Home · How to replace BotHelp and how to transfer bots: token, scripts, database
How to replace BotHelp and how to transfer bots: token, scripts, database
BotHelp is a builder familiar to many with an emphasis on broadcasts and mini-landing pages; the plan in it grows along with the subscriber base. CHBT thinks differently - a fixed price for a bot - and closes Telegram, MAX, VKontakte and chat on the site with one script. Below is how the services differ and how to move without losing subscribers.
What's the difference
BotHelp is good where businesses rely on newsletters: a large base, segments, mini-landing pages for collecting subscribers, WhatsApp, Viber channels and Meta* social networks. The price is tied to the size of the database - the more subscribers, the more expensive.
CHBT is built around conversation, not mailing. One project (“Bot”) connects Telegram, MAX, VKontakte and a widget on the website, the script is the same for all channels, and incoming messages are collected in the “Conversations” section, where operators respond and transmit to each other. There are newsletters on “Basic” and higher - text with variables {{name}}, audience selection by tags, delayed launch - but without media and buttons. Trigger chains are collected in the script using the “Pause” and “Condition” blocks, and not in the mailing section.
What CHBT does not have compared to BotHelp: WhatsApp and Meta* social networks, mini-landing pages, media in script messages (only AI seller cards in Telegram have photos in messengers). If your business runs on WhatsApp, this page is not for you. But there is something that the mailing service does not have: a catalog of goods from the store upload via a link or a price list file, and the bot responds with your price and availability, and not with the text from the mailing template. Using the Wildberries seller key, you receive cards with prices, new orders, reviews and questions, and using the Ozon key, you receive new FBS shipments and reviews. The catalog and prices in the connection matrix are marked “not verified” until the first download takes place.
Comparison by price and channels
| Criteria | BotHelp | CHBT |
|---|---|---|
| How the plan is calculated | By the number of subscribers | Fixed per bot: 0 / 650 / 1290 ₽ per month |
| Free plan | Yes, with restrictions | 0 ₽: 1 bot, 30 conversations per month, all channels, 1 operator |
| Telegram, VKontakte | Yes | Yes |
| WhatsApp, Viber, social networks Meta* | Yes | No |
| Product catalog in the bot | No | Store feed, price file or Wildberries cards by API |
| MAX | Check on the service website | Yes, same script |
| Website chat | Check on the service website | Widget: pre-chat form, triggers, files |
| Broadcasts | Strength | Text + variables, by tags, delayed start; without media and buttons |
| Mini landing pages | Yes | No - deep links, QR and widget on your own website |
| AI agent based on the database knowledge | Check on the service website | Available on “Basic”+, 150/500 credits |
| Operators | According to plan | No limitation on “Basic”+ |
| Data | According to the terms service | Servers in the Russian Federation |
The growth of the base in CHBT does not change the score: a bot with 500 and 50,000 contacts costs the same. The free plan is limited to 30 conversations per month; when exhausted, the bot stops responding to new interlocutors; this is worth remembering when testing. More details on the Plans page, market overview in the article about chatbot constructors in Russia.
Step 1. Telegram bot: transferred by token
Telegram bot does not belong to the designer, but to you: it is determined by the token from @BotFather. The constructor only receives messages via webhook. Therefore, the transfer from BotHelp to CHBT is a webhook switch, not a “new bot”.
- Build and test the script in CHBT first (see step 2) - so the switchover takes minutes rather than hours of downtime.
- Take the bot token from @BotFather: the same one that was in BotHelp, or issue a new one with the command
/revoke- the old one will immediately stop working. How to find a token - in the help center. - In CHBT, open “Channels” → “Connect Telegram”, insert the token. The webhook will be reassigned to CHBT; in BotHelp the bot will not respond from now on - one token listens to one server.
- Write /start to the bot from your personal account and make sure that the script starts.
Link t.me/yourbot, subscribers, QR codes on business cards and in advertising continue to work. The only thing that needs to be recreated is deep links: if you had links like t.me/bot?start=promo, create a “Deep Link” trigger in CHBT with the same payload.
VKontakte is transferred differently: in CHBT, connect the community with the “Connect via VK” button or a key with the “Community messages” and “Community management” rights (“Channels” → “VKontakte”) - CHBT will set up the Callback API itself; disconnect the old service from the community so that two bots don’t reply. MAX, if it is not yet connected, is added using a token from business.max.ru - and this is not a transfer, but an expansion using the same script.
Step 2. flows: rebuilding by blocks
No one on the market has the “import from BotHelp” button. The logic is transferred by hand, but it is faster than it seems if you decompose the old chains into blocks in advance CHBT:
- welcome chain → “Command /start” trigger + “Message” blocks with buttons;
- keyword responses → trigger "Keyword" (exactly / contains / regex);
- phone or e-mail collection → “Data collection” block with format check and error text;
- branching by tag or field → “Condition” block (equals / contains / in the list, branches “yes” and “else”);
- delayed messages and reheating → “Pause” block (from seconds to days) and again “Condition”;
- transfer to manager → “Operator” block: the conversation goes into “Conversations”, the bot becomes silent;
- sending data externally → “Action” → “HTTP request” or “Transaction in CRM”.
Order of work: start with the chain that brings in leads; branches that did not work in BotHelp, do not move - rewrite or delete. The draft can be obtained through the “AI script”: describe the task in text, then correct the blocks; even faster - open one of the templates and rewrite the texts to suit your needs. Run each chain in “Check script” - the test chat opens directly in the editor. Version history allows you to rollback if something is broken. 5-8 medium-sized scripts usually take one evening.
Step 3. Contact Database: CSV and Fair Limits
Upload subscribers from BotHelp to CSV - this is both an insurance policy and a source for tags. In CHBT, open “Contacts” → the “CSV Import” drop-down block (available to the owner and admin) and paste the contents of the file into the text field - the file itself is not downloaded, the text is copied. Heading - name,email,phone,channel,uid,tags, in column channel — telegram, several tags separated by semicolons. Key column - uid: for Telegram this is a numeric user ID. If it is included in the upload, the contacts will appear in the database with tags even before the person writes; when he writes, the conversation will be linked to the same contact. Lines without uid are skipped, and for an existing contact, import will overwrite the name, phone, e-mail and tags.
What import not does - let's say it straight:
- does not transfer conversation history: correspondence from BotHelp will only remain in its upload;
- does not transfer its fields and mailing statistics - only name, e-mail, phone and tags; the script will reassemble the rest through “Data collection” and “into a variable”;
- Without a Telegram ID there is nothing to import: such subscribers will appear in “Contacts” the first time they message the new bot.
Tip from practice: don’t drag 40 old tags. Leave 8-12 workers - you will use them to build segments for broadcasts and conditions in flows. How to build a tag system - in separate article.
Step 4: Mailings, Team, and Checklist
Send the first newsletter after moving to a small segment using a tag - this way you will check the texts and variables. Sending occurs through a queue: messages are sent one at a time with a pause of 50 ms, no faster than 20 per second, the “sent / errors” statistics are visible in the “Mailouts” section. How mailing via a bot works - on the mailing page in Telegram.
Invite colleagues to “Access” via e-mail with the role of Operator or Administrator, turn on sound and Web Push in “Conversations” so as not to miss messages when the tab is closed. The account is installed as an application on the phone (PWA).
Before disabling BotHelp, go through the list:
- all advertising links and QRs lead to the same bot and payload are triggered by “Deep Link” triggers;
- buttons on the site lead to a bot or open a widget CHBT;
- each flow was completed from someone else’s account, as a real subscriber;
- consent to the mailing list is collected in the first message - template “Consent to mailing list”.
It is not necessary to finalize the paid period of BotHelp: the Telegram bot still responds only from one service. You can start with the free plan: create a bot in CHBT and connect the token.
*Meta is recognized as an extremist organization and is banned in the Russian Federation.
FAQ
Will I lose subscribers when transferring a Telegram bot from BotHelp?
No. Followers belong to the bot, and the bot is identified by the @BotFather token. Connect the same token to CHBT - the link, subscribers and QR codes remain. You only need to transfer scripts and, optionally, tags via CSV.
Is conversation history carried over?
No. CSV import creates contacts with name, email, phone and tags, but correspondence from BotHelp does not get into “Dialogs”. Save the BotHelp upload if the story is needed for disputes or analytics.
Does CHBT have mini-landing pages like BotHelp?
No. To collect subscribers, use deep links in the bot, QR codes from the “QR campaigns” section and a widget on your website with a “Leave contacts” button.
How much does CHBT cost with a base of 10,000 subscribers?
The same as at 100: 650 ₽ (“Basic”) or 1290 ₽ (“Business”) per bot per month. The size of the base does not affect the price. The free plan is limited to 30 conversations per month.
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