Which chatbot should I use — Vex AI or workflows?

Updated May 22, 2026

Two tools, one goal

Yaplet gives you two ways to automate conversations in your widget: Vex AI and chatbot workflows. From the outside they look similar — a bot replies to your visitor. Inside, they work completely differently.

Vex AI — the AI agent

Vex reads your knowledge base, uploaded documents, public URLs, and product feeds. When a visitor sends a message, Vex finds the best answer from your content and replies in natural language — no scripts, no fixed paths, no buttons you had to design in advance.

  • Powered by a large language model (LLM)
  • Answers open-ended questions it has never seen before
  • Detects the visitor's language automatically — 100+ languages
  • Can cite the source article inline in its reply
  • Hands off to a human agent when it isn't confident

Chatbot workflows — the rule-based builder

Workflows are visual node graphs you build in a drag-and-drop editor. The bot follows the path you design: show a message, offer buttons, ask a question, branch on the answer, collect data, or hand off to a human. Every step is deterministic — the same input always produces the same output.

  • No AI or LLM — fully predictable and auditable
  • Best for structured processes: lead capture, triage, onboarding
  • Supports complex branching logic and data collection
  • Can call Vex AI as a node mid-flow

At a glance

Vex AI Chatbot workflows
Handles open questions Yes — reads your sources Only paths you scripted
Requires a script No Yes — you build every node
Predictable output No (LLM-generated) Yes (deterministic)
Collects structured data Via context tools Natively (collect data node)
Multi-language 100+ languages, auto-detected Your content's language only
Best for General support Q&A Triage, lead capture, onboarding

When to pick Vex AI

Choose Vex when:

  • Your visitors ask open-ended, unpredictable questions
  • You already have a knowledge base or documentation site
  • You want AI to handle the majority of chats without scripting every answer
  • Visitors write in different languages
  • You want citations back to source articles in every reply

When to pick chatbot workflows

Choose workflows when:

  • You need a structured path — collect email, show pricing, route to the right team
  • Outcomes must be predictable and auditable
  • You're building an onboarding flow or a qualification sequence
  • You want different bots on different pages of your site

Using both at the same time

You don't have to choose one or the other. A common setup: a workflow fires when the widget opens, collects the visitor's name and topic, then routes to Vex AI for open Q&A — or to a human agent if the issue is complex. The AI Bot node inside any workflow lets you hand off to Vex mid-flow.

Next step

Ready to start? Set up Vex with Set up Vex AI for the first time, or build a rule-based bot with Build your first chatbot workflow.

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