How we checked this
We opened chatbase.co/pricing on October 13, 2026, on the monthly and yearly toggles, and read the credit FAQ in the page data. Hobby is still $40 a month.
What it actually does
Chatbase is a DIY custom GPT. You train an agent on your website, PDFs, Notion, and Q&A, then embed a widget. Email, WhatsApp, Slack, Instagram, and Messenger are channels. Voice launched April 8, 2026: inbound Twilio or SIP on Standard and up. That is the same CX agent on a phone number, not a receptionist SKU. Chatbase Inc. is bootstrapped. No 2021-2026 sale. Live at chatbase.co. The .com address redirects there.
It is not Tidio. Capterra does not even rate live chat as a Chatbase feature. It is not missed-call text-back. There is no Jobber, Housecall Pro, Dentrix, Mindbody, or Clio page. HIPAA is Enterprise only. The DPA forbids special-category data on self-serve. Do not dump patient or case files into Hobby.
Who should buy it
Buy it
Buy it if you will write the FAQs, upload the PDFs, and test the answers every month. A business with a brochure site can put Hobby on the contact page for hours and pricing. The pricing page does not list a free plan. Paid cards offer a 7-day trial. Hobby is $40 a month, or $384 a year, with 700 message credits and 2 members. Standard is $150, 4,000 credits, and that is where Helpdesk, Voice, Telephony, and API start. Pro is $500. Enterprise is custom. An extra agent is $25 a month. Removing the Chatbase brand is $99 a month.
The catch
The reason not to buy is the meter plus the answers. Credits are not messages. The pricing FAQ says each model request costs a number of credits that depends on the model, and an action can send a second request and double that cost. Subscription credits renew on the 1st, even if you subscribed mid-month, and unused ones do not carry over. Hit zero and the public agent stops unless auto-recharge is on, at $40 per 1,000. Those credits do not expire. Fees are non-refundable. Cancel stops the next renewal. Capterra 2023 five-stars already mention fake URLs and the bot forgetting training. Trustpilot, March 31, 2026: a three-year user, costs tripled, features pulled, still cannot book. Capterra customer service sub-score is 3.8. Directories still list Hobby at $19. Stale.
