MayaHow to choose an AI assistant for your website
AI agent, AI chatbot, AI sales assistant and conversational AI describe overlapping products. Choose by the job you need done on your website, then test that job on each vendor's own site with three messages. This guide lists nine jobs, what to check for each, and what we recorded when we ran the test.
The three-message test
Open the vendor's own website, where its assistant is switched on, and send three messages. What you meet is what a visitor to your site would meet. Do not enter personal details.
- Type "Hi! Do you speak Italian?", or your customers' main language. Check the reply, then check whether the page changed.
- Type "Can you show me your pricing page?" Check whether the page itself moves or you only get a link.
- Type "Which plan is best for a 10-person team?" Check whether it answers, or asks for your email first.
A fourth message is worth sending: ask something the site never states. A good assistant says it does not know and offers to pass the question on.
What we recorded on 12 Oct 2026
We ran these messages, typed, on the websites of vendors that run an assistant on their own site. 0 of 10 answering widgets moved the page: each answered with text, a link or a card, and the page stayed where it was. Here is what we saw, assistant by assistant.
| Assistant | What we saw (12 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | Asked "Hi! Do you speak Italian?", it answered "I'll continue in English. How can I help you with Fin today?" Asked "Can you show me your pricing page?", it replied with a text link to fin.ai/pricing. The page itself did not move. Asked "Which plan is best for a 10-person team?", it replied "Could you share your business email?" and did not answer the plan question. |
| Salesloft (Drift) | Asked about Italian, it answered "I'm afraid I only speak English at the moment." Its panel showed a video avatar with microphone and speaker toggles (we typed and did not use the microphone), and a "Book a Meeting" button. Page actions: none seen. |
| HubSpot | Asked about Italian, it replied by asking for a work email and did not answer the language question. Asked for the pricing page, it sent a link in the chat and the page did not move. |
| LiveChat (Text) | Asked about Italian, it answered that it could assist "in English only" and asked for a name and email first. Only the first message was answered in our run. |
| Tidio (Lyro) | Our first message opened a form, "Please leave your email address so we can contact you:", before any answer. We did not enter an email, so nothing after that was observed. |
| Chatbase | Asked about Italian, it answered in Italian ("Ciao! Si, posso aiutarti in italiano."). Asked for the pricing page, it sent a link and the page did not move. |
| Jotform AI Agents | It answered in Italian. Asked for the pricing page, it said "I opened the pricing page for you in this workspace." and showed a View Pricing button. The page URL and scroll position did not change. |
| Maya | On a live tourism website, with the same style of messages: asked to switch to Italian, the page itself switched through the site's own language switcher (on a page with no Italian version she said so); asked to open a tour, she opened the site's real pop-up; asked what the visitor was looking at, she named the section on screen. |
This is a quick test, not a full evaluation: at most three typed messages on each vendor's own marketing site, no microphone, no sign-up. These assistants are set up by the vendors for their own sites, so yours may behave differently, and the tool may have changed since 12 Oct 2026. We judged no voice quality. Maya's row is from our own testing on the same day.
Nine jobs to test, and what good looks like
Each job below says why it matters, how to test it on any vendor's site, and what Maya does for it, with the plan that includes it.
Answers from your own facts
A visitor asks whether you open on Sundays, or whether the room has a balcony. The assistant should answer from your own site, and say so plainly when your site does not state it.
Test: Ask a question the vendor's site never answers, such as the price of a service it does not list. A good result is "I don't know" plus an offer to pass the question on. A poor result is a confident answer that is not on the site.
Maya: Maya answers from a digital copy of your business, built from your website and your notes and reviewed by you before she goes live. When a fact is missing she says so, takes the visitor's details and asks you; you answer once and she knows it for every visitor after. Every plan.
Speaks the visitor's language
A guest from Munich types in German. The assistant should answer in German, and the page should follow if your site has a German version.
Test: Write in your customers' main language in the first message. Check the reply, then check whether the page itself changed.
Maya: Maya talks and types in 70+ languages whatever language your site is in. When the site already has the visitor's language, she switches the page through the site's own language switcher. When it does not, she translates the page in place, labelled "Translated by Maya" with "Show original"; you can switch that off. Every plan.
Shows the page, not just describes it
Telling a visitor where the pricing is costs them a step. Scrolling them there costs none.
Test: Type "Can you show me your pricing page?" and watch the page. Either it moves, or you get a link or a card.
Maya: Maya scrolls to verified sections, goes to the right page, opens verified page controls such as a tour's detail pop-up, and knows which section the visitor is looking at. Every plan.
Talks out loud on the website
Some visitors would rather speak than type: they are driving, their hands are full, or the language is easier out loud.
Test: Look for a microphone button and check what it does. A voice-note button records audio for someone to read later. A live voice conversation answers while you speak. We typed in our test, so we did not judge any voice.
Maya: Maya offers live voice and text in the same widget. Plans include 500, 1,000 or 2,000 voice minutes a month, with warnings at 80%, 90% and 95%. At 100% voice pauses until next month or an upgrade, while text chat, page navigation and lead capture keep running.
Captures the lead and books
The visitor is ready and wants a Tuesday slot. The assistant should take their details and book it in the same conversation, without a form.
Test: Ask to book something. Check whether it asks for your email before it answers anything, whether it offers real times, and where the lead goes afterwards.
Maya: Maya saves the visitor's name, email, phone and what they wanted in a built-in lead CRM. On Booking and above she recommends what fits, answers price objections, checks the configured availability and books inside the conversation with a calendar invitation. On Reception, leads also sync to HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or GoHighLevel.
Follows up after the visit
The booking is not the end of the job. The reminder, the no-show, the thank-you and the review request all come after it.
Test: Ask what happens after a booking: reminders, follow-up, a review request. Find out whether they are part of the product or a separate one to buy.
Maya: Booking and above: email reminders, follow-up for interested people who have not booked, private feedback after a visit with the public-review link left to the owner, and a weekly report. Reception adds text-message reminders and no-show follow-up.
Gets you found by AI assistants
People ask ChatGPT and other assistants about a business before they open its website.
Test: Ask the vendor what it does to make your business readable to AI assistants (llms.txt, schema.org markup, an MCP connection) and whether it promises citations. No vendor controls what an AI engine shows.
Maya: Maya publishes llms.txt and schema.org markup and provides a Maya MCP connection, so compatible assistants such as ChatGPT can find your business and ask your Maya. She promises no citations. Connect and above.
Goes live without a project
A shop owner has an afternoon, not a month.
Test: Ask how long it takes from your URL to a working assistant, and who has to write what. Count the hours a first version would take you.
Maya: You give Maya your website and a few notes. She builds the digital copy of your business, you review it and choose her personality and voice, and you install with one script tag or a guided platform install. Most owners are live in about ten minutes, and installation is free if you would rather not do it.
Costs what you expect
A bill that grows with every conversation is hard to plan around.
Test: Ask for the price of a month at your real traffic, and whether you pay per seat, per conversation, per resolution or per minute.
Maya: €299, €499 or €899 a month plus VAT, with a 7-day trial (card needed) and cancellation in one click. No per-conversation or per-resolution fees. Each plan has a monthly voice allowance.
On pricing, what we saw on 12 Oct 2026: Fin's own answer about price: "Pricing depends on whether you're using Fin with Intercom or with an existing helpdesk like Zendesk or Salesforce." Tidio's site said "Free plan forever" and "Paid plans from $29/mo". Lyro is priced separately; we did not capture that price. Check each vendor's own page for today's price.
Which kind of assistant fits which situation
| Your situation | What to look at first |
|---|---|
| You run a help desk with a support team, and most of the work is tickets | The AI agent from your help-desk vendor (Intercom's Fin is one we tested). Check it against the nine jobs above. |
| Customers arrive on your website and need an answer, a language or a booking (hotel, clinic, dealership, shop) | An assistant installed on the website that talks, moves the page and books. That is the job of an AI revenue layer such as Maya. |
| Most of your enquiries are phone calls | A phone AI receptionist. See how to choose an AI voice receptionist. |
| Your site only needs more languages | A translation layer for websites (Weglot is one we looked at). An assistant such as Maya talks in the visitor's language and uses the site's own language switcher. |
| You run an agency and want to offer this to clients | A product with client workspaces, agency pricing and a branding choice. See Maya for agencies. |
More on the kinds of product: how to choose an AI voice receptionist, AI receptionist versus live chat and Maya for agencies.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between an AI agent, an AI chatbot, an AI sales assistant and conversational AI?
The names overlap and vendors use them loosely. A chatbot usually answers in a chat window. "Agent" is meant to suggest it acts, for example books or moves the page. A sales assistant is tuned to recommend and close. Conversational AI names the language technology underneath. Judge a product by what it does in the nine jobs above, not by its name.
Do I need voice on my website?
Not every business does. Voice helps when visitors are on a phone, have their hands full, or find their own language easier to speak. Maya offers voice and text in the same widget, so the visitor chooses.
Which AI assistant suits a small business website?
Look at setup time, who has to write the content, and the shape of the price. A small business without technical staff should ask for a demo on its own site and for the total monthly price at its real traffic. Maya is built for that case: she builds herself from your website, you review what she learned, and the price is a plan, not a meter.
How many languages should it support?
The ones your visitors use. Maya talks and types in 70+ languages whatever language your site is in. If your site has other language versions, she switches the page as well.
How do I tell whether an assistant improves conversion?
Look at what it does when a visitor hesitates: does it answer the real question, move the page to the right place, take details and book in the same conversation? Then compare leads and bookings before and after on your own site. Be wary of any vendor that promises a percentage lift before it has seen your traffic.
How much does an AI assistant for a website cost?
It depends on the pricing model, so ask for a month at your real traffic. Maya costs €299, €499 or €899 a month plus VAT, with a 7-day trial. Other vendors change their prices; check their own pages, and note the date.
Why does this page not rank products one to ten?
A ranking written by one of the products on it tells you little. This page lists the jobs, how to test each one on any vendor's site, and what we saw on a stated date.
The quickest check is to talk to her: Maya answers live on our homepage. See also what an AI revenue layer is, the AI voice agent for websites, the AI sales assistant for websites, the multilingual website assistant, website lead capture, how to choose an AI voice receptionist, Maya and Intercom Fin compared and pricing.