Reviewed by Amit KumarChat.sh is an AI help center that answers customer questions in plain language and cites the pages it used. It is aimed at SaaS and product teams who want search that writes an answer, not a keyword hit list. Hosting on a chat.sh address is free (50 pages, 100 AI answers a month, no card). Your own domain or a site folder needs the one-time lifetime plan, which cost $599 per workspace when we read the homepage on 13 October 2026.
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Chat.sh Review: Lifetime Price, Free Plan and Credits
AI help center that answers with citations
Quick verdict
The pay-once model is the draw, and the rising price ladder is the warning. The lifetime price went from $399 on 2 October 2026 to $599 on 13 October, and the page calls that the last rise while saying the price holds only until one-time pricing ends. Monthly plans are planned. If you want it, the published pattern says do not wait. The AI credit cap is the other thing to size: 1,000 credits a month, one per answer.
Best forCited AI help centersHelp center on your domainOne-time-payment support tools
How we reviewed Chat.sh
Every Chat.sh plan, price and limit in this review comes from Chat.sh's own pages, checked on , and links to the page it came from. A review cannot be bought. How these reviews are written
On this page
Chat.sh at a glance
One knowledge base feeds three surfaces: a public help center, an in-app chat messenger, and markdown and llms.txt hand-offs for AI agents. On 2 October 2026 the messenger was listed as "Shipping next" and the inbox as "Shipping after". By 13 October the Chat.sh homepage marked the help center, messenger and inbox all as live. Free and lifetime prices are in the table below.
What does Chat.sh do?
Articles, web links, files and TXT or Markdown go in once, and answers come from that same store. The vendor calls search the core difference: instead of ranking titles that share a keyword, a model retrieves passages, writes the answer and shows the pages it used. Help centers can live at yoursite.com/help, a custom subdomain, or a your-team.chat.sh address. Slugs are human-readable titles you can edit, and each article gets a share preview card.
For AI workflows, every article can be copied as markdown or opened in ChatGPT or Claude, and an agent can start from llms.txt. The chat messenger is described as the same answers inside your app, so customers do not leave the stuck page, and the inbox lets teammates take over a conversation.
Who Chat.sh is for, and who should skip it
It fits teams that already write help articles, want cited answers, and prefer a one-time bill to a monthly help-desk seat. Hosting the help center in a folder on your primary domain also suits teams who care about analytics and brand continuity.
Skip it if you need a full ITSM suite (assets, SLAs, omnichannel telephony, no phone IVR or asset CMDB here), if you refuse any AI credit model, or if you want proof of the messenger and inbox in daily use before paying, since they went live only recently. WordPress-only shops that want AI tickets inside wp-admin may prefer a WP-native desk.
How much does Chat.sh cost?
USD, checked 13 October 2026, from the Chat.sh homepage pricing block
| Plan | Price (USD) | What you get | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (no card) | Help center on a chat.sh address; 50 pages; 100 AI answers per month | No custom domain or site-folder hosting. Lifetime is required to move onto a domain you own. |
| Lifetime (1 workspace) | $599 one-time | Own domain or folder hosting; 1,000 pages; 1,000 AI credits a month; help center, chat messenger and inbox; 3 inbox people per workspace | One credit = one AI answer (help center or messenger). When the monthly 1,000 credits are gone, buy another 1,000 for $20 once. Extra inbox people are $10/month each; human replies do not spend AI credits. |
The vendor said the one-time price rises $100 each time a major piece ships. The ladder as it showed it: $399 on 2 October 2026, $499 by the time the inbox was due, and $599 on 13 October, described as the last rise. The pricing page also offers a 5,000 AI credits a month option per workspace, but it does not state that price, so we leave it out.
Billing details worth checking before you pay
Credits are monthly and per workspace. The homepage defines one credit as one answer in the help center or the messenger. Top-ups are sold as one-time packs of 1,000 credits for $20, not as a forced plan upgrade. Extra inbox seats are the only recurring line item ($10 per person per month beyond the first three), and the vendor states that buying another person does not convert the lifetime into a subscription.
Hosting model matters for long-term risk. Chat.sh can serve from a folder on your domain or a custom domain you point at it, which differs from a classic help-desk subdomain you never control. Community questions on Product Hunt after its 1 October 2026 debut asked how folder hosting is implemented (proxy versus files you own). Confirm that with the vendor if it matters to your ops team.
Is Chat.sh free?
For a limited help center, yes: 50 pages and 100 AI answers a month on a chat.sh address, no card. Custom domains and higher ceilings need the lifetime plan.
Does Chat.sh replace Intercom or Zendesk?
Not as a full suite. Chat.sh focuses on AI-answered help content, a messenger and a lightweight inbox. Intercom and Zendesk are broader support platforms, usually billed per seat, so compare their current pricing yourself.
How Chat.sh compares with other tools reviewed here
NiroHelp. A WordPress help desk with AI answers from your docs. Our review shows the knowledge base and tickets free on WordPress.org, and paid Cloud plans from about $9.99 a month (checked 28 September 2026) that add the AI chatbot and email piping. Choose NiroHelp when support must live inside wp-admin, and Chat.sh when you want a hostable help center with lifetime billing and markdown and llms.txt exports.
Yedric.ai. An embeddable AI that turns natural-language requests into actions inside your SaaS, listed as free or bring-your-own-key (checked 1 October 2026). Use Yedric when users should do work inside the product, and Chat.sh when they need cited answers from a knowledge base.
Sayble. Real-time AI that suggests what to say next. It coaches humans mid-conversation, where Chat.sh publishes a self-serve help center that answers without one.
Browse more customer support tools.
Chat.sh screenshots
More of Chat.sh's own website, captured . Each caption says which page it shows.
Chat.sh pros and cons
Pros
- AI search writes cited answers instead of keyword title lists
- Free tier: 50 pages and 100 AI answers a month on a chat.sh address, no card
- One-time lifetime billing, with own-domain or folder hosting and 1,000 pages
- Articles export as markdown and llms.txt for ChatGPT, Claude and agents
- Help center can live in a folder on your own domain
- Messenger and inbox (3 people per workspace) are included in the lifetime price
Cons
- Lifetime price rose from $399 on 2 October 2026 to $599 on 13 October, and one-time pricing will end
- Monthly AI credits can run out; top-ups are $20 per extra 1,000
- Not a full ITSM or omnichannel desk (no phone IVR, asset CMDB and so on)
- Extra inbox people cost $10 a month each beyond the first three
- The 5,000-credit workspace price is not stated on the page
The bottom line on Chat.sh
Best for
- Cited AI help centers
- Help center on your domain
- One-time-payment support tools
Facts checked
Visit Chat.shChat.sh FAQ
Is Chat.sh free?
Yes, for a limited help center. Free covers 50 pages and 100 AI answers a month on a chat.sh address with no credit card, per the Chat.sh homepage checked 13 October 2026. Custom domains and higher ceilings need the lifetime plan.
How much does Chat.sh cost?
Free is $0. The lifetime workspace with 1,000 AI credits a month is $599 one-time, up from $399 on 2 October 2026 (checked 13 October 2026), and the page calls $599 the last rise. Extra 1,000 credits are $20 once; extra inbox people are $10 a month.
What is Chat.sh used for?
Teams use it to publish an AI help center that answers with citations, host it on their own domain or site folder, export articles as markdown for LLMs, and add an in-app messenger and human inbox from the same knowledge base.
Does Chat.sh replace Intercom or Zendesk?
Not as a full suite. Chat.sh focuses on AI-answered help content plus a messenger and inbox. Broader platforms are usually seat-billed, so compare their current vendor pricing yourself.
What happens when AI credits run out?
Per the homepage, you buy another 1,000 credits for $20 once when the monthly allowance is gone. Free is capped at 100 AI answers a month. Human inbox replies do not spend AI credits.
Are the messenger and inbox available now?
Yes. On 2 October 2026 the messenger was marked "Shipping next" and the inbox "Shipping after", but the homepage checked 13 October 2026 marks the help center, messenger and inbox as live. Lifetime buyers get them without paying again for the included allotment.
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Reviewed by
Amit Kumar
Full Stack AI Strategist
Amit Kumar runs MPAT, where he reviews AI tools and writes its guides. When he covers a tool he checks its pricing, credits and plan limits against the vendor's own pages, so readers know what a plan includes before they pay. He also leads the site's SEO and AI-focused content strategy.