AI Chatbot Costs for Small Businesses: Setup, Monthly Fees and Limits

A software subscription gives you tools to build a chatbot. It does not automatically organise your service information, decide which answers are allowed or establish who handles the customer afterwards. Preparing content, testing questions and defining a human handoff still require work.

When comparing quotes, ask who prepares the knowledge, checks responses, applies changes and monitors the technical operation. Compare those responsibilities alongside the reply allowance and supported channels. A platform licence and an implementation service may cover very different tasks.

Start with approved descriptions of your services, processes, current prices and frequently asked questions. The entry allowance is up to 15 text pages, with a combined limit of 30,000 characters. More files do not automatically mean better answers: contradictions and outdated information should be resolved first.

Depending on the content, targeted document retrieval such as RAG may be useful. It does not make the assistant all-knowing or automatically aware of every change to your business. Updated prices and services need to be reviewed, approved and added to its knowledge.

• Describe each service and its boundaries.
• Prepare common questions with approved answers.
• Provide current prices and conditions if the assistant should explain them.
• Define the enquiry fields and the email address receiving the summary.

In the customer service we offer, the assistant can collect agreed details and hand a summary to one email address. Your team reviews the request, contacts the customer and issues the binding quote after assessing the project. This email handoff is included; it is not sold again as an extra automation workflow.

Reading your mailbox, confirming appointments and making changes inside a CRM are outside the entry scope. The current LEXERNO information chat is also different from the offered customer implementation: it explains services but cannot send email, save enquiries or submit a project. Use our contact form to send us a request.

The €99 monthly fee is mandatory in addition to setup. It covers operation, technical checks, up to 1,000 AI replies and up to 30 minutes of knowledge updates per month. A conversation may contain several replies, so this is a reply allowance rather than a guaranteed number of complete conversations.

We agree on how the usage limit will be handled before launch. Extra usage and extensions require prior agreement. The entry price does not promise unlimited operation or unlimited ongoing development.

• Additional languages and channels such as WhatsApp are assessed separately.
• Booking and CRM actions depend on suitable interfaces and access.
• A larger knowledge base or updates beyond the agreed time need their own assessment.

Yes. The project conversation and the delivered assistant language are separate choices. An international business owner in Germany may prefer English discussions while serving local customers through a German assistant using approved German information.

The entry offer covers one assistant language. Extra versions, translation and copywriting need a separate scope. LEXERNO having content and a chat in three languages does not make the standard customer package automatically multilingual. Choose the customer language first, then assess whether another version is needed.

Imagine a cleaning business in Berlin receiving repeated questions about its service area and quotation process. An assistant could explain the approved information, collect agreed details and pass the summary to the business. The team would still assess the job and prepare the final offer.

This is an illustrative workflow, not a verified customer case study or a measured saving. If visitors only need to leave a name and a message, a clear contact form may be sufficient. We check the actual need before suggesting an assistant.

Before handover, test common questions, incomplete requests and questions outside the approved knowledge. Define when the assistant should ask for clarification or refer someone to a person. Knowledge and testing help, but they do not guarantee error-free answers or authorise invented prices and binding commitments.

Also clarify the required fields, providers involved, access rights and the storage and deletion arrangements appropriate to the implementation. Unnecessary personal documents should not be part of the service knowledge. Choosing a software tool alone is not a blanket legal approval for every use case.