Smith.ai Chatbot vs. Podium Webchat

Compare features and see how your business can better capture leads and serve clients with the fully automated Smith.ai Chatbot.

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The Smith.ai Advantage

Capture leads 24/7
No staff
needed
Free & unlimited chats

Smith.ai: the best alternative to Podium Webchat

Smith.ai
Podium Webchat
INCLUDED FOR FREE
Unlimited chat conversations
✔
✘
100% bot-answered chats, 24/7
✔
✘
Captures email on every conversation
✔
✘
Captures phone number if desired
✔
✔
Automated lead qualification
✔
✔
Smart Q&A database
✔
✘
Custom AI bot
✔
✘
Pre-chat disclaimer
✔
✔
Mobile-friendly
✔
✔
Custom branding
✔
✔
Public API
✔
✔
Email support
✔
✔
Activity Dashboard
✔
BOOSTED SERVICE
Seats for your staff
0
No seats needed
1</br>More seats with premium plans
Add professional live-chat agents
From $140/mo
Totally optional
X – live chat is available, but has to be staffed by you
Unlimited Q&A and knowledge base
$50/month
X – you'll have to go elsewhere for this feature
Unlimited conversation playbooks
$50/month
X – you'll have to find playbooks somewhere else
CRM integrations
$0.50/chat
Included, but you’ll have to do the integration
Zapier integration
$0.50/chat
Included, but you’ll have to do the coding
White-glove setup option
$150 one-time fee
Totally optional
X – you'll have a CSM for support, but your team will do the work
Custom programming
$200/hr
Totally optional
Limited customization included
Read our reviews
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Automated Chatbots vs. Live Chat Software

Automated Chatbot
Live Chat Software
Answers messages w/o extra staff
Yes
No
Quick one-time setup
Yes
No
Responds immediately 24/7
Yes
No
Automates lead qualification & intake
Yes
Sometimes
Triages chats automatically
Yes
No
100% consistency
Yes
No
Screens spam & sales
Yes
No

Smith.ai Chatbot is a fully automated solution for lead capture. Podium Webchat is part of a total reputation management system to empower your agents.

Chatbots and live website chat are becoming a critical part of operations for many modern businesses. These tools give you the chance to communicate with people in their preferred format and reach out to them proactively so that you never miss a lead again. Of course, there’s a lot that goes into choosing the right tool.

Considering that 90% of customers expect your business to offer a self-service portal online, you don’t even need to ask if a chatbot is a worthwhile investment. Whether you choose a customized, fully-automated solution like the Smith.ai Chatbot or any other service, it’s a tool that your business needs.

Podium Webchat and the Smith.ai Chatbot offer a host of communication solutions for brands looking to change the conversation, quite literally. They each have their pros and cons to consider and taking a look at the details will help you better see which one is the right fit for your brand.

Let’s start with Podium. Podium doesn’t offer a chatbot. You’ve got to have agents there to field the messages as they come in. There's some automation and AI available, but human interaction will be a must. And that will cost you.

Podium does offer a customizable, brandable webchat widget and has internal company messaging tools that you can use. This service is offered at an additional cost to the rest of the podium suite. When you engage the webchat app, your customers will be able to click the “chat” button, enter their phone number, and start chatting.

Smith.ai, on the other hand, offers a free 100% automated, 24/7 chatbot with unlimited chats, proactive messaging, integrated scheduling and lead generation features, and so much more. Thus, it’s the obvious choice here when you need a reliable chatbot.

THE BASICS!

Live chat agents on duty 24/7
Real-time lead qualification & intake with CRM integration for complete workflows
Appointment & call-back scheduling with calendar integration
AI technology powers automatic responses, real-time English-Spanish translation, and more.
Payment collection with online billing and invoice links
Instant chat transcripts via email. Contacts and chat conversations logged in your CRM.

What our customers are saying

“Great customer care and functionality. I love using Smith.ai. They do such a great job in following instructions on how I'd like my cases handled. I especially love the fact that I get email transcripts of all chats. I have never had incorrect information obtained (contact info) from any potential clients by Smith.ai. They are very detail oriented!”
"Smith allows us to converse with website visitors and turn them into potential clients. They've made it easier for us to be there at all times, even when we're not. We've worked with other vendors in the past and have found Smith.ai among the easiest to use. They're very responsive, they communicate well, and serve as our front lines for client communications."
Scott Peterson
“Simple way to start a great client experience. There are a lot of Chat options available, but this was a no brainer for us because of our great experience with Smith.ai as a company. Everything they do is focused on simplicity. Stuff just works. They make everything easy and have focused on hiring great people, which is evident by the way they treat us as a customer and the people that they chat with on our behalf.”
Brian Waller
“Love Smith.ai Chat! There is no way that I could staff a feature like that in house with my small business. Smith.ai makes the chat feature available around the clock. I am a lawyer and this feature is great for clients who are nervous or shy about making that initial phone call, or who are up thinking about the problem that they need help with outside of business hours. The Smith.ai Website Chat also integrates perfectly with my CRM/case management software. It has really been a boost to my business. I have tried other companies. Smith.ai is the best!”
Nicole G.

Unlimited chats answered 24/7/365

FREE AI
CHATBOT

$0
Per Month
Unlimited
chat conversations
includes
4 q&A and 1 playbook

ADD-on
Pricing

Unlimited playbooks - $50/mo
Unlimited Q&A - $50/mo
CRM Integrations - $0.50/chat
White-glove installation - $150

We integrate with your software

Contacts and chat transcripts are instantly logged in your systems
Clio
Clio Grow
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zapier
PracticePanther
Capsule CRM
Lawmatics
Lead Docket
Wealthbox

Small businesses trust Smith.ai Chatbot to capture more leads