How do I choose the right AI chatbot?

Choose the chatbot that wins on five checks: knowledge-base quality, a real booking path, after-hours coverage, the compliance posture you actually need, and a billable unit you can explain before the month starts. Stop shopping when any of those are missing or when the quote hides a second meter.

Start with the file. If the product cannot ground answers in your hours, services, and policies, the rest of the feature list does not matter yet. A bot that cannot hold scheduling and insurance answers steady will bounce visitors back to the phone. Ask vendors how they update the KB and what happens when a stored answer can return without a fresh model call. That is a quality and cost signal, not a feature checkbox.

Next, booking. On our site we describe the path as ask, check availability, confirm type and contact, then book with confirmation. Your vendor should show that path or an honest "request only, staff confirms" stop. After-hours is the twin check: nights still bring booking requests and urgent questions while the desk is closed. If nights still dump to voicemail with no escalate rule, you bought a daytime toy.

Compliance is a stop condition, not a badge hunt. Healthcare and legal buyers need a written answer on data handling and whether a BAA (Business Associate Agreement, the HIPAA contract with a vendor that handles patient data) is offered on the plan you would buy. Do not treat a marketing line as proof. Ask what has shipped and can be shown on your quote.

Then price the same month two ways so the unit is visible. Intercom-style bills we priced against sat near $29 per seat per month plus about $0.99 per Fin outcome (Fin is Intercom’s AI agent, billed per resolved conversation). At 1,000 Fin outcomes in a month, outcome fees alone are about $990 before seats. On our site we describe annual-billed plans at Starter $119 per month for 500 conversations, Professional $319 per month for 5,000, and Business $719 per month for 25,000. Monthly billing is listed higher at $149 / $399 / $899. Professional and Business can add Healthcare for +$149, Real Estate for +$129, or Legal for +$149. Same volume band, different unit: one path is nearly a thousand dollars in outcome fees plus seats; the other is a known conversation-capped month on a live tier. Vendor pages move. Verify every number on the quote before you sign.

Stop when the demo cannot answer from your content, cannot finish a booking request, leaves nights dead, waves at compliance without paperwork, or bills a unit you cannot forecast. Pick the plan whose month you can write on a sticky note before the phones get loud.