AskAny – AI Chatbot with RAG, Live Agent and Order Tracking vs Rapls AI Chatbot – Self-Hosted RAG & MCP Server

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 for the Pro upgrade modal in the plugin admin area. – Data sent: No personal …

Add an AI chatbot that answers visitors from your own content — and admits when it doesn’t know. Rapls AI Chatbot searches your posts, pages, and knowledge base first, then replies in natural language, in the visitor’s own language. With Grounded Answers Only mode, if your content has no answer, the bot says so instead of making something up. You can be live in about five minutes, for free, with no credit card. On first setup a guided “Start for free” panel hands you a free key from OpenRouter or the Google Gemini free tier, tests it, auto-selects a working model, and switches the chatbot on — no AI or API experience needed. Watch the setup, start to finish: No monthly SaaS fee — and no runaway bill. It runs on your own API key with no markup, and built-in Usage Control caps daily usage per visitor, so you can open the bot to the public without worrying about your API spend. A Monthly Cost Guard lets you set a hard budget, and Model Fallback keeps the bot answering on a lightweight model when your main model hits its quota. Conversations and keys stay on your own server. Built for site owners, agencies, and developers who want control over the model, the data, and the cost. Connect OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Alibaba Tongyi Qwen (DashScope) — useful where OpenAI and Gemini are hard to reach — and switch anytime. Why site owners pick Rapls Free to try, fast to launch. Guided onboarding gets you from install to a working chatbot in minutes, with a no-credit-card OpenRouter or Gemini key. Grounded answers, or an honest “I don’t know.” RAG hybrid search grounds replies in your actual posts, pages, and knowledge base — and Grounded Answers Only mode keeps the bot from inventing answers your site doesn’t contain. Your bill can’t run away. Self-hosted and BYOK with no markup, plus per-visitor daily caps (Usage Control) so public traffic can’t drain your API budget. Replies that don’t sound like a robot. An optional AI-smell score reviews the bot’s Japanese replies for machine-sounding wording, so you can tune the tone. (Detection only — replies are never altered.) No lock-in. Switch between OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and OpenRouter whenever you want. Speaks your visitors’ language. Automatic multi-language replies, so one bot serves an international audience. What it does Bring your own key: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Alibaba Qwen/DashScope, DeepSeek, Zhipu), switchable per site. Site learning: indexes your posts and pages so the bot answers from your content. Knowledge base: add Q&A or upload PDF/DOCX files, with priority over general answers. RAG hybrid search: combines keyword and semantic retrieval for grounded replies. Grounded Answers Only: an optional mode that makes the bot reply “I couldn’t find that” instead of inventing an answer your content doesn’t support. Web search: lets the bot pull current information when configured. MCP tools: exposes 5 Model Context Protocol tools, so agents such as Claude or ChatGPT can read and act on your site through conversation. Usage dashboard: tracks conversations, messages, and API cost. Usage Control: optional per-visitor daily caps so public traffic can’t run up your API bill. Unanswered Questions: records what the bot could not answer, with one-click “Add to knowledge” and an AI-drafted FAQ page. AI-smell score: an optional read-only score that flags machine-sounding wording in Japanese replies (detection only — replies are never altered). Industry starter templates: one click applies a ready-made system prompt and preset questions for hotels, shops, clinics, professional services, or company sites. Gutenberg block: drop the chatbot into any page or post. Deep-link auto-send: a ?raplsaich_q= URL opens the chatbot and sends the question automatically, so end-of-article “suggested questions” become one-click conversations. Turns visitor questions into content The bot doesn’t just answer — it tells you what your site is missing. Questions it could not answer from your content are recorded on the dashboard, one click turns them into a knowledge entry, and another click drafts an FAQ page from the last 30 days of real visitor questions. Answer gaps become content, content improves the bot, and the same pages work for SEO and AI search (LLMO). Self-hosted and private Conversations and keys stay on your own WordPress install. You are billed by your AI provider directly, so cost is transparent and there is no markup. Visitors can delete their own chat history from the widget (optional), and retention is configurable — GDPR-friendly by design. Free and Pro Free — not a trial. The free version is the full product: chatbot, site learning, knowledge base, RAG hybrid search, Grounded Answers Only, MCP server (5 tools), a usage dashboard (conversations, messages, and cost), and per-visitor daily caps. Run it forever at no cost on a free-tier key. Pro — for sites that run the bot as a business tool: Lead capture automation — collect contacts from conversations, with Google Sheets and Slack sync. Analytics — conversation, cost, and quality metrics at a glance. Usage Control suite — role-based limits, per-user monthly credits with auto-reset, and a usage-control dashboard to grant and track credits, so members and guests each get a fair share of your API budget. Extra MCP tools — product-search and analytics tools for AI agents, on top of the five in Free. Context & embedding controls — reprocess embeddings and shape the context retrieved for each reply. LINE integration (add-on) — connect the chatbot to LINE messaging, the dominant messenger in Japan. Up and running in about 5 minutes (free, no credit card) You do not need an API key or any AI experience to start. On first setup the plugin shows a “Start for free” panel with two no-credit-card paths: an OpenRouter free key or a Google Gemini free-tier key. Pick OpenRouter or Gemini. Click through to get a free key (about a minute) and paste it in. Press Test Connection — the key is validated and saved, a working free model is auto-selected, and the chatbot is switched on. That’s it. Each option states its data-handling trade-off up front (the Gemini free tier may use submitted content to improve Google’s models), so you choose with eyes open. You can switch to your own OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini key at any time. Learn more: Plugin details | Source code (GitHub) See it in action Watch the full setup — from install to first reply — in about 5 minutes, no credit card required: See it answer from your own content, and how that differs from plain ChatGPT: External Services This plugin connects to the following external third-party services. No data is sent to any service until you configure an API key and enable the feature in the plugin settings. Each service requires the site administrator to create an account and obtain API credentials. By using these services, you agree to their respective terms and privacy policies listed below. 1. OpenAI (GPT models): AI Provider Used when you select OpenAI as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses. Service URL: https://api.openai.com/ Terms of Use: https://openai.com/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/privacy/ 2. Anthropic (Claude models): AI Provider Used when you select Anthropic Claude as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses. Service URL: https://api.anthropic.com/ Terms of Use: https://www.anthropic.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy 3. Google (Gemini models): AI Provider Used when you select Google Gemini as your AI provider. User messages and optionally site content are sent to generate AI responses. Service URL: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/ Terms of Use: https://policies.google.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy 4. OpenRouter: AI Provider Used when you select OpenRouter as your AI provider. OpenRouter is a unified API gateway that routes requests to various AI models. Service URL: https://openrouter.ai/api/ Terms of Use: https://openrouter.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://openrouter.ai/privacy 5. OpenAI-compatible endpoints (e.g. Alibaba Qwen/DashScope, DeepSeek, Zhipu): AI Provider Used only if you select the “OpenAI-compatible” provider and enter a base URL. User messages, and optionally your site content (including indexed content for RAG embeddings), are sent to the endpoint you configure to generate responses or embeddings. Because the endpoint is chosen by you, please review the terms and privacy policy of the specific provider you connect to. For example, Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (DashScope), which powers Tongyi Qwen: Service URL: https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/ Terms of Use: https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/legal/ Privacy Policy: https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/legal/latest/alibaba-cloud-privacy-policy/ 6. Google reCAPTCHA v3 (Optional) Used only if you enable reCAPTCHA in the plugin settings for spam protection. The visitor’s IP address and interaction data are sent to Google for verification. Service URL: https://www.google.com/recaptcha/ Terms of Use: https://policies.google.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy 7. LINE Messaging API (Pro Add-on, Optional) Used only if you enable the LINE integration via the Pro add-on. Connects to the LINE Messaging API for chatbot-to-LINE messaging. Service URL: https://api.line.me/ Terms of Use: https://terms.line.me/ Privacy Policy: https://line.me/en/terms/policy/ Cross-Site Embed The plugin includes an optional embed loader script (embed-loader.js) for embedding the chatbot on external websites via an iframe. This script does not load any external CDN resources or third-party scripts. It creates an iframe pointing back to your own WordPress site, and all data processing occurs on your server. Data Transmitted to External Services User messages: Chat messages entered by visitors (sent to the configured AI provider only) Site content (if Site Learning is enabled): Excerpts from your published posts/pages (sent to the configured AI provider) Knowledge base (if configured): Custom Q&A entries you create (sent to the configured AI provider) IP address (reCAPTCHA only): Sent to Google for spam verification Data Storage Conversation history: Stored locally in your WordPress database (can be disabled) Visitor IP: Stored as SHA-256 hash (not plain text) for rate limiting Retention: Configurable auto-deletion period (default 90 days) User Controls You can disable these features in the plugin settings: * Conversation history saving * Site content crawling/learning * Google reCAPTCHA verification * Web search