Comparison
The Chatbase alternative for WordPress: no message credits, no downtime when they run out
Chatbase lets you build an AI agent from your documents and website and put it anywhere. It is a good product with many integrations. On a WordPress site, though, three things are worth knowing before you choose it: how message credits work, what happens when they run out, and how your content stays up to date.
Maqsood R.Founder, HolaReply · Updated · 7 min read
We make HolaReply. Every fact about Chatbase below comes from chatbase.co (pricing, documentation, security) and its WordPress.org page, checked on 25 September 2026. Sources are at the end.
The short answer
- HolaReply is a Chatbase alternative built into WordPress: it answers from your pages, posts and WooCommerce products and updates itself when you edit them.
- It runs on your own Gemini, OpenAI or Claude key, usually a few dollars per 1,000 questions, with no message credits to buy (or, if you would rather not have a key, HolaReply AI credits at $12 per 1,000 answers).
- Chatbase plans run from $40 a month (700 credits) to $500 (15,000); when credits run out the agent shows “currently unavailable”, and automatic weekly re-sync starts on the $150 Standard plan.
- Choose Chatbase for its many integrations, channels and choice of AI models.
Choose HolaReply if…
- your site runs on WordPress or WooCommerce
- you want the AI to stay in sync with your content automatically, on the free plan
- you don’t want your assistant to go offline when a credit balance hits zero
- you want conversations and leads stored in your own database
Choose Chatbase if…
- you need the same agent on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Slack or the phone
- you want to train it on PDFs, Notion and support tickets as well as your site
- you want a choice of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others
- you need integrations with Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot or Intercom
HolaReply is free for WordPress, on WordPress.org; Pro and Business are paid once.
At a glance: HolaReply vs Chatbase
| HolaReply | Chatbase | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI answers, leads and a team inbox: one line of code on any website, or a WordPress plugin; Shopify app coming soon | A hosted AI agent platform; the WordPress plugin embeds it |
| How it learns your site | Indexes pages, posts and products inside WordPress | Files, websites, text, Q&A, Notion and tickets, trained on chatbase.co |
| Staying up to date | ✓ Automatic when you edit, free | Weekly auto-resync on Standard ($150/mo) and Pro; otherwise “Resync now” by hand |
| How AI is paid for | Your own Gemini, OpenAI or Claude key (about $1.70 per 1,000 answers on Gemini Flash), or optional HolaReply AI credits ($12 per 1,000 answers) | Message credits: 1–6 per reply depending on the model |
| When the AI allowance runs out | Visitors can still send enquiries | The agent shows “This AI Agent is currently unavailable” unless auto-recharge is on |
| Lead capture | ✓ Free | A “Collect Leads” action, from Hobby (the free plan has no actions) |
| Human handover | ✓ Enquiry with the whole conversation; HolaReply Desk (Pro); live chat (Business) | Escalation to Chatbase Helpdesk (from Standard) or Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot and others |
| Topics the AI must never answer | ✓ Locked topics | Not listed as a feature |
| Remove “Powered by” branding | Off by default | $99/mo add-on |
| Where data is stored | Your WordPress database | AWS, US East (us-east-1) |
| Price | Any website: Pro $19/mo, Business $49/mo, AI included · WordPress: free, Pro from $59 and Business from $99, paid once | Free (50 credits) · Hobby $40/mo · Standard $150/mo · Pro $500/mo (20% off yearly) |
| WordPress plugin | Free on WordPress.org | Last updated March 2025; 3.4/5 from 13 reviews |
| Start free trial |
What Chatbase does well
- Many sources. Train on PDFs, Word files, websites, Notion, Q&A pairs and support tickets.
- Many channels. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Slack, plus voice and telephony from Standard.
- Many integrations. Escalate to Zendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, HubSpot, Freshdesk and more.
- Choice of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, Meta, Mistral and others on paid plans.
- Security credentials such as SOC 2 Type II, and a statement that model providers can’t use your data for training.
Three things to know on a WordPress site
1. Credits, and what happens at zero
Chatbase plans come with message credits: Hobby 700 a month, Standard 4,000, Pro 15,000. A reply costs 1 to 6 credits depending on the model: 2 for models such as Gemini 3.x and GPT-5.2, up to 6 for the largest Claude models. Extra credits cost $40 per 1,000. When credits run out, Chatbase’s own FAQ says the agent shows “This AI Agent is currently unavailable” unless you have turned on auto-recharge.
With your own key, HolaReply needs no credits: it runs on your Gemini, OpenAI or Claude key. HolaReply AI credits are optional, for owners who would rather not have a key. Either way, if the AI is ever unavailable, visitors can still send an enquiry, so you don’t lose the lead.
2. Keeping your content in sync
Chatbase learns your site by crawling it. Its documentation says automatic re-sync (weekly) is available on the Standard and Pro plans; on Hobby you press “Resync now” yourself. On a shop where prices and products change, that matters.
HolaReply lives inside WordPress: it indexes each page, post and product when it is published or edited, on every plan.
What the assistant reads on your site, and how up to date its copy is.
HolaReply’s content index updates itself as you publish and edit.
3. The WordPress plugin
Chatbase’s WordPress plugin embeds the agent you build on chatbase.co. On 25 September 2026 WordPress.org showed it was last updated in March 2025, tested up to WordPress 6.7.9, and rated 3.4 out of 5 from 13 reviews. It works as an embed, but it isn’t a native WordPress integration.
Try it right here. The chat on this page is HolaReply, answering only from this website. Ask it about pricing, then ask something it can’t know.
“Does HolaReply charge per message?”“Who won the last World Cup?”
Open the chatWhat each costs
| HolaReply | Chatbase | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | On WordPress: free, or Pro from $59, paid once | Standard $150/mo (4,000 credits); Hobby’s 700 credits aren’t enough |
| AI usage | About $1.70 on Gemini | Included in credits |
| Remove branding | Not needed (off by default) | +$99/mo |
| Roughly per month | About $3–9 | About $150–249 |
Chatbase’s yearly billing is 20% cheaper (Standard $120/mo). At 2 credits per reply, 1,000 replies use 2,000 credits.
Where HolaReply is different
- Accuracy first: answers only from your content, shows the source, says when it doesn’t know.
- Locked topics: prices, quotes and anything risky always go to a person.
- Leads on the free plan, asked for at the right moment and never twice.
- HolaReply Desk (Pro), the team inbox where replies reach the visitor by chat and email.
- Privacy: names, emails, phone numbers and company names removed before anything reaches the AI.
Switching from Chatbase
Get HolaReply and add your AI key
On any website, HolaReply AI is included, so there is no key to add. On WordPress: Gemini, OpenAI or Claude, or HolaReply AI credits with no key. For Gemini, use a key with billing for a live site; Google requires it if you serve visitors in the EU, UK or Switzerland.
Choose what it reads
Pages, posts and products. Add your most-used Chatbase Q&A pairs to the knowledge base.
Set locked topics and email capture
Which questions go to a person, and when the chat asks for an email.
Remove the Chatbase embed
Deactivate the Chatbase plugin or remove its script.
Test on your phone
Answered, unanswered, locked, and a request for a person.
Questions people ask
How many messages do Chatbase credits cover?
It depends on the model: most replies cost 1 or 2 credits, and the largest models up to 6. Hobby includes 700 credits a month, Standard 4,000 and Pro 15,000.
What happens when Chatbase credits run out?
Chatbase’s FAQ says the agent shows “This AI Agent is currently unavailable”. You can turn on auto-recharge at $40 per 1,000 credits.
Can HolaReply learn from PDFs like Chatbase?
HolaReply learns from your published pages, posts and products, plus short answers you add to its knowledge base. On any website it also answers from files you upload: PDF, Word, text and CSV price lists. If you need to train on large PDF or Notion libraries, Chatbase is the better fit.
Can I use HolaReply outside WordPress?
Yes. Any website takes one line of code: Pro is $19 a month with a 7-day free trial and HolaReply AI included, so no AI key is needed. The Shopify app is coming soon to the Shopify App Store.
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.
- Chatbase pricing
- Chatbase FAQ (credits per model, credits running out)
- Chatbase data sources and resync
- Chatbase: Collect Leads action
- Chatbase WordPress integration
- Chatbase security
- Chatbase on WordPress.org
- Gemini API pricing
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. →An AI assistant that never goes offline on you.
One line of code on Wix, Squarespace, Webflow or any website: 7 days free, no card. Free plugin for WordPress; Shopify app coming soon.