Off-the-Shelf vs Custom-Trained AI Chatbot: What Does the Extra £199 Get You? 

Two AI chatbots can look identical on your website, answer questions in a similar tone, and still deliver very different results for your business. So, when one costs £199 more than the other, what are you actually paying for? 

It's not just about the chat box. Having an off-the-shelf AI chatbot may suffice if all you need it for is to answer commonly asked questions and customer queries. But with a trained assistant you can teach it your business’s information and link into your systems to automate some of the tasks that your team currently does. 

A higher price doesn’t automatically mean more value. What matters is what you need the bot to do, and whether those features justify the extra cost. 

In this blog, we’ll compare off-the-shelf chatbots with a custom AI chatbot, explain what the £199 difference covers, and help you choose the right option for your business.

What Is an Off-the-Shelf AI Chatbot? 

An off-the-shelf chatbot is a ready-made chatbot that you set up on your website or any other customer touchpoint. 

You could add your website, upload documents, create FAQs, choose the tone, and install a chat widget. The provider takes responsibility for the underlying platform, hosting, and most of the technical upkeep. 

There are definite benefits to that. Setup is usually quick and cheaper than commissioning a custom system, and you won’t need to manage the infrastructure. 

A packaged chatbot may be ideal for answering questions such as: 

• “What time do you open?” 
• “Do you deliver internationally?” 
• “Where can I find your returns policy?” 

If these are the main tasks you need to automate, there may be little reason to pay for additional customisation. 

Why is a Custom-Trained Assistant Different? 

Your information, workflows, and business needs are the foundation of a custom AI assistant. 

The term ‘custom-trained’ doesn't necessarily mean training a model from scratch. Modern systems tend to rely on the language models that already exist in the system, and the assistant is grounded in your knowledge base, instructions, and connected systems. 

For example, a custom assistant could retrieve data from an order system and answer a customer's question regarding the delivery of a particular order. 

It can also qualify leads, update your CRM and book appointments, which is the kind of AI automation that saves your team hours. 

One of the key differences between generic tools and custom chatbot development is the greater understanding of business context. 

AI Chatbot Pricing: What Does the Extra £199 Cover? 

Let's say one chatbot costs £199 less than another. 

It might appear that the lower-cost option is the obvious one to choose if you were just looking at the price. The more relevant question, however, is what has been added to each implementation. 

A simple chatbot can read certain pages on a website and respond to enquiries using the information on those pages. 

• Business knowledge preparation 
• Custom response rules 
• System integrations 
• Testing and handoffs to humans. 

The important number isn't the £199 of the £199 price tag. The scope of difference is. 

So when looking at costs of AI Chatbots remember to look at the features. So these costs of AI chatbots can be deceiving if you don't know what your getting. 

Just because its more expensive doesn't mean its better what are you getting for that price. 

Business Knowledge Matters More Than a Chat Window 

Two assistants can use the same chat widget and still deliver completely different experiences. 

If you have an ecommerce business, and someone asks you: 

“Will this replacement part fit into the model that I purchased last year?” 

An AI chatbot for a business may just be familiar with the information displayed on the product page. If the info is absent, the compatibility must point out the shopper in another direction. 

You can get an AI shopping assistant with your product data. It will be able to search for approved products. Determine compatibility between products. Provide product recommendations. And can be granted secure access to customer or order information. Allowing your customers to get what they need. 

This is also the case for internal assistants. A general chatbot will be able to provide information about how leave is typically applied. An appropriately set up company assistant could respond based on the HR policy you approve and direct them to the appropriate source document.

This is why industry knowledge matters in AI software development as much as the model itself.

Integrations Are Where the Difference Becomes Clear

It's not as if many businesses need another talking tool. They require an ongoing system to help them complete part of a process. 

Here's where a customized AI chatbot can surpass the response to a question. 

For instance, a sales assistant could need to gather data from a lead, verify it satisfies certain qualification criteria, and feed data in a structured format into your CRM. A support assistant may check an order’s status to determine if the customer requires a human assistant. 

Many off-the-shelf platforms offer integrations, but you’re limited to what the provider supports. But you are limited to the integrations and configuration that the provider offers. A customized implementation provides developers with more room to operate around the specific internal systems and processes. 

While it may seem obvious, custom does not necessarily mean better. 

Custom Does Not Automatically Mean Better

That is not true. 

A custom assistant can result in unintended costs and upkeep if you're getting a few repetitive questions, and you already have the answers for them on your site. 

You might be able to solve the problem more quickly with an off-the-shelf chatbot. 

It can also be a problem if you need multiple fixes to get a chatbot to help with your use case. You may find yourself going into other systems after each interaction which defeats the purpose of using the cheaper.

This will depend on the tasks you want the assistant to do.

Compare Outcomes Before Comparing Prices

Write down what the assistant needs to do before deciding on the use of an AI chatbot vs. a custom-trained assistant.

• Does it only need to answer common public questions?
• Does it have to access private company data?
• Should it be able to get data live?
• Does it need to update another system?
• Would any actions need to be approved by humans?
• When the assistant doesn't know the answer, what should happen?

Answering these makes pricing much easier to compare.

If the cheaper product can answer the questions and the other product can complete the workflow that you are now doing manually, it isn't that much of an improvement.

Look Beyond the Monthly Number

When choosing between a package and building your own assistant don’t just pick the cheapest option on the provider’s website.

What tasks do you want your assistant to perform?

A packaged chatbot will probably be your best bet for simple Q&As and general website support.

But if you're looking for something that will use your business knowledge and can tie it into other systems, a customised solution will be worth your money.

With Velocity AI, we look at how you can streamline your business. Not just throw another product into your toolkit.

It's all about creating software to help you do what you're already doing.

Is a Custom AI Chatbot Worth the Extra £199?

If your chatbot only needs to answer opening hours and returns questions, off-the-shelf will do the job. But if you want it to know your products, connect to your systems and actually reduce your team’s workload, custom is where the £199 pays for itself.

Not sure which side you’re on? Tell us what you want your chatbot to handle, and we’ll tell you honestly whether you need custom or not.
Book a free 15-minute consultation