Dante AI is a no-code AI chatbot platform that trains on your website and documents, with a free plan (1 agent, 100 credits/month) and paid tiers at $40, $120, and $400 per month (or $33/$100/$333 billed yearly). Agents by AIQ is a done-for-you alternative: AIQ Labs designs, builds, and operates AI agents for your business — phone answering, lead follow-up, support, and workflow automation — on month-to-month terms with no DIY setup. If you want a self-serve website chatbot you can launch yourself, Dante AI fits; if you want a team to build and run agents across your phone lines and tools for you, Agents by AIQ is the better match.
Bottom line: These are different products solving different problems: Dante AI is a self-serve, credit-metered chatbot platform you configure yourself, while Agents by AIQ is a done-for-you agent service built and operated for you. The right pick depends on whether you want a tool or a team.
TL;DR
- Dante AI's own pricing page lists four tiers: Free ($0, 1 agent, 100 credits/month), Starter $40/month, Advanced $120/month, and Pro $400/month, with yearly billing at $33/$100/$333.
- Dante AI trains agents on your website and uploaded documents and gets a working agent live in about 60 seconds with a single script-tag embed.
- Dante AI's free plan does not expire and needs no credit card, but credits reset monthly and do not carry over.
- Third-party review site ColdIQ lists lower Dante AI figures ($14.50/$49.50/$149.50 with 50% off the first three months), so treat promotional pricing claims with care and check the vendor's own page.
- Dante AI integrates with Shopify, HubSpot, Zendesk, Slack, WhatsApp, and 9,000+ apps through Zapier, with built-in human handover that passes full conversation context.
- Agents by AIQ takes a different approach: a done-for-you service where AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and operates AI agents — including AI receptionists answering on a real phone number — for small and mid-size businesses.
- Agents by AIQ works month-to-month and the client owns everything; the entry point is a call to scope the agent for your business.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Dante AI | Agents by AIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan; paid tiers $40/$120/$400 per month ($33/$100/$333 yearly); add-ons $20/mowinner | Scoped per business; month-to-month terms |
| Ease of use | Self-serve: paste your URL, agent live in about 60 seconds | Nothing to configure — the team builds and runs it for you |
| Features | Website chat, phone voice, human handover, lead capture, weekly/daily re-crawls, API on Pro | AI receptionist on a real phone number, SDR/follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointment setters, workflow automationwinner |
| Support | Email, knowledge base, live chat; account manager at Pro tier | Ongoing operation by the AIQ Labs team is part of the servicewinner |
| Integrations | Shopify, HubSpot, Zendesk, Slack, WhatsApp, Instagram, 9,000+ apps via Zapierwinner | Integrated with the tools the business already uses, scoped per build |
| Setup | Self-serve, no setup fee, single script-tag embedwinner | Scoping call, then a done-for-you build by AIQ Labs |
| Ownership & terms | Cancel or change plans anytime from the Plans page; leads belong to you | Month-to-month; the client owns everything |
Scores
Dante AI
dante-ai.com ↗Dante AI is a no-code platform for building custom AI chatbots and voice agents trained on a business's own content — website pages, uploaded documents, and help center material. You paste your website URL, the platform reads your content, and a working agent goes live in about 60 seconds, embedded with a single script tag on HTML, Webflow, WordPress, or Squarespace sites. Agents answer customer questions 24/7, capture leads with name, email, and phone plus the conversation they came from, and hand over to a human mid-chat with full conversation context. Channels include website chat, phone voice with a rented phone number, and a team inbox. Integrations cover Shopify, HubSpot, Zendesk, Slack, WhatsApp, Instagram, and 9,000+ apps through Zapier. Knowledge re-crawls automatically — weekly on Advanced, daily on Pro — so answers stay current as your site changes. Pricing is a flat fee metered by message credits per answer rather than per seat, with a free plan that does not expire. It suits startups through mid-market teams that want self-serve automation of repeat questions, lead capture, and appointment booking without adding staff.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 1 AI agent, 100 messages/month, 1 seat, 150K characters of knowledge, website chat |
| Starter | $40/mo | Up to 2,000 messages/month, 2 seats, 25M characters, every AI model, phone voice, 9,000+ Zapier apps ($33/mo billed yearly) |
| Advanced | $120/mo | 3 AI agents, up to 8,000 messages/month, 3 seats, 50M characters, lead capture, human inbox handover, rented phone number, weekly re-crawl ($100/mo billed yearly) |
| Pro | $400/mo | 10 AI agents, up to 30,000 messages/month, 5 seats, 200M characters, API access, daily re-crawl, white-label ($333/mo billed yearly) |
| Add-on: extra AI agent | $20/mo | A second brand, language, or site; bought and cancelled per month on any paid plan |
| Add-on: extra credits | $20/mo | 1,000 extra message credits on any paid plan |
Pros
- Transparent, flat monthly pricing from $0 to $400 with no setup fee on any tier
- Genuinely usable free plan: 1 agent, 100 credits/month, no card, does not expire
- Fastest deployment in the category — a working agent in about 60 seconds from a website URL
- Credits metered per answer, not per seat, so the bill does not climb when the team grows
- Built-in human handover passes the full conversation so customers never repeat themselves
- Automatic re-crawling keeps answers current as your site changes
Cons
- Credit costs vary sharply by model — 1 credit on light models but up to 25 on the heaviest, so the same plan stretches very differently
- Free plan credits reset monthly and unused credits do not carry over
- It is a read-and-answer tool, not an action-taking agent — it cannot process refunds or update records in your systems
- Third-party listings (ColdIQ) show different promotional figures ($14.50–$149.50 with 50% off first 3 months), which can confuse buyers comparing prices
- Self-serve means you do the configuration, training-content cleanup, and ongoing tuning yourself
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs, and it takes a fundamentally different approach from DIY chatbot platforms: instead of handing you a toolkit, the team designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses. The roster covers AI receptionists and phone answering on a real phone number, voice agents, sales follow-up and SDR agents, customer support agents, email agents, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation — each integrated with the tools the business already uses. The positioning is deliberate: not another AI wrapper or DIY toolkit, but a done-for-you agent build operated by AIQ Labs, the team behind the AI Business Sites platform. The site itself is styled as an engineer's notebook, sketching the agents being designed for your business. Target buyers are owner-operators and small teams in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, and professional services who are losing missed calls, suffering slow lead follow-up, and drowning in manual busywork. Terms are month-to-month and the client owns everything that is built.
Pros
- Done-for-you: AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and runs the agents, so no in-house configuration burden
- Covers phone answering on a real phone number — the AI Receptionist-grade capability beyond a website chat widget
- Breadth beyond support: sales follow-up/SDR agents, email, marketing, appointment setting, and workflow automation
- Month-to-month terms and the client owns everything built
- Backed by the team behind the AI Business Sites platform
- Agents are integrated with the specific tools each business already uses
Cons
- Not self-serve — getting started means a scoping call and a build period rather than a 60-second launch
- No free plan or self-serve trial tier to test before committing
- Suited to owner-operators and small teams in specific verticals rather than anyone wanting a generic website widget
- Browser-based site voice agent differs from the real-phone-number AI receptionist capability, so channel scope depends on what you buy
Pricing compared
Self-serve platform vs. done-for-you agents
Who Dante AI is for — and why businesses switch away
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Dante AI cost in 2026?
Dante AI's own pricing page lists a Free plan at $0 (1 agent, 100 messages/month, 150K characters of knowledge), Starter at $40/month or $33 billed yearly, Advanced at $120/month or $100 yearly, and Pro at $400/month or $333 yearly. Extra agents and 1,000-credit top-ups are $20/month each on paid plans. Credits are metered per answer, not per seat, and there is no setup fee on any tier.
Is Dante AI's free plan actually usable?
Yes. It includes one AI agent, 100 message credits per month, one seat, and 150,000 characters of knowledge, with no credit card required and no expiry. The limits worth knowing: credits reset on the 1st of each month, unused credits do not carry over, and every model on the free plan costs one credit per answer, so 100 credits is 100 answers.
Why do some sites list Dante AI at $14.50/month?
Third-party review site ColdIQ lists promotional figures — Starter $14.50, Advanced $49.50, Pro $149.50, described as 50% off for the first three months. Dante AI's own pricing page currently shows $40/$120/$400 as the standard monthly rates. When comparing, use the vendor's own pricing page for current list prices and read promotional terms carefully.
What makes Agents by AIQ different from a chatbot platform like Dante AI?
Dante AI is a self-serve platform you configure yourself: paste your website URL, embed a script tag, and manage the agent going forward. Agents by AIQ is a done-for-you service — AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and runs AI agents for your business, including AI receptionists answering on a real phone number, sales follow-up and SDR agents, support and email agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation, integrated with the tools you already use. Terms are month-to-month and you own everything built.
Can Dante AI answer phone calls?
Yes, on paid tiers. The Starter plan and up include a phone channel where the agent answers with a voice, and the Advanced plan and up let you rent a phone number in-product pointed at your agent. This is a chatbot-platform voice feature; it differs from a managed AI receptionist service where a team builds and operates the phone-answering agent for your business, as Agents by AIQ does.
Which should a small business choose in 2026?
It depends on the job. If your main need is answering repeat website questions and capturing after-hours leads with a tool you control, Dante AI's self-serve platform — free to test, $40–$400/month at scale — is a strong fit. If your pain is missed calls, slow lead follow-up, and manual busywork, and you would rather have a team build and operate the agents for you, Agents by AIQ's done-for-you model on month-to-month terms is the better match.
Sources
- Dante AI Pricing - AI Agent and AI Chatbot Plans
- Dante AI - All-in-one AI customer support
- Chatbot Pricing 2026: Real Costs, Platform to Custom
- Contact Center AI Cost 2026: Plans, Per-Call Pricing
- Best AI Chatbot for Small Business: Honest 2026 Guide
- AI Customer Service Software: How to Choose in 2026
- Dante AI Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)
- Dante AI Software Reviews, Demo & Pricing - 2026
- Agents by AIQ