Askli vs Chatbase

Askli

A sensible mid-market pick when you need one bot answering on WhatsApp and your website from the same knowledge base. The free tier is a demo that quietly deletes your work if you step away for two weeks.

Pros

• +Unusually broad channel coverage including WhatsApp, Telegram and Messenger
• +Auto-sync removes manual retraining when source documents change
• +Function calling can hit your own API endpoints during a conversation
• +Shared inbox with human handoff is part of the product, not an add-on

Cons

• −The $49 to $99 step mostly buys credits rather than new capability
• −Free plan is restricted to a small model and 200 messages a month
• −Free agents and datastores are deleted after 14 days of inactivity
• −The Chaindesk-to-Askli rebrand left domain, docs and third-party listings inconsistent

Chatbase

The fastest route from a folder of help docs to a working support widget, and priced accordingly once real traffic arrives. Credits are the whole story: 700 messages a month on Hobby ($40, or $32 billed yearly) is a small site's volume, and the plans that carry real traffic cost $150 and $500 a month. There is no free plan to fall back on, so budget from expected conversations, not from the feature grid.

Pros

• +Crawl-and-embed setup produces a usable widget in an afternoon with no retrieval plumbing to write
• +Actions and human handoff mean it degrades into a ticket rather than a dead end
• +Every paid plan carries a 7-day trial, and the yearly toggle takes 20% off

Cons

• −The free plan is gone, so evaluation is limited to a 7-day trial
• −API access is gated to Standard at $150/month ($120 billed yearly), several times the entry price
• −Overage at $40 per 1,000 credits is steep next to the in-plan rate on Pro
• −Each plan includes a single agent; more cost $300 per agent a year, and removing branding $1,188 a year

Is Askli cheaper than Chatbase?

On published entry prices, Chatbase starts lower — $32/mo against $49/mo for Askli. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it; what each plan includes differs.

Does Askli or Chatbase have a free tier?

Askli has a free tier; Chatbase has paid plans only.

Which has a public API, Askli or Chatbase?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.