A chatbot on your website sounds simple: visitors ask, it answers, and your team gets time back. Done well, it can work like that. Done carelessly, it gives wrong answers, hides the fact that it is a bot, or leaks things it should not. This guide covers what a website chatbot can and cannot do, what the Dutch regulators and the EU AI Act say, and what a chatbot project costs.
We build chatbots at NyxWorks, so our prices are in here. Everything else comes from the sources listed at the end. Where something is our opinion, we say so.
Prices, fees and rules in this article were checked on 19 October 2026. They can change, so check the linked pages before you decide.
What a website chatbot is for
A chatbot answers questions. That is different from automation, which moves data between tools, and from a full AI product, which is a real app with its own interface. If you are not sure which of the three you need, that is worth settling before you buy anything. Automating a messy or rare process only produces a faster mess, so fix the process first.
Our view is that the best first use is a repeating one: the same questions about opening hours, delivery times, returns or what is included, answered from your own information. If your team keeps answering the same handful of questions, a chatbot is a candidate. If every question needs judgement, it probably is not.
Where chatbots go wrong
In October 2025 the Dutch data protection authority (AP) and the consumer authority (ACM) said they are seeing a rapid increase in reports of problems with chatbots. Their summary of recent ACM consumer research:
- The lack of human contact in customer service is one of the biggest annoyances.
- Chatbots sometimes give poor or even incorrect answers, or simply tell people what they want to hear without solving the problem.
- It is often unclear whether the person is talking to a chatbot or an employee.
- People do not always get to talk to an employee when they want to.
They also raise a security point: a chatbot trained on large amounts of information can include confidential data and documents, and a malicious actor could try to make it reveal more than it should when answering regular questions.
The rules in 2026
This is a summary of what the authorities have said, not legal advice.
Keep a route to a person. The AP and ACM say organisations that use chatbots must continue to offer people the option of speaking to an employee.
Say it is a chatbot. They also say organisations must make clear when people are communicating with a chatbot, and must ensure that the chatbot does not provide incorrect, evasive or misleading information. They point out that consumer law already requires companies to communicate directly, effectively and accurately with their customers.
The EU AI Act adds a transparency rule from 2 August 2026. Article 50 says providers of AI systems intended to interact directly with people must ensure the systems are designed so that those people are informed they are interacting with an AI system, unless that is obvious. The AP and ACM put it in plain words: from that date, companies will have to inform users that they are communicating with an automated system.
Protect personal data. In August 2024 the AP reported data breach notifications caused by employees who had shared personal data of patients or customers with an AI chatbot. Its advice was to make clear agreements with employees about whether they may use chatbots and which data they may enter. That is about staff using public chatbots, but the lesson carries over: decide what data a chatbot may see.
What this means in practice, and this part is our opinion:
- Tell visitors at the start that they are talking to an AI, in plain words and not only in the footer.
- Put a visible way to reach a person next to the chat, and make sure someone answers.
- Give the chatbot only the information it is allowed to share. Do not load confidential documents into it.
- Read real conversations regularly and correct wrong answers.
What a chatbot project costs
Prices depend on how much the chatbot has to know, how many languages it speaks, how many systems it connects to, and how much upkeep it needs. These are our published packages (first-year prices as published on 19 October 2026, excluding VAT, 20% below our standard rates), from the AI automation page:
| Package | Setup (first year) | Standard rate | Then | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | from €599 | €749 | from €29 per month | FAQ chatbot, up to 20 Q&A scenarios, single language, minor monthly updates |
| CRM-integrated | from €1,499 | €1,874 | from €59 per month | Everything in Basic, 1 CRM or email integration, conversation memory, monthly report |
| Pro / Advanced | from €2,499 | €3,124 | from €99 per month | Multi-integration automation, up to 3 integrations, up to 3 languages, priority support |
Add-ons are priced separately (first-year prices): an extra integration is €179, an extra language €99, and a 2-hour live online team AI training with a PDF summary €250.
Two things to know about the monthly fee:
- "We handle it" or "your own account". With "we handle it", usage runs on our AI account with a fair-use conversation limit, and extra usage is billed per block after that, with no surprise cut-off. With "your own account", you connect your own AI provider account, with your own billing and no limits from us, for a lower monthly fee. If you choose that option we set it up with you step by step.
- No lock-in. Plans run month to month, so you can stop when it stops being worth it.
An example of the arithmetic: the CRM-integrated package at the listed minimums comes to €1,499 + 12 × €59 = €2,207 in the first year. Whether that pays off depends on how much time your team spends on the questions the chatbot would take over. We wrote about how to do that sum in 9 repetitive tasks small businesses can automate with AI.
How a good rollout looks
Our process has four steps. We map the process with whoever actually does it, exceptions included, because nothing gets automated blind. We scope what gets automated and what stays human, and write down the number it should save before we build. We build the bot in your accounts with your keys and test it against real cases. And up to four people are trained on running and changing it, with documentation they can follow afterwards. Typical timing is one to three weeks from mapping to handover, and the most common delay is waiting for account access and example data.
A short checklist before you launch any chatbot:
- The first message says it is an AI.
- A visible way to reach a person is next to the chat, and someone answers.
- The list of what the chatbot may answer is written down, and so is what it must not answer.
- It answers only from your own content and says "I don't know" when it does not know.
- You have a date in the diary to read conversations and update answers.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to tell visitors it is an AI?
Under Article 50 of the EU AI Act, systems that interact directly with people must be designed so those people are informed they are dealing with AI, unless that is obvious. The AP and ACM state that from 2 August 2026 companies will have to inform users. Tell people at the start, in plain words.
Can a chatbot replace my customer service?
The AP and ACM say organisations must continue to offer people the option of speaking to an employee. A chatbot can take over repeating questions, not the human option.
What should I not put into a chatbot?
Anything confidential or personal that it does not need. The authorities warn about confidential information being extracted from chatbots and about personal data entered into chatbots by employees.
How long does it take?
A simple chatbot or a single workflow usually takes one to three weeks from mapping to handover.
Do I need technical knowledge?
No. If you choose to use your own AI provider account, we set it up with you during onboarding, step by step.
Want to know if a chatbot is right for your business?
A 30-minute consultation costs €30. We look at your week with you and tell you whether a chatbot, an automation or neither fits, and which package would match. You can also build a quote yourself, or start with our free Website X-ray to see how your site currently handles enquiries.
Sources
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: AP and ACM, chatbots should not fully replace humans in customer service (2 October 2025)
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: Caution, use of AI chatbot may lead to data breaches (6 August 2024)
- EU AI Act, Article 50
- NyxWorks: AI automation page, as of 19 October 2026
Rules and prices change. Check the linked pages before you decide.
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