Frequently asked questions
Everything about building an AI chatbot on your own content — how grounding works, why you bring your own API key, and what happens to your data.
What is Knowvo?
Knowvo is a no-code platform for building AI chatbots that answer questions using your own content. You upload documents or point it at your website, and Knowvo indexes that material so the chatbot answers from your actual information rather than from general internet knowledge. When citations are enabled, grounded answers reference retrieved passages. References help you review an answer; they do not guarantee every claim is correct.
How is Knowvo different from other AI chatbot builders?
Two main differences. First, you connect your own API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, or Groq, so you pay those providers directly at their list price with no markup added on top of your token usage. Second, Knowvo runs in strict retrieval mode by default: if your documents do not contain the answer, the chatbot says so and offers to hand the conversation to a human instead of inventing a plausible-sounding response.
Do I need to know how to code to use Knowvo?
No. You create a chatbot, upload your documents or add a website URL, customize the appearance, and publish it. Embedding the widget on your site is one line of HTML that you copy and paste. There is also a REST API if your team does want to integrate it programmatically.
Which AI models does Knowvo support?
Knowvo supports OpenAI (including GPT-5.4 mini and the GPT-4.1 family), Anthropic Claude (Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus), Google Gemini, Mistral, and Groq. You choose the model per chatbot and can switch at any time, or run an A/B test comparing two models on live traffic.
Why do I need my own API key?
Because it keeps your AI costs transparent and under your control. You are billed by the model provider directly for exactly what you use, at their published rates. Knowvo charges only a flat monthly subscription for the platform itself, so your bill does not scale unpredictably with conversation volume the way it does on platforms that resell tokens at a margin.
How much does Knowvo cost?
Free: €0/month. 1 chatbot, 100 messages/month, 5 knowledge sources, Files up to 25 MB, Branded widget, 1 member. Pro: €9.90/month. 10 chatbots, 5,000 messages/month, 100 knowledge sources, Files up to 150 MB, White label, 5 members. Business: €29/month. 9,999 chatbots, 50,000 messages/month, 1,000 knowledge sources, Files up to 150 MB, White label, 25 members. AI generation and embedding usage are billed separately by your connected providers. Message limits apply across the workspace and count stored visitor and assistant messages, including human replies.
What file types can I upload as knowledge?
PDF, DOCX, TXT, and Markdown files, plus public web pages by URL and text pasted directly into the editor. Uploaded content is split into passages, indexed for both keyword and semantic search, and made available to the chatbot immediately after processing.
How does Knowvo prevent the chatbot from making things up?
Knowvo uses retrieval-augmented generation with a strict grounding mode. Before answering, it searches your indexed content using a hybrid of keyword and semantic search, then supplies only the retrieved passages to the language model along with instructions to answer solely from that evidence. If retrieval confidence falls below a threshold, the chatbot does not call the language model for an answer — it acknowledges the gap and offers to escalate to your team. Retrieval is a relevance signal, not proof that every generated claim is correct; test answers before publishing.
Can the chatbot answer in other languages?
Yes, automatically. The chatbot detects the language a visitor writes in and replies in that same language, with no configuration required. Your source documents can be in a different language from the questions.
Where can I deploy a Knowvo chatbot?
On your website as an embedded widget, as a standalone public link you can share directly, through the REST API for custom integrations, or connected to a Telegram bot.
Who owns the data I upload?
You do. Your documents, conversations, and captured leads belong to you. Relevant content is sent to your connected AI providers for generation and embeddings; their data handling depends on your provider account and settings. Provider API keys you connect are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage and are never returned to the browser after saving. You can configure data retention periods and export or delete your workspace data at any time.
Can I capture leads from chatbot conversations?
Yes. You can enable a contact form that appears either after the first response or specifically when the chatbot escalates a question it cannot answer. Captured leads require explicit consent, are linked to the conversation that produced them, and can be exported or forwarded to your own systems through webhooks.
Does Knowvo work for customer support teams?
Yes. Conversations that the chatbot cannot resolve are marked for human attention and appear in a shared inbox where team members can take over, add internal notes, and reply directly. You can invite teammates with owner, admin, or agent roles depending on what they need to access.
Can I control the tone and format of the answers?
Yes, in two ways. You can write system instructions describing how the assistant should behave, and you can add up to five example question-and-answer pairs that demonstrate the exact tone, length, and formatting you want. The examples steer style without letting the chatbot invent facts outside your sources.
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