Chatbase vs SiteGPT: Which One Should You Choose?
Quick answer
Chatbase is the safer default for most teams: a genuine free tier, broader native channels (WhatsApp, voice), and a larger, more established review base. SiteGPT is worth the premium specifically if you need its standout feature — running code and querying a live database mid-conversation — since neither Chatbase nor most competitors on this site offer that at any price. Most teams evaluating both should ask one question first: do you need a live, dynamic answer (real-time order status, custom pricing logic) or a well-documented static one? If it's the latter, Chatbase's free tier lets you prove that out at zero cost, which SiteGPT's card-required trial doesn't allow.
- Both are no-code AI chatbot builders trained on your website and documents, but they're built around different bets: Chatbase bets on breadth (channels, integrations, a free tier), SiteGPT bets on depth (code execution, live database queries, a much larger trained-page ceiling).
- Pricing shapes differ meaningfully: Chatbase has a real $0 free tier and $40/mo Hobby (or $32 annually); SiteGPT has no free plan at all, only a 7-day trial that requires a credit card, starting at $59/mo (or $39 annually).
- SiteGPT's genuine differentiator is real: its Functions feature can run code and connect to a live database mid-conversation, answering 'where is my order' or executing checkout logic — something Chatbase's Shopify/Stripe Actions approximate but don't fully match for custom backend logic.
- Chatbase pulls ahead on channel breadth (WhatsApp, voice/telephony from Standard tier, Slack) and integration depth (dedicated HubSpot/Salesforce/Zendesk hooks); SiteGPT is effectively website-widget-and-API only, with Zendesk arriving only at its $429/mo Scale tier.
- SiteGPT scales to a much larger trained-content ceiling (up to 500,000 pages on Enterprise vs. Chatbase's more modest crawl-based training), which matters if you're sitting on a very large documentation site.
- Neither company's AI-resolution claims survive independent scrutiny, and both have real user complaints — Chatbase on credit-cost unpredictability and slow support, SiteGPT on billing/account-access issues after payment.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Chatbase | SiteGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0 free tier; $40/mo Hobby (or $32/mo annually) | No free plan; $59/mo Starter (or $39/mo annually), 7-day trial requires a card |
| Number of native channels | Website widget, WhatsApp, voice/telephony (Standard tier up), Slack, API | Website widget plus native connections to Slack, Messenger, Google Chat, Crisp, Zendesk, Freshdesk — WhatsApp listed as 'coming soon' |
| AI availability | Genuine RAG-based agent with tool-calling Actions | Genuine LLM-backed agent (GPT-4.1 family), with a real edge: it can execute code and query a live database mid-conversation |
| AI resolution accuracy | No independent benchmark; users report confidently wrong answers outside trained content | No independent benchmark; review base is too thin to trust any resolution claim either way |
| Automation depth | Actions system: ticket escalation, live-agent handoff, Stripe billing, Shopify order actions, custom API calls | Functions feature runs code and connects to a live backend to screen leads, book meetings, and answer live data questions — a deeper technical capability |
| Knowledge base ceiling | Crawl-based training with auto-retraining from Standard tier; built for small-to-mid content sets | Scales to 500,000 pages on Enterprise — built for large, documentation-heavy sites |
| Shopify integration | Dedicated Shopify Action for order questions and delivery updates | Not a native integration — would require custom development via the generic Functions/API connector |
| CRM integrations | HubSpot and Salesforce, escalation/ticketing-focused | HubSpot listed as 'coming soon'; no Salesforce or Pipedrive integration exists today |
| Multi-language support | 80+ languages with automatic detection | 95+ languages with documented auto-handling |
| Pricing model transparency | Published credit tiers, but real cost varies 1-5x depending on model choice | Published tiers, but the commonly cited discounted prices only apply on annual billing — true monthly rates run noticeably higher |
| API/webhook extensibility | REST API v2, webhooks, custom Actions calling arbitrary external APIs | API access from Growth tier, webhooks from Scale tier, plus a documented CLI and MCP server |
Our verdict
Line these two up and the real question isn't which is 'better,' it's whether you actually need SiteGPT's one genuinely differentiated feature. Both are no-code bots trained on crawled website content and documents, both offer real tool-calling beyond static Q&A, and both have thin, mixed independent review records once you look past the marketing pages. Where they actually diverge is depth versus breadth. SiteGPT's Functions feature can run code and query a live database mid-conversation — not paraphrase a page crawled last week, but answer with a number pulled right now — which is a real technical edge that Chatbase's Shopify and Stripe Actions approximate for specific commerce use cases but don't generalize the way SiteGPT's custom Functions do. That capability is also why SiteGPT can justify training on up to 500,000 pages at its top tier, well beyond what Chatbase is built for. Chatbase, in exchange, gives you a much wider default channel list — WhatsApp and voice/telephony from its Standard tier, versus SiteGPT's website-widget-and-API-only reality — and a real $0 free tier that lets you prove the whole idea out before paying anything, which matters more than it sounds like it should, because SiteGPT's 7-day trial requires a credit card up front and multiple reviewers specifically call that out as a trust barrier. Both companies carry real, specific user complaints worth weighing: Chatbase's credit-metered billing means two businesses on the same plan can pay very different real costs depending on which model they pick, and SiteGPT has documented reports of billing and account-access problems after payment that are more concerning than a typical support gripe. My honest take: if you just need a solid FAQ bot for a website, start with Chatbase's free tier — you have nothing to lose by testing it first. If your use case genuinely needs a live answer rather than a documented one (real-time order status, dynamic pricing, custom backend logic), SiteGPT's Functions capability is worth paying for and testing against the card-required trial with clear eyes about the billing reports.