OpenAgent vs Chatbase at a glance
| Feature | OpenAgent | Chatbase |
|---|---|---|
| Built for ecommerce | Yes — Shopify-first | Horizontal / any website |
| Native order actions (track, return, refund) | Built in | Custom API actions you build |
| Pricing model | One flat plan, unlimited text; voice minutes are the only meter | Flat plans + message credits, no per-resolution fee |
| Entry paid plan | $149/mo Desk, every text channel unlimited | $32/mo Hobby, 500 credits |
| High-volume plan | $399/mo Front Desk, 500 voice minutes included | $400/mo Pro, 15,000 credits |
| Remove vendor branding | Included on every paid plan | Listed as a $1,188/year add-on |
| Human handoff + shared inbox | Included on every paid plan | Help desk on Standard and above |
| Product recommendations | Built in | Manual setup |
| Channels (chat, email, WhatsApp, IG) | All unlimited on Desk | Chat-focused, with integrations |
| Trained on your own content | Yes | Yes — a core strength |
| Analytics | Resolution, CSAT, revenue influenced | Chat and usage analytics |
Why ecommerce teams choose OpenAgent over Chatbase
Ecommerce-native actions, not custom API projects
OpenAgent ships with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce actions out of the box — track orders, start returns and exchanges, issue refunds inside merchant-set caps, and update subscriptions inside the chat. With Chatbase you design, build, and maintain those as custom actions against your own APIs.
Flat plans with no success penalty
OpenAgent is one flat plan per business — never per seat, per channel, or per message — with text conversations unlimited on every paid plan. The only meter is voice minutes, billed at a transparent per-minute rate behind a spend cap you set. Neither tool bills per resolution, but OpenAgent's plan ladder bundles the help desk, channels, and branding removal that Chatbase sells as add-ons.
Built-in help desk and human handoff
OpenAgent includes a shared inbox, so the AI escalates to a human with the full transcript and order context attached. Chatbase added help-desk features on its Standard tier and above; most Chatbase-first teams still run a separate support tool alongside it.
Revenue, not just deflection
OpenAgent's agent recommends products, answers pre-purchase sizing and stock questions, and recovers abandoned carts, so support reports revenue influenced alongside resolution rate. Chatbase is optimised to answer and deflect.
Every channel an ecommerce customer actually uses
Web chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram DM, Facebook Messenger, and SMS are unlimited on OpenAgent's Desk plan, with an AI receptionist on a real phone number on Front Desk. Chatbase is strongest as an embedded web agent.
Pricing compared
One flat plan per business, as of August 2026: Free ($0, a single website agent trained on your site and docs), Desk $149/mo (every text channel unlimited — web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS, email), Front Desk $399/mo (adds an AI receptionist on a real phone number, 500 voice minutes included then 25¢/minute), Concierge $1,200/mo (done-for-you setup and monthly tuning, 1,500 minutes then 25¢/minute). No per-seat, per-channel, per-message, or per-resolution fees; voice minutes are the only meter, behind a spend cap you set.
As of July 2026 Chatbase publishes Free ($0, 50 message credits), Hobby $32/mo (500 credits), Standard $120/mo (4,000 credits), Pro $400/mo (15,000 credits), and custom Enterprise, with roughly 20% off annual billing. Listed add-ons include auto-recharge credits at $40 per 1,000, extra agents at $300/agent/year, and branding removal at $1,188/year. Confirm current figures on chatbase.co/pricing.
The headline numbers are close — OpenAgent Front Desk is $399 against Chatbase Pro at $400 — but the meters differ: Chatbase counts message credits, while OpenAgent leaves every text channel unlimited and meters only voice minutes. The gap is what comes bundled: OpenAgent includes branding removal, the help desk, and every messaging channel at tiers where Chatbase sells some of them separately, and a busy text month never moves the bill.
Choose OpenAgent when
- You run a Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce store
- Most of your tickets are about orders, shipping, returns, or refunds
- You want order actions to work without an integration project
- You need human handoff in a shared inbox rather than a second tool
- You want support to recommend products and recover carts, not only deflect
Choose Chatbase when
- Your use case is a general-purpose website assistant, not ecommerce
- You are embedding an agent into a SaaS product, docs site, or internal tool
- Your questions are informational and rarely require touching an order
- You have engineering capacity and want maximum control over custom actions
- You are already deep into Chatbase's API and the switching cost outweighs the gain
Switching from Chatbase
Switching from Chatbase to OpenAgent takes about an afternoon: import the same knowledge sources (site URL, help docs, PDFs), connect your store, and OpenAgent auto-detects products and policies. Your existing chat widget is replaced with a single snippet, and order actions work immediately — no custom action code to port. Budget extra time only if you built substantial custom actions in Chatbase, since those become redundant rather than portable: the equivalent OpenAgent behaviour is configuration, not code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to switch from Chatbase?
Join the ecommerce teams resolving more tickets, answering 24/7, and turning support into a revenue channel with OpenAgent.