Smith.ai Chatbot vs. BirdEye

Chatbots are not all created equally and while these two stack up pretty close, there are some big spots that miss the mark.

But, before we start in on the details, let’s talk about the value of a chatbot these days. Customers are changing the way brands do things. Yes, you read that right—it's the customers that are spurning all of this growth and technology adaptation. The Internet has created a society of people who are hungry for instant gratification and who have gotten used to not waiting for anything.

If you are one of the companies that respond to customer queries in “48 hours or less”, you’re quickly going to find yourself about 48 hours from being out of business. People don’t have time to wait for answers, and they shouldn’t have to. AI and automation have given us the power to create some impressive, robust chatbots that deliver all kinds of support and communication solutions.

Now, back to Smith.ai and BirdEye. These are two chat tools that offer the chatbot function that your website needs. Of course, they aren’t both created equally.

It would appear that BirdEye has a lot of the same features as Smith.ai, but the problem that we have is the lack of transparency—their product page has some information about features but there’s no detailed pricing information or a page that just lists the features in an easy-to-read format.

We had to work really hard to find the details in the table above—the chance of a business investing the time to do the same is slim. It’s unfortunate because BirdEye looks great for things like proactive chat, knowledge and FAQs, and other features. However, the lack of transparency is a major turn-off.

With theSmith.ai Chatbot, on the other hand, you’ll find customization, 24/7 chatbot services, contact information gathering, integrations with Zapier, your CRM, and social media, and so much more. Plus, you’ll enjoy transparent pricing and a wealth of information that can help you manage your chatbot and all of your communications better.

So, while BirdEye means well, Smith.ai is the winner here because transparency (or the lack thereof) is a critical part of business today. Even with a chatbot, or perhaps especially because of a chatbot, you need a solution you can truly understand.