AI Chatbot Free Models – Customer Support, Live Chat, Virtual Assistant vs GhostChat – Live Chat, AI Chatbot & Customer Support

AI Chatbot Free Models is a fully self-contained AI chatbot platform for WordPress. It provides everything you need to run professional live chat, customer support and virtual-assistant experiences on your website while leaving the choice of the AI model entirely in your hands. There is no paid SaaS behind this plugin. No mandatory subscription, no premium gateway, no external dashboard, no account required with the plugin developer. The only thing you need is access to an AI model: a hosted provider (many of which offer generous free tiers) or a self-hosted, local inference server. Every other component – interface, conversations, knowledge base, notifications, styling – runs on your own WordPress installation and your own database. Bring your own model, keep control of your data Connect OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Run completely free with free-tier models or a local server (llama.cpp, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, gateways and proxies). Conversations are stored only if you enable it, in dedicated tables inside your own database. The knowledge base is built from your own published posts and pages – no external crawling, no third-party index. Core features Provider-agnostic AI connection with configurable endpoint, API key and model Dynamic model selection where the provider supports model discovery Streaming responses with live typing indicator Stop generation at any time while a response is being streamed Retry failed responses and start a new conversation without reloading the page Configurable maximum response tokens and streaming timeout with inactivity watchdog Conversation context maintained with a configurable token budget Optional pre-chat form to collect name and email for support and lead generation Live knowledge base with FULLTEXT-indexed search over titles and content, response caching and clickable source citations in answers Per-IP rate limiting and server-side sanitization of conversation history Dedicated database storage with optional message and IP retention (disabled by default) Unread conversation notifications, search and conversation management in the WordPress admin Floating widget (bottom-left or bottom-right) or embedded chat via the [newcodebyte_chatbot] shortcode Extensive appearance customization: colors, images, sounds, widget position Translatable frontend interface, responsive layout, multilingual AI support Modern object-oriented codebase following current WordPress standards Requirements WordPress 5.0 or later (tested up to 7.1) PHP 7.4 or later (compatible with current PHP 8.x releases) MySQL 5.6 or later / MariaDB 10.0 or later (required by the FULLTEXT knowledge base index) An API key for the provider you choose – or none at all, if you use a local OpenAI-compatible server How it works A visitor sends a message from the floating widget or the embedded chat. WordPress receives the request and the plugin prepares the conversation context. The configured provider or endpoint is selected and the request is sent. The response is streamed back to the visitor when streaming is supported. The conversation can optionally be stored in your own database for review. A note on costs The plugin is free and adds no usage fees of its own. AI costs depend exclusively on the provider and model you configure: free models and free quotas are fully supported, and a self-hosted server removes usage costs entirely. Looking for a platform-independent version? A standalone build for non-WordPress websites (HTML, PHP and more) is available on GitHub: https://github.com/NewCodeByte/chatbot-ai-free-models Configuration Open the Chatbot settings page. Depending on the selected provider you can configure: Provider (OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or OpenAI-compatible endpoint) API endpoint and API key Model, selected from discovery or entered manually Maximum response tokens and streaming timeout Knowledge base, pre-chat form, storage options, appearance and sounds Free models on OpenRouter are identified by the :free suffix. When using a local or self-hosted OpenAI-compatible server, simply point the endpoint to your server (for example http://localhost:8080/v1): no external account is required and your traffic never leaves your infrastructure. External Services The plugin can transmit the content of a visitor’s message to the AI provider you configure (OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or a custom endpoint) in order to generate a response. The terms of service and privacy policy of the selected provider apply to that processing. The plugin developer does not control and is not responsible for external providers’ pricing, availability, retention policies or data processing. Privacy Message and IP storage are optional and disabled by default. When enabled, data is stored in dedicated tables inside your own database and can be reviewed, exported or deleted from the admin area. The plugin itself sets no cookies. If you enable storage or the pre-chat form, update your privacy policy to describe the processing. You are responsible for compliance with applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR. Disclaimer AI-generated content can be inaccurate. The plugin developer is not responsible for AI responses, decisions made based on them, provider outages, pricing or API changes, or data processing performed by external providers. Always verify important information independently. Supporting the project AI Chatbot Free Models is developed and maintained as an independent free project. If you find it useful, consider keeping the optional “Powered by NewCodeByte” attribution enabled or supporting development with a donation. Contributions fund development, maintenance, testing and infrastructure.

GhostChat is live chat and an AI chatbot for WordPress, built for people who do not want another app to check. Answer visitors straight from Gmail — reply to the email, the visitor sees it in the chat widget. The mobile dashboard and the web dashboard are there when you want them. Why GhostChat? Answer from Gmail – A new chat arrives as an email. Reply to it and the visitor gets your message in the widget. No new inbox to learn. No cookie banner – Zero cookies and zero tracking, so the widget adds nothing to your consent requirements AI chatbot (Claude) — included in every plan, even Free – Answers visitor questions 24/7 from a knowledge base it can draft by reading your site, then hands off to you when it cannot Will not slow your site down – The widget is ~15KB — up to 58x smaller than Intercom, Tidio, Tawk.to or Crisp (measured August 2026) — and it does not move your Lighthouse or Core Web Vitals scores Real-time messaging – 15-30ms edge-powered delivery worldwide Reply from your phone – The dashboard is a mobile PWA. Install it and answer chats like WhatsApp. WooCommerce auto-integration – Real-time cart & page context, zero configuration (Pro and up) Team inbox – Invite teammates to a shared inbox (2 seats on Pro, up to 10 on Team) CRM Lite – Built-in contacts, conversation history, and notes Auto-translate – 133+ languages, real-time visitor message translation (Pro and up) Canned responses – Save time with pre-written replies Webhooks & Bot Agent API – Integrate with your stack, or bring your own LLM (all paid plans) How it works: Sign up free at GhostChat Create a site and get your Site ID Enter your Site ID in the plugin settings The chat widget appears on your site automatically Pricing: The AI assistant is included in every plan — there is no AI add-on to buy. Flat monthly prices, no per-seat fees; current pricing is always at ghostchat.dev/pricing. Free (forever): 1 site, 1 seat, 30-day history, AI assistant included (25 AI replies/mo, 10-entry knowledge base), no credit card required Pro: 2 seats, 3 sites, 1-year history, bigger AI allowance (200 replies/mo, 25-entry knowledge base), business hours, visitor context & page journey, WooCommerce cart context, CSV export, auto-translate (133+ languages), webhooks, Bot Agent API (bring your own LLM) Team: Everything in Pro plus up to 10 team members, unlimited sites, unlimited history, biggest AI allowance (600 replies/mo, 50-entry knowledge base), remove GhostChat branding, custom visitor context, identity verification, and priority support Perfect for: Small businesses Freelancers E-commerce stores Support teams Anyone who values privacy and performance WooCommerce Integration: Running a WooCommerce store? The plugin auto-detects WooCommerce and sends your agents real-time context — zero configuration required. Your agents see: Page type, product name, cart items, total, and item count — Pro and up Custom data via GhostChat.setContext() — Team Updates in real-time on AJAX cart changes Privacy Policy GhostChat does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data from your WordPress site. The plugin only: Stores your Site ID in your WordPress database (wp_options table) Loads the chat widget script from api.ghostchat.dev When WooCommerce is active, sends page context and cart data (page type, product name, items, total, count) on paid plans, and custom setContext() data on the Team plan Does not set any cookies Does not track visitors Does not send any data to third parties besides the GhostChat service Chat conversations are handled by GhostChat service. Please review GhostChat’s privacy policy at https://ghostchat.dev/privacy for details on how chat data is handled. Support Need help? We’re here for you: Email: [email protected] WordPress Setup Guide: https://ghostchat.dev/chat-widget-for-wordpress Dashboard: https://app.ghostchat.dev Website: https://ghostchat.dev About GhostChat GhostChat is a privacy-first live chat platform that prioritizes page speed and visitor privacy. We believe live chat shouldn’t slow down your site or compromise your visitors’ privacy. Learn more at ghostchat.dev