Botpress is a complete platform for developers building chatbot applications, available free and open-source or as a custom, enterprise offering. Our visual editor and managed NLU (Natural Language Understanding) engine make it easy to get started quickly.
Dialogflow also offers two different editions – CX and ES – that are intended for different audiences. Dialogflow ES can be used to create small and simple agents, while CX is suitable for larger or more complex bots.
There are various things that set Botpress and Dialogflow apart, but the defining distinctions are listed below.
Differences between Botpress and Dialogflow in a nutshell
Below we’ve broken down three key areas in which Botpress differs from Dialogflow:
Botpress
Dialogflow
Free version?
Yes (Open Source)
Yes (Trial edition with limited quota)
Enterprise solution available?
Yes
Yes (Dialogflow CX)
Option to use 3rd party NLU engine?
Yes
No
Supported languages?
12 (inc. English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic), 157+ via FastText
30 root languages, with speech, knowledge connectors and Sentiment Analysis for some of these
Conversational Flow Editor?
Yes (and dedicated Q&A editor)
No (Dialogflow ES), Yes (Dialogflow CX)
Key messaging platforms available?
Facebook Messenger, Telegram,
Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp (via Smooch.io)
Dialogflow ES : Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Slack, Twilio (and others contributed by Google) Dialogflow CX : Web, LINE & enterprise connectors
With Botpress, you can start building in less than a minute. Think of it as a full-stack that encompasses everything you need to create chatbots, including a unique managed NLU engine, an integrated development and visual conversational design environment, flexible integrations, and extensive options for customization.
Our low-code Conversation Studio allows you to simply drag blocks to create your conversational experience and add custom Javascript when needed. It also has tools to test your chatbot and iterate quickly, with custom logic where required.
Dialogflow, on the other hand, comes packed with code templates and pre-made starter packs. These are useful for getting a feel for how chatbots work, but require customization before organizations can use them. Dialogflow CX has a Conversational Flow Editor that’s comparable to the Botpress Conversation Studio, but lacks a dedicated Q&A Editor.
Botpress and Dialogflow comparison
We can immediately see a key difference between Botpress and Dialogflow: Botpress Open Source is always free and uncapped. For larger businesses, we offer Botpress Enterprise, which can be tailored to needs and budget.
Botpress users typically start with Open Source, and move onto Enterprise when their bot building demands Enterprise features, such as Single Sign-On, improved Role-Based Access Control or collaborative workspaces.
Dialogflow’s pricing model is quite different, with charges of $0.007 per text request and $0.06 per minute of audio input/output. Using Dialogflow in conjunction with other Google Cloud Platform resources, like Google App Engine instances, will trigger additional charges.
Botpress was built for developers who want to build great chatbots quickly, without a team of data scientists or deep experience in NLP. Our visual interface replicates the experience of building any other application, with modern software practices in version control, emulating, and debugging.
Dialogflow ES has a relatively shallow learning curve, but is catered to chatbots with simple flows. Dialogflow CX is more comparable to Botpress, with a visual interface and a managed NLU engine within the platform. However, its crowded interface and reliance on other Cloud offerings to provide user data means that it has a steeper learning curve.
A common complaint online is that several of Dialogflow’s features are still in public beta. Dialogflow has been part of Google Cloud since 2017, but began life as a third-party service. Then known as API.ai, it was acquired by Google in 2016. It’s still a relatively recent addition to Google’s toolbox.
Botpress vs Dialogflow - What are the differences?
Dialogflow is a solid option for businesses whose services are already heavily embedded in Google Cloud or are looking to manage automated text AND voice conversions in one place. It’s worth remembering, however, that it has costs associated with it as soon as the free trial is exceeded.
At Botpress, we’ve created a low code platform based on open-source software. Our focus is on automating text conversations, which we facilitate using our managed NLU engine. As a result, our platform is easy to get started with and comes highly recommended by developers on GitHub with 10,000+ stars.
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Chatbots help you save time and money, and even increase revenue, by assisting support, sales and other functions in your organization. They are useful tools for addressing queries that you encounter time and time again, but they can do much more than that.
With a managed NLU engine like Botpress has, they can be used to understand text and automate complex conversations.
We created Botpress as an accessible tool for developers looking to build chatbots on their own, without in-depth ML knowledge or the support of a data science team.
Dialogflow is one cog in Google’s Cloud offering. It allows users to build both text and audio chatbots, and comes in two different versions – ES and CX. As such, despite the presence of code templates and starter packs, new users might find Dialogflow more difficult to get to grips with compared to Botpress’ low code drag and drop user interface.
While some chatbot builders can be incredibly complex, and require in-depth knowledge of NLP, both Botpress and Dialogflow use managed NLU engines. This means that the barrier to entry is much lower than with one that relies on updating and managing models manually.
In their own words, ES is the “standard agent type that is suitable for small to medium and simple to moderately complex agents” and CX is “an advanced agent type that is suitable for large or very complex agents.”
Google provides information to help potential users figure out which types of agents they’ll be creating, but some people might find it frustrating that it isn’t immediately clear which category their chatbots falls into.
Currently, Botpress integrates with Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Whatsapp, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, and others are in the works.
Available integrations for Dialogflow differ based on the version you’re using. ES integrates with services like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Slack, Twilio (and others contributed by Google). CX users, on the other hand, receive built-in integrations with LINE and Facebook Messenger, as well as telephony integrations with AudioCodes, Avaya, and Voximplant.