Comparison
The AI Engine alternative for business websites that sell
AI Engine is one of the best-loved AI plugins for WordPress, and it does far more than chat. If what you actually need is a chatbot that answers customers from your own pages, never guesses, and hands every lead to your team, a focused tool can do that job better and for less.
Maqsood R.Founder, HolaReply · Updated · 9 min read
We make HolaReply, so read this knowing that. Every fact about AI Engine below comes from its official WordPress.org page and meowapps.com, checked on 25 September 2026. Sources are at the end.
The short answer
- HolaReply is an AI Engine alternative built for one job: answering visitors only from your own website and handing every lead to your team.
- Its free version answers from your pages, posts and WooCommerce products, with no extra service: the index lives in your WordPress database.
- In AI Engine, answering from your content (“Content Aware” and embeddings) is a Pro feature, from $79 a year, with a vector database you connect yourself.
- Choose AI Engine if you want a full AI toolkit: content, images, forms, MCP and many AI providers.
Choose HolaReply if…
- you want a chatbot that answers customers from your own pages and products, on the free plan
- a wrong answer would cost you: it shows its sources and says “I don’t know” instead of guessing
- you want leads: questions it can’t answer go to your team with the whole conversation
- your sales team should work in a simple inbox, not in WordPress admin
Choose AI Engine if…
- you want one plugin for many AI jobs: writing, images, forms, a chatbot and MCP
- you want to pick from many AI providers, including local models
- you are happy to set up embeddings and a vector database for content answers
- you are a developer who wants function calling and deep customisation
HolaReply is free for WordPress, on WordPress.org; Pro and Business are paid once.
At a glance: HolaReply vs AI Engine
| HolaReply | AI Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AI sales assistant: answers, leads, team inbox | An AI toolkit: chatbot, content, images, forms, MCP |
| Answers from your pages, posts and products | ✓ Free | Pro (“Content Aware”, embeddings) |
| Extra service needed for content answers | — None: the index lives in your WordPress database | A vector database: Pinecone, Qdrant, Chroma or OpenAI Vector Store |
| Shows the source of each answer | ✓ Free | Not listed as a feature |
| Topics it must never answer (prices, allergens…) | ✓ Free: “locked topics” go straight to your team | Not listed as a feature |
| Captures leads when it can’t answer | ✓ Free, with the whole conversation | Not listed as a feature |
| Team inbox for replying to customers | ✓ Pro: Sales Desk, no WordPress access needed | Not listed as a feature |
| Replies in the visitor’s language | ✓ Free | ✓ Chatbot texts can be translated |
| AI providers | Google Gemini, OpenAI or Anthropic Claude on your own key, or HolaReply AI credits with no key | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Mistral, Perplexity, OpenRouter, Replicate, Azure, local models |
| Writing, images, AI forms, MCP | — | ✓ (forms and advanced MCP in Pro) |
| Price | Free · Pro from $79, paid once · Business from $129, paid once | Free · Pro $79/yr (1 site), $99/yr (5 sites), $179/yr (20 sites) · lifetime from $499 |
| On WordPress.org | Free on WordPress.org | 90,000+ active installs, 4.9/5 from 865 reviews |
| Download free |
“Not listed as a feature” means we could not find it on AI Engine’s official feature lists. It may be possible with custom code or add-ons.
What AI Engine does well
Credit where it is due: AI Engine, by Jordy Meow, is one of the most complete AI plugins for WordPress, and its reviews show it. It has more than 90,000 active installs and a 4.9 out of 5 rating from 865 reviews on WordPress.org, and it is updated often.
- Breadth. One plugin covers a chatbot, a Content Studio and Image Studio, an editor Copilot, AI forms, a full-screen AI workspace and an MCP server that lets AI agents manage your site.
- Choice of AI. It connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Mistral, Perplexity, OpenRouter, Replicate and Azure, and to local models through any OpenAI-compatible server such as Ollama or LM Studio.
- Developer power. Function calling, cross-site chatbots and deep settings make it a strong base for custom AI projects.
If you want to experiment with AI across your whole site, AI Engine is an excellent choice, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Where HolaReply is different
HolaReply does one thing: it is the assistant on your website that answers customers and passes the sale to your team. Everything in it serves that job.
1. It answers from your own site, on the free plan
Install it, add your AI key (Google Gemini, OpenAI or Claude) or use HolaReply AI credits, tick what it should read (pages, posts, WooCommerce products) and it builds its own index inside your WordPress database. There is no Pinecone account to open and no embeddings to manage, and it updates itself when you edit or publish. In AI Engine, answering from your posts and pages is part of Pro, together with a vector database you connect yourself.
What the assistant reads on your site, and how up to date its copy is.
HolaReply keeps its own index of your published pages, posts and products, and updates it as you edit.
2. It is built never to guess
A general AI model will answer almost anything, which is exactly the problem on a business website. HolaReply only answers from what it found on your site or in your knowledge base, and shows the page each answer came from. If nothing covers the question, it says so and offers a person instead. Topics you lock (prices, contracts, allergens, anything a mistake would make expensive) are never answered by the AI at all: they go straight to your team.
straight from the growers.
Trade packs for kitchens, bakeries and shops. Order by the kilo or by the pallet.
Shop wholesaleView product
Every answer shows where it came from. No source means no answer, and the visitor is offered a person instead.
3. Every question it can’t answer becomes a lead
When the assistant can’t help, or the visitor asks for a person, HolaReply asks for their email, only at that moment and never twice, and sends your team the enquiry with the whole conversation. If your AI key stops working, visitors can still reach you: no enquiry is lost.
Try it right here. The chat on this page is HolaReply, answering from this website only. Ask it something, then ask it something this site doesn’t cover, and see what it does.
“Does HolaReply work with WooCommerce?”“What is the capital of France?”
Open the chat4. Your team gets an inbox, not WordPress admin
With Pro, enquiries arrive in the Sales Desk: a simple page on your site where your team takes tickets, adds notes, sets follow-ups and replies. The reply reaches the visitor in their chat and by email. Your salespeople never need access to WordPress settings.
6 tickets · 1 follow-up due
The Sales Desk (Pro): every enquiry as a ticket, and replies that reach the visitor by chat and email.
5. Privacy by default
Before any question goes to the AI, HolaReply removes names, email addresses, phone numbers and company names. Conversations and leads stay in your own WordPress database.
What each costs in a year
Both plugins work with your own AI key, so neither charges per message: you pay your AI provider directly. (HolaReply also offers optional AI credits, $12 per 1,000 answers, if you would rather not have a key.) The difference is the licence you need for a chatbot that answers from your content.
| HolaReply | AI Engine | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence needed for content answers | Free: $0 | Pro Starter: $79 a year |
| With a team inbox for sales | Pro: from $79, paid once | Not listed as a feature |
| AI usage, about 1,000 questions a month | About $1.70 a month on Gemini Flash | Your provider’s price, plus your vector database |
AI usage depends on your provider, model and question length. Our estimate for Gemini is on the pricing page.
Switching from AI Engine to HolaReply
Get HolaReply and add your AI key
Use a Gemini, OpenAI or Claude key, or HolaReply AI credits with no key. For Gemini, create a key in Google AI Studio. Google’s free tier is fine for testing; for a live site turn on billing, which Google’s terms require if you serve visitors in the EU, UK or Switzerland.
Choose what it reads
Tick your pages, posts and WooCommerce products. Add facts that aren’t on any page (delivery times, returns) to the knowledge base.
Lock the risky topics
Add the subjects a person must always handle, such as prices, quotes or allergens.
Turn off AI Engine’s chatbot
Keep AI Engine if you use it for writing or images; just switch off its chatbot so visitors see one assistant, not two.
Test it on your phone
Ask real customer questions, one it can’t answer, and one on a locked topic. Check that the lead reaches your inbox.
Questions people ask
Is HolaReply free?
Yes. The free version answers from your pages, posts and WooCommerce products, shows its sources, handles locked topics and captures leads. Pro (from $79, paid once) adds the Sales Desk for your team, and Business (from $129, paid once) is for agencies.
Can I use OpenAI or Claude with HolaReply?
Yes. HolaReply works with your own Google Gemini, OpenAI or Anthropic (Claude) key, or with HolaReply AI credits if you would rather not have a key. If you need other providers or local models, AI Engine is the better fit.
Can I keep AI Engine for writing and images?
Yes. The two can run side by side. Turn off AI Engine’s chatbot so your visitors only see one assistant.
Does HolaReply need Pinecone or another vector database?
No. It keeps its index in your own WordPress database and updates it as you publish.
Is HolaReply on WordPress.org?
Yes. HolaReply is on WordPress.org: search for HolaReply in Plugins → Add New Plugin, or download the zip and upload it.
Sources
Checked on 25 September 2026. Prices and features change; tell us in the chat if something here is out of date and we will fix it.
- AI Engine on WordPress.org: features, installs, rating
- AI Engine Pro pricing (meowapps.com)
- AI Engine overview (meowapps.com)
Founder of HolaReply. He builds AI assistants that answer only from a business’s own website, and checks every fact in these guides against the products’ own pages.
More by Maqsood R. →Answer customers from your own site. Keep every lead.
Free for WordPress, on WordPress.org. No per-message fees on your own Gemini, OpenAI or Claude key (about $1.70 per 1,000 answers on Gemini Flash), or optional HolaReply AI credits.