# AI chatbot for your website: how to add one (2026)

> How to choose and add an AI chatbot to your website: the three types, a buyer's checklist, setup on WordPress, Shopify and Wix, costs and common pitfalls.

Published: 2026-09-28


An AI chatbot for your website sounds simple: a small bubble in the corner that answers when visitors have questions. In practice, the products sold under that name differ a lot. Some are button menus that send people in circles. Others are a generic language model that sounds great but guesses. And some actually answer from what's on your site.

This guide is for small and mid-sized businesses that want to add a chatbot to their website without an IT project: the three types, a vendor checklist, installation, cost and the pitfalls we see most often. We make an [AI chatbot for your website](/en) ourselves, so we're not neutral. But the checklist works whichever vendor you pick.

## What a website chatbot can and can't do

A good AI chatbot is strong at the questions that keep coming back:

- **Factual questions**: opening hours, shipping, returns, prices, what a service includes.
- **Finding things**: "Where can I read about your warranty?" gets a short answer and a pointer to the right page.
- **Outside business hours**: it answers as fast at 10 pm on a Sunday as at 10 am on a Tuesday.
- **In the visitor's language**: if a German customer writes in German, it answers in German, even if your site is in English.
- **Insight**: you see what people actually ask, which exposes gaps in your content.

What it can't do:

- **Make decisions**: offer a discount, make an exception, or negotiate a price.
- **Take actions** in your systems, unless it was built for that. A typical chatbot can explain how to return an item, but it won't create the return.
- **Know what isn't written down**: if your shipping rates only exist in the warehouse manager's head, the chatbot can't answer questions about them.
- **Replace a human in a conflict**: an angry customer with a late order needs to reach your team.

That last point is why handoff to humans matters so much.

## The three types of chatbots

The word "chatbot" covers three very different technologies.

| Type | How it works | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rules-based (buttons and flows) | You build a decision tree: pick a topic, pick a subtopic, get a fixed answer | Predictable, you control every word | Breaks when people type in their own words, and needs constant upkeep |
| Generic ChatGPT wrapper | A language model with an instruction and maybe some pasted-in text | Fluent, quick to set up | Knows nothing about your business and guesses when it lacks information |
| RAG on your own content | First searches your site and documents, then writes an answer from what it found | Answers naturally and sticks to your facts | Can only answer what's written down |

**Rules-based chatbots** work for a narrow job like "book an appointment", but most visitors type their question in their own words, and the buttons miss.

**The generic wrapper** is the riskiest. If a customer asks about your return policy and the model doesn't know it, it may invent one that sounds reasonable. A confident wrong answer is worse than no answer.

**RAG** (retrieval-augmented generation) is what most modern AI chatbots are built on. The chatbot first retrieves the relevant passages from your content, then writes the answer from them. If the answer isn't there, it can say so instead of guessing. More in [What is RAG, and why does it matter for AI chatbots?](/en/blog/what-is-rag-for-chatbots)

For an ordinary business website, RAG is almost always the right choice.

## Buyer's checklist: what to ask before you choose

When comparing vendors, get the answers in writing.

1. **Does it only answer from my content?** Ask what happens when the answer isn't there. The right reply is "it says it doesn't know and points the visitor onward", not "it does its best".
2. **What sources can it learn from?** Your site is a good start, but price lists, terms and manuals often live in PDFs. Can you upload documents and write your own texts where the site falls short?
3. **Can it hand the conversation to a human?** When does that happen, what does the visitor see, and where does the request land: an inbox, Slack, or your own system?
4. **Which languages?** Does it answer in the visitor's language, and has it been tested in the languages you need? Can the texts in the chat window be translated?
5. **GDPR and a data processing agreement.** If you serve visitors in the EU, the vendor processes personal data on your behalf, so you need a DPA. Ask which sub-processors are used, where the language models run, and how long conversations are kept. See our guide to [GDPR and AI chatbots](/en/blog/gdpr-and-ai-chatbots).
6. **Pricing model, and what gets counted.** Per conversation, per message, per resolution, or a flat fee? Does a chat count if the bot never answers? What happens when you hit the limit?
7. **Commitment.** Monthly or annual? Is there a setup fee?
8. **Free trial.** Can you test it on your own content before paying, and do you need a credit card?
9. **Branding.** Can you adjust colors, position and greeting, and can the vendor's logo be removed?

Our own answers, for comparison: Asktopus only answers from your site, uploaded PDF and Word files, knowledge articles you write in the dashboard and, if you run a webshop, your synced product catalogue. Visitors can reach a human at any time with the "Talk to a person" button in the chat, and the request is delivered by email, Slack or webhook. It answers in the visitor's language, and the chat window's own texts come in 11 languages. There's a DPA, per-conversation pricing billed monthly or yearly, no commitment, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card, followed by a free plan. Branding can be removed on Pro and Business.

## How to add a chatbot to your website

On any platform, you paste one script tag and the chat bubble appears on every page. No plugin, no integration to configure. With Asktopus, it goes like this:

1. Create an account at app.asktopus.com.
2. Enter your website URL in the dashboard. Asktopus scans your site, and you choose which sections to include.
3. Wait for the crawl. It typically takes between 1 and 10 minutes, depending on the size of your site.
4. Copy your embed code from your site's Overview tab in the dashboard ("Embed code").
5. Paste the script tag just before `</body>` on your site.

The code looks like this, with your own site ID in place of `your-site-id`:

```html
<script
  src="https://cdn.asktopus.com/v1/your-site-id.js"
  async
></script>
```

Where the code goes depends on your platform:

| Platform | Where to paste the code |
|---|---|
| WordPress | Appearance → Theme Editor → footer.php, just before `</body>`. Or use a plugin like "Insert Headers and Footers". |
| Shopify | No code: use the Asktopus app for Shopify. It switches the chat on in your theme editor and reads your products, pages and policies directly. |
| Wix, Squarespace and Webflow | Same script tag. Use the platform's option for adding custom code to all pages, and place it at the end of the page. Check that your plan with the platform allows custom code. |
| Next.js | Add the script in your layout component using `next/script`. |
| Anything else | Plain HTML: paste the tag just before `</body>` in your template. |

The full walkthrough with code examples is in the [installation guide](/en/docs/installation).

Worth knowing: the script loads asynchronously, so it doesn't delay your page. The chat window adapts to mobile, and your site's own CSS can't break its layout. And if your site uses a Content-Security-Policy, it needs to allow the widget's domains.

## What does a website chatbot cost?

The price depends more on the pricing model than on the list price. The most common models are:

- **Per conversation**: you pay for the number of chats. Easy to predict once you know your volume.
- **Per message or credit**: each answer draws from a pool, and better models may use more credits per answer.
- **Per resolution**: mostly in larger help desk platforms, on top of seat licenses.
- **Flat fee plus setup**: typical of agencies that build a solution for you.

Compare the total cost over a year for your expected volume, including setup, add-ons such as branding removal, and the price of going over your limit.

Asktopus charges per conversation. Plans start at €39 per month excl. VAT for Starter with 300 conversations. Pro is €99 with 1,500 conversations, and Business is €249 with 5,000. There's no commitment and no setup fee. A conversation only counts once the assistant has delivered its first answer, and it can hold up to 25 questions. For how the wider market prices AI chatbots, see our [AI chatbot pricing guide](/en/blog/ai-chatbot-pricing).

## Pitfalls we see again and again

**1. Thin content.** An AI chatbot is never better than what it can read. If your site only says "Contact us for pricing", so will the chatbot. List the ten questions customers ask most, and check the answers exist on the site, in a PDF, or in a knowledge article.

**2. No way to reach a human.** A chatbot without handoff becomes a dead end for people with a real problem. Set up handoff from day one, and agree on who follows up and how fast.

**3. Nobody reads the conversations.** Read them every week for the first month. Every time the assistant couldn't answer, you've found a gap in your content you can close.

**4. Over-promising.** If your greeting says "Ask me anything!", people will. Tell visitors what the assistant can help with, and make it clear that it's an AI.

**5. Stale knowledge.** When you change prices or opening hours, the chatbot needs to know. On the Asktopus Pro plan, your site is read again automatically every week, and on Business every 3 days; after a big change, click "Update knowledge" to do it right away. If you run a webshop, prices and stock come from your product catalogue, which syncs every hour on Pro and Business and daily on Starter (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and product feeds; other shops daily).

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I need a developer to add a chatbot to my website?

No. If you can edit your site's footer or paste code through your CMS, you can install it yourself. It's one script tag, and the crawl runs on its own.

### Can the chatbot answer in other languages?

Yes. Asktopus answers in whatever language the visitor writes in. The chat window's own texts, such as the "Talk to a person" form, come in 11 languages, and on Pro and Business you can translate your own texts, like the greeting, too.

### Will a chatbot slow down my website?

It shouldn't. The Asktopus script loads asynchronously, so the browser shows your page while the widget loads alongside it.

### Is there a free chatbot for websites?

Some vendors offer free plans with very few conversations or messages per month. A free trial on your own content tells you more. Asktopus has both: a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, and after it a free plan with 30 conversations a month on one site.

### What happens if the chatbot doesn't know the answer?

If the assistant can't find a good answer in your content, it doesn't guess. It says so instead, and if you've switched on human handoff, the visitor can use the "Talk to a person" button to send the question to your team so a human can follow up.

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The quickest way to know whether an AI chatbot suits your site is to try it on your own content. You can test Asktopus free for 14 days, no credit card required. See the plans on the [pricing page](/en/pricing).