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The cost of AI in a chatbot: what a neural network reply costs and how to count credits
AI in CHBT is not sold separately — it is included in the plan as AI credits: Basic at 650 ₽ a month gives 150 credits, Business at 1,290 ₽ gives 500, and there is no AI on Free. An AI agent reply on the default model costs 1 credit, up to 7 on powerful models; voice transcription and translation in Conversations cost 1 credit each, and intent recognition is free. Prices as of November 5, 2026.
In short: how much AI each plan has
| Plan | Price per bot | AI credits | Which models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 ₽ | no AI | — |
| Trial period | 3 days of Business for free | 100 | up to 1 credit per reply |
| Basic | 650 ₽ a month | 150 a month | up to 2 credits per reply |
| Business | 1,290 ₽ a month | 500 a month | all models |
AI is not sold separately: credits are included in Basic and Business. The trial period turns on by itself when the first channel is connected to the bot, and it is given once per owner. After three days without payment the bot moves to the Free plan: flows, buttons and requests keep working, while AI blocks reply with a plan message.
What an AI credit is
A credit is CHBT’s internal unit for counting AI work. It is convenient because you do not have to think about tokens and the dollar exchange rate: each model has a fixed price in credits per reply.
On the default model, one AI agent reply or one AI sales assistant turn is 1 credit. So Basic’s 150 credits are about 150 replies a month, and Business’s 500 credits are about 500. If you choose a more powerful model, a reply costs more, and the same credits give fewer replies. For example, on Claude Haiku 4.5 at 2 credits the same 150 credits give about 75 replies.
Credits are deducted only for a successful reply: if the model did not answer, no credit is spent. The credit balance is shared across the bot: all its agents, the AI sales assistant and voice messages spend it together. Another bot on its own plan has its own balance.
Reply price on different models
| Model | Agent reply or sales assistant turn | Flow generation |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-5 nano | 1 | 1 |
| Qwen 3.7 Plus | 1 | 1 |
| GPT-5 mini | 1 | 2 |
| Gemini 3 Flash — default | 1 | 2 |
| DeepSeek V3.1 | 1 | 2 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 6 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | 3 | 7 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | 4 | 10 |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | 7 | 17 |
Prices in credits per reply are also shown in the account itself — next to each model in the selection list. We review the model catalog, so check the account before choosing.
The “AI in Russia” mode
For schools, kindergartens and everyone who needs texts not to leave the country, the bot can turn on “AI in Russia”. Then Yandex models reply, and requests are processed in Yandex Cloud in Russia:
- Alice AI LLM Flash — 1 credit per reply, 2 for flow generation;
- YandexGPT 5.1 Pro — 3 credits per reply, 11 for flow generation.
Foreign models are not used in such a bot, and intent recognition and voice transcription also go through Yandex. How AI works for educational institutions is covered in the article on an AI assistant for a kindergarten.
What else spends credits
- An AI agent reply — at the chosen model’s price; 1 credit on the default model.
- An AI sales assistant turn — picking a product from the catalog, also at the model’s price.
- Flow generation and AI editing — when you ask the AI to build a bot from a description: 1–17 credits depending on the model.
- Voice message transcription — 1 credit. Customers’ voice messages are turned into text, and the bot replies to them as to an ordinary message.
- Translation in Conversations — 1 credit per translation: the operator translates an incoming message into Russian and their reply into the customer’s language.
Mind the test chat: in Check flow AI blocks reply for real and also spend credits.
What is free
- Intent recognition — the AI intent trigger runs on a service model and does not spend credits. More — in the article on intent recognition.
- Everything that is not AI: flows, buttons, Condition, Data collection, tags, CRM, broadcasts, operators. A bot on buttons and conditions works without a single credit.
So frequent questions with a clear answer — prices, address, schedule — are cheaper to close with buttons or keywords, with the AI agent in Any message for the rest. How to make the agent answer right the first time — in the article on a knowledge base for an AI agent.
Model limit on Basic
On the Basic plan models up to 2 credits per reply are available: GPT-5 nano, Qwen 3.7 Plus, GPT-5 mini, Gemini 3 Flash, DeepSeek V3.1, Claude Haiku 4.5 and Gemini 3.5 Flash. The most powerful models — Claude Sonnet 5, GPT-5.6 Terra and Claude Opus 4.7 — open on Business.
If an agent has a model more expensive than the plan allows — for example, after moving from Business to Basic — the bot will not go silent: the default model replies, and credits are charged at its price. The same happens if the chosen model is temporarily unavailable.
In the trial period models at 1 credit are available.
When an expensive model is justified: long consultations where reasoning matters — choosing a study programme, a complex technical question, an initial legal consultation. When it is not: answers about prices, schedules and delivery terms. A 3–7 credit model does not answer such questions noticeably better, while credits go three to seven times faster. The model is chosen for each agent separately, so you can put an expensive one only where it is really needed.
When credits are topped up
- Monthly payment — with each payment the balance is raised to the plan’s norm: 150 on Basic, 500 on Business. If more than the norm is left from the previous month, the remainder is kept, but new credits are not added to it.
- Annual payment — 365 days of the plan with a 20% discount: Basic — 6,240 ₽ a year, Business — 12,384 ₽. Credits are topped up to the norm every 30 days.
- Trial period — 100 credits for 3 days.
Credits cannot be bought separately for now. If Basic’s 150 credits are not enough, the next step is Business with 500 credits and all models.
What happens when credits run out
The bot does not break. Instead of a model reply, the AI block sends the customer a neutral message — by default “AI replies are unavailable right now. Write your question — we will reply.” — and follows the fallback branch. Usually it leads to an operator so that the question gets a human answer.
Everything that is not AI keeps working: buttons, request collection, broadcasts, payment. That is why the AI block’s fallback branch must lead somewhere rather than break off.
On the Free plan, instead of a reply the AI block shows “AI is available on the Basic plan.” and also goes to the fallback branch.
How to estimate usage
A simple calculation for a bot on the default model:
- Count how many conversations a month will reach the AI agent. Not all conversations, only those where the customer asks a free-form question.
- Multiply by the average number of agent replies per conversation — usually 2–3.
- Add voice messages: 1 credit each.
Example: 60 AI conversations × 2 replies + 20 voice messages = 140 credits. That fits into Basic. 200 conversations × 2.5 replies = 500 credits — that is already Business. A week after launch compare the remaining credits with the start of the period — that is the real usage — and recalculate the monthly forecast.
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