AI chatbot
By Saurav | Founder of saavos | Building in public toward $10k MRR
[!TLDR] At 500 messages/month, saavos is the cheapest paid option at $19. At 2,000 messages, SiteGPT undercuts everyone at $39 while saavos stays at $49. At 5,000 messages, FastBots Business ($89) and SiteGPT Growth ($79) are the only options under $100 — saavos jumps to $199 and Chatbase to $400. Which platform is cheapest depends almost entirely on your volume tier. All pricing verified from vendor pages, May 2026.
I built saavos to be the cheapest option for indie SaaS founders. It is — but only up to about 2,000 messages/month. After that, the math flips.
This post exists because every chatbot pricing comparison I've seen lists sticker prices without answering the real question: what do I pay at MY volume? The answer changes dramatically depending on where you sit on the usage curve.
The four platforms I'm comparing: saavos, Chatbase, FastBots, and SiteGPT. All four are built for the same buyer — a small SaaS or solo founder who wants a knowledge-base chatbot without enterprise overhead. Pricing was fetched directly from each vendor's pricing page in May 2026.
At 5,000 messages/month, Chatbase costs $400/month. Their Standard plan ($120/month) only covers 4,000 message credits. Exceeding that forces you to their Pro plan at $400/month — which comes with 15,000 credits you won't use. If you hit 4,001 messages in a month on Chatbase Standard, you're looking at a 233% price jump.
This is the sharpest price cliff in the comparison.
All pricing from vendor pages, May 2026. I've listed which plan you'd need to buy at each volume, not the cheapest plan that exists.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Starter | $19 | 1,000/month cap — 50% headroom |
| Chatbase | Hobby | $32 | 500 credits/month — fits exactly |
| FastBots | Essential | $39 | 2,000/month cap — 75% headroom |
| SiteGPT | Starter | $39 | 4,000/month cap — 87.5% headroom |
At this volume: saavos wins by $13/month.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Starter | $19 | At cap — upgrade pressure starts |
| Chatbase | Standard | $120 | Hobby (500 credits) is not enough |
| FastBots | Essential | $39 | 2,000/month cap — 50% headroom |
| SiteGPT | Starter | $39 | 4,000/month cap — 75% headroom |
At this volume: saavos still wins, but Chatbase jumps from $32 to $120. That's the steepest inflection in the comparison — a 2× volume increase that triggers a 275% price increase at Chatbase.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Pro | $49 | 3,500/month cap — 43% headroom |
| Chatbase | Standard | $120 | 4,000 credits — 50% headroom |
| FastBots | Essential | $39 | 2,000/month cap — at limit |
| SiteGPT | Starter | $39 | 4,000/month cap — 50% headroom |
At this volume: FastBots and SiteGPT are tied at $39. saavos is $10/month more. Chatbase is $81/month more.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Pro | $49 | At cap |
| Chatbase | Standard | $120 | 4,000 credits — some headroom |
| FastBots | Business | $89 | 5,000/month cap — 30% headroom |
| SiteGPT | Starter | $39 | 4,000/month cap — 12.5% headroom |
At this volume: SiteGPT wins at $39. saavos is second at $49.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Business | $199 | 15,000/month cap — significant overkill |
| Chatbase | Pro | $400 | 15,000 credits — significant overkill |
| FastBots | Business | $89 | 5,000/month cap — at limit |
| SiteGPT | Growth | $79 | 10,000/month cap — 50% headroom |
At this volume: SiteGPT ($79) and FastBots ($89) are the only options under $100. saavos at $199 and Chatbase at $400 are both priced for their next tier up.
| Platform | Plan needed | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| saavos | Business | $199 | 15,000/month cap — 33% headroom |
| Chatbase | Pro | $400 | 15,000 credits — 33% headroom |
| FastBots | Premium | $199 | 10,000/month cap — at limit |
| SiteGPT | Growth | $79 | 10,000/month cap — at limit |
At this volume: SiteGPT wins decisively at $79 — less than half the cost of saavos or FastBots Premium at $199, and one-fifth of Chatbase's $400.
The pricing math points to three different products for three different volume profiles:
Under 1,500 messages/month: saavos at $19–$49 is the cheapest option, by a meaningful margin. If you're here, you're probably a solo founder with a small site and real but low traffic. The $19 Starter plan handles this well.
1,500–5,000 messages/month: This is SiteGPT's territory. Their Starter ($39, 4,000 messages) and Growth ($79, 10,000 messages) plans offer the most messages per dollar in this range. I'll say that honestly even though it's not my product. FastBots Business ($89, 5,000 messages) is comparable.
10,000+ messages/month: SiteGPT Growth at $79 is hard to beat — you're getting 10,000 messages for less than saavos's Business plan, which gives you 15,000. At this scale you should be measuring exactly which platform's quality + volume trade-off fits your actual support patterns.
Message caps are the headline number, but three other things affect your actual cost:
Overage handling. saavos's Business plan caps at $200 in overage per period — so there's a ceiling even if you blow past 15,000 messages. Note: automated per-message billing for Business overage is currently in beta; overages are absorbed by saavos until metered billing ships (target 2026-06). Chatbase's overage model isn't specified on their pricing page; check before committing. FastBots and SiteGPT don't document overage handling prominently either.
Credit vs. message definitions. Chatbase bills in "message credits" — one credit per user-bot exchange. A five-message conversation costs five credits, not one. The 500-credit Hobby plan is closer to ~100 visitor sessions than 500 conversations. SiteGPT, FastBots, and saavos bill per message (single exchange), which is more intuitive.
What happens at the cliff. On Chatbase, hitting the Standard cap at 4,000 messages means you're forced to Pro at $400 — no mid-tier option exists. On saavos, you can move from Pro ($49) to Business ($199), which is a bigger jump than I'd like. FastBots and SiteGPT have more graduated tiers in the 2,000–10,000 range.
If you want my honest read:
I built saavos for the 0–1,500 message/month range. That's where we're cheapest and where most early-stage founders actually sit. If you're already at 3,000+ messages/month consistently, I'll tell you straight: SiteGPT probably has a better value proposition at that volume.
If you're not sure where your traffic will land, start with the free tier — all four platforms offer 50 messages/month free. Run the chatbot for two weeks on real traffic, check your conversation logs, and then pick the paid tier that gives you 30–40% headroom above your actual usage. Don't pay for 10,000 messages/month if you're at 800.
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At 5,000 messages/month, Chatbase costs $400/month. Their Standard plan covers 4,000 message credits — hitting 5,000 means upgrading to Pro at $400, which includes 15,000 credits. The jump from Standard ($120) to Pro ($400) is a 233% price increase. SiteGPT Growth at $79/month covers 10,000 messages for less than 20% of that cost. Pricing confirmed from chatbase.co/pricing, May 2026.
At 2,000 messages/month, FastBots Essential and SiteGPT Starter are tied at $39/month. FastBots Essential covers exactly 2,000 messages (at the limit); SiteGPT Starter covers 4,000 (50% headroom). For the same $39, SiteGPT gives you more room before hitting a tier jump. saavos Pro at $49 includes 3,500 messages. Chatbase Standard at $120 is the most expensive at this volume. Pricing confirmed from vendor pages, May 2026.
At 5,000 messages/month, saavos costs $199/month (Business plan). The Pro plan ($49) covers 3,500 messages — exceeding that requires Business at $199, which includes 15,000 messages. If your usage is consistently 4,000–8,000 messages/month, SiteGPT ($39–$79) is more budget-efficient. Pricing confirmed from saavos.com/pricing, May 2026.
Yes, significantly. At 10,000 messages/month, SiteGPT Growth costs $79/month vs Chatbase Pro at $400/month — a $321/month difference. SiteGPT wins on price-per-message across almost every volume tier above 2,000 messages. The caveat: Chatbase offers model selection (GPT-5 variants, Claude, Gemini), WhatsApp and Instagram integrations, and Notion training. If those features are real requirements, Chatbase's higher price reflects actual capability. Pricing confirmed from vendor pages, May 2026.
Chatbase. Moving from Hobby ($32/month, 500 credits) to Standard ($120/month, 4,000 credits) at 501 messages is a 275% price increase. Moving from Standard to Pro ($400/month) at 4,001 messages is another 233% jump. FastBots has the most graduated pricing — Essential ($39, 2,000 messages), Business ($89, 5,000), Premium ($199, 10,000) — with each step roughly doubling messages for a 2–2.5× price increase. Pricing confirmed from vendor pages, May 2026.
Start on the free tier for any platform — all four offer 50 messages/month free, no credit card required. Run it for two weeks on real traffic. Take your two-week message count, multiply by 2.5 for headroom, and pick the tier above that number. Buying based on projections usually means overpaying; buying based on actual two-week usage means you pick the right tier with room to grow without funding capacity you won't use for months.
At $19/month, saavos includes Claude Sonnet 4.6, 1,000 messages/month, 2 bots, and API access. Chatbase at $32/month offers model selection and broader integrations but only 500 message credits. SiteGPT at $39/month gives 4,000 messages but only 1 bot with no API access below $79/month. For a solo founder with moderate traffic wanting a strong model and API access without paying for unused features, $19/month wins. For founders already at 2,000+ messages/month, SiteGPT's message volume math is better. Pricing confirmed May 2026.
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