How long does it take to move from Chatbase to AskVault?

The setup itself takes an afternoon: crawl your site, re-upload files and swap the script tag. Most of the calendar time is the side-by-side test, which we suggest running for about a week before you cancel Chatbase.

Does my Chatbase chat history move to AskVault?

No. Conversation history stays in Chatbase, and anything built on the Chatbase API needs to be rebuilt against the AskVault API. Your knowledge content moves by re-crawling and re-uploading it.

Is AskVault cheaper than Chatbase?

For the same message volume, yes. Chatbase Hobby is $40/mo for 700 credits and Pro is $500/mo for 15,000 credits (Chatbase pricing page, checked 2026-10-21). AskVault Starter is $39/mo for 2,000 messages and Business is $249/mo for 15,000. Compare content allowances on each pricing page, since they are metered differently.

How to switch from Chatbase to AskVault (step-by-step)

Written by Joseph Russo, Principal Architect, Networks and Tech, AskVault · Reviewed by Allison Chan

Last updated: October 24, 2026 · 5 min read

Before you start: what moves and what stays

Your content moves; your history does not.

Moves to AskVault	Stays behind in Chatbase
Website content, by re-crawling the same URLs	Past conversations
Files, by uploading them again	Anything built on the Chatbase API
Manual Q&A, by pasting it into Q&A pairs	Chatbase-specific actions and integrations
Lead capture, through the collect-lead skill

Most teams do not miss the old conversation history. If you need it for records, export it from Chatbase before you cancel.

What it costs on each side

Chatbase figures come from Chatbase's pricing page, checked 2026-10-21, and AskVault figures from the live AskVault pricing page. The full comparison is on AskVault vs Chatbase.

Your current Chatbase plan	Closest AskVault plan	AskVault content	AskVault messages
Hobby, $40/mo: 700 credits, 1 agent	Starter, $39/mo	15 MB	2,000
Standard, $150/mo: 4,000 credits	Growth, $99/mo	40 MB	6,000
Pro, $500/mo: 15,000 credits	Business, $249/mo	100 MB	15,000

Chatbase meters content per AI agent and AskVault per workspace, so check your current Chatbase usage against the AskVault column before you pick a plan. Remember to add any Chatbase add-ons you pay for today, such as extra agents ($300 per agent per year) or branding removal; AskVault includes several workspaces on every paid plan and branding removal from Growth.

Step 1: create your AskVault account

Sign up at askvault.co/signup. You start on the Free plan: 50 messages a month and 5 MB of content, with no card and no time limit. That is enough to test on a slice of your real content before you pay.

Step 2: move your content

Your website. Open Knowledge > Add Source > Web Crawler, choose Domain Crawl and paste the same site you gave Chatbase. See URL crawling.
Your files. Gather the PDFs and documents you uploaded to Chatbase and drag them into Add Source > File Upload. See file uploads.
Manual answers. Copy any hand-written Q&A from Chatbase into Q&A pairs.

Pages and files become answerable as soon as each one is indexed.

Step 3: test both bots side by side

Write down 20 to 30 questions your customers actually ask, including a few your content does not answer.
Ask each one in Chatbase and in the AskVault chat playground.
Compare the answer, the source it cites, and what each bot does when it does not know.
Fix any thin AskVault answer with a Q&A pair, then ask again.

You can also put the AskVault widget on a staging site, or on a few pages of your live site, while Chatbase stays on the rest.

Step 4: reconnect channels

Connect the channels you used with Chatbase, plus any you could not:

Slack and WhatsApp from Growth. WhatsApp uses your own WhatsApp Business account.
Telegram, Discord and SMS from Growth as well. SMS uses your own Twilio account.
The REST API from Starter, if you built anything against Chatbase's API.

	AskVault Growth
Channels native	10 (widget, hosted chat page, REST API, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, SMS, email and Make; Voice is on Business)

Step 5: swap the script tag

Replace the Chatbase embed with the AskVault snippet from Channels > Web widget:

<!-- Remove the Chatbase script -->
<!-- Add AskVault -->
<script src="https://api.askvault.co/widget.js" data-token="YOUR_TOKEN" async></script>

Visitors see the AskVault widget on their next page load. Then cancel your Chatbase subscription, and put a reminder in your calendar so you are not billed twice.

Identity verification

This step only applies to signed-in visitors.

If you verified signed-in users in Chatbase, set up AskVault's version: generate a secret under Channels > Website Widget > Identity verification, update your server to sign the user ID with it, and pass the hash with setUser. See identity verification.

Common mistakes

Swapping before testing. Run the side-by-side test first. It is the step that catches thin content.

Forgetting add-ons in the cost comparison. Count Chatbase's extra-agent and branding add-ons, not just the plan price.

Leaving both subscriptions running. Cancel Chatbase once AskVault is live.

FAQ

How long does the move take?

An afternoon of setup plus about a week of side-by-side testing.

Does chat history transfer?

No. Export it from Chatbase if you need a record.

Can both widgets run at once?

Yes, on different pages. Two widgets on the same page will overlap, so split them by page during the test.

Is there help with larger moves?

Yes. Email [email protected] with your content size and channels, and we will help you plan it.

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