A correctly set up chatbot can communicate with customers, answer questions, and even take orders. Do you need a virtual assistant for business or a new project? Do it yourself.

Building a chatbot for Facebook, Telegram or Viber is rather simple even without professional skills. Any user can create and adjust a chatbot using platforms that offer the basic set of tools free of charge. This is relevant for both business issues and personal use.

A chatbot can automatically:

• send news;
• answer questions;
• engage user in a talk;
• process applications.

When used correctly, chatbots can also efficiently encourage people for actions such as making a purchase, viewing, or clicking.

Let’s review several services that can help you to build a chatbot without any fees. Some of them offer expanded features for additional cost, but a simple bot does not require any investments.

Popular platforms to build a chatbot

ManyChat: we need more bots

The platform helps to build assistants for Telegram and Facebook Messenger. The official statistics speaks in favor of the platform’s popularity: 170,000 chatbots were built globally with the help of ManyChat.

A chatbot is built within five minutes. The service has a basic free version. Such a bot can do automatic mailing; it can be assigned with a set of questions and answers, text, images, links.

ManyChat has a simple and user-friendly interface and requires basic PC user skills. The cost of advanced packages starts from $10. There is no Russian version of the website.

Advantages:

• usability;
• availability of a free version;
• speed of setting up;
• provides reports on mailing, opening, clicking;
• integrated with Zapier service.

Chatfuel: free of charge

A fully free service for independent building of chatbots on Facebook and Telegram. Netflix, Forbes, and Uber use virtual assistants that were built and adjusted using this platform. A user is offered a set of templates that are easily customized without special knowledge. This service is used by 17 million people in the world.

Advantages:

• integrated with Google, Twitter, YouTube and other popular platforms;
• convenient setting up;
• simple testing;
• a possibility to create a clone;
• accepts payments.

ChattyPeople: for business on Facebook

A convenient platform for creating virtual assistants on Facebook. A nice match for both small and big companies. No need for coding skills, the platform is simple and user-friendly. It allows building a chatbot that will answer the most frequently asked questions on Facebook, will be able to learn using AI technologies.

Advantages:

• integrated with Shopify e-commerce platform;
• intuitive interface;
• oriented towards Facebook commerce.

FlowXO: simple and affordable

A free platform to build chatbots on Slack, Facebook, and Telegram. The expanded version offers additional capabilities that do not require being a programmer. It stands out for functionality, intuitive visual interface. The basic version provides a possibility of building up to 5 bots and 500 interactions. The minimum price of the expanded version is $20.

Advantages:

• integrated with hundreds of programs and apps;
• supports most of platforms;
• chatbot can be embedded in any web page;
• uses key words and filters;
• uses email databases.

Botsify: a basic set

The platform allows building a chatbot with the basic set of functions and machine learning option. Virtual assistant will be able to answer questions, work with key words, and support communication with a maximum of one hundred users per month (in the free version). Bots built with Botsify can deliver texts, videos, photos, and documents.

Advantages:

• offers a template constructor;
• possibility of the machine learning;
• convenient analytics;
• integrated with WordPress.

Conclusions

Chatbots significantly simplify, speed up, and automate business processes. At the same time, they do not require constant expenditures. Anyone can build his own chatbot and customize it for the project using special platforms: both fee-based and free of charge.