Chatbase is one of the best-known "build your own AI chatbot" platforms. You point it at your website and documents, it trains a custom GPT-style assistant on that content, and you embed the widget. It's powerful and popular — and for estate agents it raises a useful question: should you build an AI chatbot from a general platform, or buy one already built for property? This guide reviews Chatbase for UK estate agents and compares the two paths.

Chatbase pricing (2026)

PlanPrice (USD)Notable
Free$0~50 messages/month
Hobby~$40/mo (or ~$32/mo billed annually)500 messages/month, 1 agent
Standard~$150/mo (or ~$120/mo billed annually)4,000 messages/month, API access, voice/telephony
Pro~$500/mo (or ~$400/mo billed annually)15,000 messages/month, advanced analytics
EnterpriseCustomSSO, scale

Per Chatbase's website, June 2026. Billed in USD; plans are gated by monthly message credits. Headline prices shown are the annual-billed equivalent; monthly billing is ~25% higher.

Build vs buy — the real decision

Chatbase gives you a blank, capable AI you train yourself. Sift gives you an AI already trained on UK property qualification, with Zapier, outbound webhook and REST API routing (Growth and Scale) and GDPR consent built in. Chatbase is a platform; Sift is a finished product for one job. Which is right depends on how much building you want to do.

Chatbase vs Sift at a glance

 ChatbaseSift
ModelBuild-your-own AI chatbot platformReady-made property AI
Trained onWhatever you uploadUK property qualification, out of the box
Buyer qualification~ Only if you design it✓ 14-point scoring built in
Lead scoring✗ Not native✓
Property CRM push~ DIY via API/Zapier✓ Via Zapier, webhook & API
GDPR property consent~ Configure yourself✓ Built in
Setup effortYou build, train, integrateOne script tag, ~10 minutes
PricingFrom ~$40/mo (USD) monthly, or ~$32/mo billed annually; message capsFrom £149/mo flat

What Chatbase is good at

Chatbase
Build-your-own AI chatbot

A flexible platform for training a custom AI assistant on your own content and embedding it anywhere. Strong for FAQ-style support across any industry.

Strengths
  • Train an AI on your own website and documents
  • Flexible — answers anything in your content
  • Reasonable entry pricing for a custom bot
  • API and integrations for the technically minded
  • Good general FAQ deflection
Limitations for estate agents
  • No built-in UK property qualification or lead scoring
  • You design the conversation flows and signals yourself
  • CRM push to Alto/Reapit etc. is DIY (API/Zapier)
  • USD billing with monthly message caps
  • GDPR property-consent is your responsibility

Pricing (annual-billed equivalents): Free · Hobby ~$32/mo ($40 monthly) · Standard ~$120/mo ($150 monthly) · Pro ~$400/mo ($500 monthly) · Enterprise custom (USD).

Best for: Agencies (or developers) happy to build and maintain a custom bot, mainly for answering FAQs from their own content.

The catch: a trained bot still isn't a qualifier

Even if you do the work to train Chatbase on your listings and FAQs, you get a bot that can answer questions. Turning that into a tool that qualifies a buyer — asking the right property questions in the right order, recognising a proceedable buyer, scoring the lead, and routing a structured record into a CRM via Zapier, webhook or API — is a meaningful build-and-maintain project. You'd be re-creating, prompt by prompt and integration by integration, what a property-specific tool already does.

That's the trade-off. Chatbase gives you flexibility and a blank canvas; the cost is your time designing, testing and maintaining property logic that a tool like Sift ships with on day one. If you want the reasoning behind property-specific qualification, see our guide to AI lead qualification for UK estate agents and our piece on writing custom prompts for an AI agent.

Chatbase is a great platform. For an agent who wants a finished property qualifier rather than a project, buying beats building.

Frequently asked questions

Can I build an estate agent chatbot with Chatbase?
Yes. You can train Chatbase on your website and documents and embed it. It will answer FAQs about your agency and listings. To make it qualify buyers (chain, DIP/AIP, budget, timeline), score leads, and push to your CRM, you'd need to design those flows and integrations yourself — that's the build-vs-buy decision.
How much does Chatbase cost?
Chatbase bills in USD with plans gated by monthly message credits: a free tier (~50 messages), Hobby from ~$32/mo, Standard from ~$120/mo, Pro from ~$400/mo (annual billing; monthly billing is ~25% higher), and a custom Enterprise tier.
Does Chatbase integrate with Alto or Reapit?
Not natively. Chatbase offers an API and generic integrations, so a property-CRM connection would be a custom build (often via Zapier or developer work). Sift delivers scored leads to your dashboard and into your CRM via Zapier, outbound webhook or the REST API on Growth and Scale; native Alto, Reapit, Dezrez, Loop and Rex integrations are on the roadmap.
Is it better to build or buy an estate agent AI chatbot?
Build (with Chatbase) if you want full control and have the time/skills to design and maintain property logic. Buy (with Sift) if you want a qualifier that already understands UK property, scores leads, and delivers them to your dashboard and CRM via Zapier, webhook or the API on Growth and Scale.

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