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The 23 best AI chatbots of 2026

AI chatbots can perform a range of tasks to make life easier. Find the right fit by trying our AI agent—an advanced AI chatbot—for free.

Candace Marshall

Vice President, Product Marketing, AI and Automation

最後更新: February 19, 2026

A guide to the 23 best AI chatbots

AI chatbots aren't some futuristic novelty anymore. They've become part of how we move through the world. Conversational intelligence software is there when we want answers, recommendations, or support, and we expect it to be fast, accurate, and available on our terms. That same expectation carries over into customer experiences. People want instant help, but they also want to feel like they're being understood.

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2026, 64% of consumers say that when AI agents embody human-like traits—like friendliness, empathy, and even a bit of personality—it builds trust and makes them more likely to engage. When conversational AI feels natural and approachable, it reflects well on your brand and strengthens customer confidence.

In this guide, we'll walk you through the best AI chatbots available to help you find the one that fits your brand, your team, and your customers best.

More in this guide:

What is an AI chatbot?

An AI chatbot is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence, particularly natural language processing (NLP), to understand and respond to human conversation in a human-like way. This means they can learn, adapt, and even come up with brand-new responses, making conversations feel much more natural and helpful.

How the best AI chatbots were selected

There is no single best chatbot for every business. The tools in this guide were selected based on how well they support different use cases. They were reviewed with an emphasis on real-world usefulness rather than judging tools solely by the AI model.

Key factors included response quality and accuracy, the ability to handle context and follow-up conversations, speed and performance, and ease of use. We also considered whether each chatbot offers meaningful differentiation for its intended audience, rather than functioning as a generic, one-size-fits-all solution.

AI chatbot comparison chart

The chart below offers a quick side-by-side comparison of AI chatbot platforms, including pricing, free trial availability, and ideal use cases.

Software

Starting price

Free trial

Best for

Zendesk

$55 per agent/month (billed annually)

14 days

Customer experience and employee service

ChatGPT

$20 per month

Unavailable

General-purpose conversational AI

Google Gemini

$19.99 per month

30 days

Multimodal understanding

Microsoft 365 Copilot

$30 per user/month (billed annually)

30 days

Web search, chat, and image generation

DeepSeek

$0.27 per 1M input tokens and $1.10 per 1M output tokens

Not applicable

Coding and technical tasks

Claude

$17 per month (billed annually)

Unavailable

Creative writing and nuanced conversations

Perplexity

$20 per month

Unavailable

Research and real-time web access

Meta AI

Free

Not applicable

General conversational use

Grok

$3.00/M, $0.75 per cached input + $15/Minputagent/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

Real-time information access (integrated with X/Twitter)

Jasper Chat

$39 per seat/month (billed annually)

7 days

Marketing, branding, and content generation

Deep AI

$4.99 per month + overage pricing

Unavailable

Generative AI

Khanmigo

$44 per year (billed annually), but free for teachers

Unavailable

Education and learning assistance

Pi

$0 per agent/month

Not applicable

Empathetic conversational AI and personalized support

HuggingChat

$9 per month (billed annually)

Unavailable

User privacy

Character.ai

$9.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

Interactive storytelling and gaming

Poe

$19.99 per user/month

Unavailable

Chatbot aggregation

Chatsonic

$16 per user/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

Content creation, marketing and SEO

Copy.ai

$36 per seat/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

Marketing and sales content

ZenoChat

$5.59 per month, for 150 creations and 100 MB storage (billed annually)

Unavailable

Writing assistance and content creation

You.com

$15 per agent/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

AI-powered search and conversational AI

The 23 best AI chatbots

With so many AI agents available, it helps to know which ones are built for what. Whether you're looking for customer service automation, creative brainstorming, or personalized research, these 20 AI chatbots offer a range of capabilities to match how you work and communicate.

  • Zendesk: Best for customer experience and employee service
  • ChatGPT: Best for general-purpose conversations and content generation
  • Google Gemini: Best for multimodal understanding and creation
  • Microsoft Copilot: Best for productivity within Microsoft 365
  • Deepseek: Best for technical tasks and code generation
  • Claude: Best for thoughtful writing, analysis, and code work
  • Perplexity: Best for research, real-time search, and source-backed answers
  • Meta AI: Best for creative content across Meta platforms
  • Grok: Best for engaging, personality-driven chats on X
  • Jasper Chat: Best for brand-aligned marketing content
  • Deep AI: Best for creators who want image and text generation tools
  • Khanmigo: Best for AI-powered tutoring and classroom support
  • Pi: Best for personal support, empathy, and idea-sharing
  • HuggingChat: Best for experimenting with open-source AI models
  • Character.ai: Best for interactive storytelling and AI personas
  • Poe: Best for switching between top AI models in one place
  • Chatsonic: Best for real-time content generation with marketing tools
  • Copy.ai: Best for scaling content creation with copywriting templates
  • ZenoChat: Best for AI writing assistance and content creation
  • You.com: Best for AI-powered search, conversational AI, and access to various AI models and agents.
  • Zapier Agents: Best for workflow automation with AI assistants
  • Le Chat Mistral: Best for general conversation AI with multilingual support
  • Duck.ai: Best for privacy-focused AI chat

1. Zendesk

Best for customer experience and employee service

Model: Proprietary

Zendesk AI agent persona options highlight

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$55 per agent/month (billed annually)


Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

14 days

  • Generative replies
  • Custom AI agent personas
  • AI agent builder with hybrid flows
  • Automated routing and triage
  • Integrations and actions
  • AI reasoning controls
  • Built-in QA
  • Comprehensive reporting and analytics
  • 80+ languages supported
  • Omnichannel support

Zendesk AI agents are AI chatbots that go beyond just generating responses—they help resolve customer and employee requests end to end. Powered by agentic AI, they can autonomously handle service interactions across channels including chat, voice, email, mobile, and social messaging. This makes Zendesk a strong option for teams evaluating AI chatbots for customer service that are designed for real service outcomes and go beyond basic Q&A. 

Rather than simply guiding customers or handing off issues, Zendesk AI agents interpret customer intent, apply predefined business rules, and take action across connected systems in real time. This resolution-first approach allows AI agents to provide instant and accurate responses to your customers using trusted knowledge sources. AI agents can connect to your business systems to take action, such as triggering a refund payment or updating an order. They do this while maintaining your brand’s persona and providing consistent customer service. This empowers teams to reduce response times and provide instant, 24/7 support without increasing head count.

Getting started with Zendesk AI doesn’t require custom model training or data science expertise. Teams can deploy AI agents by connecting an existing AI knowledge base and publishing, then expand gradually by adding procedures using natural language. Zendesk also provides flexibility in how AI agents operate, allowing teams to balance full automation with structured workflows and apply guardrails that support accuracy, brand consistency, and compliance.

As Zendesk AI agents are built directly into the Zendesk platform, they have native access to ticketing, analytics, QA, and agent assist tools like AI copilot. The platform also operates within enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance standards. This helps teams deploy AI chatbots at scale, with confidence, especially in complex or regulated service environments.

Pros

Cons

  • Flexibility and ease of setup
  • Predictable pricing aligned to high-quality resolution outcomes
  • Streamlined CX platform
  • Robust QA and analytics
  • Data security and compliance
  • Integrations and actions
  • Global presence
  • Unified support
  • Free trial only last 14 days

What people are saying:

  • “Our sales and customer relationships have been strengthened by Zendesk.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “Zendesk is by far the best platform for customer support companies.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “Zendesk AI capabilities, including AI Agents and Copilot, are easy to use and have greatly enhanced our support operations.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “The AI tools and features that Zendesk has introduced over time have been especially impressive.” – Verified user, G2 review.

2. ChatGPT

Best for general-purpose conversational AI, creative content generation, coding assistance, and broad knowledge tasks

Models: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, GPT-4o

Clean ChatGPT interface prompts, 'What can I help with?', demonstrating an AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$20 per month

Unavailable

  • Writing and summarization
  • Coding assistance
  • Image generation (DALL-E)
  • Voice-to-voice interactions

With AI technology evolving so quickly, OpenAI's 2022 release of ChatGPT feels like a million years ago. It arguably popularized AI, making generative and conversational AI tools accessible to everyone. ChatGPT handles writing, coding, research, and problem-solving tasks across various domains. It operates through a chat interface where users input prompts and receive generated responses.

Current versions include voice mode for real-time spoken interactions with interruption capabilities and multi-turn conversations. DALL-E integration is available for Plus, Pro, and Enterprise users, supporting image generation through text prompts or voice descriptions. 

The platform moved away from plugins in 2024, switching to custom GPTs designed for specific functions. These custom GPTs utilize Actions, or API calls, that integrate with services like: 

  • Klarna for finance
  • Canva for creative design
  • Lowe's for e-commerce
  • Speak for personalized language learning

Free users access GPT-4o with usage limits before the system switches to GPT-4o mini. The platform can struggle with context understanding and may generate inaccurate responses. ChatGPT has usage caps on paid plans and maintains an actively developed ecosystem of third-party integrations.

Pros

Cons

  • Web browsing
  • File uploads
  • Image generation
  • Risks of inaccurate information
  • The free plan has limited access to advanced AI models and features
  • Privacy concerns

What people are saying:

  • "Feels like having a 24/7 engineering consultant in your pocket!" – Verified user, G2 review.
  • "As a Plus subscriber, I lost 3+ days of work due to export failures — with no clear communication from OpenAI and no visible case tracking." – Verified user, G2 review.

3. Google Gemini

Best for multimodal understanding and complex reasoning

Models: Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite, Gemini Advanced

Gemini AI chatbot interface shows 'Hello, Jeremy' and prompt suggestions.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$19.99 per month

30 days

  • Multimodal understanding
  • Advanced reasoning
  • Multiple model sizes

Gemini is Google's multimodal AI platform that processes text, speech, and images. The system can understand cultural context and communicate across different languages and societies. It handles tasks like generating responses, creating content, and solving problems that require spatial or logical reasoning.

Gemini includes visual puzzle solving, interactive game creation, and instruction following for complex multi-step processes. The platform offers four model variants: 

  • Nano for mobile devices like the Google Pixel 8
  • Flash for quick responses
  • Pro for complex queries
  • Ultra for advanced reasoning tasks and creative work

Gemini Advanced provides context-aware conversations and can function as a tutoring system, generate instructional content, and assist with coding projects. The platform includes trend analysis capabilities and supports content development workflows for teams creating new materials.

Pros

Cons

  • 2TB of storage with Google One
  • Gemini Advanced has real-time web access
  • Integrates with Google apps
  • Struggles with coding
  • Occasional issues generating images

What people are saying:

  • “Its ease of use is a standout—onboarding is smooth, the interface is clean, and teams pick it up with minimal ramp-up.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “One of the downsides of Gemini is that sometimes it will generate inaccurate results, which you don't want.” – Verified user, G2 review.

4. Microsoft Copilot

Best for web search, productivity, chat, and image generation

Models: GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo, DALL·E 3

Microsoft Copilot, a top AI chatbot, homepage features 'Copilot' over wildflowers.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$30 per user/month (billed annually)

30 days

  • Content generation, summaries, and translation
  • Data analysis and insights
  • Coaching tools

Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant for web and mobile applications. The system handles conversational interactions, article summarization with explanations, email composition, image generation, and routine task assistance, such as meal planning.

Copilot integrates with Bing search to provide AI-powered results with citations. The platform offers a free version with usage caps and is accessible across various browsers and applications, though Edge integration may provide additional features or higher limits for free users.

The system focuses on practical productivity tasks rather than creative conversation. It generates text and visual content while integrating with Microsoft's existing software ecosystem.

Pros

Cons

  • Integrates with Microsoft 365
  • Image generation
  • Visual search
  • Limited usage outside of Microsoft systems
  • Must have an internet connection

What people are saying:

  • “Microsoft Copilot is very simple to use. You write your prompt in the language of your preference, and Copilot presents the answers.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “The image generation is not that accurate and lacks in several areas. Frequent disruptions to the service are also an issue.” – Verified user, G2 review.

Learn more: Learn how Zendesk vs. Microsoft compare.

5. DeepSeek

Best for coding, technical tasks, advanced reasoning, and general AI search

Models: DeepSeek V3, DeepSeek R1

DeepSeek's clean interface, showing 'Hi, I'm DeepSeek.' and a message input area, representing an AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$0.27 per 1M input tokens and $1.10 per 1M output tokens

Not applicable

  • Coding assistance
  • Document analysis
  • Large context window

DeepSeek is an AI platform launched in early 2025. The system focuses on language modeling, AI research, and coding applications for developers and software engineers.

DeepSeek Coder V2 provides advanced coding features, including:

  • 128k token context window for working with large codebases
  • Supports code completion and bug fixing
  • Algorithm development across multiple programming languages

DeepSeek LLM handles document analysis, content creation, and can process uploaded files, including PDFs, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets. It also uses token-based API pricing, which can be cost-effective for high-volume usage but may be challenging to estimate for some users.

It's important to note that DeepSeek operates under Chinese data governance frameworks, which may raise privacy considerations for US and European users.

Pros

Cons

  • Free to use
  • Advanced coding capabilities
  • Strong focus on open-source community contributions
  • API pricing complexity
  • Potential data privacy concerns

What people are saying:

  • “While Deepseek is good and free, it doesn’t yet match ChatGPT in terms of understanding complex prompts and giving very accurate, detailed responses.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “It answers questions promptly, summarizes text, and recommends ideas. I have used it for generating titles/ headlines for blogs and articles, and they were quite good.” – Verified user, G2 review.

6. Claude

Best for creative writing, nuanced conversations, and long-context understanding

Models: Claude 3 (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku), Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Claude AI chatbot generating a scatter plot for user engagement metrics.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$17 per month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Constitutional AI safety
  • Vision/multimodal analysis
  • Flexible prompting

Claude is Anthropic's conversational AI bot, built using a Constitutional AI framework that prioritizes safe and grounded interactions. It supports a wide range of use cases, including content generation, document analysis, and code assistance. It offers a large context window, allowing users to process long or complex inputs more effectively than many AI chatbots. Claude can also handle handwritten text and uploaded images.

While it performs well on nuanced tasks, Claude has limitations. It cannot access web links directly unless used with integrated web search tools, and it may provide inaccurate results if asked to summarize inaccessible URLs.

Pros

Cons

  • Project management
  • HTML and CSS coding
  • Vision analysis
  • All plans have usage limits
  • Struggles to summarize links

What people are saying:

  • “[Claude is] really helpful for digging into financials, planning ahead, and breaking big goals into smaller, manageable steps.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “Despite all the marketing hype about 'advanced intelligence,' it performs worse than much older AI systems.” – Verified user, G2 review.

7. Perplexity

Best for research, providing cited and summarized answers with real-time web access and accuracy-focused AI search

Models: Mistral 7B, Llama 2, GPT-4o, Claude, Sonar Large, proprietary models

Perplexity's clean interface with 'Where knowledge begins' and example search prompts, demonstrating a top AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$20 per agent/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Cited web search
  • Research organization
  • Multi-model support

Perplexity is an AI-powered search platform that combines natural language processing with real-time web search capabilities. The system provides responses with source citations and references that users can verify independently.

Multiple large language models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic power its output, enhancing both accuracy and diversity of responses. Perplexity also supports organizing research into structured formats through a feature called Pages. It is one of the few top AI chatbots that consistently includes citations and references in its output.

Pro and Enterprise Pro plans include access to advanced AI models, unlimited file uploads and analysis, and image generation capabilities. The free plan includes limited pro queries with basic search and AI response functionality.

Pros

Cons

  • Real-time web search
  • Source citations
  • Image results
  • Occasional inaccurate answers
  • Its academic nature can inhibit conversation flows.

What people are saying:

  • “Accurate and reliable responses: The ability of Perplexity AI to deliver real-time answers with high accuracy.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “Tone of voice could be improved; sometimes [I] can't find obvious sources.” – Verified user, G2 review.

8. Meta AI

Best for open-source AI development, general conversational use, and multimodal/multilingual applications

Models: Llama 4 (Scout, Maverick), Llama 3 series

Meta AI chatbot's home screen with image generation and conversation starters, showcasing best AI chatbots.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

Free

Not applicable

  • Open-source, customizable
  • Multiple model sizes
  • Text and code generation

Meta AI is a multimodal chatbot AI integrated across Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and meta.ai. It uses Meta's Llama models to generate responses across text, image, and audio input types. It is accessible directly within apps that many users already use, which reduces friction and makes it easier to interact with AI without switching platforms.

While its feature set is consistent across Meta' target="_blank" rel="noopener"s ecosystem, specific capabilities may vary slightly by application. Meta AI is best suited for general conversational use and social content creation.

Pros

Cons

  • Seamless app integration with high accessibility
  • Good real-time image generation
  • Accesses up-to-date web information
  • User data privacy concerns
  • Can produce occasional inaccurate information
  • Lacks some advanced technical features

What people are saying:

9. Grok

Best for real-time information access (integrated with X) and engaging in unfiltered conversations.

Models: Grok 2, Grok 3

Grok AI chatbot's dark interface with a central input field asking, 'What do you want to know?'.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$3.00/M, $0.75 per cached input + $15/Minputagent/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Real-time X data
  • Advanced reasoning
  • Multimodal support

Grok is xAI's conversational AI assistant that integrates with the X social media platform for real-time information access. The system uses the Grok 3 model, released in early 2025, and includes visual processing, document analysis, and reasoning modes with step-by-step explanations.

This AI chatbot accesses current web data and trending topics through X integration while maintaining an informal conversational style. Features include:

  • DeepSearch for information retrieval
  • Voice interaction capabilities
  • Image recognition on iOS devices

The Aurora model generates images with watermarks but limited editing capabilities.

Grok operates on a freemium model with standalone applications, though full functionality requires an X account and a higher-tier subscription. The system's unfiltered approach may not suit professional applications, and accuracy on politically sensitive topics may vary.

Pros

Cons

  • Real-time data access through X platform integration
  • Advanced reasoning capabilities with specialized analysis modes
  • Multimodal support, including image generation and recognition
  • Accuracy concerns on politically sensitive or complex topics
  • Informal tone is unsuitable for professional contexts
  • Full features require an X account and a paid subscription

What people are saying:

  • “Unlike other AI tools that rely on static or outdated knowledge, Grok provides immediate, relevant insights based on current trends and live conversations.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “While Grok’s casual tone is entertaining, it can sometimes come across as overly sarcastic or vague, especially when more structured or professional responses are needed.” – Verified user, G2 review.

10. Jasper Chat

Best for marketing, branding, and content generation

Models: GPT-4, Anthropic, Google, proprietary models

Jasper Chat's marketing editor, a platform for AI chatbots assisting content creation.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$39 per seat/month (billed annually)

7 days

  • Brand voice consistency
  • Versatile content
  • Collaboration and analytics

Jasper Chat is a business-focused AI platform designed for content creation and marketing materials. It allows users to create content such as blog posts, emails, ad copy, and video scripts, often based on simple bullet points or input prompts.

The system supports multiple languages and enables brand customization through a Brand Voice feature, helping teams maintain a consistent tone across channels. Jasper also includes built-in plagiarism detection, 50+ templates, and integrates with tools like Google Docs. 

It is primarily positioned as an AI chatbot for creative and commercial content workflows. Plans are priced for team use, which may make it less accessible for casual or individual users.

Pros

Cons

  • Supports multiple brand voices
  • 50+ AI templates
  • Plagiarism checker
  • Unlimited feature usage is reserved for the Business plan
  • The Pro plan is limited to five users

What people are saying:

  • “Jasper is a simple, game-changing tool that has helped streamline our content creation process.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “I tried tweaking how we framed our brand voice on Jasper in lots of ways, but it pretty much gave a similar type of output.” – Verified user, G2 review.

11. Deep AI

Best for a variety of generative AI tools

Models: DeepCORE

DeepAI's dark interface showing chat, image, video, and music options for an AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$4.99 per month + overage pricing

Unavailable

  • Multimodal AI tools
  • Use core features instantly in-browser
  • Affordable and API access

DeepAI is a browser-based AI tool that offers a wide range of generative features, including text-to-image conversion, video creation, and sentiment analysis. It was launched in 2017 and focuses on accessibility, with many tools available without requiring an account. 

This online chatbot and creative platform also includes a chat assistant with multiple personality modes (i.e., math help or relationship advice) and supports basic document analysis.

While its capabilities vary in refinement, DeepAI is positioned as a general-purpose toolset. It appeals to users who need flexible AI bots without the cost or complexity of enterprise software.

Pros

Cons

  • Wide range of tools in one platform
  • Accessible UI and low-cost Pro plan
  • API access with full content ownership
  • Inconsistent output quality, especially in images
  • Limited variation per prompt and customization in image generation
  • Ads and daily usage caps on the free plan

What people are saying:

12. Khanmigo

Best for education and learning assistance

Models: GPT-4

Khanmigo's academic assistance interface, demonstrating a helpful AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$44 per year (billed annually), but free for teachers

Unavailable

  • Personalized tutoring
  • 24/7 access, adaptive
  • Teacher support

Khanmigo is an educational AI chatbot developed by Khan Academy. It is built to assist students and teachers, offering support for homework questions, lesson planning, and academic review across core subjects. The system uses the Socratic method, prompting learners with questions rather than providing direct answers. This pedagogical design is meant to encourage critical thinking and understanding.

Currently, access is limited to English-speaking countries, with broader rollout plans pending. Its use of GPT-4 places it among the top AI chatbots in the educational space.

Pros

Cons

  • Adapts to individual student progress
  • Rubric generator
  • Offers career coaching
  • Prone to making math mistakes
  • Doesn't grade student work

13. Pi

Best for personal assistance, empathetic conversational AI, and personalized support

Models: Inflection-2.5

Pi's personal AI chatbot interface greeting 'Good afternoon, Bob' with conversation starters.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$0 per agent/month (billed annually)

Not applicable

  • Emotional intelligence
  • User-friendly interface
  • Free personal use

Pi is Inflection AI's conversational AI bot designed for personal use, emotional support, and general companionship. Its tone is casual and empathetic, with frequent use of emojis and informal phrasing.

It provides advice, brainstorming support, journaling capabilities, and general conversation without making judgments about topics discussed. Pi includes voice interaction capabilities with different voice options and a minimalistic interface design. The Discover tab offers conversation starters and icebreakers for different interaction types. 

While Pi has limited flexibility for business applications, it can assist with personal problem-solving discussions and casual conversation needs. Pi’s scope is limited regarding productivity or technical applications, but it may appeal to users seeking a more emotionally engaging AI chat experience.

Pros

Cons

  • Conversational tone
  • Emphasis on personal well-being
  • Initiates conversations
  • May have limited access to information post-November 2022
  • Limited coding ability

What people are saying:

14. HuggingChat

Best for user privacy and access to a wide range of open-source large language models.

Models: Llama 3, Falcon, Mistral, and more

HuggingChat interface, offering multiple models for the community's best AI chatbots.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$9 per month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Open-source, customizable
  • Predictive replies
  • Private conversations

HuggingChat is an open-source AI chatbot developed by Hugging Face. It provides access to multiple large language models, including Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek, and Mixtral. Users can select from different models depending on their needs, such as code generation, content writing, or spreadsheet support.

This AI chatbot emphasizes privacy. Conversations are not used for training or research purposes, and users can download or modify the source code. It also includes optional web search functionality, image generation (model-dependent), and file uploads for document analysis.

HuggingChat appeals to developers, researchers, and users who want full control over their chatbot AI experience without sacrificing capability.

Pros

Cons

  • Open-source software
  • Predictive replies
  • Conversation history
  • Prone to hallucinations
  • Occasional inaccurate replies

15. Character.ai

Best for gaming, fantasy, interactive storytelling, and creating and interacting with AI personas

Models: Proprietary

Character.AI's interface for creating custom AI chatbots with fields for name and description.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$9.99 per user/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Custom AI characters
  • Group/one-on-one chat
  • User creation tools

Character.AI allows users to chat with AI bots modeled after fictional personas, celebrities, game characters, and custom-created personalities. Each AI chat is designed to simulate the behavior and tone of its character, and users can participate in either solo or group chats.

Users can build their own characters with memory features, adjustable response styles, and model selection (for c.ai+ subscribers). The service includes creative features like text-based game modes and story simulations.

This online chatbot platform focuses on entertainment and creative exploration rather than productivity or research, positioning it among the best AI chatbots for interactive fiction and role-play experiences.

Pros

Cons

  • Group bot conversations
  • Historical and fictional characters
  • Custom bot creator
  • Limited large-scale applications
  • Prone to unrealistic and repetitive actions

What people are saying:

16. Poe

Best for switching between AI models in one place

Model: GPT-4, Gemini Pro, Mistral, Claude 3, Stable Diffusion 3, and more

Poe's interface, displaying various official bots like Assistant and Claude, a hub for top AI chatbots.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$19.99 per user/month

Unavailable

  • Multiple AI models
  • Custom bot creation
  • Collaboration, monetization

Poe, developed by Quora, aggregates multiple AI models—including GPT-4 Turbo, Claude, and Stable Diffusion—into a single interface. Users can switch between models to compare output quality and suitability for different tasks. It supports the creation of custom chatbots via drag-and-drop tools or API integration. Poe also enables monetization through a creator program, allowing developers to earn revenue from user interactions.

Poe is aimed at users who want access to top AI chatbots without managing separate accounts, subscriptions, or platforms. Some customization requires technical skill, but basic chatbot functionality is easy to use.

Pros

Cons

  • Multiple AI models are available
  • AI art generation
  • Provides access to user-created bots
  • Content filters can restrict creative freedom

What people are saying:

17. Chatsonic

Best for content creation, marketing, SEO, and real-time data integration

Models: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Stable Diffusion, DALL·E 3

Chatsonic's interface, highlighting features for research, document chat, and webpage summarization, a powerful AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$16 per user/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Real-time content, fact-checking
  • Voice interaction
  • Image generation

Chatsonic is a generative AI tool that integrates several advanced models, such as GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, and Flux. Designed for content creation, it offers features like SEO integration, brand voice settings, and compatibility with Ahrefs and Google Search Console.

Agent Mode enables research with citation support, and voice-to-text/text-to-voice options allow spoken interaction. Users can upload files like PDFs and images for analysis, and browser extensions improve accessibility across web platforms. Marketers and creative teams use this conversational AI bot for tasks like blog writing, ad generation, and live data research.

Pros

Cons

  • Chrome extension
  • Fact checker
  • Pre-made templates
  • Struggles to generate accurate images
  • Advanced features are credit-based

What people are saying:

  • "Customer service is very helpful and respond fast if I face any problem." – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “So, the only problem I face while using Chatsonic is hallucination after having lots of conversations with the AI.” – Verified user, G2 review.

18. Copy.ai

Best for go-to-market system integration and automating marketing and sales content workflows.

Models: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Perplexity, Claude 3, and more

Copy.ai's interface, a platform for generative AI blog posts, showcasing AI chatbots.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$36 per seat/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Marketing content generation
  • Workflow automation
  • Brand voice and infobase

Copy.ai is designed for marketing and sales professionals who need scalable AI tools for writing emails, social media posts, landing pages, and campaign materials. It supports multiple AI models, including ChatGPT 3.5 and Claude 3.

The AI chatbot features Copy Agents for outbound outreach, integration with CRM and communication platforms like Slack, and centralized knowledge management via the Infobase. Brand Voice tools maintain a consistent tone across all content.

This AI bot is positioned as a high-output content generation system for sales and marketing workflows, especially for teams producing large volumes of copy in multiple languages.

Pros

Cons

  • Matches brand voice
  • Supports many languages
  • Multi-step workflows
  • Free chats are limited to 2,000 words
  • Laggy content generation

What people are saying:

19. ZenoChat

Best for: AI writing assistance and content creation

Models: Claude, ChatGPT-4, DeepSeek R1, OpenAI o3-mini, o1-mini, o1

ZenoChat in a team conversation, asking the AI to draft a summary, a practical AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$5.59 per month, for 150 creations and 100 MB storage (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Custom AI personas
  • Web search integration
  • Multilingual
  • knowledge base

ZenoChat, developed by TextCortex, is a browser-based AI chatbot that supports over 25 languages and is trained on more than 3 billion sentences. It is focused on writing assistance, content creation, and plagiarism avoidance. Users can create and customize AI personas, toggle web search sources like Google Scholar, Reddit, or custom URLs.

ZenoChat offers a browser extension for seamless integration with other websites. They can also browse a prompt template marketplace. The AI chatbot operates on a freemium model and is frequently used by content creators, students, and professionals needing tailored, multilingual writing support.

Pros

Cons

  • Prompt templates
  • Prompt expansion
  • Custom AI personalities
  • The free plan has limited access to core tools

What people are saying:

20. You.com

Best for: AI-powered search, conversational AI, and access to various AI models and agents.

Models: GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 2.5 Pro (Preview), Gemini 2.0 Flash, Grok 3 Beta, Llama 4 (Maverick, Scout), Qwen2.5, Mistral Large 2, DeepSeek R1, DeepSeek V3, and more

You.com interface, featuring options to enhance productivity with an AI chatbot.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$15 per agent/month (billed annually)

Unavailable

  • Conversational search
  • Genius mode
  • Strong privacy controls

You.com combines AI search with conversational AI tools to deliver summarized, real-time results. Positioned as a hybrid between a search engine and chatbot AI, You.com is often used by users who want more interactive and personalized search experiences while preserving control over their data.

You.com offers three modes:

  • Genius mode that handles complex problems like equation solving and data visualization
  • Research mode that generates articles with citations
  • Create mode, which provides AI art generation, and custom AI agents can be developed for specialized tasks.

You integrates models like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet to support different use cases, including research, coding, and creative generation. Users can upload files, summarize web pages, and build custom AI agents for specialized tasks. Team and Enterprise plans include zero data retention policies, while Pro and Team paid plans offer increased query limits and extended context windows.

Pros

Cons

  • Live web search
  • Unlimited file uploads with the Team plan
  • Unlimited chat history
  • Limited queries and image generation with the free plan

What people are saying:

  • “The interface is clean, intuitive, and easy to use, and everything just works seamlessly.” – Verified user, Trustpilot review.
  • “I was on a pro subscription, with access to all the models, and I kept on getting error messages to say I was overusing it. It wasn't working, so I obviously wasn't overusing it.”– Verified user, Trustpilot review.

21. Zapier Agents

Best for workflow automation with AI assistants

Models: Multiple third-party AI models (including GPT-4–class and Gemini variants)

Screenshot of Zapier Agents AI chatbot platform.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$19.99 per month (billed annually) 

14 days

  • No-code AI agent creation
  • Integrations with common business apps
  • Real-time workflow execution

Zapier enables teams to leverage AI-powered automation to create agents that perform tasks across connected business applications. Agents are configured using plain-language instructions and operate within predefined workflows, allowing them to access data and carry out actions across integrated tools.

Rather than functioning as a conversational chatbot, the platform is designed for internal automation use cases. Typical capabilities include updating records, routing information, and coordinating tasks across systems. The platform augments existing automation workflows with AI-driven decision-making. It’s most commonly used by operations or technically oriented teams experimenting with no-code, agent-based automation.

Pros

Cons

  • Supports task automation across connected tools
  • Plain-language configuration for building agents
  • Supports multi-step, workflow-based tasks
  • Limited conversational abilities
  • Setup complexity increases for advanced workflows 

What people are saying:

  • “Zapier was great for allowing our teams to create additional functionality and value for our customers around our product” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “Sometimes, unexpected behavior can occur when different applications communicate with one another.” – Verified user, G2 review.
  • “I appreciate Zapier for its ability to handle webhooks and pull data. I don't like Zapier's pricing because it's based on the number of tasks executed.” – Verified user, G2 review.

Learn more:Discover how Zapier integrates with Zendesk.

22. Le Chat Mistral

Best for general conversation AI with multilingual support

Models: Mistral Large 3, Mistral 3, Ministral 3

Screenshot of Le Chat Mistral’s AI chatbot platform.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$14.99 per month (billed annually) 

Free access with feature limitations and usage cap

  • Multilingual responses
  • Real-time web search
  • Basic image and document handling

Le Chat is a conversational AI assistant developed by Mistral AI with both web and mobile chat interfaces. Users can interact with Mistral’s LLMs to answer questions and assist with everyday knowledge-based tasks. The platform is a general-purpose AI chatbot rather than a specialized business or workflow tool.

It supports multilingual conversations and can handle tasks such as summarization, content drafting, and question answering. Le Chat also includes premium features like web search and document handling. Usage limits and available capabilities depend on whether you’re on a free or paid tier, with higher limits offered through subscription plans.

Pros

Cons

  • Free tier with usable limits
  • Multilingual conversations
  • Real-time information retrieval 
  • Limited advanced tooling outside core chat
  • Paid tier needed for extended use and advanced features

What people are saying:

  • Mistral gives responses as a real conversation partner, also in European languages except English. – Verified user, G2 review.

23. Duck.ai

Best for privacy-focused AI chat

Models: Multiple third-party AI modes including GPT, Claude, Mistral, and Llama

Screenshot of Duck.ai’s AI chatbot platform.

Starting price

Free trial

Key features

$9.99 per month

Free access to basic models

  • Anonymous AI chat
  • No account required
  • Range of models available

Developed by DuckDuckGo, Duck.ai enables users to interact with LLMs via a browser-based chat without creating an account. The tool prioritizes user privacy, as conversations are detached from personal identifiers and aren’t used for model training. This approach aligns directly with DuckDuckGo’s search engine, which emphasizes privacy and online anonymity.

The platform supports common conversational AI tasks such as answering questions, summarizing information, and generating text. Users can select from different underlying AI models, though availability may vary over time. It is an intentionally minimal AI chatbot, offering limited customization and no workflow or integration capabilities beyond the core chat experience. 

Pros

Cons

  • Privacy-first, anonymous chat
  • No account or sign in required
  • Access to multiple AI models
  • Usage limits restrict extended sessions
  • Scarce features beyond basic chat

Understanding how AI chatbots work

AI chatbots use natural language processing (NLP), machine learning (ML) algorithms, and large language models (LLMs) to understand what people are saying and respond in ways that feel natural. Here's how the process works:

  • Natural language understanding (NLU): Interprets the user’s message by identifying intent (“I want to reset my password”) and extracting key details (“password”).
  • Dialogue management: Maintains the flow of the conversation, keeping track of context across messages so interactions feel connected and not robotic.
  • Language generation: Uses pre-trained LLMs (like GPT) to craft thoughtful, human-like replies based on the user’s intent and conversation history.
  • Knowledge retrieval: For real-time or business-specific info, chatbots tap into internal databases or knowledge bases or external sources (using Retrieval-Augmented Generation, or RAG) to give accurate, relevant answers

Over time, artificial intelligence chatbots improve their understanding and performance, making them more effective in addressing queries and engaging in dynamic conversations.

How to choose the best AI chatbot software

Choosing the right AI chatbot comes down to finding a solution that aligns with your goals, fits your workflows, and delivers real value to your customers or team. Whether you're aiming to improve customer support, scale conversations, or reduce operational load, here's what to consider as you evaluate your options:

Visual graphic that reads 68% of consumers say they're more likely to engage with and trust Al agents that display human-like traits.
  • Start with clear use cases: Define what you need the chatbot to handle — like automating support or driving leads — and choose accordingly. For example, an AI chatbot for sales will differ from customer service chatbots.
  • Assess integration capabilities: Check that it connects with your existing messaging software, website, and CRM systems to keep data and conversations in sync. Look for platforms with open chatbot APIs that facilitate connections with third-party applications to keep information flowing smoothly.
  • Ensure it has a fast and easy setup: Look for chatbots with pre-trained models that work right out of the box or can be configured quickly without heavy developer involvement. Quick and easy deployment adds to their total cost of ownership.
  • Look for scalability and flexibility: Make sure the chatbot can handle more conversations as you grow, and that you can update or customize it as your needs evolve.
  • Prioritize security: The AI chatbot should comply with customer data protection regulations like GDPR or CCPA and offer encryption, privacy controls, and compliance with industry standards.
  • Understand the AI model quality: Dig into how the bot was trained and what powers it. Look for chatbots powered by advanced language models trained on high-quality, relevant data, with generative AI and customer sentiment analysis.
  • Evaluate support and long-term maintenance: A strong AI as a Service (AIaaS) provider should offer solid documentation, responsive help, and regular improvements that keep the chatbot current.
  • Use analytics for improvement: Look for built-in reporting tools to track performance, monitor usage patterns, and fine-tune conversations over time.
  • Look for customization and multilingual support: Choose a chatbot that can match your brand’s tone and appearance, and support multiple languages if needed.
  • Prioritize AI-to-human handoff: For complex queries, your chatbot should be able to transfer the conversation to a live agent with full context.

These considerations will help you narrow in on an AI chatbot that meets your current needs and grows with your business. The key is that it delivers a better customer experience with every interaction.

Frequently asked questions

See why our AI agents are the best AI chatbots for CX

Don’t settle for inadequate AI chatbots. Zendesk AI agents were trained on billions of customer service data points to help businesses improve productivity and customer satisfaction through intelligent automation. Plus, they set up in minutes, so you can provide AI-powered support from day one. If you need more than a generic chatbot, start building the best AI agent for CX today with a free trial.

Candace Marshall

Vice President, Product Marketing, AI and Automation

Candace Marshall is a seasoned product marketing leader with a passion for solving complex problems and driving innovation in fast-paced environments. Her career began in operations and research, but her love for understanding customers and translating insights into impactful strategies led her to product marketing. Currently, Candace leads product marketing for Zendesk AI including AI agents and Copilot, driving growth across AI-powered solutions and the core service offerings. Her team delivers end-to-end product marketing strategies, from market validation and messaging to go-to-market execution and customer adoption. Before joining Zendesk, Candace spent nearly a decade at LinkedIn, where she built and led the product marketing team for the rapidly scaling Marketing Solutions division, overseeing key advertising products in the multi-billion-dollar business.

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