Sublex Chat vs Chatbase
A Chatbase alternative that comes with the customer facing half
Chatbase and Sublex Chat start from the same idea: build an assistant from the material a business already has, and put it on their website.
Two things send people looking for an alternative.
The badge costs $99 a month. Removing “Powered by Chatbase” is priced at $99 a month on top of your plan. On Sublex Chat, removing the badge is part of the Business plan rather than a separate charge on top of it.
It stops at the bot. Chatbase gives you an assistant. Sublex Chat gives you the rest of the job: an inbox with every conversation in it, a person able to take over mid conversation, leads captured when the assistant cannot help, and a screen listing every question it could not answer so you can fill the gap.
An AI on your website, with your own branding on it
What each one adds up to in a month.
- Everything in one plan $79
Business. Badge removal is in the plan.
- Hobby plan $40
- Remove the badge $99
The $99 is an add on for branding alone. The Sublex Chat Business plan carries badge removal alongside the assistants, live chat and human takeover, so the badge is never a line on the bill by itself.
What each one costs
Scroll the table sideways to see Chatbase.
| What is being compared | Sublex Chat | Chatbase |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | $29 a month, or $24 billed yearly | $40 a month, or about $32 with their 20% yearly discount |
| Remove the badge | Part of the Business plan, $79 a month or $66 billed yearly | $99 a month add on, or Enterprise |
| Extra assistants | 2 on Starter, 5 on Business | $25 a month per extra AI agent |
| Billing unit | Whole conversations, counted only when the assistant answered | Message credits, from 700 a month |
| Running out | The plan caps conversations, and you can add a top up | Credits auto recharge at $40 per 1,000 |
| Live chat and human takeover | In the Business plan | Not the product |
| Missed question log | Yes, with one click answering | No |
| Free plan | 25 conversations a month, kept | 50 message credits, and agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity |
The badge line is the one to sit with. A small business paying $40 a month for Chatbase and wanting its own branding on its own website pays $139 a month. On Sublex Chat the same thing is the Business plan at $79 a month, or $66 billed yearly, and that plan also carries 5 assistants, live chat and human takeover. The badge is never a line on the bill by itself.
Chatbase prices checked on chatbase.co/pricing, 30 August 2026. Sublex Chat prices come from its own plans, read as this page loads.
Messages against conversations
Chatbase bills message credits. Every back and forth costs one. A customer who asks four follow up questions costs you four times as much as one who asks once, even though it is the same enquiry.
Sublex Chat counts the whole sitting as one conversation, and only counts it if the assistant actually answered something. A customer who asks nine questions about your delivery times is one conversation. Nobody is discouraged from asking, and nothing runs out mid sentence.
The difference that is not about money
Both products refuse to answer beyond their source material, which is the right design. Sublex Chat adds what happens next.
When it cannot answer, it says so, captures the customer's number, and records the question on a screen in your dashboard in the customer's own words, with how many times it has been asked. You answer it once and it stops being a gap.
And when a customer needs a person, one of your team takes the conversation over in the same window. The assistant goes quiet on that thread until it is handed back.
When Chatbase is the better choice
- You are a developer building on an API. Chatbase is strong there and Sublex Chat is not. There are five public routes and no public API until a later phase.
- You need many separate agents. Chatbase's Pro plan carries five agents and sells more at $25 each. The Business plan carries 5 and that is the ceiling today.
- You want a bot and nothing else. If you already have a helpdesk you are happy with, the Sublex Chat inbox is not worth paying for.
When Sublex Chat is the better choice
- You want the badge gone without paying $99 a month for it.
- You want an inbox, human takeover and lead capture, not just an assistant.
- You want to know what it could not answer, and fix that.
- You would rather be billed for conversations than for messages.
- Your customers write in several languages. Sublex Chat replies in whatever language they write in, and the widget itself ships in English, French, Arabic and Spanish with right to left layout for Arabic, on every plan.
Frequently asked
Is Sublex Chat cheaper than Chatbase?
For most small businesses, yes. Chatbase's entry paid plan is $40 a month, or about $32 on their yearly discount, and removing its badge is a further $99 a month on top. Sublex Chat's Starter plan is $29 a month, or $24 billed yearly, with the AI included and no separate AI charge; removing the badge is part of the Business plan at $79 a month, or $66 billed yearly. Compared like for like, badge and all, that is $139 against $79. Chatbase prices checked on their pricing page on 30 August 2026.
Does Sublex Chat charge to remove its branding?
Not as a separate add on. Removing “Powered by Sublex Chat” is part of the Business plan, $79 a month or $66 billed yearly, alongside 5 assistants, live chat and human takeover. It is never a line on the bill by itself. On the Free and Starter plans the badge stays.
How is Sublex Chat billed if not by message?
By conversation. One visitor's whole sitting is one conversation, whether that is two messages or fifteen, and it only counts if the assistant answered something. Starter includes 500 a month, Business 2,000.
Does Sublex Chat include live chat?
Yes, on the Business plan, with human takeover. A team member replies as themselves in the same window and the assistant stops replying on that thread until handed back.
Can Sublex Chat read PDFs and documents like Chatbase?
Yes. Your website, PDFs, Word documents, pasted text and question and answer pairs. It answers from those and nothing else.
What happens to my assistant if I stop using it for a while?
Nothing. On the free plan it stays. Chatbase deletes free tier agents after 14 days of inactivity; Sublex Chat does not.
Try it on your own website. No account needed.
Type your web address and watch it read your site and answer questions about your business.