Chatbase alternative: how Paperlink AI compares
Updated
Short answer
Chatbase is a platform for AI agents that answer from many kinds of sources and can take actions in other systems, such as creating help desk tickets or calling your own APIs. Paperlink AI does one job: it answers customer questions only from your documents and help center, refuses when they do not hold the answer, and shows your team the source behind every answer. Choose Chatbase if you need actions and integrations; choose Paperlink AI if you want answers you can check against your own pages.
Chatbase and Paperlink AI both put an AI chatbot on your website that answers from your own content. They are built for different jobs. Chatbase is a broad platform for AI agents that answer and act. Paperlink AI is a narrow customer support chatbot that answers only from your docs and admits when it cannot. This page sets out the differences from each product's own pages, so you can pick the one that fits.
At a glance
| Chatbase | Paperlink AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | AI agents for customer support that can also take actions | Answers to customer questions from your own docs |
| Content sources | Files, text, websites, Q&A pairs, Notion, tickets through a help desk integration | Public website pages, and PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, CSV, TXT and Markdown uploads |
| Actions | Escalation tickets, live chat handoff, Stripe, Shopify and custom API actions | None: it answers or refuses |
| Human handoff | A ticket in your help desk, live chat handoff, or its own help desk | Support page or email, transcript to the Support requests page |
| Live takeover | Manual takeover in its help desk | Not available |
| Install | Website widget with an embed script, limited to listed domains if you choose | One script tag, limited to your allowed origins |
What Chatbase is built for
Chatbase calls its product AI agents for customer experience and support. An agent learns from many kinds of sources: uploaded files, text snippets, website crawls (a whole site, a sitemap or single addresses), custom question and answer pairs, Notion pages, and support tickets through a Salesforce or Zendesk integration.
The bigger difference is actions. In Chatbase, an escalation action collects details and opens a ticket in the help desk you choose, and other actions hand the chat to live chat products or call outside systems such as Stripe, Shopify or your own APIs. Chatbase also offers its own help desk, where a person can take over a live conversation. You deploy the agent as a website widget with an embed script, and you can limit it to listed domains.
What Paperlink AI is built for
Paperlink AI is a customer support chatbot for business websites that answers only from the business's own content. You import a public docs site or help center, which Paperlink AI checks again weekly on Starter, daily on Growth and up, and upload documents. The bot searches those passages for each question and answers only from them.
When nothing fits, it does not guess. It says it does not know and shows a "Need a human?" card with your support page or email, and visitors can send the conversation to your team, which lands on the Support requests page of your dashboard. Replies the bot can't answer are free. Your team sees the document and page behind every answer, and the questions the bot could not answer collect in the Unanswered report. See answers with sources and human handoff.
Where Chatbase is the better fit
- The bot must do things, such as look up a subscription, check an order or call your API.
- Your knowledge sits in Notion or in past support tickets that you want the agent to learn from.
- You want handoffs to create tickets in your help desk, or a person to take over a chat live.
- You want one platform for agents on your website and other channels.
Where Paperlink AI is the better fit
- Your answers are in a public help center, docs site or documents, and you want the bot to stay inside them.
- You want the bot to refuse and offer your team when your docs are silent, without setting that up as an action.
- You want to check every answer against its source page, and see which questions your docs do not answer.
- Your team answers handed-off conversations by email and does not need a help desk integration.
How to decide
Write down the five questions customers ask most, and whether the bot needs only to answer them or also to act. If it must act, start with a tool that has actions. If it must answer from your docs and nothing else, load the same help center into both tools and ask 20 real questions, including five your docs do not cover. Count the honest refusals as well as the correct answers.
For a full list of questions to ask any vendor, read the chatbot selection checklist. To see how Chatbase and Paperlink AI sit among other options, see AI chatbots that answer from your documentation.
Frequently asked questions
Can Paperlink AI take actions like Chatbase, such as looking up an order?
No. Paperlink AI only answers from your documents and imported pages, and hands the conversation to your team when it cannot. If the bot must look up orders or call your systems, a tool with actions fits better.
Can I move my Chatbase sources to Paperlink AI?
There is no import from Chatbase. Point Paperlink AI at the same public help center or docs site, and upload the same PDF, DOCX, XLSX, HTML, CSV, TXT or Markdown documents.
Does Paperlink AI connect to Notion like Chatbase does?
No. Paperlink AI reads public website pages and uploaded documents only. Export Notion pages to Markdown or PDF and upload them.
Which one is easier to check for wrong answers?
Test both with your own content. In Paperlink AI, every question your team or visitors ask is on the Conversations page with the sources it used, and unanswered questions collect in their own report.
Related
Try Paperlink AI on your own help center
Import your docs or upload a few documents, ask the questions your customers ask, and check the source behind every answer in the dashboard. 7-day trial, card required, cancel anytime.