SparkGPT vs Chatbase (2026): Pay Per Reply or Pay Per Sale?

What Chatbase does well

Chatbase earned its position, and a fair comparison starts with what it does better than most.

It runs on many channels. One Chatbase agent can answer on your website, by email, on the phone, on WhatsApp, in Slack, in Facebook Messenger and in Instagram direct messages, according to Chatbase's own product overview. If your customers reach you in several places, that breadth matters.

It now sells on Shopify. The Chatbase Shopify app describes itself as an "AI agent for your store. It answers shoppers, places orders, and hands off to your team." The listing says it recommends products, lets shoppers search by text or photo, "adds them to the cart in chat," creates orders on your website, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, and tracks orders. The app has a 4.8 rating from 35 reviews as of October 15, 2026, and the integration is included on every paid plan.

It lets you pick the model. Chatbase offers model families from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others. If you care which model answers, you can choose, and you can trade cost against quality per agent.

It separates testing from real usage. The Hobby plan includes 200 test credits a month on top of its 700 message credits, so building and checking an agent does not eat the allowance your customers use. That is a thoughtful design.

If you need one agent across email, voice and social messaging, or you want deep control over models and actions, Chatbase is a strong choice.

Chatbase pricing as of October 2026

The add ons listed on the pricing page are extra credits through auto recharge at $40 per 1,000, extra agents at $300 per agent per year, and removing the "Powered By Chatbase" badge at $1,188 a year. Paid plans start with a 7 day trial.

Three details decide what a store actually pays.

A credit is not a reply. Chatbase's documentation, as quoted in a September 2026 pricing breakdown by My AskAI, says each response "consumes credits based on the AI model used." Most models cost 1 credit per reply, mid tier models 2 to 4, and the largest Claude Opus models up to 6. On a 3 credit model, Hobby's 700 credits cover about 233 replies, not 700.

Busy months spend more. A shopper comparing three products might send eight messages. Each reply spends credits whether or not that shopper buys, so the bill follows conversation volume, not sales.

Running out stops the agent. According to the same breakdown, if credits run out and auto recharge is off, visitors see "This AI Agent is currently unavailable." Plan credits renew on the 1st of each month. Auto recharge credits do not expire, but they are an extra charge.

SparkGPT pricing

The attribution rule is short. When a visitor chats with the agent, the session is tagged, and any purchase that visitor makes within 24 hours is attributed to the agent and listed in the ROI dashboard. The 5% applies only to those orders. A month with plenty of conversations and no attributed sales costs $2.99, or $35.88 over a year.

Growth runs on prepaid credits, where 1 credit equals $1. If the balance runs out, the agent pauses instead of billing you more. So both products can pause when a balance runs out. The difference is what drains it: replies on Chatbase, attributed sales on SparkGPT.

Reporting on conversations, or billing on sales

Chatbase's product overview describes its analytics as "conversation logs, sentiment and resolution metrics, dashboards." We could not find a published revenue attribution rule on its pricing page, product overview, Shopify listing or Shopify guide. That does not mean you cannot measure Chatbase's sales impact. You can tag links, compare conversion for chatters and non chatters, or run a holdout. It means the measurement is your job, and it has no effect on the bill.

On SparkGPT, the attributed sales are the bill. Every dollar of the variable fee maps to an order you can open in the dashboard. The 24 hour window is tight on purpose. It misses shoppers who come back next week, so it undercounts rather than overcounts, because we are paid on the number. Our guide on how to measure chatbot attributed revenue explains how window length changes the result and how to check any vendor with a holdout test.

So the useful question is not which tool can sell. Both can. It is whether you would rather pay for every reply or for orders you can audit.

The math, including where Chatbase wins

SparkGPT costs less only when a month's attributed sales stay below the Chatbase bill minus $2.99, divided by 0.05.

Three scenarios show how that plays out.

A new store testing AI. The agent fits inside Hobby and is credited with $600 in sales. Chatbase costs $40. SparkGPT costs $2.99 plus $30, which is $32.99. In a month where chat produces nothing, Chatbase is still $40 and SparkGPT is $2.99.

A store selling steadily through chat. Traffic needs Standard at $150 a month, and the agent is credited with $2,500 in sales. SparkGPT costs $2.99 plus $125, which is $127.99. At that volume SparkGPT stays cheaper up to about $2,940 of attributed sales.

A store where chat already sells well. On Standard at $150, the agent is credited with $12,000 in sales. SparkGPT costs $602.99. Here Chatbase is clearly cheaper, and it stays cheaper than SparkGPT even on Pro once attributed sales pass about $9,940. If your agent already converts strongly, a flat credit plan is the better deal.

The yearly view makes the risk plain. Standard billed yearly is $1,440 whether the agent sells or not. A SparkGPT year with no attributed sales is $35.88. For the wider picture across seven platforms, see our AI chatbot pricing comparison.

Feature comparison

Which one should you pick?

Pick Chatbase if you want one agent across website, email, phone and social messaging, you want to choose the model, or your chat already sells enough that a flat $40 to $500 a month is less than 5% of what it brings in.

Pick SparkGPT if you run an online store, want the agent working on every page around the clock without watching a credit meter, and would rather pay a fee you can audit order by order than a fee for every reply. If you sell on Shopify, our guide to adding an AI sales agent to Shopify shows the setup.

If you are unsure, test both on your real catalog. Ask each the same ten questions, including one about a product you do not carry and one asking for a discount you do not offer. Our pre launch testing checklist has the full list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Chatbase cost in 2026?

As of October 15, 2026, Chatbase Hobby is $40 a month for 700 message credits, Standard is $150 for 4,000 and Pro is $500 for 15,000 on monthly billing. Billed yearly they work out to $32, $120 and $400 a month. Extra credits cost $40 per 1,000 and removing the Chatbase badge costs $1,188 a year.

Does one Chatbase message credit equal one reply?

Not always. Each reply spends credits based on the AI model. Most models use 1 credit per reply, while larger models use 2 to 6. On a 3 credit model, the 700 credits in Hobby cover about 233 replies, so check which model your agent uses before estimating your bill.

What happens when Chatbase credits run out?

If auto recharge is off, the agent stops answering and visitors see a message that it is unavailable until credits renew on the 1st of the month. With auto recharge on, Chatbase adds credits at $40 per 1,000. SparkGPT also pauses when its prepaid balance runs out, but its balance is drawn by attributed sales, not replies.

Can Chatbase sell on Shopify?

Yes. Chatbase's Shopify app, listed since January 2026, recommends products, adds items to the cart in chat, creates orders and tracks them. We could not find a published rule for how Chatbase attributes revenue to the agent, so measuring its sales impact is up to you.

Is SparkGPT cheaper than Chatbase?

It depends on how much chat sells. Against Standard at $150 a month, SparkGPT is cheaper while attributed sales stay below about $2,940. At $12,000 in attributed sales, Chatbase is cheaper. In a month with no sales, SparkGPT costs $2.99 and Chatbase still costs its plan price.

Can I try SparkGPT before switching from Chatbase?

Yes. Build and test one agent free on your real store content, with no credit card required, and compare its answers with your Chatbase agent before going live. Going live is one embed snippet in your theme, and setup takes about 10 minutes.

Test it on your own store

Enter your store URL at SparkGPT and you will have a sales agent to test on your real catalog in about 10 minutes, free and with no credit card. When you go live, you pay $2.99 per month plus 5% of the sales it is credited with inside a 24 hour window, and nothing for replies that do not lead to an order. See the pricing page, the FAQ, or compare a per resolution model in SparkGPT vs Intercom Fin. Questions? Write to hello@sparkgpt.ai.