AI Chatbots for Small Business in 2026: Pricing, Setup and a Break-Even Example

This page is a short pricing-and-decision note. For the full guide, see AI-powered chatbots for local businesses. The question here is narrow: at current published prices, how many conversations does a chatbot need to handle before it pays for itself?

One vendor as a reference point: Tidio's pricing page lists a free plan with 50 lifetime Lyro AI conversations, a Starter plan at $24.17 per month (100 billable conversations plus 50 one-off AI conversations), Growth from $49.17 per month, Plus from $300 per month plus usage, and Lyro AI Agent as a standalone product from $32.50 per month for 50 conversations. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor page. Other vendors (ManyChat, Chatfuel and so on) price differently and were not verified for this note.

Assume you pay $49.17 per month and the bot fully resolves a question that would otherwise take a staff member 4 minutes. Staff time costs $20 an hour, so 4 minutes is about $1.33. Break-even is 49.17 divided by 1.33, roughly 37 resolved conversations a month. If the bot resolves fewer than that, it does not pay on time savings alone; it would need to win bookings that would otherwise be missed (after-hours messages, for example). Replace the 4 minutes and $20 with your own numbers.

How much does an AI chatbot cost? Published plans from one vendor start free (50 lifetime AI conversations) and paid plans at $24.17 to $49.17 per month for small volumes, with higher tiers from $300 per month. Confirm current prices with the vendor.

Will a chatbot replace my staff? This note makes no such claim. The break-even example above only compares the bot's fee with the staff minutes it saves.

What should I track? Conversations per month, how many the bot resolved without a human, and bookings from after-hours chats.

Can customers reach a human? They should always be able to. Put the handoff in the first menu.

Questions about setup? Book a free audit.