5+ Most User-Friendly Open Source Chatbot Platforms in 2024

Chatbots are outstanding tools that let businesses automate conversations with their audience.

That means organizations can continue interacting with customers without the need to be present.

These tools have helped many companies save while giving their customers quick and effective solutions.

Close to 90% of companies where chatbots are used report significant improvements in their complaint resolution speed.

[Source]

But building chatbots from scratch takes a lot of work. And it’s old school.

However, using generic chatbots that do not address the challenges of customers and website visitors is even worse.

To avoid these issues, I recommend looking for the best open-source chatbot frameworks instead. If you don’t know, open-source chatbots are chatbot tools whose original codes are freely distributed to anyone who wants to modify them for a specific purpose.

It means you can build what you want easily and quickly using freely available base codes.

Below, I’ll reveal the best open-source chatbot platforms for building a chatbot that works for any website.

What is the best open-source chatbot framework?

1. Microsoft Bot Framework

Also known as Azure Bot Service, Microsoft Bot Framework (MBF) is a powerful framework that gives you access to an open-source platform for building, publishing and managing chatbots. 

Microsoft is one of the top chatbot companies, and they launched this platform in 2016. It works effortlessly for developers because of its code-driven approach. Hence, they will enjoy the complete control, tools, and functions on offer. Using the Azure Service platform, you can build chatbots faster and with ease. 

Its main component is the Bot Builder SDK, which provides support for .Net and Node.js frameworks. It also integrates with Microsoft’s natural language understanding engine, known as Luis. 

Luis makes it possible to translate automatically into more than 30 languages. However, this natural language understanding (NLU) engine is proprietary software, which may present limitations in open-source control. That said, there is access to Microsoft’s rich resources for automating all your chatbot interactions. 

Other notable features

• Do much more with integration with Microsoft services like Cortana, Kik, etc.
• Built chatbots easily in multiple languages.
• Use the numerous chatbot templates and samples on your website, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. 
  

Pricing

Microsoft Bot Framework uses two channels for its pricing. The Standard channel is free, while the Premium channel lets you send 10,000 free messages every month before subsequently charging $0.50 per 1,000 messages. 

2. Botpress

Botpress was created in 2015 to provide faster and better support, especially for companies with huge support demands. It is fair to say the objectives have been met, with a long list of users that include the Quebec government, VR Bank, and Windstream, among others.

This open-source bot platform supports multiple NLU libraries, and they help it to identify intents, entities, and slots. That means you can create chatbots that understand user input without spending too much to develop the chatbot. 

Botpress installation is straightforward, requiring only that you build, deploy on the platform of your choice, and grant access. With its visual conversation builder, you can design how the chatbot interacts, while the emulator lets you test what you’ve built.

Developers have all they need with Botpress. You get an open framework you can control, with a JavaScript code editor to specify code actions, add new code bits, or remove parts of the open-source codes. 

The administration dashboard is another great feature. It puts you in control of all components and makes it possible to collaborate while building powerful chatbots. 

Other notable features

• OpenBook by Botpress is an NLU engine that allows knowledge-based chatbots like those used for frequently asked questions.
• Botpress can integrate seamlessly with major messaging services like Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, and Microsoft Teams.
• The platform includes coding language identification and spell-checking features.
• Botpress comes with a number of components pre-installed.

Pricing

Botpress pricing includes a free plan that gives you access to all features and 1,000 free monthly messages. Additional messages are available with the Standard plan at $0.005/incoming message. There’s also the Enterprise plan for custom pricing. 

3. Botkit

Botkit is an open-source chatbot development framework for building conversational user interfaces for apps and messaging platforms. It was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, which shows how promising a platform it is. 

Hence, Botkit, alongside Microsoft Bot Framework, is now a part of the Microsoft developer tools. In fact, Botkit uses the Luis natural language processing and works using Bot Framework SDK, which also gives it added functionality for building open-source chatbots. 

This open-source developer tool is code-focused but is all-encompassing and quite straightforward for developers. It also features a visual conversational builder for those who need help with their coding expertise.

While Botkit is written in Typescript and Javascript, it works on all major operating software, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Other notable features

• Plugins that allow you to easily integrate popular services like Microsoft, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Webex, Google Hangout, etc.
• Availability in multiple programming languages.
• Numerous built-in developer tools for analytics, content management, etc.

Pricing

Botkit is free to use through the Botkit GitHub platform.

4. Rasa

Rasa is another of the most user-friendly open-source chatbot frameworks. It does everything from scaling, shipping, and building chatbots for modern conversational apps. 

This open-source software uses stories and data scenarios to train the bots, as opposed to visual flows and intents. It allows easy scaling, building, and improving the bots, leveraging artificial intelligence. 

Essentially, it means Rasa needs to be trained using large datasets from customer service logs. You may also create dialogue systems to train the bots. Training will allow the chatbot to provide better human-like conversations while enabling scaling and improvements.

For Rasa to perform its functions, it relies on two independent components — the NLU engine and the core. While the former ensures that Rasa understands the user’s intent, the latter helps it decide the next step.

Licensed under the Apache license, Rasa can also perform API services and build bots for Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, Google Hangouts, Twilio, Webex, etc.

Other notable features

• Offers compatibility with deployment on-premise or through a private cloud.
• Features a number of premium components available through enterprise licensing.
• Provides data storage support for you to further understand client demands.
• Delivers support for synonyms and hyponyms.

Pricing

Rasa features two plans — Rasa Pro and Rasa Platform. You can get more information on them on the pricing page and subscribe by contacting the sales team.  

5. OpenDialog

OpenDialog is a conversational AI software company notable for its open-source chatbot framework. Created by GreenShoot Labs, it has helped many businesses to automate interaction with employees and customers through chatbot development. 

OpenDialog’s open-source chatbots can be easily trained, integrated, and deployed thanks to sophisticated NLU and conversational AI engines. Its user interface is user-centric, and the no-code designer means you can design and manage chatbots with limited coding knowledge. 

One of its main features is the ability to perform speech-to-talk processes in real-time. It also makes it easy to scale due to reusable conversational components and architectural supports that can be extended.

It also runs on the Apache license and is a free PHP framework that works on all major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Other notable features

• Low memory requirements with 20,000 words using less than 64MB.
• Ability to function as a server unit.
• Ability to produce N-best/word graph output.

Pricing

OpenDialog has no free plan, but you can get in touch with the sales team for a demo through the pricing page. 

Conclusion

As website operators strive to save time through automation and give visitors a better user experience, they can rely on chatbots to deliver these benefits and more. An open-source chatbot software will make the process fast, easy, and convenient.

The open-source chatbot frameworks above have flexible tools for developing innovative bots. They help you build multiple messaging platforms, leveraging artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and a visual conversation builder alongside publicly distributed source codes.

That said, open-source tools have a steep learning curve, and there’s likely to be limited support. Hence, it is important to assess the documentation when choosing a chatbot platform, as it will help you figure it all out. 

The platforms also have forums that you might want to check out. Other things to look at include the features of the platform, and you have all you need to begin. Although you’re better off using the best WordPress chatbot plugins if you have a WordPress website.

Good Luck! 

Jessica La

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