Chatbots have become commonplace on platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Slack and WhatsApp. In fact, most enterprise company websites now boast a chatbot in some way shape or form in the bottom righthand corner.
In 2018 alone, the chatbot landscape leapt forward, with AI chatbots that are able to recommend personalized content based on user location and voice-enabled chatbots like Amazon Alexa than can be used to summon your Tesla from the garage. As you can imagine, 2019 will be bring significantly more widespread chatbot adoption. And, if you’re looking to delve into the world of chatbots in 2019, you’ll need a stellar chatbot builder.
What Is a Chatbot Builder?
A chatbot builder, also known as a chatbot development platform, is an application where a user creates a chatbot for the web, app or popular messaging platform. Some platforms can allow for deployment of chatbots to voice applications such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa while others provide a low-code interface with drag-and-drop and visual editor. There are even chatbot builders that leverage machine learning to continuously learn every interaction so that they can deliver an optimized response.
A chatbot publishing platform is a channel through which the chatbot can be accessed by the users. Channels like Facebook Messenger and Slack fall in this category.
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the dos and don’t of chatbot building, you should consider which chatbot building platform will best suit your needs.
With the chatbot market size set to exceed more than $1.34 billion by 2024, there are a plethora of chatbot builders out there. The list below was compiled with help from G2Crowd, taking into account the existence of enterprise features, the platform’s enterprise clientele and testimonials, as well as the platform’s status and popularity within G2Crowd itself.
- Alexa for Business
- TARS
- Chatfuel
- ChatBot
- Azure Bot Service
- IBM Watson Assistant
- Dialogflow
- Collect.chat
- Activechat.ai Visual Chatbot Builder
- Flowxo
- Botsify
- Conversation.one
- Aspect CXP Pro
- Botkit
- ChatbotsBuilder
- ChatScript
- Intercom
- Converse
- Gupshup
- Kore
- PandoraBots
- Recast
- Reply.ai
- TextIt
- Wit.ai
- Drift
Related Article: How Much Does It Cost To Build an Enterprise Chatbot?
Alexa for Business is a service which allows organizations to utilize Alexa to improve productivity and output. Alexa for Business enables chatbot developers to create their own Alexa Skills for simplifying meetings, help employees manage their schedule and keep track of their to-do list, and provide a convenient way to access applications like Salesforce and ServiceNow through voice commands.
Alexa for Business uses information from devices, user accounts and skills in your company to perform requested actions.
Availability: Alexa for Business is available via its pay-as-you-go model.
The TARS chatbot tool allows you to automatically initiate a conversation with your visitor on your website or landing page in an effort to improve engagement. To create a chatbot, users must sign up and build their own ‘Conversation Workflow.’ Users can build their own conversation workflow from scratch or they can use the prebuilt templates.
Each Chatbot Conversation is assigned its own URL, similar to a landing page, and can be directed to your ad campaign.
Availability: TARS is free for a 14-day trial period, after that, users have the option to select from a number of premium packages.
Related Article: 8 Ways to Measure Chatbot Program Success
Chatfuel is a chatbot builder specifically made for your brand’s Facebook Business page and Facebook Messenger. Powering 46 percent of all bots on Messenger, Chatfuel features the ability to provide automated responses to frequently asked questions programmed into the chatbot and can also hand questions over to human users when needed.
Chatfuel comes with a selection of community-built templates suitable for a wide range of industries to help with marketing, sales and support.
Availability: A free version is available, but you can upgrade to a premium version to access more features.
ChatBot is a bot builder that utilizes one-click integrations to a range of tools including Facebook Messenger, LiveChat, Skype, KiK, Slack, Twitter and YouTube. In addition, ChatBot is available as a robust API enabling you to integrate with a variety of third-party tools.
Its Stories feature gives brands an intuitive way to instruct how the bot should react to different scenarios and to deal with common questions. A variety of interaction types are available, from simple text responses to call-to-action functions.
Availability: ChatBot is proprietary, but a 14-day free trial is available.
Microsoft’s Azure Bot Service allows you to build and deploy bots for your websites, apps, Cortana, Skype, Slack, Facebook Messenger and more. By utilizing Microsoft Bot Framework and BotBuilder SDKs, developers can create their chatbot using a range of out-of-the-box templates.
Azure Bot Service also gives you access to Cognitive Services where you can program your bot to see, hear and interpret in human-like ways. Features of cognitive services include recognizing users in photos, moderating content, making recommendations and translating languages.
Availability: Azure follows a pay-what-you-use model.
IBM Watson leverages AI technology to automatically direct requests down the optimal path. Watson has the capability to know when to provide a direct answer, when to refer to a search engine for queries that are more complex, or when to hand things over to a human agent.
It can integrate with various channels including Slack and Facebook. Plus IBM Watson is able to assist you in where you can improve your effort, and its analytics dashboard allows you to visualize any trends in your user message data.
Availability: A free lite version for up to five skills is available. To develop further skills, users need to upgrade.
Backed by Google, Dialogflow operates on Google Cloud Platform and it is also optimized for Google Assistant. Dialogflow utilizes machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to become familiar with the user’s intent and deliver the most appropriate response.
The platform allows users to build voice and text-based conversational interfaces for mobile apps, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger as well as Cortana. It also supports over 20+ languages including Spanish, French and Japanese.
Availability: The standard edition is free. Users can upgrade to the enterprise edition that follows a pay-as-you-go model.
Collect.chat lets you develop a chatbot that assists in qualifying and converting your visitors into customer via engaging them in conversation instead of filling forms. Collect.chat is mainly used for building email lists, scheduling appointments, providing lead generation, collecting feedback from surveys and providing guidance on products or services.
The builder comes with a simple drag and drop tool and the bot can be shared via HTML, WordPress plugin, blog posts or links.
Availability: Both free and premium versions are available. The premium packages offer more features.
The Visual Chatbot Builder provided by Activechat.ai is catered to the needs of both nontechnical users and seasoned developers. For non-techs, the builder comes with a range of ready-made templates. And for developers, they have access to a number of advanced tools to build complex bots which can be customized and integrated into a number of channels.
The chatbot builder can readily integrate with Shopify and WooCommerce.
Availability: Free and premium versions are available. The free version comes with limited features.
FlowXO for chat lets you build a chatbot for a variety of platforms such as Slack, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Twilio SMS and the web. The chat builder allows your users to continue their conversations between different channels. For example, users can start a conversation on the web, and they continue it on Facebook messenger on a mobile device.
The Workflow feature enables you to string your conversational responses together by linking responses or answers to particular keywords.
Availability: You can use FlowXO for free, but you can upgrade to a premium version to access more features.
Botsify is a machine learning chatbot building tool that comes with a number of in-app integrations including Facebook Messenger, Shopify, Alexa and WordPress. Botsify specializes in the education sector. It provides a number of premade templates that allow teachers to create their own chatbot and collect data about their students.
It also suits brands that want to expand globally and provide customer support in multiple languages. It comes with Human Fallback feature.
Availability: A free trial is available. Users can choose from either self-service or a fully-managed premium package.
Conversation.one allows users to create their chatbot for Alexa, Google Home Actions and Facebook without any knowledge of programming or coding. Ready-made templates are available, but you can build your own template from scratch. It also provides an advanced visual customization dashboard to cater for unique use-cases.
Conversation.one leverages machine learning to deliver improved conversation and supports secured account linking. It features an abstraction module to simplify the implementation of the app’s business logic across different voice and chat services as well.
Availability: Conversation.one is free-to-use. A premium tailored enterprise package is available on request.
Aspect CXP Pro provides a suite of tools for you to design, develop, document, test, deploy and report on the chatbot that you have built. Plus, Aspect is a portable platform so that it can work on-premises, in the cloud and with other platforms.
Aspect can build chatbots for Alexa, SMS, Facebook Messenger and mobile apps. It also features AI technology, NLP progression, as well as providing brands the ability to escalate to a human agent.
Availability: Free to download.
Botkit is an open-source chatbot building tool. It features integrated NLP from LUIS.ai and provides developers access to dozens of plugins and open source libraries. While Botkit is targeted to developers, it does feature a visual conversation builder.
Botkit works with a number of tools including Slack, IBM Watson, Glitch and Heroku. In addition, Botkit is supported by a community of 5,000 developers.
Availability: Free to use.
ChatbotsBuilder is another builder that specializes in developing Facebook Messenger bots. Many brands have used the platform to create chatbots for web agencies, restaurants, real estate and ecommerce.
This builder is relatively easy-to-use and comes with a multitude of ready-made templates. You can create bots to send simple text replies with emojis, send images, generate new leads and ask your visitors to take part in polls or quizzes.
Availability: A free trial is available, and users have the option to choose from three premium packages.
ChatScript is an open-source project that combines natural language and dialog management systems. While ChatScript was initially designed for building chatbots, it is also used for various kinds of NLP.
ChatScript is written in C++ and can be download from SourceForge or GitHub.
Availability: Free to use.
Intercom offers a range of chatbot solutions, from bots that can aid with sales and marketing, to customer support bots that focus on providing answers and guidance.
Their bots can capture leads, deliver personalized drip campaigns, educate, sell, upsell, cross-sell and more. Intercom leverages machine learning and integrations with over 100 apps to make customer conversations detailed and genuinely helpful across channels.
Availability: Available for free, enterprise plans available.
Developed by smartsheet, Converse AI lets you create chatbots to automate your business processes. It comes with quick-start templates and automated workflows to minimize the time it takes to create a chatbot.
Converse AI features FAQ handling, surveys & notifications, and supports video, voice and image. Also, Converse AI can integrate with any third party tool, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Paypal and Slack.
Availability: Converse AI is proprietary. You will need to contact sales for a tailored package.
Gupshup provides a messaging API which is suitable for various industries including ecommerce, finance, travel, health and automotive. The API can seamlessly integrate across 30+ channels covering social media, social messaging, voice-activated applications like Alexa and Google Assistant and in-app interfaces.
It also features a bot platform for building your own conversation experiences and a set of CRM tools to manage your conversational campaigns.
Availability: Free to download from Github.
Kore is an enterprise-grade and end-to-end chatbot builder. It features an easy-to-use chatbot building tool as well as built-in AI, machine learning and NLP. It comes with a robust set of security controls and an admin console.
Kore also comes with a selection of virtual assistants that brands can readily utilize in sales, customer support, IT help desk, retail banking and commerce. The virtual assistants can be readily extended and customized to meet the requirements of your business.
Availability: Tailored premium package available after requesting a demo.
Pandorabots is an open-source platform that provides you with the tools to develop, launch and iterate your chatbot. The platform supports an open standard language called AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), which is an XML-based language.
The chatbot builder supports static images and GIFs. And, the platform has been used to develop chatbots for voice interfaces, ecommerce, customer service, marketing and more.
There are currently over 250,000 registered developers on Pandorabots.
Availability: Free to use.
SAP is a developer-first chatbot builder that can connect with the most popular messaging channels. It is compatible with numerous development frameworks including Ruby, Android and curl.
Developers can create their bots using community-built templates and they can apply custom queries to elicit conversational NLP. It also features an analytics dashboard to gain insights on user behavior.
Availability: Available via GitHub.
Used by the likes of Coca Cola, Samsung and Starbucks, Reply.ai is a chatbot builder that provides enterprise-grade security, scalable deployments and out-of-the-box integrations. It also features a built-in CRM, real-time analytics, and proprietary AI and machine learning, which allows your bot to learn about the customer to enable automatic optimization of your chatbot’s responses.
The platform allows your bot to be deployed in multiple languages, markets and channels.
Availability: Reply.ai is proprietary. You will need to contact sales for a quote.
Built on top of its Flow engine, TextIt is a multi-platform chatbot builder for messaging and voice. The Flow engine allows you to create your very own SMS or voice application without needing to hire a programmer or a consulting company. The user simply draws out the steps of how their end-user will move through the application.
TextIt also provides real-time analytics and an email-type interface for managing incoming SMS messages
Availability: A free trial is available on request.
Wit.ai, is a free and open-source NLP API that developers can use to create text-based and voice-based bots which can be integrated on any messaging platform. The API can also be used in mobile apps, home automation, wearable devices and hardware.
Availability: Available via GitHub.
Drift is a broad platform that offers a range of conversational solutions, from customer service platforms to chatbots.
Their chatbot offering enables brands to qualify leads through automated questions. Based on the answers and data shared, the bot creates leads in your chosen CRM. Drift’s bot technology can also automatically book meetings around the clock, connecting to sales team calendars to pull availability and book meetings after a lead is qualified. Finally, their bot can answer frequently asked questions from a help center that your brand can build and tailor.
Availability: Available for free, with options for enterprise plans.
Are you planning to launch a chatbot in 2019? Which chatbot builder will you be using?