AI chatbot pricing: conversations, outcomes and your total bill

AI chatbot pricing includes AI usage and any platform, seat or channel charges. Max AI costs $0.39 per AI-assisted conversation, with a $99 monthly minimum credited toward usage. The Desk, shared inbox, human chat and supported integrations are included, with no seat fees.

This guide compares published prices at the same billable volume, explains common pricing models and provides a reusable cost worksheet. It focuses on customer support and sales software.

Max pricing and billing rules updated 19 October 2026. Fin service pricing and Intercom Essential seat terms rechecked 19 October 2026; other product terms checked 18 October 2026. USD, before tax. FullSession publishes this guide. The examples are calculations using stated assumptions, not product performance tests or customer results.

How much does an AI support chatbot cost?

Here are four buying paths with different meters. These are starting terms, not equivalent packages or forecasts of your bill.

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Selected published AI chatbot pricing; source dates noted above

Buying path	Published starting terms	What you need to count
FullSession Desk with Max AI	$99 monthly minimum credited toward $0.39 per AI-assisted conversation. No seat fees.	AI-assisted conversations; one user/thread in a fixed 24-hour window from first substantive help.
Fin on an existing helpdesk	$0.99 per service outcome; published minimum of 50 outcomes per month. No additional Fin seats. Your helpdesk remains separate.	Qualifying service outcomes under Fin's definition; not every AI reply.
Intercom Essential with Fin	$29 per full seat per month on annual billing, or $39 on monthly billing, plus Fin usage.	Paid full seats and billable outcomes independently.
Tidio Lyro AI Agent	50 AI conversations from $39 per month, or $32.50 per month on annual billing. Other quotas and plans vary.	Conversations with at least one Lyro reply; repeated replies can remain one conversation.

Sources: FullSession pricing, Fin pricing, Intercom's annual and monthly plan prices, and Tidio's Lyro price table. Check the current Tidio plan configuration for the quota you need. Tidio's initial free 50 Lyro conversations are a one-off allowance; a paid quota is needed for a recurring allowance.

Keep support and sales meters separate where the vendor does. Fin currently lists service resolutions and configured Procedure handoffs at $0.99, while sales qualifications cost $9.99. Its other outcome types have their own conditions. The scenarios below cover support service outcomes only; they exclude sales qualifications and voice. See Fin's outcome definitions.

If you are still choosing a platform, compare Intercom alternatives by support and website sales workflow, then use this worksheet to price your shortlist.

What each AI chatbot pricing model actually counts

A conversation thread can persist beyond a vendor's billing window. A request is something the customer asks for; a message is one contribution to a thread. A billing outcome is an event defined by a provider. Record the billing definition and qualifying count separately from total messages or threads.

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Billing units to keep distinct in your estimate

Meter	Meaning	Question to resolve before buying
Delivered request	A customer request that receives delivered help under the provider's definition.	Can several requests be billed inside one conversation? What happens after human takeover?
AI conversation	A thread that qualifies for AI-conversation billing.	What starts a new conversation, and do returning customers reopen the same one?
Service outcome or resolution	A qualifying result defined by the provider.	Does an assumed resolution count? Can a configured human handoff count?
Seat	A person with the paid access level specified by the plan.	Who needs a full seat, and who can use a limited or included role?
Messages, credits or tokens	A quantity of communication or processing.	How does a real task translate into units, including retrieval, tools and retries?
Quota or committed allowance	Capacity purchased for a billing period.	Does unused capacity expire? Do excess units trigger overage, a higher tier or a stop?

Know what triggers a charge

Max uses one billing metric across support, sales and Customer Success, including Digital Adoption: $0.39 per AI-assisted conversation, with one shared $99 monthly minimum fully credited toward usage. The minimum is not added on top; unused allowance expires monthly. There is no second subscription for adoption.

One conversation covers one user in one thread for a fixed 24 hours from Max's first substantive answer, guidance or supported action. Follow-up questions, explanations, supported actions, text/voice switches and changes of topic or solution stay included. Refreshing, closing or reopening does not restart the window. After expiry, new user-requested or explicitly accepted help starts another billable conversation when Max delivers substantive assistance. Expiry and continuing earlier work alone do not charge; remembered context and progress persist.

Human takeover after substantive Max help does not cancel or reverse the charge, and human replies add no AI charge. Human-only chat, greetings or clarification without substantive help, unaccepted proactive offers, internal tests, failed starts without help and handoffs before substantive help are free. Internal model calls, tool steps, retries and audio chunks add no units.

A workload worksheet for your monthly chatbot bill

Start with a representative sample of your support and buying conversations. Include quick answers, several-question threads, supported actions, unsuccessful attempts and human handoffs. Ask each shortlisted provider to classify that sample against its billing rules. Record the actual help delivered alongside the charge.

Download the reusable chatbot cost worksheet to copy into your budgeting tool, or use the fields below.

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Copy these fields into your budgeting sheet

Field	Your entry	How to establish it
Period and channel scope	Month; web chat, email or other named channels	Use the same scope for each proposal.
Total conversations	Volume, including human-only threads	Existing support and sales records, adjusted for planned deployment.
Max conversations, C	Expected Max billable conversations	For the equal-volume examples below, use the same count as Fin service outcomes.
Service outcomes, O	Expected Fin billable service outcomes	For an actual quote, confirm the billable count under the provider’s terms.
Other outcome types	Separate counts and rates	For example, sales qualifications must not inherit a service-outcome rate.
Paid seats, S	People requiring the selected paid role	Check the permissions needed by support, sales and occasional collaborators.
Base fee, minimum and quota	Each amount and the units it covers	Use the proposal and billing terms, including expiry and overage rules.
Other recurring costs	Helpdesk, recording, channels and required add-ons	Use actual subscriptions or written quotes.
Setup and ongoing work	One-time fees plus internal maintenance effort	Include sources, connections, permissions, testing and review ownership.

For Max: monthly AI and Desk charge = the greater of $99 or C × $0.39. Add optional Core recording, any retained third-party subscriptions and separately agreed services. The minimum is credited toward usage, not added on top.

For Fin on an existing helpdesk, using only the standard service rate: monthly AI charge = the greater of 50 or O, multiplied by $0.99, using the published 50-outcome minimum. Add the existing helpdesk and other contracted charges. Confirm your commitment in the quote.

For Intercom Essential with Fin, using the annual seat rate: the modeled subtotal = S × $29 + O × $0.99. Add other usage and required add-ons. A monthly equivalent under an annual commitment is different from a month-to-month purchase.

For a conversation-quota plan: choose the quoted tier that covers your projected billable conversations, then apply its excess-usage rules. Dividing the smallest plan's price by its allowance does not establish the price of every higher tier.

Keep two totals: ongoing monthly software cost, and first-year cash cost including implementation and billing commitments. Track your team's setup and review effort separately if you want a fuller operating-cost estimate. A software subtotal alone cannot establish labor savings or ROI.

Max AI and Fin pricing at the same volume

Use the same count for both products: 500 Max AI-assisted conversations against 500 Fin service outcomes, 1,000 against 1,000, and 5,000 against 5,000. Max includes the Desk and human chat without seat fees.

Monthly USD at equal billable volume; Intercom includes 10 Essential seats on annual billing

Max conversations / Fin service outcomes	Max AI + Desk	Fin AI on your existing helpdesk	Intercom Essential + Fin
500	$195	$495 + your helpdesk	$785
1,000	$390	$990 + your helpdesk	$1,280
5,000	$1,950	$4,950 + your helpdesk	$5,240

These examples use equal vendor-defined billable-unit counts. Max bills AI-assisted conversations within its fixed 24-hour windows; Fin bills qualifying service outcomes. Fin AI-only pricing excludes your existing helpdesk subscription. Intercom uses 10 Essential seats at $29 per seat per month on annual billing. Taxes, optional recording, other channel charges, add-ons, sales qualifications, Fin Voice and implementation are excluded. The scenarios model chat/email support, not a Fin Voice quote.

At 1,000 billable units, Max AI and Desk cost $390 per month. Fin AI alone costs $990 before your helpdesk bill. Intercom Essential with 10 seats and Fin costs $1,280 on the stated annual seat commitment.

Max is the greater of $99 or billable conversations × $0.39. Fin service usage in these examples is count × $0.99; add the helpdesk or applicable Intercom seat charge. The $99 Max minimum is credited toward conversations, not added to usage.

Costs to add before approving a chatbot budget

Existing helpdesk subscriptions. Adding an AI agent to a helpdesk can leave the underlying subscription in place. Add that cost to both proposals if you intend to retain the same platform. Do not treat an AI-only fee as a complete helpdesk bill.

Channels and paid features. Check email, SMS, WhatsApp, phone, proactive messages, reporting and the controls your team needs. Intercom, for example, distinguishes included support communication from other usage and add-ons on its pricing page. Quote the plan with the required capabilities before extending its seat rate to your whole team.

Recording and context. Max's Desk and human chat are included. Session recording is an optional Core CX / UX purchase. FullSession lists web Growth from $49 monthly, or $39.20 per month billed annually, with its session allowance. That annual option is $470.40 paid per year. Select capture capacity and retention for your actual needs. See the Core price table and allowances.

Implementation and maintenance. Agree who supplies approved knowledge, connects account data and supported actions, reviews permissions, tests handoffs and maintains sources. Ask for separately charged setup and services in writing. Include internal effort even where the software integration itself has no separate vendor fee.

Commitment and spending controls. Record the billing term, renewal, unused allowance, usage limit and overage behavior. A spending alert and a hard stop are different controls. Find out what customers experience when a limit is reached.

What the Max price covers for support and sales

FullSession Support & Sales Desk puts Max's AI assistance and your team in one conversation. Max answers from approved knowledge and co-drives supported work in your product. Your application's Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection exposes the data and actions you permit. Your team can take over when needed.

The plan includes the Desk app, shared inbox, human chat and supported integrations. Support, sales and Customer Success share the conversation meter and minimum, including personal onboarding and feature discovery. Confirm your application connections and setup scope when you evaluate it. Optional Core recording, third-party subscriptions and bespoke services remain separate.

The useful evaluation is a real task: answer a recurring support question, help a buyer choose the next step, complete a supported action and hand over an exception. Record the delivered help and conversation count. Then use the Max pricing page to price the workload. For a focused comparison, see FullSession and Intercom.

Questions to ask before signing

1. What exactly creates a billable unit, and can you show that event in the usage record?
2. How are several questions, reopened conversations, failed attempts and human handoffs charged?
3. Which subscription, paid roles, channels and add-ons does our required setup need?
4. Is the minimum credited toward usage, and what happens to unused allowance?
5. Can we verify the quote against representative tasks, including exceptions and sales conversations?
6. What happens when usage reaches the spending limit, and who owns the waiting conversation?

AI chatbot pricing questions

Does Max charge for each team member?

No. Max includes the Desk app, shared inbox, human chat and supported integrations without seat fees. If you keep a separately charged third-party helpdesk, its subscription remains separate.

How does Max's monthly minimum affect the bill?

You pay the $99 minimum or your conversation charges, whichever is higher. For example, 500 conversations cost $195 for the month. The minimum is already included; it is not an extra $99 fee. At 100 conversations the bill is $99; at 300 it is $117. Unused allowance expires monthly.

Can an AI chatbot and a person both create charges in one conversation?

Max charges once for a qualifying 24-hour conversation window. A human joining after substantive Max help does not reverse that charge; human replies add no AI charge. A handoff before substantive help and human-only chat are free. A retained third-party helpdesk can still have its own subscription or seat charges. Other providers apply their own outcome and handoff definitions.

Estimate your workload, then see Max do the work

Bring one recurring support task or buying journey, your expected volume and any helpdesk you intend to keep. We will walk through Max's supported workflow, confirm the setup and help you map the conversation count to the published price.

See Max in a Support & Sales Desk demo.