The Question Every Business Asks
When businesses want an AI chatbot, they face an immediate choice: off-the-shelf product (Intercom, Drift, Tidio) or custom-built solution.
Off-the-shelf is faster and cheaper to start. Custom is more powerful and more aligned to your specific business. Neither is always the right answer.
Off-the-Shelf AI Chatbots
Examples: Intercom, Drift, Tidio, Crisp, HubSpot chatbot, Zendesk AI
Cost: £50–£500/month. Setup time: hours to days.
What they do well:
- •Quick to deploy
- •Established integrations
- •Built-in analytics
- •No development resource required
Where they fall short:
- •Generic conversation flows that cannot match your specific business logic
- •Limited integration with non-standard internal systems
- •You are dependent on the vendor's AI quality and pricing
- •Data goes to a third-party platform
Custom-Built AI Chatbots
Cost: £2,000–£25,000 to build + £100–£500/month running costs. Setup time: 2–6 weeks.
What they do well:
- •Trained on your exact products, policies, and processes
- •Integrated with any system including bespoke internal tools
- •Your business logic, not a generic template
- •Full control over outputs and data
Where they fall short:
- •Higher upfront cost
- •Longer to deploy
- •Requires a development partner you trust
How to Choose
Choose off-the-shelf if:
- •You need something live within days
- •Your use case is standard (FAQ, basic lead capture)
- •Budget is under £200/month
- •You want to test whether a chatbot works before committing
Choose custom-built if:
- •You have specific, non-standard business processes
- •You need deep integration with CRM, booking, or e-commerce
- •Customer experience is a competitive differentiator
- •You handle sensitive data and cannot share it with third-party platforms
The Hybrid Approach
Many businesses start off-the-shelf to validate the use case, then commission a custom build once they know what they need. Start with Tidio (£50/month), measure real usage, then build custom.
BigBerri's Honest View
We build custom chatbots, so we have a bias. But we also turn down projects where off-the-shelf is clearly the right answer.
Book a free discovery call and we will tell you honestly which approach makes sense for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Intercom better than a custom chatbot?
Intercom is excellent for standard use cases and faster to deploy. A custom chatbot is better when you need deep business integration or a differentiated customer experience.
Can BigBerri integrate with Intercom or Zendesk?
Yes. We can build custom AI layers that work alongside or replace existing chat tools.
How do I know if a custom chatbot is worth the investment?
Calculate the staff time cost it replaces. If that exceeds the build cost within 12 months, a custom chatbot almost certainly makes sense.