Quick Summary
Short answer: The price depends on the tool and billing term: tawk.to's white-label add-on is $29 per month per property on annual billing ($39 monthly), Chatbase charges a $99 monthly branding add-on on top of a paid plan, while SiteSpeakAI includes badge removal on its $29 Starter plan. Zappiq AI includes a badge-free widget on every plan, with Starter at $9/month billed annually for 350 conversations.
- Lowest verified route: SiteSpeakAI's $29 Starter plan includes removal; tawk.to's $29 monthly equivalent is billed annually and per property.
- What Zappiq costs: A 14-day trial includes 100 conversations. Starter is $9/month billed annually for 350 conversations; Growth is $39/month month-to-month or $27/month billed annually for 1,500; Pro is $99/month month-to-month or $69/month billed annually for 5,000. No branding fee is added.
- Why it matters: When the chatbot sits on a service page, inside your product, or in a client project, a third-party badge makes the assistant feel borrowed.
- The catch: Not every removal covers every surface. Some platforms clear the widget but leave the badge on shared links, public bot pages, the dashboard or emails. Get written confirmation before you pay.
What Is a "Powered By" Badge on a Chatbot?
A "Powered By" badge is a small line of text or logo, usually at the bottom of a chat window, that identifies the chatbot vendor. You may see labels such as "Powered by Chatbase," "Powered by tawk.to," or "Powered by Chat Thing." Many free and entry-level plans include vendor branding, but the exact rule depends on the product and plan.
From the vendor's side, the badge is free advertising. Every conversation on your website puts their name in front of another person, and some of those people are shopping for a chatbot of their own. From your side, it is a small tax on your brand, paid every time a visitor opens the widget.
Removing it sounds like ticking a box. In practice, the price, the plan you need, and the places the badge hides all vary a lot between platforms. That is what the rest of this guide sorts out.
Why the Badge Matters More Than You Think
Most businesses ignore the badge at first. It is small, it sits at the bottom of the chat window, and it does not seem to affect anything. Then a customer asks why another company's name is on your website. Or an agency hands a chatbot to a client, and the client wonders why their brand is not the only one on the screen.
The badge tells visitors you are running a borrowed tool instead of something built for them. For a dental clinic, a law firm or a home services company, where trust decides whether someone books or leaves, that small signal can undercut a website you have worked hard on. People type phone numbers, project details and sometimes health or legal questions into a chat box. They notice who else is in the room.
The white-label chatbot market exists because of this. A white-label chatbot is an assistant you deploy under your own brand, domain and design, with no vendor badge and no vendor branding in the interface. The vendor supplies the engine, and you own the experience and the data.
The agency problem: An agency building chatbots for clients cannot deliver a branded experience if the vendor's badge appears on every client site. The agency either pays the premium for white labeling or it cannot sell the service credibly. That is why the badge is so often the deciding factor in platform choice.
To be fair, the badge is not a crisis for everyone. A personal blog, a hobby project or an internal test does not need to spend money hiding it. The decision gets real when the chatbot is part of how you win customers.
Who Actually Needs a Badge-Free Chatbot?
Before you compare prices, work out whether you belong in the group that should pay at all. Here is how it usually breaks down.
- Service businesses that sell on trust. Clinics, law firms, contractors, real estate agents and similar businesses want the chat to feel like part of the team, not a plug-in from a stranger.
- Agencies and freelancers. If you resell chatbots, the vendor's name on a client's website is a problem you cannot explain away.
- SaaS and product teams. When the chatbot lives inside your app or help center, a third-party badge reads like part of the product you did not build.
- Small sites on a tight budget. If you get a handful of chats a month and nobody cares who made the widget, keep the free plan and spend the money on something that moves revenue.
Here is a quick test. Show your site to someone outside your company and ask who made the chatbot. If the honest answer matters to your brand, budget for removal. If you are still choosing a tool, our guide to the best no-code chatbot builders is a good place to start.
What Platforms Actually Charge for Badge Removal
Badge removal is priced in different ways: as a per-site add-on, a feature of a higher plan, or part of a white-label agency package. The comparison below uses official pricing and plan documentation checked on October 16, 2026. “No branding” may refer only to the embedded website widget, so confirm which public pages, emails, and dashboards are covered before buying.
| Platform | Published entry price | How badge removal is offered | Important limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zappiq AI | Starter $9/mo billed annually (350); Growth $39/mo monthly or $27/mo annual (1,500); Pro $99/mo monthly or $69/mo annual (5,000) | Included on every plan and 14-day trial | No separate branding add-on |
| Chatbase | Standard $120/mo annual rate ($150 monthly) | $99/mo branding add-on | Paid plan plus add-on; confirm domain needs separately |
| tawk.to | $29/mo annual equivalent; $39 monthly | Whitelabel add-on, per property | Each client site/property needs its own add-on |
| SiteSpeakAI | Starter $29/mo | Badge removal included in Starter | Agency white label is a separate, higher-cost product |
| Botpress | Plus $150/mo billed annually | White-label Webchat listed on Plus | Published scope specifies Webchat; verify other surfaces |
| Agentkit | Standard $119.99/mo ($95.99 annual equivalent) | Brand removal listed on Standard and Pro | Not included on Free or Hobby tiers |
| Chat Thing | Standard $49/mo ($40.83 annual equivalent) | Available on Standard, Pro, and Enterprise | Removal does not replace vendor footer with your own branding |
| ChatBotKit | Pro $65/mo | Disable widget branding on Pro | Custom branding is listed for Enterprise |
The headline price alone can mislead. SiteSpeakAI's $29 Starter tier includes removal, while tawk.to's $29 annual-billing equivalent is charged for each property. Chatbase's badge add-on is not a standalone plan: pair it with Standard and the total is about $219 per month at the annual plan rate or $249 month to month. Compare both the bill and the surfaces covered.
The hidden cost: The removal fee is rarely the whole bill. Chatbase Standard is $120 per month at its annual rate or $150 month to month; add the $99 monthly branding add-on and the combined total is about $219 or $249, respectively, before any separate domain or usage costs. Check whether an annual rate is billed upfront.
It helps to put the totals side by side. These tools do not do exactly the same job, so look at features too, but the bills show how much the badge can add.
What a badge-free chatbot can cost per month
The tawk.to line is the one agencies trip over. The add-on is billed per property, so every client website needs its own. Ten properties means ten add-ons. If you are comparing a switch, our Chatbase alternatives and tawk.to alternatives guides put the options side by side, and the AI chatbot cost breakdown covers other fees that can affect the total.
The Surfaces Problem: Where the Badge Actually Appears
Removing the badge from the chat widget is only part of the story. The badge can show up in several places, and not every platform clears all of them. Before you pay, find out which surfaces are covered.
Here are the places a badge typically appears:
- The chat widget itself. The badge sits at the bottom of the chat window, visible to every visitor who opens it.
- Shared conversation links. If you share a transcript with a teammate or customer, the badge may appear on the shared page.
- The bot's public page. Some platforms give each bot its own public URL. The badge can stay there even after it disappears from the widget.
- Transactional emails. Chat transcripts, lead notifications and escalation emails may carry the vendor name in the footer.
- The dashboard. When you or your client logs in to manage the chatbot, vendor branding may appear throughout the interface.
Chat Thing's branding documentation is unusually specific about this. Switching branding off removes the "Powered by Chat Thing" footer from the chat widget, iframe embeds, the bot's own page and shared conversation links. What you cannot do is replace that footer with your own text or logo.
Botpress draws a narrower line in its published plan details: white-labeling is listed for the Webchat on Plus and higher plans. Do not assume this also removes branding from the Studio, admin dashboard, emails, or every public bot page; confirm the surfaces you use with Botpress before upgrading.
Ask before you pay: Before upgrading a plan or buying an add-on, ask support to confirm in writing which surfaces the removal covers. If the answer is vague, ask for a screenshot or a test account. The worst outcome is paying for removal and still finding the badge on a surface you did not think to check.
Badge Removal vs. True White Label
People use these terms as if they mean the same thing. They do not. Taking a badge off the widget is the smallest step. Real white labeling stacks several upgrades on top of it, and each one is often sold separately.
| Level | What changes | Who usually needs it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Badge removed | The vendor's name disappears from the chat widget | Most small businesses |
| 2. Your own branding | Your logo, colors and bot name appear in the widget | Brands that want a fully custom look |
| 3. Custom domain and branded emails | Chat pages, shared links and notification emails use your domain and sender name | Businesses that share transcripts or publish a bot page |
| 4. Full agency white label | Branded dashboard, client logins and per-client limits | Agencies reselling chatbots |
Platforms differ on where they stop. Chat Thing stops at level 1, because it removes the footer but gives you no way to add your own. tawk.to's add-ons page describes its Whitelabel add-on as reaching further, covering custom domains and branded emails. Agency platforms cover level 4, at agency prices.
Decide which level you need before you start comparing. Paying for level 4 when you only need level 1 is an easy way to overspend, and buying level 1 when a client expects level 3 is an easy way to lose the client.
Zappiq AI: No Badge on Any Plan
Zappiq AI takes a different position. The badge is removed on every plan, including the free trial. There is no branding removal fee, no white-label upgrade, and no monthly charge to show your own brand on your own website.
The reasoning is simple. A chatbot that represents your business should not advertise someone else's. Removing the badge should not be a perk reserved for enterprise buyers or agencies with a budget. It is the baseline for a tool that speaks on your behalf.
Zappiq AI's website chatbot is positioned for lead capture: it learns from your site content, helps qualify visitors, and keeps the interaction under your brand without a separate badge-removal add-on. The 14-day trial includes 100 conversations. Starter is $9/month billed annually for 350 conversations; Growth is $39/month month-to-month or $27/month billed annually for 1,500; Pro is $99/month month-to-month or $69/month billed annually for 5,000. See current details on the pricing page, or read how an AI lead qualification chatbot can collect useful context before a follow-up.
Zappiq AI
zappiqai.com | AI lead generation chatbot for small and medium business websites, no developer required
How it works
- Sign up and enter your website URL. The chatbot trains on your services, pages and common questions automatically.
- Automatic website training uses your services, pages, and common questions to prepare the assistant; review its answers before publishing.
- Qualification logic is pre-configured: intent, urgency, service type and fit before the chatbot asks for contact details.
- Every qualified lead is emailed to you with contact details and the full conversation transcript.
- Installs with a single script tag on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Framer or custom HTML.
What makes it different
- No branding badge on any plan, including the free trial. The chatbot reads as a natural part of your website from day one.
- Conversation-based plans: Starter is $9/month billed annually for 350 conversations; Growth is $39/month month-to-month or $27/month billed annually for 1,500; Pro is $99/month month-to-month or $69/month billed annually for 5,000. No separate branding-removal add-on applies.
- Ad source attribution: tracks which campaign or keyword brought a visitor before they became a lead.
Pricing
Best for: Small and medium businesses that need website visitor qualification and lead capture without an enterprise contract, engineering resources or branding removal fees. That includes service businesses, agencies, clinics, legal, real estate and home services, plus anyone running paid traffic who wants to know exactly what a lead cost them.
Not the best fit for: Teams that need a full ticketing help desk. Zappiq AI is built for capturing and qualifying leads on your website, so a dedicated support platform makes more sense for that job.
Can You Remove the Badge Yourself?
People ask this because a few lines of CSS or JavaScript can hide almost anything on a page. The short answer is that you should not try.
On most platforms the badge is part of the licence terms, not a cosmetic extra. Hiding it with code usually breaks the terms of service, and the vendor can restore the badge with an update or suspend the account. Many widgets also load inside an iframe, which your site's styles cannot reach, so the workaround often does not even work.
The one clean exception is a platform that gives you the switch. Rocket.Chat, for example, has a setting called "Hide 'Powered by Rocket.Chat'" in its Livechat appearance settings. That is a feature the platform provides, not a hack. If your platform has no such setting, your real options are to pay for removal or to move to a tool that does not charge for it.
White Label Options for Agencies
If you deliver chatbots to clients, the badge problem gets sharper. You are not clearing it from one site. You are clearing it from every client site, and you need the dashboard, emails and client-facing screens to carry your brand instead of the vendor's.
Some platforms are built for exactly this. SiteSpeakAI's agency program lists white-label features such as a branded dashboard, widget, and emails, plus client workspaces; its Agency Starter tier is $399 per month. That is a different product from removing a footer from one website widget, so compare the agency workflow and client limits as well as the badge.
The tradeoff is cost and fit. Agency plans are priced for businesses that bill clients, not for a small business running one chatbot. And per-property pricing, like tawk.to's, adds up fast as your client list grows. Run the numbers for ten or twenty clients before you commit. If you only need your own badge gone, a standard plan with a removal add-on, or a platform that never charged for it, will usually cost less.
How to Choose a Platform Without a Badge
Start with the badge question, not the feature list. If a third-party badge is a dealbreaker for your brand or your clients, the removal cost is a fixed part of your monthly bill. Add it to the plan price before you compare anything else.
Check every surface where the badge appears
Open your current chatbot dashboard and look at the widget, shared links, the bot's public page and any emails the platform sends. Write down every place the vendor's name appears.
Read the branding policy, not the marketing page
Find the platform's documentation on branding removal. Look for which plan includes it and which surfaces are covered. If the documentation is vague, treat that as a warning sign.
Ask support for written confirmation
Before paying, ask support to confirm in writing that removal applies to every surface you need covered. Save the reply. Pricing and product screens change, so a memory of what someone told you is weak evidence.
Compare the removal fee against switching
Add the base plan, branding add-on, per-site charges, annual commitment, and extra usage costs. A plan that includes no-badge by default may have a lower total cost, but compare the features and limits you will actually use.
Test after upgrading
After upgrading, open your site in a private browser window on both mobile and desktop. Take screenshots showing the badge is gone from every surface, and keep them in case it reappears after a platform update.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the platform and billing term. tawk.to's white-label add-on is $29 per month per property on annual billing ($39 month to month). Chatbase lists a $99 monthly branding add-on on top of a paid plan; Standard plus the add-on is about $219 per month at the annual plan rate or $249 monthly. SiteSpeakAI includes badge removal in its $29 Starter plan. Zappiq AI includes no branding on any plan or during its 14-day trial. Starter is $9/month billed annually for 350 conversations; Growth is $39/month month-to-month or $27/month billed annually for 1,500; Pro is $99/month month-to-month or $69/month billed annually for 5,000.
It depends on how visitors perceive the interaction. If the chatbot sits inside your product, on a service page where trust matters, or in a client experience, a third-party badge makes the assistant feel externally supplied. For agencies delivering chatbots to clients, the badge is often a dealbreaker. For a personal blog or a hobby site, it usually is not worth paying to hide.
You should not. The badge is usually part of the licence terms, so hiding it with code can break the terms of service. Vendors can restore the badge with an update or suspend the account. The supported routes are paying for removal, using a setting the platform provides, or choosing a platform that includes a badge-free widget as standard.
No. Zappiq AI removes its branding badge on every plan including the free trial. There is no branding removal fee, no white-label upgrade, and no monthly charge to show your own brand on your own website.
Check which surfaces the removal covers. Some platforms remove the badge from the widget but leave it on shared conversation links, the bot's public page, the dashboard, or transactional emails. Also check which plan you need before the add-on becomes available. Ask support for written confirmation of every surface you need covered before you pay.
Removing the badge only takes the vendor's name off the widget. White labeling goes further and can include your own logo and bot name, a custom domain for chat pages and emails, and a branded dashboard for clients. Many platforms sell these as separate upgrades, so decide which level you need before you compare prices.
No. The badge is a branding element. Removing it does not change the answers the chatbot gives, how fast it loads, or how it captures leads. The only difference is what your visitors see at the bottom of the chat window.
Often. Agencies may need branding removed across each client site, plus client logins, branded emails, workspace separation, and usage controls. SiteSpeakAI lists an Agency Starter tier at $399 per month. A single-site business may need only widget badge removal, so compare the scope before paying for a full agency white-label program.
The Bottom Line
A "Powered By" badge is small, but it can make a branded website chat feel like a third-party experience. Pricing models vary: one plan may include removal, another may charge per property, and another may require a base subscription plus a branding add-on.
The sticker price is also not the real price. A removal add-on stacks on top of a plan you may not have wanted yet, and per-website pricing multiplies as you add clients. The honest way to compare is plan plus removal plus every extra surface you need covered.
If the badge matters to you, pick a platform that treats a clean widget as standard instead of an upsell. Zappiq AI removes its badge on every plan, including the free trial. You can try it at zappiqai.com with 100 conversations, no credit card and no branding badge, and see it on your own website before you commit to anything.
Start with 100 free conversations. No branding badge. No credit card.
Zappiq AI keeps the website chatbot under your brand, helps qualify visitors, and includes 100 conversations in its 14-day trial. No separate branding-removal fee.
Start Free Trial100 free conversations | No branding on any plan | Cancel anytime
Official pricing and plan references
Pricing and feature details checked October 16, 2026. Vendors can change plans and billing terms; verify the linked pages before purchasing.
Ansar Ali
Ansar Ali founded Zappiq AI after watching too many small business owners get quoted enterprise pricing for a job that really came down to answering questions on a website and identifying who was serious. He spends most of his time on lead qualification logic, attribution tracking, and making sure a chatbot install never slows a page down.