ZiaPilot

2026 buyer's guide

The 7 best AI chatbots for restaurants, with prices

This category spans $0 to $599 per location per month for tools that sound identical in a demo. Every figure below was read off the vendor's own pricing page, and where we could not verify one, this guide says so instead of guessing.

Prices verified August 1, 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page

Short answer

AI chatbots for restaurants cost between $0 and $599 per location per month. Tidio has a free tier and paid plans from $24.17. ZiaPilot is free with paid plans at $29 and $49. Owner.com charges $249 plus 5% per order or $499 flat. Slang.ai starts at $399 per location.

Every price, side by side

Sorted by published entry price. Vendors that do not publish pricing are listed last, which is information in itself.

PlatformEntry pricePublished tiersOn top of thatTrial
ZiaPilotUs$0Free $0, Growth $29/mo, Pro $49/moNo per-location fee, no per-seat fee, AI included in every paid planFree plan plus a 7-day full trial, no card
Tidio$0Free $0 (50 conversations, 10 seats), Starter $24.17/mo, Growth from $49.17/mo, Plus from $300/mo + usageLyro AI agent is a separate add-on from $32.50/mo, Flows from $24.17/moFree plan plus a 7-day trial on paid plans
Owner.com$249/moFlexible $249/mo + 5% restaurant fee per order, Flat Rate $499/mo with no per-order feeFlat Rate is aimed at restaurants doing $5k+/mo in online salesDemo led, month to month with no long contract
Slang.ai$399/locationCore from $399 per location, Premium from $599 per location, Enterprise customTripleseat integration $199/mo, bilingual Spanish support $99/moDemo led
Popmenu$199 CAD/moStarter $199 CAD, Essentials $349 CAD, Premier $599 CAD, prepaid annually. Custom tier availableAI phone answering sold separately from $199 CAD/moDemo led
ManyChat Not verifiedManyChat publishes pricing, but its pricing page blocked automated access when this guide was checked, and third-party sources disagreed on the figureWidely reported to sell AI as a separate add-on, unconfirmedFree plan available
Momos Not publishedNo public pricing page found. Quoted after a sales conversationNot publishedDemo only

Sources, in table order: ziapilot.com, tidio.com, owner.com, slang.ai, get.popmenu.ca, manychat.com, momos.com. All checked August 1, 2026.

How this was put together

  • Every price was read directly from the vendor's own pricing page, and each row links to the page it came from.
  • Where a vendor's pricing page could not be reached, or where third-party sources disagreed with each other, this guide records the price as unverified rather than repeating a number we could not confirm.
  • AI is a paid add-on on several of these platforms rather than part of the base plan. Add-on and per-location costs are listed separately from the sticker price.
  • No vendor paid for placement, and there are no affiliate links on this page.

Our conflict of interest

ZiaPilot publishes this guide and is one of the seven. We list our own limitations in the same column as everybody else's. Several tools here are strong at things we do not do at all, and the guide says so.

The seven, in detail

1. ZiaPilot

$0

Best for: Independents who want one AI answering the website and WhatsApp from their real menu, with catering quoting attached

Where it is strong

  • AI is in the base price rather than a paid add-on, which is unusual in this category
  • Answers from your actual menu, tray sizes and prices, not a generic FAQ script
  • Same subscription covers catering quoting and AI review replies

Where it is not

  • No phone or voice answering, so it does not replace a tool like Slang.ai
  • No reservations or waitlist management
  • Newer product with a smaller customer base than the incumbents here
Pricing source

2. Tidio

$0

Best for: Small businesses that want a general-purpose live chat widget with an optional AI layer

Where it is strong

  • Genuinely usable free tier and the lowest published paid entry point here
  • Mature live chat product with human handoff and ticketing built in
  • Seat count is generous even on the free plan

Where it is not

  • Not built for restaurants: no menu awareness, no tray or per-head pricing, no catering concept
  • The AI is an add-on, so a working AI setup costs more than the headline plan
  • Billing is per conversation, which is unpredictable for a busy inbox
Pricing source ZiaPilot vs Tidio

3. Owner.com

$249/mo

Best for: Restaurants that want their website, ordering and marketing rebuilt on one platform

Where it is strong

  • Publishes both plans openly, including the commission on the cheaper one
  • Broad platform: website, ordering, app, SEO and marketing in one place
  • No long-term contract, cancel any time

Where it is not

  • The $249 plan takes 5% of every order, so the cost rises as you succeed
  • Ten times the price of the cheapest options here, and it replaces your website whether you wanted that or not
  • Built around direct online ordering rather than conversational catering enquiries
Pricing source ZiaPilot vs Owner.com

4. Slang.ai

$399/location

Best for: Busy restaurants whose real bottleneck is the phone ringing during service

Where it is strong

  • Answers the phone, which none of the chat-first tools on this list do
  • Unlimited calls and minutes, so no per-minute surprises
  • Strong reservation handling and call summaries

Where it is not

  • Priced per location, making it the most expensive option here for a multi-site operator
  • Voice only, so you still need something for website and messaging
  • The add-ons that make it complete push a single site past $700/mo
Pricing source

5. Popmenu

$199 CAD/mo

Best for: Restaurants wanting an all-in-one marketing platform with an AI answering add-on

Where it is strong

  • Publishes a full tier list rather than hiding behind a sales call
  • Deep restaurant marketing feature set built specifically for the industry
  • Well established with a large restaurant customer base

Where it is not

  • Figures here are from Popmenu's Canadian page in CAD, because the US pricing page did not load for verification. Check the US page for USD figures
  • AI answering is an add-on, so the working configuration costs materially more than the entry tier
  • Entry tier is roughly seven times the price of the cheapest tools here
Pricing source ZiaPilot vs Popmenu

6. ManyChat

Not verified

Best for: Social-first businesses automating Instagram and Facebook DMs at scale

Where it is strong

  • The most established DM automation tool for Instagram and Facebook
  • Large template and integration ecosystem
  • Genuinely strong at social funnel automation

Where it is not

  • We could not verify a price from the vendor for this guide, so no figure is published here. Check their page directly
  • Pricing is contact based, so the bill grows with every person who ever messaged you, active or not
  • A flow builder rather than a restaurant product: no menu, no prices, no catering logic
Pricing source ZiaPilot vs ManyChat

7. Momos

Not published

Best for: Large multi-location chains consolidating customer messaging and reviews

Where it is strong

  • Proven at enterprise scale with very large multi-site brands
  • Combines reviews, messaging and customer data in one place
  • Strong analytics for chains

Where it is not

  • No public pricing, and the product is built for chains rather than independents
  • Enterprise sales motion means a long evaluation before you see a number
  • Overpowered for a single restaurant doing catering on the side
Pricing source ZiaPilot vs Momos

How to choose

Work out which channel is actually losing you money

These tools are not substitutes for each other. Slang.ai answers the phone. Tidio and ZiaPilot answer chat. Owner.com and Popmenu rebuild your marketing stack around ordering. Buying the wrong category is the most expensive mistake here, and a demo will not surface it because every one of them looks impressive. Spend a week noting where enquiries actually arrive and go unanswered, then buy for that channel.

Check whether the AI is included or sold separately

This is the single biggest gap between advertised and real cost in the category. Tidio's Lyro AI is an add-on from $32.50/mo on top of the plan. Popmenu sells AI phone answering separately from $199 CAD/mo. ManyChat is widely reported to charge separately for AI. A plan that looks cheaper than a competitor can end up more expensive once the feature you came for is switched on.

Ask whether it knows what you sell

A general chatbot answers questions about your opening hours. A restaurant one answers 'how many people does a full tray feed' and 'what is the vegetarian option for 40 guests' using your real menu and prices. Tidio and ManyChat are excellent general tools with no concept of a menu. If most of your unanswered messages are about food and quantities, a generic bot will hand them to a human anyway, which is the thing you were paying to avoid.

Multiply by locations before comparing anything

Per-location pricing changes the ranking completely. Slang.ai at $399 per location is $1,197/mo across three sites, where a flat-rate tool stays flat. If you run more than one venue, rewrite every price in this table as price times locations before you form an opinion, because that is the number you will actually be invoiced.

Test with your five hardest messages, not the demo script

Take the five enquiries your staff most often get wrong or slowest, and send them to each tool during a trial. Tidio and ZiaPilot both have free tiers, so two of these can be tested properly for nothing before you book a single sales call. A tool that handles your awkward questions on a free plan is worth more than one that handles easy questions on a paid demo.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest AI chatbot for restaurants?

Tidio and ZiaPilot both have free tiers at $0. Among paid plans, Tidio Starter at $24.17/mo is the lowest published price, though its Lyro AI is a separate add-on from $32.50/mo. ZiaPilot's paid plans are $29 and $49 with AI included. Prices checked 1 August 2026.

How much does a restaurant AI chatbot cost per month?

Published prices run from $0 to $599 per location per month. Chat-first tools sit at the low end, from $0 to about $49. Platform and voice tools sit far higher: Owner.com at $249 to $499, Slang.ai from $399 per location. AI is often an add-on rather than part of the base plan.

Is a free restaurant chatbot good enough?

For a single location capturing enquiries from a website and WhatsApp, often yes. Free tiers usually cap conversations rather than crippling the AI. The point at which paying makes sense is when you need message volume beyond the cap, several locations, or the chatbot to quote and invoice rather than only answer.

Do I need a restaurant-specific chatbot or will a general one do?

It depends on what people ask you. General tools such as Tidio and ManyChat handle hours, location and simple FAQs perfectly well. They have no concept of a menu, portion sizes or per-head pricing, so food and quantity questions get escalated to a human. If those are most of your messages, a general tool will not reduce your workload much.

Why do some of these charge per location?

Voice and platform products such as Slang.ai price per location because each site has its own phone line, menu and configuration, and their cost scales with it. Chat-first tools more often price per account or per conversation. For multi-site operators this is usually the largest single difference in total cost.

How often is this comparison updated?

Prices were last verified on 1 August 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page, and every row links to its source. Two vendors could not be verified and are marked as such rather than estimated. Vendors change prices without notice, so check the linked source before deciding.

Test the cheapest one first

ZiaPilot's free tier costs nothing and takes your real menu. Run your five most common catering inquiries through it before you book a single demo, then compare plans.

Start free, no card See how ZiaPilot's chat works

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