AI Chatbot Free Models – Customer Support, Live Chat, Virtual Assistant vs AskAny – AI Chatbot with RAG, Live Agent and Order Tracking

AskAny is a free AI chatbot for WordPress built on RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). Before it answers anything, it retrieves the most relevant sections of your actual site content using semantic search, then generates a grounded, cited answer from that content instead of guessing from general AI knowledge. Several other WordPress AI chatbot plugins, including AI Engine and MxChat, also use retrieval to ground responses in site content. AskAny’s difference is what comes included in the free version: native WooCommerce order tracking by email or order ID, real-time SSE streaming that cuts server load compared to polling-based chat widgets, live agent handoff with full conversation history preserved on transition, and a choice of six AI providers, all without a Pro upgrade required to use any of it. It indexes your posts, pages, products, PDFs, and external sources first, then retrieves the right content for each question before the AI generates a response. Every answer includes a source citation, so visitors (and you) can see exactly where an answer came from. AskAny Website | Documentation | Pro Support AI Chatbot with RAG for WordPress Index – AskAny crawls your posts, pages, products, PDFs, Q&A pairs, and external URLs into a semantic search index automatically. Retrieve – When a visitor asks a question, AskAny finds the most relevant content chunks using hybrid semantic and keyword search. Respond – The AI generates a cited answer using only your indexed content. It cannot answer from general knowledge, so responses stay specific to your business. RAG is what separates an AI chatbot that answers accurately from one that hallucinates plausible-sounding nonsense. If a visitor asks about your return policy, a chatbot without RAG guesses. AskAny looks up your actual policy page first. Semantic Search and Content Indexing The RAG and semantic search system is what makes AskAny different from keyword-triggered chatbots. It understands meaning and context, so it can find the right answer even when a visitor’s question doesn’t exactly match the wording in your content. Content types indexed: posts, pages, custom post types, WooCommerce products and categories, custom fields, comments, menus, PDF documents, external URLs, Q&A pairs, and FAQs. Indexing is designed to keep API costs low. Content hash caching reuses embeddings whenever content has not changed, cutting API usage by up to 90%. Batch embedding processes multiple texts in a single API call. Smart update detection only re-embeds content that has actually been modified. Hybrid search runs both semantic understanding and keyword matching together. This covers cases where exact phrase matching is needed alongside conceptual retrieval, so a product SKU or an exact price still matches correctly. Live Agent Handoff for WordPress Chat Agents manage conversations from the WordPress admin chat panel. When a visitor needs a human, the agent takes over in one click. Full conversation history carries over instantly with no visible interruption for the visitor. The live agent system includes role-based access, online/offline status tracking, an unread message badge, and Slack integration so agents get notified and can reply without opening the WordPress admin. A Mobile App Push Bridge lets agents respond from Android. Unlike chatbot plugins that gate live agent seats or Slack notifications behind a paid tier, AskAny includes this in the free version. WooCommerce Order Tracking in Chat Customers can check their order status directly inside the chat widget. They can look up by email address, order ID, or transaction ID, with no need to visit a separate order tracking page. The WooCommerce integration also handles product information queries, real-time stock checks, smart product recommendations based on the conversation, and direct add-to-cart from chat. Product data is indexed automatically for RAG retrieval, so answers about pricing, stock, and specs stay current as your catalog changes. Telegram, WhatsApp, and AI-Assisted Live Chat AskAny now reaches visitors beyond the website widget, and gives live agents AI backup when they reply. Telegram Bot – Connect a Telegram bot under AskAny AI > Integrations, and visitors can message it directly. Every message routes through the same RAG pipeline as the website widget, so replies stay grounded in your indexed content, order data, and Q&A pairs instead of generic answers. WhatsApp via Twilio – Connect your Twilio WhatsApp number under AskAny AI > Integrations, and customers get the same AI-powered, cited responses over WhatsApp. No separate bot logic to maintain: WhatsApp, Telegram, and the website widget all draw from one content index and one conversation history. AI-Reviewed Compose for Live Agents – When a human agent takes over a conversation, they can draft a reply and run it through AI review before sending. The AI checks tone, clarity, and accuracy against the indexed content and suggests a refined version, so agents reply faster without sounding scripted. Attachments in Live Chat – Agents and visitors can now send file attachments directly inside the conversation, not just images. Attachments appear inline in both the admin chat panel and the visitor-facing widget, with previews available in conversation details. Six AI Providers, No Lock-In Switch between providers at any time without losing your indexed content or chat history. OpenAI – GPT-4o, GPT-4o-mini, GPT-4.1, O4-mini DeepSeek – Cost-effective with strong reasoning Google Gemini – Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Anthropic Claude – Advanced reasoning, safety-focused X.AI Grok – Real-time knowledge OpenRouter – 100+ models through a single API Most competing WordPress chatbot plugins lock you into one AI provider or require the paid tier to switch. AskAny lets you change providers from Settings at any time with no re-indexing needed. Fallback Mode When your AI provider API is unavailable, AskAny keeps the chatbot running using indexed content and pattern matching. Visitors never see an error or a broken widget. Knowledge Base and Content Sources PDF Import – Upload PDFs and the plugin extracts and indexes every page automatically. Works for product manuals, documentation, policies, and specs. External Sources – Index any external URL, REST API endpoint, JSON feed, or XML source as an additional knowledge base. Q&A Management – Add custom question-answer pairs with Markdown support. Bulk import and export included. Automatic Site Indexing – WordPress content is indexed automatically on publish and on update. Analytics and Performance Track API request counts, success rates, token usage, and estimated costs per provider. Response time and popular question data helps you spot content gaps. Database tools include table size overview, one-click clean, optimize, and export, with date-range filtering. Customization Options The widget can be placed as a floating button (bottom-left or bottom-right) or embedded anywhere using the [askany_chat] shortcode. Configurable options include: custom avatar, logo, header text, welcome message, suggested messages with predefined Q&A responses, typing animation speed (Regular, Fast, Faster, Instant), and response tone (Human, Professional, Friendly, Robotic). A homepage FAQ section and custom links support Markdown. Full RTL and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance is included. Multi-Language Support The chatbot detects the visitor’s language and responds accordingly. Supported languages include English, Bengali, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and more. Competitor Analysis Search the WordPress plugin directory for an AI chatbot and a handful of names come up again and again, so it is worth being clear about where AskAny actually fits among them. AI Engine – The Chatbot, AI Framework & MCP for WordPress is the biggest name in the category by far, with chatbots, content generation, AI forms, and MCP server tools built on a huge add-on ecosystem. It is a genuine alternative to AskAny for chatbot use cases, but its RAG and vector database embeddings sit behind the Pro tier. AskAny includes RAG-based retrieval, WooCommerce order tracking, and live agent handoff in the free version, with a narrower focus on chatbot support rather than a full AI framework. MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress is the closest match. Its free version also trains on site content using RAG and includes WooCommerce integration and Slack-based live agent handoff, so anyone comparing the two is comparing like for like. Where AskAny pulls ahead is in the details: native order lookup by order ID, email, or transaction ID inside the chat widget itself, SSE streaming for instant responses instead of polling, and a Mobile App Push Bridge so agents can reply from Android without opening wp-admin. A newer wave of WordPress AI chatbots has also shown up in directory searches, and each falls into a different bucket relative to AskAny. AxiaChat AI, Hyve Lite, Bubblibot, Chatbot with ChatGPT WordPress (SmartSearchWP), and Vitxi Converse are all single-AI-provider chatbots, most locked to OpenAI, with WooCommerce order tracking, live agent handoff, and multi-provider support either absent or reserved for a paid tier. Hyve Lite and SmartSearchWP train only on posts and pages by default, with PDFs, custom post types, and WooCommerce sold as add-ons; Bubblibot ships a free core but keeps WooCommerce product indexing Pro-only; Vitxi Converse leans on templated FAQ branching rather than semantic RAG retrieval. AskAny includes RAG retrieval, WooCommerce order tracking, and six interchangeable AI providers in the free version, with none of that behind a paywall. AxiaChat AI, Muchat, and ILACHAT are the closest matches on the WooCommerce side, each combining an AI chatbot with product data and, in ILACHAT’s case, live human handoff and rich media messaging. None of the three currently offers native order lookup by order ID, email, and transaction ID together, SSE streaming, or a Telegram and WhatsApp bridge alongside the website widget, which is where AskAny’s free tier pulls ahead. WebChatAgent and Social Intents take a different architecture entirely: both are SaaS platforms with a WordPress plugin as the front door, so the chatbot logic, training data, and conversation history live on the vendor’s servers rather than in your own WordPress database. Social Intents in particular is built around routing chats into Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, or Zoom, with plans starting at $39/month once the trial ends. AskAny keeps everything, including chat history and the content index, in your own WordPress database, with no subscription required to use the AI chatbot, WooCommerce tracking, or live agent features. Beyond those two, most of the other names that show up nearby are solving a different problem entirely, not a weaker version of the same one. Wise Chat and Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots are both built for people talking to each other, real-time chat rooms and private messaging between site members, with AI chat bots tucked away as a paid add-on rather than the core product. CleanTalk Anti-Spam. Spam Firewall & Bot Protection has nothing to do with chatbots at all, it blocks spam in comments, forms, and checkouts, and runs perfectly fine on the same site as AskAny. AI Agent by SiteGround is an admin-side tool, letting a site owner manage posts and WooCommerce products through a chat interface in wp-admin, not something a visitor ever sees. And AI Share & Summarize adds AI summaries and share buttons to blog posts, useful, but no chat widget involved. So of everything that turns up in an “AI chatbot for WordPress” search, only AI Engine and MxChat are actually built for the same job as AskAny: answering visitor questions from your own site content. Between those two, AskAny’s combination of free RAG retrieval, native WooCommerce order tracking, real-time SSE streaming, and live agent handoff, all in the free version, is what sets it apart. Privacy and Security All chat data is stored in your own WordPress database. Built-in GDPR controls cover data export, anonymization, and retention. Session security and XSS protection are included. See the External Services section below for exactly which third-party services are contacted, and only when you configure them. External Services This plugin connects to external services only for the features you configure. You supply your own API key for whichever AI provider you choose in Settings, and only that provider is contacted. OpenAI – Purpose: Generates chat responses and creates embeddings for semantic search when OpenAI is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message, retrieved content snippets used for grounding, and site content submitted for embedding during indexing. – When it connects: On every chat response and during content indexing, only if OpenAI is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://api.openai.com/v1/ – Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/privacy/ – Terms of Service: https://openai.com/policies/row-terms-of-use/ DeepSeek – Purpose: Generates chat responses when DeepSeek is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message and retrieved content snippets used for grounding. – When it connects: On every chat response, only if DeepSeek is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://api.deepseek.com/v1/ – Privacy Policy: https://www.deepseek.com/privacy-policy – Terms of Service: https://www.deepseek.com/terms-of-use Google Gemini – Purpose: Generates chat responses when Google Gemini is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message and retrieved content snippets used for grounding. – When it connects: On every chat response, only if Gemini is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/ – Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy – Terms of Service: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms Anthropic Claude – Purpose: Generates chat responses when Anthropic Claude is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message and retrieved content snippets used for grounding. – When it connects: On every chat response, only if Claude is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://api.anthropic.com/ – Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy – Terms of Service: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms X.AI Grok – Purpose: Generates chat responses when X.AI Grok is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message and retrieved content snippets used for grounding. – When it connects: On every chat response, only if Grok is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://api.x.ai/ – Privacy Policy: https://x.ai/legal/privacy-policy – Terms of Service: https://x.ai/legal/terms-of-service OpenRouter – Purpose: Routes chat responses to any of 100+ supported models when OpenRouter is selected as the active AI provider. – Data sent: The visitor’s message and retrieved content snippets used for grounding. – When it connects: On every chat response, only if OpenRouter is the selected provider. – Service URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/ – Privacy Policy: https://openrouter.ai/privacy – Terms of Service: https://openrouter.ai/terms Telegram – Purpose: Delivers AI-powered chat responses to visitors who message your connected Telegram bot. – Data sent: The visitor’s Telegram message, retrieved content snippets used for grounding, and the AI-generated reply routed back through the Telegram Bot API. – When it connects: When Telegram integration is enabled under AskAny AI > Integrations, on every message sent to your bot. – Service URL: https://api.telegram.org/ – Privacy Policy: https://telegram.org/privacy – Terms of Service: https://telegram.org/tos Twilio (WhatsApp) – Purpose: Delivers AI-powered chat responses to customers who message your connected Twilio WhatsApp number. – Data sent: The visitor’s WhatsApp message, retrieved content snippets used for grounding, and the AI-generated reply routed back through Twilio’s messaging API. – When it connects: When WhatsApp integration is enabled under AskAny AI > Integrations, on every message sent to your Twilio number. – Privacy Policy: https://www.twilio.com/en-us/legal/privacy – Terms of Service: https://www.twilio.com/en-us/legal/tos WPAzleen Settings API – Purpose: Loads display settings modal in the plugin admin area. – Data sent: No personal data or form submission …

AI Chatbot Free Models empowers you to integrate a cutting-edge AI chatbot into your WordPress website! It is a multi-provider solution: connect directly to OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), DeepSeek, Groq, xAI (Grok), Together AI, Mistral, Perplexity, or OpenRouter (over 500 models with a single API key), and you can even point it to any custom OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. Choose from a wide array of both free and premium models to perfectly match your needs and budget. Unlike many other plugins, all management and customization happen entirely within your WordPress backend, no need to visit external sites for configuration. The only account required is to obtain your API key. Looking for a platform-independent version? This chatbot is also available as a standalone version for use in non-WordPress websites (HTML, PHP, etc.). Get it on GitHub Use Cases Here are several practical ways to use Chatbot AI Free Models on your WordPress website: 24/7 Customer Support Provide instant answers to visitors at any time, improving engagement and reducing support workload. Lead Generation Assistant Qualify visitors and collect contact information through conversational interaction. Product Recommendation Bot Help users find suitable products or services using natural language queries. Content Navigation Helper Guide users to the right blog posts, categories, or pages based on their questions. Automated Live Chat for Immediate Engagement Deploy an automated assistant that mimics a live chat operator. It can greet visitors, answer initial questions, and guide them, ensuring every user feels supported. Knowledge Base Access Offer a conversational interface to your FAQ, help articles, or documentation. Idea Generation for Writers and Bloggers Suggest article topics, headlines, or summaries directly within your website. Multilingual Support Serve users in multiple languages by selecting models with multilingual capabilities. Chatbot-Powered Helpdesk Turn your chatbot into a powerful first-line helpdesk. It provides instant, automated support 24/7 and captures visitor details with an optional pre-chat form. Free AI Integration Use free models from OpenRouter or other supported providers without additional costs or complex setup. Configuration – Setting up your AI Chatbot Get an API Key from one of the supported providers (OpenAI, OpenRouter, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, Groq, xAI, Together AI, Mistral, or Perplexity) from its official website. Enter your API Key in the “Settings” tab and select the matching provider. Choose an AI Model. On OpenRouter, free models have the suffix “:free” at the end of their name. Other providers list their free or low-cost models directly. Provide context about your website in the “Information for responses” field. Customize the chatbot’s appearance in the “Style” and “Images” tabs. Click “Save settings”. Remember to refresh your website (Ctrl+F5 or Cmd+Shift+R) after saving, otherwise the changes may not be displayed correctly due to caching. Message and IP Saving You can enable or disable the saving of chat messages and user IP addresses in the “Messages” tab of the settings page. Message saving is disabled by default for privacy reasons. If enabled, all chat messages and IP addresses will be stored securely within the plugin’s dedicated database. Using a dedicated database offers several advantages: Simplified Management: All chatbot-related data is contained in a single location, making it easier to manage and maintain. Reduced Impact: Storing data separately minimizes the impact on your website’s core database performance. Important: If you choose to enable message and IP saving, you MUST update your website’s privacy policy to reflect this data collection practice and inform your users accordingly. You are responsible for complying with all applicable privacy laws. Enabling “Powered by NewCodeByte” Enabling “Powered by NewCodeByte” helps me support the development of this free plugin. If you enjoy Chatbot AI Free Models, please consider enabling it! If you’d prefer not to display the “Powered by NewCodeByte” link, you can support me with a donation on Buy Me a Coffee via Buy Me a Coffee. All donations are greatly appreciated and will help me continue to improve and maintain this plugin. External Services Chatbot AI Free Models allows you to connect your site to AI services via one of the supported providers (OpenAI, OpenRouter, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, Groq, xAI, Together AI, Mistral, Perplexity, or any custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint). You need your own API key and must comply with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of each provider you use. The plugin developer is not responsible for any issues or damages resulting from the use of the plugin or AI-generated content. Make sure your usage complies with the laws of your country. All data stays on your server, it’s your responsibility to keep it secure. OpenRouter Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: Terms of Service: https://openrouter.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://openrouter.ai/privacy Donate link You can support the development of Chatbot AI Free Models by making a donation via https://www.buymeacoffee.com/codebytewp. License and Usage Chatbot AI Free Models is provided free of charge for both personal and commercial use. You are allowed to distribute the plugin in its original, unmodified form. This plugin is created and maintained by NewCodeByte. Author NewCodeByte Disclaimer and Legal Information This plugin is provided “as is” and without any warranty, express or implied. NewCodeByte is not liable for any damages or losses arising from its use. While this plugin is provided free of charge for personal or commercial use, the “Powered by NewCodeByte” link helps support its development. This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 (or later) license, and you are free to use, modify, and distribute it according to the terms of that license. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of this plugin complies with all applicable laws and regulations. Privacy This plugin handles user data in the following ways: Chat Messages – Messages are stored only when explicitly enabled by the site administrator – Messages are stored in a dedicated, secure database – Messages can be exported or deleted through the admin interface – No message content is shared with third parties except OpenRouter for processing User Data Collection – IP addresses (when message saving is enabled) – Chat message content – No personal identification information is collected – No cookies are used by the plugin itself Data Retention – Messages and IPs are stored until manually deleted by the administrator – No automatic data deletion is performed – Administrators can delete all stored data at any time GDPR Compliance – Users should be informed about data collection – Site administrators must update their privacy policy – Data export and deletion tools are provided – Clear process for handling data subject requests Contact If you need support: https://newcodebyte.altervista.org