7 Best ManyChat Alternatives for Consulting Firms

Intercom is a widely used customer messaging platform that combines live chat, help center, and marketing automation into a single interface. Designed to help businesses engage customers in real time, Intercom offers a robust chat widget that can be embedded on any website and customized through its UI editor. The platform’s strength lies in its “Bots” feature, which allows non‑technical users to create scripted conversations using a visual flow builder. These bots can handle common support queries, qualify leads, and forward tickets to human agents. Intercom’s knowledge base system, known as the Help Center, lets companies publish articles and FAQs that the chatbot can reference. Additionally, Intercom’s “Product Tours” feature guides new users through a website, while its “Messenger” tool enables targeted in‑app or web push notifications. The platform also integrates with popular CRM systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk, allowing seamless data flow. Pricing is tiered: the Basic plan starts at $39/month for up to 500 contacts, the Standard plan at $99/month for up to 2,000 contacts, and the Premium plan at $199/month for up to 5,000 contacts. The Pro plan—$499/month—offers unlimited contacts and advanced features such as custom bots and real‑time engagement. Intercom excels at providing a unified customer communication hub, with strong integration capabilities and a user‑friendly bot builder. However, the cost can quickly rise as contact volume grows, and the platform’s knowledge base is more suited for static content rather than AI‑driven dynamic responses.

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that focuses on turning website traffic into qualified leads. The platform’s flagship feature is its AI‑powered chatbot, which can engage visitors in real time, book meetings, and route conversations to the appropriate sales or support team. Drift’s chat widgets are highly customizable and can be embedded on any website, offering a seamless brand experience. One of Drift’s core strengths is its integration with calendar services (Calendly, Outlook, Google Calendar) to automate meeting scheduling directly through chat. The platform also offers a robust Lead Intelligence API, which enriches visitor data and allows for highly personalized conversations. Drift’s “Chatbot Builder” provides a drag‑and‑drop interface for creating complex flows, including pre‑qualifying questions, routing logic, and lead capture forms. Pricing for Drift starts with a free Starter plan that includes basic chat functionality and 5,000 chat sessions per month. Paid plans begin at $499/month for the Standard tier, providing unlimited chat sessions, advanced analytics, and multi‑user access. The Premium plan is priced at $1,499/month, adding features such as account-based marketing, custom reporting, and dedicated support. Drift is ideal for consulting firms that prioritize lead generation and sales engagement. Its scheduling integration and lead intelligence capabilities make it a powerful tool for converting website visitors into qualified prospects.

HubSpot’s chatbot builder is part of its all‑in‑one inbound marketing, sales, and service platform. The chatbot tool is integrated directly into HubSpot’s CMS, allowing users to create conversational flows that can capture leads, answer FAQs, and route tickets to human agents. The chatbot editor is visual and requires no coding, making it accessible to marketers and consultants alike. HubSpot’s chat widgets can be embedded on any website and are automatically branded to match the HubSpot theme. Key features include the ability to set up knowledge base articles that the chatbot can reference, schedule meetings, and integrate with HubSpot’s CRM to log conversations. The platform also offers a “Smart Content” feature that personalizes messages based on visitor data. HubSpot offers a free tier that includes basic chat functionality and 2,000 chat sessions per month. Paid plans start at $45/month for the Starter tier, $45/month for the Professional tier (with up to 20,000 chat sessions), and $45/month for the Enterprise tier (with unlimited sessions). Each tier unlocks additional features such as custom bots, advanced analytics, and multi‑user access. For consulting firms already using HubSpot’s CRM and marketing tools, the HubSpot chatbot provides a seamless integration that enhances lead capture and customer support without requiring a separate platform.

Chatfuel is a no‑code chatbot platform that primarily targets social media channels such as Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Instagram. The platform offers a visual flow builder and a library of pre‑built blocks that enable users to create interactive conversations quickly. Chatfuel’s strength lies in its integration with e‑commerce platforms like Shopify and its ability to handle bulk messaging and broadcast campaigns. The platform’s AI model can understand natural language to some extent, allowing for more dynamic conversations than simple keyword triggers. Users can also embed Chatfuel bots into websites via a widget, albeit with limited styling compared to dedicated web‑chat solutions. Chatfuel supports data collection through forms and integrates with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce. Pricing starts with a free plan that supports up to 50,000 monthly active users and basic features. The Pro plan costs $15/month and adds advanced AI, broadcast, and analytics. The Premium plan is $49/month and includes unlimited monthly active users, advanced integrations, and priority support. Chatfuel is a solid choice for consulting firms that need a quick, cost‑effective chatbot for social media engagement and basic lead capture.

MobileMonkey is a cross‑platform chatbot builder that focuses on Facebook Messenger, SMS, and web chat. The platform offers a visual chatbot designer and a library of templates tailored to marketing, support, and sales. MobileMonkey’s web chat widget can be embedded on any site and offers native branding options. Key strengths include the ability to run multi‑channel campaigns, collect leads, and integrate with CRMs such as HubSpot and Zoho. The platform also provides real‑time analytics and A/B testing for chatbot flows. MobileMonkey’s AI module allows for natural language processing, although it is primarily rule‑based with some machine learning enhancements. Pricing tiers include a free plan with basic features, a Pro plan at $19/month for advanced templates and analytics, a Growth plan at $49/month for additional channels and custom scripting, and a Premium plan at $99/month for enterprise features. Consulting firms that require a unified chatbot across web, Messenger, and SMS often choose MobileMonkey for its flexibility and integration options.

Tars is an online chatbot builder that specializes in creating conversational landing pages and lead‑generation bots. The platform offers a drag‑and‑drop builder, allowing users to design conversational flows without coding. Tars’ chat widgets can be embedded on websites, and the platform provides a library of pre‑built templates for various use cases such as lead capture, appointment scheduling, and customer support. One of Tars’ notable features is its ability to generate conversational landing pages that can replace traditional forms, improving conversion rates. The platform supports integrations with CRMs (HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive), email marketing services, and payment gateways. Tars also offers basic analytics to track conversation performance and conversion metrics. Pricing starts at a free trial, after which the Basic plan is $49/month (for one bot), the Premium plan is $149/month (for up to five bots), and the Enterprise plan is custom pricing for larger volumes and advanced features. Consulting firms that need to capture high‑quality leads and streamline appointment booking often turn to Tars for its focus on conversational conversion.