Custom AI chatbot development in the UK costs between £4,500 and £35,000 depending on complexity, integrations and AI model used. A simple FAQ chatbot with website integration costs from £4,500. A fully custom AI chatbot with CRM integration, multi-channel deployment and trained on your own data costs between £12,000 and £35,000. Softomate builds fixed-price chatbots for UK businesses with full handover documentation. Free scoping call available.
| Chatbot Type | Price Range | Timeline | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| FAQ chatbot (rule-based) | £1,500 to £4,000 | 1 to 2 weeks | Simple customer support, basic lead capture |
| AI chatbot (GPT-powered) | £4,500 to £12,000 | 3 to 6 weeks | Customer enquiries, product recommendations, support deflection |
| Custom-trained AI chatbot | £8,000 to £20,000 | 4 to 8 weeks | Complex support, trained on your docs and data |
| Enterprise AI chatbot | £20,000 to £35,000+ | 8 to 16 weeks | Multi-channel, CRM integration, custom AI model, compliance requirements |
| WhatsApp AI chatbot | £5,000 to £15,000 | 3 to 6 weeks | Order updates, booking, customer support via WhatsApp |
| Internal staff chatbot | £6,000 to £18,000 | 4 to 8 weeks | HR queries, IT helpdesk, policy search, onboarding |
The four factors that most affect chatbot development cost are: the AI model and hosting approach, the number of integrations required, the training data complexity, and the number of channels you want to deploy on.
A chatbot that handles 60% of inbound support queries saves a UK business with 3 support staff approximately 18 hours per week. At an average UK support salary of £28,000, that is £9,700 per year in recaptured time - before accounting for after-hours coverage and faster response times improving conversion.
SaaS chatbot platforms like Intercom, Drift and Tidio cost £300 to £1,500 per month and are fast to deploy but cannot be trained on your specific data, do not integrate deeply with bespoke systems and charge per conversation at scale. Custom development costs more upfront but you own the asset, control the AI, and pay no per-conversation fees.
| SaaS Platform | Custom Development | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | £0 to £2,000 | £4,500 to £35,000 |
| Monthly cost | £300 to £1,500 | £50 to £300 (hosting only) |
| 3-year total cost | £10,800 to £56,000 | £6,300 to £46,800 |
| Custom training | Limited | Full - your data, your model |
| Deep integrations | Limited to their API | Any system with an API |
| You own the code | No | Yes |
For most UK businesses handling more than 200 support interactions per month, custom development is cheaper over a 3-year horizon than a mid-tier SaaS subscription.
A chatbot for a small UK business typically costs between £4,500 and £12,000 for custom AI development. If your requirements are simple (FAQ handling, basic lead capture), a rule-based chatbot can be built for £1,500 to £4,000. Most small businesses choose an AI-powered chatbot in the £4,500 to £8,000 range that handles natural language questions without rigid decision trees.
A simple AI chatbot takes 3 to 6 weeks from scoping to deployment. Complex projects with custom training, multiple integrations or enterprise compliance requirements take 6 to 16 weeks. We give you a fixed timeline in the written proposal before any work begins.
Yes. We build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems that connect your chatbot to your own knowledge base - product documentation, policies, FAQs, CRM data. The chatbot answers from your content, not generic AI training data. This is included in custom-trained chatbot projects from £8,000.
Yes. All prices quoted are exclusive of VAT at 20%. UK VAT-registered businesses can reclaim the VAT as input tax. We provide a full VAT invoice on project completion.
Ongoing costs typically include AI API fees (£30 to £300 per month depending on query volume for GPT-powered chatbots), hosting (£20 to £80 per month) and optional support retainer (from £500 per month). For open-source model deployments, there are no API fees - just hosting costs.
Yes. We build WhatsApp Business API chatbots for UK businesses handling order updates, appointment booking, customer support and lead qualification. WhatsApp chatbot development starts from £5,000 and includes Meta Business API setup, message template approval and CRM integration.
Book a free 30-minute scoping call and we will send you a fixed-price proposal within 48 hours. Tell us your use case, your current support volume and the systems you need the chatbot to connect to - we will give you an exact price, not a range.
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Our London-based team builds AI software, automation, and bespoke digital solutions tailored to your exact needs.
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