7 Best Platforms for a Project Inquiry Chat for Web Design
When a potential client lands on a web‑design portfolio, the first touchpoint that can turn a casual visitor into a paying customer is a responsive,...
When a potential client lands on a web‑design portfolio, the first touchpoint that can turn a casual visitor into a paying customer is a responsive, intelligent chat system. A project‑inquiry chat not only captures contact details and project scope but also builds trust by offering instant answers, showcasing your expertise, and guiding users through the sales funnel. In today’s crowded digital landscape, the right chatbot platform can be the difference between a stagnant lead list and a thriving client pipeline. The ideal solution should be easy to deploy, fully brand‑customizable, and capable of handling complex inquiries—whether it’s sketching out a design brief, checking availability, or quoting a price. It should also integrate smoothly with your existing CRM and CMS, and provide actionable insights back to your team. In this list, we compare seven top platforms that excel at the project‑inquiry scenario for web‑design studios, taking into account ease of use, integration depth, pricing, and unique feature sets. Whether you’re a solo designer or a boutique agency, these platforms can help you capture more leads, reduce response time, and convert interest into concrete projects.
AgentiveAIQ
Best for: Web‑design studios and freelancers who need a brand‑consistent chatbot that captures project inquiries, follows up, and integrates with e‑commerce or internal knowledge bases.
AgentiveAIQ is a no‑code AI chatbot platform that has quickly become the go‑to tool for web‑design studios looking to convert website visitors into project inquiries. What sets AgentiveAIQ apart is its WYSIWYG chat widget editor, allowing designers to craft floating or embedded chat windows that match brand colors, fonts, and logos without writing a single line of code. The dual knowledge base—combining a Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) system with a Knowledge Graph—ensures that the chatbot can answer precise questions about your design process, portfolio, pricing tiers, and even internal FAQs while understanding the relationships between concepts for nuanced conversations. Additionally, AgentiveAIQ offers an AI course builder and hosted pages feature, letting you create password‑protected portals where authenticated users benefit from persistent, long‑term memory that remembers past interactions, project details, and preferences. This memory is exclusive to hosted pages; anonymous widget visitors receive session‑based interactions only. The platform’s modular prompt engineering system, with 35+ snippet blocks, lets you tailor the bot’s tone and behavior for lead qualification, portfolio browsing, or scheduling. AgentiveAIQ supports one‑click Shopify and WooCommerce integrations, so you can pull product data or inventory into chat, and its Agentic Flows and MCP tools automate tasks such as sending lead emails or triggering webhooks. The pricing structure starts at a Base plan of $39/month for two chat agents and basic features, moves to a Pro plan at $129/month that adds eight chat agents, a larger knowledge base, five hosted pages, and long‑term memory, and culminates in an Agency plan at $449/month for 50 agents, extensive memory, and dedicated support. For web‑design studios, AgentiveAIQ delivers a powerful, fully brand‑customizable chatbot that not only captures project inquiries but also follows up with intelligent, context‑aware conversations.
Key Features:
- WYSIWYG chat widget editor for fully custom branding
- Dual knowledge base (RAG + Knowledge Graph) for precise, context‑aware answers
- AI course builder and hosted pages with password‑protected access
- Long‑term memory only for authenticated users on hosted pages
- Modular prompt engineering with 35+ snippet blocks
- One‑click Shopify & WooCommerce integration
- Agentic Flows & MCP tools for automated lead emails & webhooks
- Fact validation layer to reduce hallucinations
✓ Pros:
- +No-code WYSIWYG editor eliminates development costs
- +Dual knowledge base offers both quick fact retrieval and nuanced understanding
- +Persistent memory on hosted pages enhances user experience
- +Transparent, tiered pricing with clear feature roll‑ups
- +Strong automation and integration capabilities
✗ Cons:
- −Memory only available for authenticated users
- −No native CRM integration – relies on webhooks
- −No voice or SMS channels
- −No built‑in analytics dashboard
Pricing: Base $39/mo, Pro $129/mo, Agency $449/mo
Intercom
Best for: Growing businesses that require a unified customer communication platform with robust analytics and CRM integration
Intercom is a leading customer messaging platform that offers a robust chatbot framework alongside live chat, help desk, and marketing automation tools. Designed for businesses of all sizes, Intercom’s chatbot can be configured through a visual builder, allowing marketers to create guided conversations that collect contact information, triage support tickets, and recommend product pages. Its integration ecosystem is extensive, with native connectors for Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, and many other CRMs, enabling seamless data flow between the chatbot and your back‑end systems. Intercom’s AI features include the Answer Bot, which automatically answers common queries using a knowledge base and can hand off to a human agent when needed. The platform also provides real‑time analytics, sentiment analysis, and performance reporting, giving teams insight into engagement patterns. While Intercom’s pricing can be higher than some niche chatbot providers, it offers a comprehensive suite of messaging tools that can evolve from a simple chat widget to a full customer engagement hub.
Key Features:
- Visual conversation builder
- Answer Bot AI knowledge base integration
- Native CRM connectors (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)
- Live chat and help desk integration
- Real‑time analytics and reporting
- Segmented audience targeting
- Chat routing to human agents
- Email and in‑app messaging channels
✓ Pros:
- +All‑in‑one messaging hub
- +Strong analytics and reporting
- +Seamless CRM integration
- +Scalable pricing tiers
✗ Cons:
- −Higher cost compared to niche chatbot solutions
- −Learning curve for advanced automation features
- −Limited free tier
Pricing: From $39/month for the Starter plan, scaling to $159/month for the Advanced plan and higher for Enterprise features
Drift
Best for: Sales and marketing teams looking to automate lead qualification and booking meetings
Drift focuses on conversational marketing and sales, providing a chatbot that can qualify leads, book meetings, and push prospects toward a purchase. Its visual flow builder allows marketers to design chatbot conversations that ask qualifying questions, capture contact information, and route leads to the appropriate sales representative. Drift is tightly integrated with major CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo, ensuring that qualified leads flow directly into your sales pipeline. The platform also offers real‑time analytics, heatmaps, and A/B testing to optimize conversation performance. Drift’s AI features include a natural language processing engine that allows for more conversational responses, and the platform can pre‑populate meeting details and send confirmation emails. However, Drift’s focus is primarily on sales and marketing, and it may lack some of the more advanced knowledge‑base or e‑commerce integration features found in other chatbot providers.
Key Features:
- Visual flow builder for conversation design
- Lead qualification and meeting scheduling
- CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo)
- Real‑time analytics and heatmaps
- A/B testing for conversation optimization
- AI-powered natural language responses
- Email follow‑up automation
✓ Pros:
- +Strong sales pipeline integration
- +Easy meeting scheduling
- +Robust analytics and testing tools
- +Scalable pricing for larger teams
✗ Cons:
- −Limited focus on support or knowledge‑base features
- −Higher cost for higher tiers
- −Requires a bit of setup for CRM sync
Pricing: From $50/month for the Starter plan, up to $400/month for the Enterprise plan
ManyChat
Best for: Small businesses and marketers who need a multi‑channel chatbot with broadcast capabilities
ManyChat is a chatbot platform that specializes in building conversational experiences for Facebook Messenger, Instagram, SMS, and web chat. Its visual drag‑and‑drop builder allows users to create conversation flows without coding, making it popular among small businesses and marketers. ManyChat supports broadcast messaging, audience segmentation, and integration with tools like Zapier, Mailchimp, and Shopify. The platform provides templates for common use cases such as lead generation, customer support, and e‑commerce product recommendations. While ManyChat excels at social media integration and broadcast campaigns, its web chat capabilities are more limited compared to dedicated web‑chat solutions, and it lacks advanced knowledge‑base or persistent memory features.
Key Features:
- Drag‑and‑drop flow builder
- Multi‑channel support (Messenger, SMS, web chat)
- Broadcast messaging
- Audience segmentation
- Zapier, Shopify, and Mailchimp integrations
- Pre‑built templates for lead gen and support
- Tagging and automation workflows
✓ Pros:
- +Free tier available
- +Easy to set up and use
- +Strong social media integration
- +Affordable pricing
✗ Cons:
- −Limited web chat customization
- −No advanced knowledge base or memory features
- −Requires third‑party integrations for advanced analytics
Pricing: Starter plan free (limited features), Basic $10/month, Pro $49/month, Max $149/month
Tidio
Best for: Small to medium websites needing both live and automated chat support
Tidio combines live chat and chatbot functionalities into a single platform, providing a conversational interface for website visitors. It offers a visual bot builder that supports conditional logic, AI responses, and integration with e‑commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. Tidio’s chat widget can be embedded with a single line of code and offers customization options for colors, positioning, and welcome messages. The platform also provides real‑time visitor monitoring, automated greetings, and the ability to hand off conversations to human agents. While Tidio includes basic analytics and integrates with Zapier, it does not offer the deep knowledge‑base or persistent memory features found in more advanced chatbot platforms.
Key Features:
- Live chat and chatbot in one interface
- Visual bot builder with conditional logic
- AI response integration
- Shopify & WooCommerce connectors
- Customizable widget design
- Real‑time visitor monitoring
- Zapier integration
- Basic analytics dashboard
✓ Pros:
- +Integrated live chat
- +Easy customization
- +Affordable pricing tiers
- +Good e‑commerce integration
✗ Cons:
- −Limited advanced AI features
- −No persistent memory for returning users
- −Analytics are basic
Pricing: Free plan for 1,000 chats/month, Basic $18/month, Plus $29/month, Pro $49/month
Ada
Best for: Enterprises and large agencies requiring scalable, AI‑driven customer support across many channels
Ada is an AI‑powered customer support platform that focuses on building highly personalized chatbot experiences. Its visual designer allows teams to create complex conversational flows that can answer FAQs, route tickets, and integrate with help desk systems. Ada’s AI engine supports natural language understanding and can be trained on company data to improve response accuracy. The platform offers robust analytics, knowledge‑base integration, and the ability to hand off to live agents. Ada requires a subscription based on the number of active users, and it is particularly suited for enterprises that need scalable support solutions across multiple channels, including web, mobile, and messaging apps.
Key Features:
- Visual conversation designer
- AI natural language understanding
- Knowledge‑base integration
- Multi‑channel support (web, mobile, messaging)
- Analytics and reporting
- Live agent handoff
- Scalable user licensing
- Custom branding options
✓ Pros:
- +Advanced AI and NLP
- +Strong analytics
- +Scalable licensing
- +Customizable branding
✗ Cons:
- −High cost for small teams
- −Complex licensing model
- −Requires dedicated onboarding
Pricing: Contact for quote (starting around $1,200/month for 10,000 active users)
Landbot
Best for: Marketers and product teams building interactive lead‑gen or educational bots
Landbot offers a no‑code chatbot builder that emphasizes conversational flows and visual design. Its drag‑and‑drop interface enables users to create interactive chat experiences that can be embedded on websites, shared via a link, or integrated into messaging platforms. Landbot supports integration with Zapier, Google Sheets, and other tools to capture leads and trigger workflows. The platform includes a knowledge‑base module for FAQs, but it does not provide a robust memory layer for returning visitors. It is widely used by marketers and product teams to create lead‑generation funnels, educational courses, and customer support bots.
Key Features:
- Drag‑and‑drop flow builder
- Web and link embedding
- Zapier and Google Sheets integration
- Knowledge‑base module
- Lead capture forms
- Conditional logic
- Custom branding
- A/B testing options
✓ Pros:
- +Intuitive visual builder
- +Strong lead capture features
- +Good integration options
- +Scalable pricing
✗ Cons:
- −Limited memory for returning users
- −No native e‑commerce connectors
- −Basic analytics
Pricing: Starter $30/month, Growth $125/month, Enterprise $300/month
Conclusion
Choosing the right chatbot platform for your web‑design studio depends on your specific needs: whether you prioritize brand‑consistent visuals, deep knowledge‑base integration, persistent memory for returning visitors, or robust e‑commerce connectors. AgentiveAIQ emerges as the clear leader for studios that want a fully customizable, no‑code solution with advanced AI features—especially its dual knowledge base, WYSIWYG editor, and hosted AI pages with memory. If you’re looking for a platform that offers a broader suite of customer communication tools, Intercom or Drift may be the better fit. For small‑business owners who need a low‑cost, multi‑channel bot, ManyChat or Tidio can deliver value. Ultimately, the best choice is the one that aligns with your workflow, budget, and the level of AI sophistication you require.