Where can I create a Chatbot for free online?

There are several solid options, but they depend on how much technical skill and work you are ready to put in.

If you are a developer looking for something to make your life easier:

• Wit AI – a great tool for NLP and creating decision-based conversations and flows. Really easy to get started with. Mostly used for Messenger bots as it was acquired by Facebook.
• Botkit – a great set of open-source tools for devs looking to build bots.
• IBM’s Watson – very powerful, but comes with a steep learning curve.
• API AI – haven’t tried this yet, but I do like the docs and examples on their site.

If you do not have any programming skills and are looking to develop something without coding:

• Chatfuel – very powerful and easy to use. It’s a YCombinator company so I have high hopes for them!
• MotionAI – also really good bot builder. They have a bot marketplace where you can buy and sell complete bots and conversation modules.
• Octane AI – haven’t tried this yet, they are still in early beta. However, it seems really promising and you can request an invite.

And finally, Gupshup fits into both categories as they have several products – an IDE for developers and a flow-builder for non-developers.

If you are looking for general tips on how to design, build, market, and profit from bots, I suggest you follow Chatbot Magazine. I also do a bit of blogging on the topic, specifically on how to build bots with empathy.