Add a Free AI Chatbot to Your Website That Actually Answers Questions

Customers visit your website at 2 AM with questions. Nobody's there to answer. By morning, they've found a competitor who responded instantly.

An AI chatbot can answer FAQs 24/7, collect lead information, and hand off to a human when needed. But Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per resolution, and Drift starts at $2,500/month. That's expensive for a small business.

Botpress is an open-source chatbot builder that lets you create AI-powered chatbots for free. (GitHub | Official Website)

What Is Botpress?

Botpress is an open-source conversational AI platform. You build chatbots visually — drag and drop conversation flows, connect knowledge bases, and integrate with your website, WhatsApp, or Telegram. The bot understands natural language and can answer questions from your documentation.

• Free and open source (Botpress license — free to self-host)
• Visual flow builder — no code required for basic bots
• AI-powered NLU — understands natural language questions
• Knowledge base / RAG — bot answers from your docs and FAQs
• Multi-channel — website widget, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger
• Human handoff — seamlessly transfer to a human agent
• Custom integrations — connect to your CRM, database, or API

What You'll Need

• A VPS with at least 4 GB RAM ($10-20/month VPS)
• A domain name (e.g., bot.yourbusiness.com)
• About 30-45 minutes of setup time
• Basic familiarity with terminal commands

Step 1: Install Botpress with Docker

# Install Docker
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Create Botpress directory
mkdir -p /opt/botpress && cd /opt/botpress

# Download Botpress
wget https://s3.amazonaws.com/botpress-binaries/botpress-v12_latest.zip
apt install unzip -y
unzip botpress-v12_latest.zip

# Start Botpress
./bp run

Botpress runs on port 3000. Verify with curl -I localhost:3000.

Set Up Nginx and SSL

apt install nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

cat > /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/bot.yourbusiness.com.conf << 'EOF'
server {
  server_name bot.yourbusiness.com;
  location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
  }
  listen 80;
}
EOF

nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx
certbot --nginx -d bot.yourbusiness.com

Visit https://bot.yourbusiness.com and create your admin account.

Step 2: Create Your First Bot

1. Click "Create Bot" and choose a template (Start from scratch or use "Welcome Bot")
2. Name your bot (e.g., "Customer Support Bot")
3. Open the Flow Editor — this is the visual canvas where you design conversations

Step 3: Add a Knowledge Base (RAG)

This is where Botpress gets powerful. Upload your FAQ, product documentation, or any text file, and the bot will answer questions from it:

1. Go to Modules → Knowledge Base
2. Click "Add Document"
3. Upload PDF, TXT, or Word files — or paste text directly
4. Botpress indexes the content using AI embeddings
5. When a user asks a question, the bot searches the knowledge base and generates an answer

Step 4: Design the Conversation Flow

In the Flow Editor, create a simple flow:

1. Welcome node: "Hi! I'm here to help. Ask me anything about our products."
2. Q&A node: If the user asks a question, search the knowledge base and respond
3. Lead capture node: Ask for name and email if the user wants to talk to a human
4. Human handoff node: "Let me connect you with our team. They'll reach out shortly."

Step 5: Embed the Chat Widget on Your Website

Botpress generates an embed code for your website:

<script src="https://bot.yourbusiness.com/assets/modules/channel-web/inject.js"></script>
<script>
  window.botpressWebChat.init({
    host: 'https://bot.yourbusiness.com',
    botId: 'your-bot-id'
  });
</script>

Add this before the closing </body> tag on your website. A chat bubble appears in the corner — customers can ask questions 24/7.

What This Gives You

• A 24/7 AI chatbot on your website
• Answers from your own documentation (RAG-powered)
• Lead capture — collects name, email, phone before human handoff
• Multi-channel — website, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger
• No per-resolution or per-conversation pricing
• Your conversation data stays on your server

Cost Comparison

A business with 500 monthly bot conversations saves $495-2,500 every month by self-hosting Botpress.

Too Complex? We'll Set This Up for You

We'll install Botpress, create a custom bot trained on your documentation, design conversation flows, and embed it on your website:

• One-time setup: $499 (includes bot + knowledge base + website embed)
• Monthly managed: $149/month (updates, monitoring, flow optimization)
• 6-month bundle: $1,499 (3 tools + bot training + support)

Book a free consultation

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Botpress really free?

Yes. Botpress is free to self-host. You can run unlimited bots and handle unlimited conversations for the cost of your VPS. A paid cloud version exists, but self-hosting has no conversation limits.

Does Botpress support AI-powered answers?

Yes. Botpress has built-in RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) support. Upload your docs, and the bot searches them to generate accurate answers. You can connect OpenAI, Anthropic, or local LLMs.

Can the bot hand off to a human?

Yes. You can design a human handoff node in the flow editor. When triggered, it can send a notification to your team via Slack, email, or a shared inbox like Chatwoot.

What channels does Botpress support?

Website chat widget, WhatsApp (via Twilio or Meta API), Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and REST API for custom integrations.

Do I need coding skills to build a bot?

For basic bots, no. The visual flow editor lets you design conversations by dragging and connecting nodes. For advanced integrations (connecting to your CRM or database), some JavaScript knowledge helps.

Can I train the bot on my company documentation?

Yes. Upload PDFs, Word docs, text files, or paste content directly. Botpress indexes everything and uses it to answer customer questions accurately.

How much traffic can Botpress handle?

A 4 GB VPS handles hundreds of concurrent conversations. For high-traffic sites, scale to 8 GB RAM or run multiple Botpress instances behind a load balancer.