyChat's figures are from 6 August 2026 because its pricing page blocked our check. Prices change often, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy. Corrections are welcome via contact. Disclosure: Conferbot is our product; its entry says so.

If you are leaving BotPenguin for a live chat inbox, Slack and Teams on a normal plan, or clearer per-conversation pricing, Conferbot covers all three. See the template library and live chat.

Start free with Conferbot - the free plan includes 600 conversations a month and needs no credit card, so you can have the same flow running on a second channel this afternoon.

Whichever tool you pick, run it against a real week of your own conversations before you commit. Pricing pages describe the model; only your traffic tells you the bill. The chatbot cost calculator and the vendor evaluation questions help structure that test.