"What does an AI chatbot cost?" is almost always the first question. The honest answer: it depends on what you want to achieve. A chatbot that answers from your own documents, with source citations and no invented answers, is something entirely different from a simple widget with canned replies. This article sets out the ranges and explains what drives the price.

The three price tiers

A simple FAQ chatbot (2,000 to 5,000 euro). Answers a fixed set of frequently asked questions. Fine for a narrow goal, but it does not really know your organisation and cannot reason about your own documents.

A custom AI solution on your own data (from 25,000 euro). This is where it gets interesting. The chatbot finds answers in your own documents, handbooks or knowledge base, gives a source citation with every answer, and integrates with your systems. This is the category that genuinely takes work off your hands.

A complete AI platform (40,000 euro and up). Multiple sources, multiple user groups, a management environment and integrations. Think of a platform used across a whole organisation or several departments.

What drives the price?

Four things weigh heaviest:

  • The quality of your data. Clean, structured documents are quick to unlock. Messy or outdated data needs cleaning up first. This is often the biggest cost, and the most important one.
  • Integrations. A standalone chatbot is cheaper than one that must talk to your CRM, DMS or internal systems.
  • Reliability requirements. Source citations, verifiability and preventing invented answers require a well-considered architecture. In sensitive domains that is not a luxury but a requirement.
  • Scale. Dozens of users or hundreds of thousands of questions changes the hosting and robustness needs.

Cheap can turn out expensive

A free or cheap chatbot that occasionally invents something can do more harm than good, especially when customers or citizens rely on it. The value is not in the chatbot itself, but in its reliability. That is why we build systems that answer only from your own sources and honestly say when the answer is not there.

To illustrate: our election chatbot KiesKennis answered 43,943 questions for eight regional broadcasters, with 99% factually accurate answers and a source citation on every answer. That reliability is where the investment goes.

How we approach it

We work at a fixed project price: clear upfront, no surprises afterwards. After a short, no-obligation intro call we determine the scope together and you receive a concrete proposal. A project often starts small, with one process or one set of documents, so you see the value before you invest further.

Curious what a solution would cost for your organisation? Take the free AI scan or book a no-obligation intro call. Then we work out together what is realistic.