Chatvia vs Typebot: an agent, not a form#

Typebot builds chat flows that feel like forms, and you can host it yourself. Chatvia is also self-hosted, but it is built around an AI agent that answers the questions you did not plan for. I compare the two and say when I would pick Typebot.

My short answer#

Pick Chatvia if you want an AI agent that answers from your knowledge, uses your tools and works in many channels, and still shows a form when you need one.

Pick Typebot if you mainly want scripted, form-like flows, with only a little AI.

What Typebot is#

Typebot is a chatbot builder for forms and flows. You drag blocks onto a canvas: a question, a choice, a condition, a webhook. Visitors move through the flow step by step, a bit like a friendly form. AI is one more block you can add.

You can host Typebot yourself for free, or use its cloud from about $39 a month. Its code is under a fair-source license, which turns into an open-source license after two years.

What Chatvia is#

Chatvia is a free, self-hosted platform for AI chat agents. You install it on your own server with one command. Your agents answer from your files, websites and Q&A, and they work on your website, in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and more.

You get the full source code. You can read it, change it and run it.

Where they are close#

On hosting and price, Typebot and Chatvia are close.

• Both run on your own server, so your data stays with you.
• Both are free to host yourself.
• With both, you pay your AI provider for the AI you use, with nothing added on top.

Both also give you the code. Typebot's fair-source license opens up fully after two years. With Chatvia, you can read, change and run all of it today. You only need a paid key to sell Chatvia to others as a hosted service.

So the question is not cost or control. It is what you want to build.

Drawing paths or writing a persona#

In Typebot, you draw every path. The bot asks what you planned, in the order you planned. For a quiz or a sign-up form, that is exactly right. It gets hard when people ask questions you did not plan for, and in support, they always do.

In Chatvia, you write who the agent is and how it should answer, in plain words, as a persona. The agent reads the question, finds the right part of your knowledge, and answers. No flow to draw, and nothing to keep in sync when your products change.

Forms did not go away, though. An agent can show a real form in the middle of a chat, to capture a lead or a booking, and every answer is stored as a lead. You get the form when it helps, and a real conversation the rest of the time.

Knowledge#

Typebot does not store your knowledge itself. To answer from your documents, its own guide connects it to an outside vector database, which you set up and keep up to date.

Chatvia is built around one. It reads many kinds of files, imports websites and refreshes them on a schedule, and keeps the Q&A pairs you write. Hybrid search and a reranker find the best passages, and answers show the sources they came from. When an answer is weak, you fix it from the chat log and it becomes a Q&A pair.

AI models#

Typebot reaches several hosted AI models through its blocks.

Chatvia lets you choose any model: OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, or your own server with Ollama or vLLM. Each agent can have a different model, and you can switch at any time.

Channels#

Typebot covers a web embed and WhatsApp.

Chatvia covers a chat widget, a hosted chat page, voice chats, Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and a REST API. One agent, the same answers in every place.

Tools, safety and handoff#

In Typebot, you call other services with webhooks, safety is how you design the flow, and handing a chat to a person needs another tool.

In Chatvia these are built in:

• Tools. 24 ready-made connectors or any MCP server. For each tool you choose: it runs, it waits for a person's OK, or it never runs. Every call is logged.
• Guardrails. They catch prompt injection, mask personal data like card numbers, keep the agent on topic, and stop abusive language.
• Handoff. Your team takes over a widget chat live when a person should answer.
• Insights. Every chat is sorted by topic and mood, and evaluations score the agent on test questions.

When I would pick Typebot#

Typebot is the better choice if:

• you mainly want quizzes, surveys or sign-up flows that feel like forms,
• you want to control every step a visitor takes, and
• AI is a small part of what your bot does.

Verdict#

Typebot is a fine flow builder, and like Chatvia you can run it on your own server. But it is a form with an AI block. Chatvia is an AI agent first: it answers from your knowledge, uses your tools, follows your guardrails and hands over to a person, in ten channels. And when you need a form, it shows one.

The quickest way to judge it is to run it: install Chatvia and ask your agent something you never planned for.

Prices are from Typebot's pages and public reviews in October 2026. They change often, so check them before you choose.