Off-the-shelf or custom?
- Off-the-shelf chat widgets: a monthly subscription and an afternoon of setup. Good for answering common questions from your website content.
- Custom assistants: built around your business. They book appointments, qualify leads, look up order or case status, and hand off to a person with the full conversation.
Most small businesses should start with one clear job, such as after-hours booking or answering the ten questions your front desk hears every day, and expand once it's working.
Where the money goes
- Setup: writing the knowledge the bot uses, connecting your systems, setting the rules for when it hands off to a person, and testing with real questions.
- AI usage: providers charge per conversation volume, so a busy site costs more each month than a quiet one.
- Hosting and monitoring: keeping the assistant online and reviewing conversations for wrong answers.
- Upkeep: updating answers when your services, prices, or policies change.
Guardrails worth paying for
- Approved sources only, so the bot answers from your content instead of guessing
- A clear handoff to a person, with the conversation attached
- Logs you can review
- No patient or payment details collected unless the whole setup is built for it
Healthcare practices: a chatbot that handles patient information needs a HIPAA-eligible AI provider and a business associate agreement. Ask before anything goes live.
What we charge
Custom AI assistants start at $3,500 to set up, plus $150 to $300 a month for hosting, AI usage, and upkeep, depending on volume. Your proposal sets out the knowledge sources, guardrails, and running costs before you commit.