AI
If all you want is for your website to answer common questions, an off-the-shelf AI chatbot can go live for a monthly fee between 10,000 and 100,000 HUF (roughly 25 to 250 EUR). But if the bot has to work from your own systems (orders, stock, customer data), you need a custom build, and that usually means a setup cost between 1.5 and 5 million HUF (roughly 3,750 to 12,500 EUR). The gap between the two is enormous, and the wrong call burns money in either direction.
Today’s chatbots run on large language models, so instead of following pre-written decision trees, they actually understand a question phrased in the user’s own words. They do this surprisingly well in Hungarian too. What a well-configured bot takes off your plate: answering common questions (opening hours, prices, shipping, terms), starting simple requests, and pre-screening messages before they reach your support team.
What you shouldn’t hand it: binding promises (price, deadline, legal questions) without oversight. Language models sometimes state falsehoods with full confidence. That’s why in a good setup the bot works only from what it gets from the company’s documents, and anything it can’t answer, it routes to a person.
1. Off-the-shelf, plug-in chatbots. You upload your common questions and documents, and the provider’s platform handles the rest. Monthly subscription, fast launch, and in exchange, limited customization. A strong pick for smaller companies and straightforward support cases.
2. AI built into your platform. The AI module baked into customer-support systems (chat and ticketing software). If you already run one of these, this is often the path of least resistance.
3. A custom-built chatbot. The bot connects to your own databases and systems: it tells the customer where their package is, what their balance is, whether a product is in stock. This is a software development project now: API integrations, access control, logging. In return, it does things no boxed product can.
| Factor | Off-the-shelf chatbot | Custom build |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | free to a few hundred thousand HUF (up to roughly 1,250 EUR) | 1.5 to 5 million HUF (roughly 3,750 to 12,500 EUR) |
| Monthly cost | 10,000 to 100,000 HUF (roughly 25 to 250 EUR) | operation + API fees, typically 30,000 to 150,000 HUF (roughly 75 to 375 EUR) |
| Answers from your own documents | yes, by upload | yes, with an auto-updating knowledge base |
| Live system data (orders, stock, balance) | no, or very limited | yes, that’s the whole point |
| Branding, tone of voice, workflows | within a template | fully open |
| Data handling | per the provider’s terms | you decide where it runs and what it logs |
| Rollout time | days | 4 to 10 weeks |
Our rule of thumb: start off-the-shelf, then move to custom once the bot has proven itself and you start hitting its limits. The exception is when the value sits in the integration from day one (for example, a flood of ‘where’s my package’ questions), because an off-the-shelf tool will never serve those.
A typical rollout with us looks like this:
Of the running costs, the language model’s API fee is the least scary line item: at the major providers’ public pricing, an average local support volume comes in at a few tens of thousands HUF a month (roughly 50 to 125 EUR). The bigger line item is operation and maintaining the knowledge base.
Everything stands or falls on answer quality in Hungarian. What we see is that weak chatbot experiences almost always trace back to poor data preparation: someone dumped the PDFs into the bot in bulk, then wonders why it mixes up the price lists. When we prepare the documents properly, chunked and with source attribution, the bot tells you which document it drew each answer from. For customer trust, that’s worth more than any chat style.
If you’re curious about more than the chatbot, about what a company can do with AI on its website, we wrote about that here: AI website development. And if you’re thinking about serving your internal processes, start here: Custom software instead of Excel.
How much does an AI chatbot cost? With an off-the-shelf tool you can start at 10,000 to 100,000 HUF a month (roughly 25 to 250 EUR). For a custom, system-connected chatbot, plan for a setup between 1.5 and 5 million HUF (roughly 3,750 to 12,500 EUR) and monthly operation between 30,000 and 150,000 HUF (roughly 75 to 375 EUR).
Can the chatbot speak Hungarian? Yes. Today’s large language models handle Hungarian well. What determines quality is not the language but the structure of the company knowledge you upload.
How does the bot know my company’s data? From the knowledge base built out of your documents, and in a custom build, from queries wired to your systems. The bot works only from what you give it access to.
Can the chatbot replace customer service? Not entirely, and that isn’t the right goal anyway. It can take 60 to 80% of recurring questions off the team’s shoulders, which leaves more time for the rest. The cases that need a human, a good bot hands off clearly.
Want to see what a chatbot could do with your documents? Bring a dozen real customer questions and we’ll show you: contact us.