Top 7 Alternatives to HubSpot Chatbot for Online Retailers

DeepAI offers a suite of AI services accessible via a simple web interface and an API. Its chat feature provides a conversational AI that can answer user queries, while other offerings include text‑to‑image generation, video creation, music composition, voice chat, and a photo editor. For online retailers, DeepAI’s image generation can be used to create product mock‑ups or promotional graphics on demand, and its chat function can serve as a basic customer support bot. The platform’s pricing structure includes a free tier with limited usage and paid plans that unlock higher request limits and advanced features. While DeepAI doesn’t specialize in e‑commerce workflows or provide built‑in integrations with Shopify or WooCommerce, its flexible API allows developers to hook into existing storefronts, assuming some custom coding effort. The service is user‑friendly, with a clean dashboard and straightforward documentation, making it a solid choice for agencies or tech‑savvy merchants who want to experiment with AI without a large upfront investment.

Google Gemini is the flagship conversational AI from Google, available through the Gemini API and integrated into Google’s suite of products. Gemini supports natural language chat, advanced search, and contextual understanding, making it suitable for customer support, product recommendations, and lead qualification. While it doesn’t provide a drag‑and‑drop editor or out‑of‑the‑box e‑commerce connectors, developers can build custom chat interfaces that query Gemini for real‑time answers. Google’s ecosystem offers robust infrastructure, scalability, and security, which can be valuable for large retailers. Pricing for Gemini is tiered, with a free quota and paid usage beyond that; Google also offers enterprise agreements for high‑volume customers. Gemini’s strengths include deep integration with Google Cloud services and the ability to leverage Google’s knowledge graph for factual information. However, the lack of a visual editor and e‑commerce specific features means retailers must invest in custom development to fully realize the platform’s potential.

ChatGPT Enterprise, the business‑grade offering from OpenAI, delivers the same powerful language model used in ChatGPT but with added security, compliance, and collaboration features. Retailers can embed the chatbot into their storefronts to answer product questions, guide shoppers through the purchase process, and capture leads. Enterprise plans include dedicated support, data privacy controls, and the ability to train on custom datasets, which help reduce hallucinations. However, ChatGPT Enterprise does not provide a dedicated visual editor for chat widgets; merchants must embed a script or use third‑party integration tools. The platform offers a $20‑per‑user‑month price point for teams, but detailed API usage costs apply separately. While it excels at natural language understanding, it lacks native e‑commerce connectors, so custom development is required for inventory or order data retrieval. Despite this, the combination of a robust model, enterprise compliance, and API flexibility makes ChatGPT Enterprise a strong alternative for retailers who can afford the investment and have the technical resources to integrate it.

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that blends live chat, chatbots, and email automation to generate and qualify leads. Its chatbot can answer product questions, book demos, and gather contact information, making it well suited for retailers that want to capture leads directly from their site. Drift offers a visual chatbot builder with drag‑and‑drop flow logic, though it’s less focused on brand‑matching custom styling than AgentiveAIQ. It also integrates with popular CRMs such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo, allowing captured leads to flow straight into the sales pipeline. Pricing is tiered: the Essentials plan starts at $400/month and the Growth plan at $800/month, both of which include a limited number of chatbot interactions and conversation minutes. Drift’s strengths lie in its marketing automation and CRM integration, but it lacks a dual knowledge base or persistent memory for authenticated users. For retailers who prioritize lead generation over a deep knowledge‑graph chatbot, Drift remains a compelling choice.

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that combines live chat, chatbots, and knowledge base articles to support customers throughout the buying journey. Its bot builder allows merchants to create automated responses to common inquiries, schedule follow‑ups, and route conversations to human agents. Intercom offers a visual editor for chat widgets, enabling customization of colors, positioning, and welcome messages. While it does not provide a dual knowledge base, it integrates with an in‑built knowledge base that can be queried by the bot. The platform supports integration with e‑commerce platforms like Shopify, allowing order status updates and product recommendations. Intercom’s pricing starts at $39/month for the Starter plan, which includes a limited number of messages and a single bot. Higher tiers, such as the Pro and Premium plans, raise limits and add advanced automation and reporting. Intercom is well‑suited for retailers that need a comprehensive messaging hub but may not require the advanced AI features of AgentiveAIQ.

Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is a live‑chat solution focused on providing real‑time support and lead capture. It offers a straightforward widget that can be embedded on any website, and merchants can use its chatbot builder to automate common questions. The platform provides a visual editor for styling the chat window and integrates with Zendesk’s ticketing system, allowing conversations to be forwarded to support agents. While Zendesk Chat does not have a dual knowledge base or advanced AI capabilities, it does support basic FAQ lookup through its knowledge base integration. The service is available in three tiers: the Free plan gives limited chat sessions, the Growth plan starts at $19/month, and the Enterprise plan offers advanced features for larger teams. Zendesk Chat is a solid choice for retailers seeking a simple, cost‑effective live‑chat tool with robust ticketing integration, but it falls short on AI‑driven knowledge retrieval and persistent memory for authenticated users.