Guide
Price survey: what Hungarian AI chatbot providers charge in October 2026
Short answer
On 5 October 2026 we reviewed the public price lists of twenty-five Hungarian AI chatbot providers. Three price categories emerged: self-service, assisted and custom development, with monthly fees and onboarding fees that differ by an order of magnitude. This page gives the ranges, the items that appear on the invoice and the methodology, but not the names of the providers. All amounts are Hungarian market data in Hungarian forints (HUF), excluding VAT.
This page is written by R-Szoft Kft., the maker of SmartAIAssist (formerly SmartAIChat). The survey was carried out for the pricing of our own product, and it is the source page for the pricing article in our knowledge hub.
Source: How much does an AI chatbot cost in 2026? (interpretation of the survey)
The three price categories (Hungarian market, HUF)
| Category | Monthly fee (excl. VAT) | Onboarding | Who uploads the knowledge base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-service | HUF 0–15,000 | HUF 0 | the customer |
| Assisted, turnkey | HUF 25,000–80,000 | HUF 50,000–350,000, waived by several providers with a contract commitment | the provider |
| Custom development | HUF 100,000–250,000 for operation | HUF 400,000 – 15 million | jointly, as a project |
The ranges show the lowest and highest public value within each category. We did not calculate an average, because the sample is small and the providers use different units.
Items that appear on the invoice
- Onboarding fee. In the assisted category, HUF 50,000–350,000. Several providers waive it with a 6-month or 12-month commitment.
- Overage fee. Once the allowance is used up, there are three practices: automatic billing, suspension or an advance warning. Many price lists do not say which one they follow, so you should ask for this in writing.
- Commitment and notice period. A HUF 0 onboarding fee is often tied to a 6-month or 12-month commitment.
- Add-on modules. Phone assistant, social media channels, email: a separate monthly fee, typically HUF 10,000–80,000.
What counts towards the allowance
Providers use four kinds of unit: answered question, message, conversation or “credit”. These cannot be converted into one another, so the monthly fees of two price lists can only be compared if you know the unit. With a question-based allowance, it is also worth knowing what counts as a question; for us, this is described in the Terms and conditions and on the pricing page.
Limitations of the survey
- We only looked at public price lists; we did not request individual quotes, so actual contract prices may differ.
- The data was collected on a single day, 5 October 2026. The price lists may have changed since then.
- The categorisation is our own decision: we looked at who uploads the knowledge base and whether there is an onboarding fee.
How to use it
Ask every provider in writing for the same seven pieces of information: the monthly fee excluding and including VAT, the unit and size of the allowance, the onboarding fee and its conditions, the overage rule, the commitment and notice period, where the data is stored, and what happens if the assistant does not know the answer. The list of questions is detailed in the guide How to choose an AI assistant.
Methodology
Public price lists of 25 AI chatbot providers available in Hungarian, collected on 5 October 2026. We recorded only the publicly stated monthly fee, onboarding fee, commitment period and allowance; no quotes were requested. Where the provider did not state the VAT status, we treated the figure as excluding VAT. The ranges show the lowest and highest public value within each category; we did not calculate an average. We do not publish the names of the providers.
Changelog
- 15 October 2026: first version, based on the data collected on 5 October 2026
Sources
- How much does an AI chatbot cost in 2026? (interpretation of the survey) · own data · smartaiassist.eu/knowledge/how-much-does-an-ai-chatbot-cost-2026/
- SmartAIAssist pricing · own data · smartaiassist.eu/pricing/
Found an error, or do you have more recent data? Write to
and we will look into it.
FAQ
Price survey
Why are the names of the providers not included?
Because price lists change often, and a dated list with names would quickly become misleading. The ranges are enough to make a decision; we publish our own prices, with a date, on the pricing page.
Are the prices shown excluding or including VAT?
Excluding VAT. Where the provider did not state the VAT status, we treated the figure as excluding VAT, and we note this in the methodology.
How is the survey updated?
Each new data collection gets a new, dated page, and the old one remains. The changelog lists the updates.
Which category does SmartAIAssist belong to?
The assisted category: our team carries out the onboarding, and the monthly fee is in the lower third of the range. You will find the details on the pricing page.
Related pages
See it with your own content.
The automatic preview is ready after you submit, and it is deleted after 24 hours.
In the example conversations, the assistant's answers are given by artificial intelligence. Disclosure under Article 50 of the EU AI Act: "Artificial intelligence, not a human".