How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Chatbot like ChatGPT?

With the arrival of ChatGPT, people have been fascinated with this AI-powered solution. It was 30 November 2022, when AI research and deployment company, OpenAI launched ChatGPT and since then, it has been noticed and discussed by everyone. It took only a few days for this AI chatbot to go viral and gain popularity and even it is supposed to be a threat to many people’s employment.

Right from being the hottest topic in the tech community to becoming more than a catchphrase, it has become crucial for all businesses to get connect with leading development agencies to get AI development services.

But before opting for chatbot development services, businesses must know about the cost to develop an AI chatbot like ChatGPT. There is a competitive world out there, hence, it becomes necessary to get details about everything before moving into digital approaches. When you are going to create ChatGPT, it will cost you between $100K to $500K approximately. We will provide details about it later in the write-up.

If you are also astounded by the buzz created by ChatGPT, then this is the right place for you. Here, we have shared deep insight into the cost to develop a Chatbot like ChatGPT along with the factors that can impact the overall cost. The blog will also provide you with more details on how much does it cost to develop ChatGPT, let’s dig into this-

Overview of Chatbot & Why Chatbots are so Important?

Chatbots are considered AI-based computer programs meant to invigorate human discussions. These are driven by automated rules, AI, NLP (Natural language processing), and machine learning and it processes data to provide quick responses to users’ requests. With the changing technologies, businesses have also changed their way to connect with their customers. Instead of going door-to-door, they are now using automated calls, text messages, and emails to promote their services and solve customers’ issues.

In marketing, businesses are using chatbots as conversational tools to accomplish regular tasks professionally. Users can get instant information through the chatbots, and they like it as the chatbot provides them with quick solutions while they are engaging with high-level, strategic, and engaging tasks that need human capabilities only and can’t be handled by machines. Chatbot mainly works by examining and recognizing the user’s intent to extract related beings.

The main motive behind creating Chatbots is to give a helping hand to the mobility-driven transformation. Chatbots provide an efficient way for businesses so they can connect with their customers in a more personal way without spending a single penny on hiring human representatives.

For instance, customers have various issues, and they are unable to find solutions sometimes. Here comes the role of troubleshooting guides and FAQs. On the other hand, chatbots offer a personal alternative in the form of a helper that can answer any of the questions asked by the customers. Chatbots have occurred as a popular tool to save both time and money for businesses while adding convenience to their internal processes.

Also, it is obvious to brainstorm a lot when you are going to acquire chatbot development services. As per the current reports by Forbes, the global chatbot market is predicted to go above and reach $1.25 billion by the year 2025. Seeing the stats, businesses can go for having a chatbot like ChatGPT.

Brief Overview of ChatGPT

ChatGPT can be known as a technology that understands natural language. Microsoft has also contributed to build an app like ChatGPT while enabling developers to make AI chatbots, virtual assistants, and other types of conversational apps. This natural processing tools work like a chatbot driven by AI technology. It can rapidly answer human queries conversationally.

Basically, it is expected to be more useful than just a question-answer bot. Users can get benefits out of it by leveraging the algorithm to accomplish any possible task. ChatGPT is able to write fundamental computer programs and code, test program code, have intellectual conversations, and many more. There have been a large number of populations that have used ChatGPT for different purposes since its release in November 2022.

Most of the requests to ChatGPT have been about writing songs, poems, official emails, computer code, providing suggestions, and helping with study problems. ChatGPT is considered the fastest-growing app till now of all time as its users are increasing at a faster speed than TikTok.

At present, it is the best example of what potential Generative AI has as it can provide instant information with very little input free of cost. And if a user is asking a question in a well-structured manner with the right approach, there is a high chance to get an accurate response from ChatGPT. So, if you are also looking to develop an app like ChatGPT, this is the right time for you!

The Difference Between ChatGPT and Chatbots

Are you going to make an app like ChatGPT? What do you think, is it a chatbot or something else? You must understand ChatGPT in detail if you are investing your hard-earned money into this. Before ChatGPT, Chatbot was famous among businesses to get connected with their customers. But now ChatGPT is grabbing headlines depending on the depth of use cases and providing the best user experience.

Here are more points that define the difference between ChatGPT and Chatbot –

1. Understanding

Conversational AI uses NLP & NLU while having an understanding of subfields of linguistics, AI, and computer science rather than depending on a pre-written script. These all aspects allow ChatGPT to analyze and understand users’ inputs as a sentence in the formats like text or speech. In comparison to it, Chatbots seem to understand sentences while they just work based on rigid rules. Developing an artificial intelligence chatbot can help with interpretation, identification, and grasping of the limited issues of human language, reacting to rich context, and others.

2. Learning

ChatGPT feeds off different sources including text corpora, websites, and APIs. When a source is updated, all types of alterations are applied to the AI chatbot interface automatically. On the other hand, chatbots don’t get updated easily, they need consistent and expensive manual maintenance to maintain their conversational stream in order to be effective and useful.

Also, conversational AI has full access to databases and API providing them contextual elasticity to handle smooth interactions with users. Whereas a chatbot is contained by its pre-specified script & rules and can’t generate automated outputs.

3. Omnichannel

Chatbots can be controlled only via text commands, but ChatGPT can be communicated with voice commands as well. It can be used with Cortana, Siri, Google Home, etc. Businesses are also facilitated to set up one ChatGPT across all their digital mediums providing all employees with shared information. 

Factors Affecting the ChatGPT App Development Cost

It’s needless to say that various factors influence the overall cost of developing an app like ChatGPT. Having a general idea about them will help you to get a rough Chatbot development cost. Below we have mentioned factors that are accountable for AI-based app development costs, let’s have a look at them-   

• Platform and Hosting Requirements
• The complexity of the Data Analysis with AI
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capabilities
• Integration with External Systems and APIs
• Customization and Personalization Options
• Integration with Third-Party Services
• Development Team Location and Skillset
• Business Goals
• Types of Chatbots

1. Platform and Hosting Requirements

Making an app like ChatGPT that works across all the platforms including iOS, Android, or the Web can be tedious, time-consuming, and a complex task in comparison to the app developed for a single platform. When the ChatGPT is created for multiple platforms, it becomes more challenging and costly and hence, results in higher development costs.

Apart from that, some hosting requirements need to be fulfilled and enhance the overall cost. Different types of hosting including Cloud hosting and On-premise hosting will surely contribute to increased costs as every platform will need its own configuration and infrastructure.

2. The Complexity of the Data Analysis with AI

Businesses must hire mobile app developers who can help them with AI-strengthened tools such as machine learning, predictive analysis, chatbots, data analysis algorithms, etc. When you are creating an app like ChatGPT, you must analyze everything very deeply and data analysis is one of them. For data analysis, you need to integrate all this into the ChatGPT app which will cost you a lot.  

3. Natural Language Processing (NLP) Capabilities

Natural language processing is the skill of the chatbot for knowing a human. It also converts text into structured data so that it can be understood by machines. Hence, incorporating NLP in the AI-powered chatbot can be an expensive decision. It also comprises chatbot sentiment analysis, tokenization, dependency parsing, and entity recognition.

4. Integration with External Systems and APIs

Integration of required external systems and APIs ensures the fast and smooth performance of ChatGPT. The cost and time needed to integrate APIs will be higher than an AI-powered chatbot with no integrations. It is necessary to add as it provides additional functions and facilities to the chatbot including access to the CRM system or fetching information via third-party tools.  

5. Customization and Personalization Options

Customization and personalization are necessary aspects when looking for how to make an app like ChatGPT. Every business has its own purpose and goals; hence, they want to develop the app in the way they want.

Here are two significant points to look at while having customization and personalization –

• Design and User Interface (UI/UX) – An attractive, well-designed, and user-friendly UI/UX of the app can work wonders for your business. It plays an important role to build an app like ChatGPT and increasing its user engagement. Adding appealing visual elements like typography, color scheme, graphics, etc. can enhance the overall cost to easily use and navigate the app.

• Features and Functionality – Without adding features and functions, there is no use for your app but that doesn’t indicate adding unnecessary features as well. You must analyze what are important app features and then go for them. Some common features that you can include are multi-language support, NLP, video & voice abilities, analytics & reporting, and others. Integrating only essential features will help you to maintain the GPT-based app development costs.  

6. Integration with Third-Party Services

Third-party services help provide extra benefits to your ChatGPT-like chatbot mobile app. Though it is necessary to hire the best Chatbot development company as it can be a very complex process that can enhance the overall cost. Combining third-party services can be the reason to occur complexity in the development process, hence, there is a need to be careful so that you won’t have to bear increased costs.     

7. Development Team Location and Skillset

The ChatGPT-like app development process and its costs highly depend on where your development team is located and what are their skillset. To build a Chatbot like ChatGPT, it is necessary to hire dedicated developers with years of experience. While finding the right partner or development team, ensure to hire them at reasonable charges, otherwise, it can affect the ChatGPT app development cost extremely.

8. Business Goals

Business goals are a significant factor to take into account at the time of ChatGPT development. These can highly manipulate the functionality and focus of the app along with resources and investment done in the app development. Some of the business goals that can have an impact on the overall cost are better customer experience, branding & promotion, increased efficiency, and others.

9. Types of Chatbots

Before looking for a guide to ChatGPT or the development process, you must look for a suitable type you want to go for. One considerable type of chatbot is a messenger chatbot. The most famous examples of messenger chatbots are WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Selecting the wrong one can affect your business goals and decide the cost of developing a ChatGPT-like AI app, hence, you must be extra careful while choosing the appropriate one.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App Like ChatGPT?

As we have mentioned above, the cost to develop an app like ChatGPT will be around $100K to $500K or can go up as well. The overall cost depends on several factors that actually affect the complete cost of ChatGPT development. Such factors include the app features & functions, complexity, the location of hired developers, the entire development process, and consumed time. Below we have provided a calculated approximate cost to develop an app like ChatGPT by breaking it down into various phases, have a look-

App Development Cost Breakdown

It is significant to get knowledge about the path you are going to walk onto. While knowing about the projected cost, you must also understand what the development stage holds and how much importance.

Here is a breakdown of the above-estimated cost, you should check out –

• UX/UI and App Design
• Front-end and Back-end Development
• Testing and Quality Assurance
• Project Management and Communication
• Launch and Marketing

1. UX/UI and App Design

The cost of designing the app’s UI/UX is another factor important to determine the overall cost to develop an app like ChatGPT. If you want to go for a basic ChatGPT app design, then you don’t have to worry about the cost. But for a multifaceted virtual assistant application, you might cross the boundaries. It will take a lot more effort and cost to design an advanced app including attractive graphics, better user flow, interactive & conversational interface, buttons, etc. So, the app designing cost may vary between $50K to $100K.    

2. Front-end and Back-end Development

When it comes to writing the code, it includes the integration of features and functionalities as well that impact the complete cost of ChatGPT app development. There will be added basic features for a simple chatbot application. In addition of interactive user interface provides the ability to act quickly to user input, log on to external data sources, and the natural language input process.

There will be higher costs for complex virtual assistant applications while integrating advanced features and functions. But these come with the ability to execute multiple tasks, provide access to different data sources, and many more. Businesses can also go for MVP app development to be sure about the success of their app in the market. The particular stage will cost between $100K to $200K.    

3. Testing and Quality Assurance

The developed MVP for mobile app needs to be tested before launching. For this, the QA team will perform different kinds of extensive testing comprising feature verification, performance, speed, stress testing, and more. If everything goes well that indicates that the app is ready to launch but if there is an error, it will get fixed first, and then, the cycle continues until it gets error-free. The testing phase may vary between $30K to $50K.   

4. Project Management and Communication

To run the ChatGPT application development process smoothly and fast, there is a need for proper communication and management tools. These can help project managers to automate tasks more efficiently and effectively. Every leading mobile app development company uses some project management tools to create project plans, observe the overall progress, assess risks, answer questions, and do documentation. The cost for tools and resources will lie between $10K to $15K.

5. Launch and Marketing

The most important stage that consumes a big portion of ChatGPT app development cost is app launching and marketing. After making the final modifications, your ChatGPT-like Chatbot app is ready to launch in the market. Though even after release, there will be the need for its performance monitoring and collecting feedback about it so that it can be improved further.  Also, the app will need promotion and marketing so that everyone can know about its arrival. There will also be added the cost of its maintenance and upgrades from time to time which will range between $50K to $80K.    

How Much Does It Costs to Run Open AI’s ChatGPT Per Day?

As per the analysis, the ChatGPT chatbot app is accommodated on Microsoft’s Azure cloud which directly saves the cost of a physical server room setup. If we talk about the present time, the basic version of ChatGPT is totally free to use but its other upscale versions are not at all free.

The ChatGPT Pro version charges $42 monthly from January 21-22. It is only accessible to registered users and is not available widely. On the other hand, ChatGPT Plus has announced the price of $20 monthly at the end of January 2023.

It is also predicted that OpenAI spends around $3 million monthly or a minimum of $100K regularly on the operating expenses of the ChatGPT application.

Tips to Reduce the Cost of Developing a ChatGPT-like App

As we have clearly defined above the factors that can affect the overall price of developing ChatGPT. Now, here we are going to provide you with the details on how to reduce the ChatGPT app development cost. Consider that choosing to hire an AI or machine learning development company is also an important part while deciding the complete cost.

Let’s get to know more about the details on reducing the cost of creating a Chatbot, keep scrolling –

• Starting with a Simple Chatbot and Gradually Adding Features
• Using Pre-Built Chatbot Platforms and Frameworks
• Utilizing Open-Source Libraries and Tools
• Outsourcing Development to Lower-Cost Regions
• Third-party Platforms
• MVP Development

1. Starting with a Simple Chatbot and Gradually Adding Features

Undoubtedly, combining features adds an extra advantage to the Chatbot app and helps to make it more popular. For this, businesses even hire Chatbot developers who are experts and have rich experience. but isn’t necessary to choose them wisely. Adding unnecessary features to the app is the main aspect behind the increased development cost. It will be good to go with the basic feature set for MVP development and get the users’ feedback. If the response is positive, then more features can be added gradually. It will lead to maintained chatbot prices while getting a good number of audiences.    

2. Using Pre-Built Chatbot Platforms and Frameworks

Pre-built chatbot platforms and frameworks help developers in various possible ways and save costs as well. These can be used with the pre-trained models that will help to manage natural language processing along with understanding users’ intent. Using different frameworks helps developers with app customization and managing the code. Also, businesses are preferring using pre-built platforms to save both time and cost. Developers are able to include massive, customized code and intricate integrations through pre-built chatbot platforms.     

3. Utilizing Open-Source Libraries and Tools

AI Chatbot developers are using open-source libraries and tools for integrating both core and advanced AI functionalities into the app. Some of the tools are IBM Watson, Wit.AI, Microsoft Bot Framework, etc. that are used in the ChatGPT app development to decrease the overall price. But before using the libraries and tools, you must know how to make the most of them and how to use them properly. And that’s how you can control the general cost of getting ChatGPT mobile app development services.

4. Outsourcing Development to Lower-Cost Regions

This is the most applied way to reduce the cost of development. To make the cost lower, businesses select some regions that vary depending on the hourly rates. They can choose one of them according to their budget. Mostly, enterprises go for central and Northern Europe as they charge lower than other regions. Always consider checking what they can provide you in the decided price. Check on features, functions, app design, launching, etc. to be sure about the quality.    

5. Third-party Platforms

Using third-party platforms allows developers to create a ChatGPT-like chatbot in the minimum time possible. They just need to develop a conversation structure and create linkups between the messages. In return, businesses are able to save time, but it doesn’t provide the app flexibility. Also, some platforms don’t allow the integration of machine AI and payment gateways. There are various third-party platforms used by chatbot developers including Botsify, Chatfuel, etc.    

6. MVP Development

Businesses prefer to go for MVP development to test the product in the market first. MVP (minimum viable product) is created with core functions only and is also called a light version of the definitive product. It costs less to create an MVP than the final solution. After creating MVP, businesses can modify it as per the feedback of audiences. It will not cost them as higher as creating ChatGPT from scratch.      

Final Words

At present, everyone is well aware of the great capabilities of ChatGPT. It is ruling everyone’s heart and satisfying the specific needs of users in no time. There are no longer days when people needed to call customer care in order to do an inquiry about anything. Now, they just use ChatGPT to get any information anytime. It has become a part of people’s lives, hence, businesses are also embracing this technology to develop their business solutions. They are developing AI chatbots to enhance human capabilities and make them more innovative while managing strategic activities.

To help them, SemiDot Infotech is also playing its part as a leading software development company with experts and professionals in this field. We help businesses to get the desired solution at their estimated cost of developing a ChatGPT-like AI application. You should consider that Chatbots provide enormous benefits, hence, they should be developed in a way to make the most use of them. You can start by choosing us!

FAQs

Go through the below FAQs to know more about the ChatGPT app development and its services. Check out the following –