You have decided to boost your customer service efforts using an AI chatbot. However, you are confused about which one to choose - an open source chatbot platform or a commercial AI-powered chatbot solution.
Open source chatbot builders offer complete flexibility and transparency by giving you public access to the source code. While commercial alternatives rely on proprietary resources to help you build your chatbots.
If you are looking to build your chatbot using open source alternatives, this post is for you. Read on to learn about the best open source chatbot software you can use for your business in 2024.
What is an Open Source Chatbot?
Open source chatbots are chatbot applications that simulate human-like conversations and respond to customer queries. However, since these chatbots are open-source, their original code is available to everyone. You can use this code to build your own chatbots depending on your needs and preferences.
You can utilize the open source chatbot code to view, customize, modify, and deploy chatbots for your business without any restrictive constraints.
Open source chatbot platforms are often free to use and are constantly improved with innovative updates. You do not need any particular system or platform to use them.
Best 5 Open Source Chatbots to Consider in 2024
There are many open source chatbot software available in the market today. Let us explore some of the best open source chatbot software in 2024.
1. Rasa
Rasa is an open source chatbot building framework that utilizes a story-telling approach for creating chatbots. It is powered by exceptional natural language processing (NLP) algorithms that deliver contextually rich responses to the customers.
This framework is made up of two components namely Rasa NLU (natural language understanding) and Rasa Core. Rasa NLU is responsible for intent recognition and entity extraction while Rasa Core handles the delivery of responses. The bots are equipped to handle complex customer queries without any hassles.
The only drawback of Rasa is that it requires thorough knowledge and understanding of NLP and Python programming languages. Also, as Rasa follows a story-based approach, you cannot predict what the chatbot might say to the customers. It thus requires a large volume of high-quality training data.
2. Microsoft Bot Framework (MBF)
As the name suggests, Microsoft Bot Framework (MBF) is an open source chatbot framework created by Microsoft. It helps you build and publish interactive chatbots with multilingual capabilities and can be deployed on various channels, such as your website, Facebook Messenger, Microsoft Teams, and so on.
MBF is primarily built for developers and leverages the Azure service platform as the development environment. It offers a comprehensive set of tools having an array of functions and connectors to ensure a streamlined chatbot creation process.
Its NLU engine, Luis, is proprietary software and cannot be installed on-premises. Further, every API call made is billed which leads to significantly high monthly costs. This makes MBF a bad choice for projects with limited budgets.
3. Wit.ai
Wit.ai is another best open source chatbot platform that offers outstanding NLP capabilities. Acquired by Facebook in 2015, this platform comes with well-written API documentation that makes the chatbot development process much simpler. Its SDK is available in multiple languages like NodeJS, Ruby, Python, and iOS.
Some users have reported that the functionalities Wit.ai offers are better than Amazon and Microsoft. One of the notable features of Wit.ai is voice recognition functionality that allows you to create voice-activated chatbots for delivering conversational experiences.
The training process for Wit.ai can be really difficult as it lacks the necessary amounts of parameters and slots. You need to possess excellent business logic skills to manage it effectively.
4. Botpress
Botpress is another open source chatbot builder platform that is known for its modular architecture. It helps you design chatbots using visual flows using minimal training data either on your server or a cloud host. It also offers an intuitive emulator to test your chatbot conversations in real time.
Botpress offers robust NLU libraries that ensure the chatbot accurately understands the users' inputs and delivers sophisticated conversational experiences. It also provides analytics and reporting features that enable tracking chatbot performance for optimizing bot behavior in real time.
It is an ideal tool for building rule-based and action-based chatbots. It offers fewer features as compared to other open source chatbot platforms.
5. Amazon Lex Framework
The last open source chatbot platform in this list is Amazon Lex Framework offered by Amazon Web Services. Amazon Lex Framework supports you in building conversational chatbots with NLU and automatic speech recognition technologies. It can convert audio into text and vice versa in just a few minutes.
This open source chatbot platform offers pre-designed components and learning models that can be directly deployed for building interactive chatbots. The only drawback of this framework is that it does not support multiple languages; only English.
Limitations of Open Source Chatbots
Although these open source chatbot frameworks are high-quality and offer secure technology, they do come with some downsides.
- Difficult to use - Open source chatbot frameworks may involve a steeper learning curve that would require you to invest time and effort in understanding their documentation and APIs.
- Compatibility issues - Integrating an open source chatbot with your existing website or systems may be challenging, especially if the platform does not support certain technologies.
- Security risks - Open source frameworks have their code made available to the public who can edit, modify, or update it. This means that it can be misused if the code is not well maintained.
- Hidden costs - Although open source software is free to use, you may have to shell out a certain amount for its setup, development, maintenance, and training.
- Lack of support - Most open source chatbot platforms do not have a dedicated support team or comprehensive documentation. You have to rely on a community to troubleshoot your issues.
The best way to tackle these challenges is by investing in a chatbot platform like Bodt. You can create chatbots for your website without any coding knowledge.
Build Your Own Chatbot with Bodt
Bodt offers a no-code AI chatbot platform that offers a visual chatbot builder to create chatbots in just three steps. You can use these chatbots to answer customer queries, share detailed product information, recommend complementary products, and more to engage your visitors more efficiently.
Here are some of the key features which make Bodt a preferred choice of our customers.
- Offers a visual chatbot builder.
- Is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms.
- Offers multilingual support to connect and engage a global audience.
- Allows you to customize the look and feel of your chatbot to match your brand aesthetics.
- Supports a variety of integrations like Shopify, WordPress, and more.
Give Bodt a try today and build your AI chatbot in less than 10 minutes.
Final Thoughts
Open source chatbot platforms offer you the flexibility to develop your chatbots with a pre-defined bot structure and a certain amount of programming. However, if you are someone who does not have any coding or technical knowledge, you must go for SaaS-based conversational AI platforms like Bodt. With Bodt, you can create engaging chatbots for your business without any hassles.
Speed up your chatbot-building process with Bodt today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ChatGPT open source?
No, ChatGPT is not open source software. You cannot access or modify the model's source code.
Do all open source chatbots use artificial intelligence?
No, not all open source chatbots are powered by AI. There are a few open-source chatbot frameworks that leverage AI techniques while others rely on rule-based workflows or scripted responses to offer conversational experiences.
Which is the best free open source chatbot?
Microsoft Bot Framework is one of the best free open source chatbot platforms for building conversational chatbots.
Which chatbot platform is the best non-open-source chatbot tool?
Bodt is the best conversational AI platform that lets you build engaging chatbots for your business.
