How to add a chatbot to your website (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace)

How to add a chatbot to my website: the short version

Most chatbot tools work the same way. You sign up, set what the bot answers, and the tool gives you a short piece of JavaScript called a snippet. You paste that snippet into your site, and a chat bubble appears on your pages. The difference between WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and a hand-built site is only where you paste it.

This guide uses the vendors’ own help pages. We use Tidio’s install guides as the worked example because they cover all three builders, but any chatbot with a snippet follows the same steps. We are not recommending or ranking a product. For the bigger picture of what a chatbot does for a service business, see AI chatbot and AI assistant for small businesses.

Before you paste anything: four decisions

A chatbot with no plan behind it frustrates visitors. Decide these first.

1. What it answers. Hours, service area, services, the prices you want shared. Write the list yourself. See AI chatbot examples for what a good set looks like.
2. What it will not do. Medical or legal advice, custom quotes, changes to paid bookings.
3. Who gets the handoff. A name, an email or a phone number, and what happens at night. Read chatbot to human handoff.
4. Where it sits. All pages, or only the contact and service pages. A chat bubble should never cover your phone number or the main button.

Choosing the tool before you install it

The install step is the same for most tools, so pick on the features that matter to you. Check four things on the vendor’s pricing and help pages: whether a free plan exists and what its cap is, whether the bot can answer from your own approved facts, whether it can hand a chat to a person with a summary, and whether it lists your site builder in its install guides. A tool whose help center has a guide for your platform saves you a support ticket. Market prices for chatbots are on our AI chatbot pricing page.

Add a chatbot to a WordPress website

Two routes exist. The plugin is the simpler one.

Route 1: the plugin.

1. In the dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for your chatbot tool’s plugin. WordPress.org notes that plugins in its directory vary in quality, so read the description and the compatibility note (“Compatible with your version of WordPress”).
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.
4. Log in or register with the tool when prompted. The widget then appears on your site.

On WordPress.com (the hosted service, not self-hosted WordPress.org), WordPress.com says plugins need a paid plan. It lists Personal, Premium, Business and Commerce. Free sites must upgrade first.

Route 2: the snippet. Tidio’s guide describes opening the theme’s footer.php under Appearance > Theme File Editor and pasting the code above the closing </body> tag. Use this only if you are comfortable editing theme files, and take a backup first. Use one method only: Tidio says not to combine its plugin and the snippet. On WordPress.com, the Custom HTML block is for a single page or post, and tags such as script and iframe need a paid plan with hosting features active.

WordPress.org advises a current backup before you update plugins, and the same habit applies when you add one.

Add a chatbot to a Wix website

1. Make sure the site is published and has a connected domain. Wix states both as requirements for custom code.
2. In the dashboard go to Settings, then Development & integrations, then Custom Code. Tidio’s guide describes the same screen as Settings > Advanced > Custom Code, so menu names differ between guides and dates.
3. Click + Add Custom Code, paste the snippet and give it a recognizable name.
4. Under Add Code to Pages, choose all pages or specific pages.
5. Pick a placement. Wix offers Head, Body start and Body end. Tidio’s guide uses Body - End for its chat widget, and Wix says to follow the provider’s instructions.
6. Click Apply.

Wix notes that it does not support technical problems with third-party snippets, that assigning a different domain to your site deletes your snippets, and that, since December 2025, newer frontend security measures may block older snippets until the provider updates them.

Add a chatbot to a Squarespace website

1. Check your plan. Squarespace says code injection is available in the Core, Plus and Advanced plans and some legacy plans.
2. Go to Settings > Advanced > Code Injection. (Squarespace’s own help page calls the panel Code Injection.)
3. Paste the snippet into the Footer field. Squarespace puts footer code before the closing </body> tag on every page.
4. Click Save.

Squarespace warns that custom code can break a site’s appearance, especially on mobile, and that its support does not help write or troubleshoot custom code. Checkout pages do not support code. If the code breaks the editor, you can add /safe after /config in the editing URL. Tidio adds that you may not see the widget in the editor until you open the site as a visitor.

If you use a cookie banner, Squarespace says you may need to adjust third-party integrations depending on whether visitors accept cookies, so test with the banner on.

Add a chatbot to a static or hand-built site

For plain HTML sites, or those from a static generator, add the snippet to the layout or footer that every page shares, just before </body>. If you paste it into each page by hand, you will miss one later.

Two details matter. First, MDN explains that async loads a script in parallel and runs it as soon as it is ready, while defer waits until the document is parsed. Vendors give you the right attributes in their snippet, so copy it as is. Second, if your host sends a Content Security Policy, MDN notes that it limits which sources can load, so a script from an unlisted domain is blocked. Ask the chatbot vendor which domains to allow in script-src and related directives.

Test it before you tell anyone

1. Open the site in a private window on your phone and on a desktop.
2. Ask five real customer questions. Then ask one the bot should refuse.
3. Ask for a person and confirm the handoff arrives with a name, a contact and a summary.
4. Check that the bubble does not cover your phone number, your booking button or your cookie banner.
5. Check the greeting says it is a chatbot.
6. If the widget does not show, clear the cache and turn off caching plugins for a moment, as Tidio’s WordPress guide suggests.

Then read the first week of chats and fix wrong answers. Clinics: do not collect patient information in a general chat. Under HIPAA, a name tied to an appointment request counts as protected health information, so use tools whose vendor signs a business associate agreement, or keep the chat general. This is not legal advice.

When to have someone do it for you

Pasting a snippet takes minutes. The work that decides whether the bot helps is the approved answer list, the handoff rules and the testing. We set up an AI chatbot for your website on WordPress and on most site builders that allow custom code. Website chat and messaging is from $199/month, plus setup (from $900), as of October 2026. Not included in any price: domain and hosting, third-party software subscriptions (billed at cost), SMS carrier registration (A2P 10DLC) and message fees, and AI usage above the plan allowance.

Want to see what a chatbot would say for your business? Ask for a free demo.

Published October 26, 2026. Updated October 26, 2026.