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Search for a free AI chatbot for WooCommerce and you’ll find plenty of plugins with a free version. Install a few and a pattern appears: the chat widget is free, but the features a store actually needs — product search, order tracking, training on your PDFs, WhatsApp — sit behind a Pro license or a monthly plan.
Here’s how to tell a genuinely free website chatbot from a trial in disguise.
The three kinds of “free”
- Free plan with message caps. Hosted chatbots often include a small number of AI conversations, then pause the bot or ask you to upgrade. Busy months — exactly when you need help — are when you hit the cap.
- Free plugin, paid WooCommerce features. The chatbot answers general questions for free, but product recommendations, order status or channels like WhatsApp are Pro or add-ons.
- Free plugin, bring your own AI key. Every feature is included, and you connect your own AI provider account. You pay the provider for usage — nothing to the plugin.
Aisk is the third kind.
What’s free in Aisk
Everything. There is no Pro version and no paid tier:
- Knowledge base trained on your pages, posts, products and FAQs
- PDFs, documents, external URLs and custom text
- AI product search and recommendations with images, prices and buy links
- Order tracking by order number and email
- WhatsApp (via Twilio) and Telegram
- Support tickets and fallback contact details
- Analytics and lead capture
- No message limits and no plan to upgrade to
What you actually pay
AI models cost money to run, so no AI chatbot is free to operate. The difference is who you pay and whether there’s a markup.
With Aisk you paste your own OpenAI API key, and OpenAI bills you directly at its published rates. There are two kinds of usage:
- Embeddings — when you click “Generate Embeddings” or add knowledge. Happens when content changes, not on every chat.
- Replies — each customer message uses OpenAI to understand the question and write an answer.
You can set a monthly budget in your OpenAI account, so your spending has a hard cap you choose. Full breakdown: how AI chatbot costs actually work.
How the “free” versions compare
Based on each plugin’s WordPress.org listing and pricing page (checked October 2026):
| Plugin | WooCommerce product search | Order tracking | WhatsApp / Telegram |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aisk | Free | Free | Free |
| WPBot | Pro (Professional+) | Pro | Pro (Master) |
| WoowBot | Basic free, AI is Pro | Pro | Not listed |
| Hyve | Pro | Pro | Not listed |
| MxChat | Paid add-on | Paid add-on | Not listed |
| AI Engine | DIY with Pro function calling | DIY with Pro | Not listed |
Each of these has strengths Aisk doesn’t — more AI providers, bigger add-on ecosystems, content tools. See the full AI WooCommerce chatbot comparison for where each one wins.
When free isn’t the right choice
Be honest about your needs. A paid tool may suit you better if you:
- need AI models other than OpenAI (Claude, Gemini, local models)
- want add-to-cart inside the chat or abandoned-cart recovery
- don’t want to manage an API key at all and prefer one bundled monthly bill
- have a support team that needs a full live-chat helpdesk
Get started
Install Aisk from WordPress.org, add your OpenAI key, and click Generate Embeddings. The step-by-step setup guide walks through it in about five minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a completely free AI chatbot for WooCommerce?
Aisk is free with no paid tier: product search, order tracking, PDF and URL training, WhatsApp, Telegram and analytics are all included. You pay only for your own OpenAI API usage, directly to OpenAI.
Why do free chatbot plugins still cost money?
AI models cost money to run. Some tools hide that cost inside a subscription with message caps; Aisk lets you connect your own OpenAI key so you pay the provider directly with no markup and no caps.
How much does the OpenAI usage cost?
It depends on how many conversations you have and how much content you index. Usage is billed per token at OpenAI's published rates, and you can set a monthly budget in your OpenAI account so it never exceeds an amount you choose.
What do free versions of other WooCommerce chatbots usually leave out?
Commonly: WooCommerce product search, order tracking, PDF training, WhatsApp/Telegram and analytics. In plugins like WPBot, WoowBot, Hyve and MxChat several of these require a Pro license or paid add-on.
Aisk Team
We build Aisk, the free AI sales chatbot for WordPress and WooCommerce. Questions about this article? Ask in thesupport forum.
