Tidio alternatives: what each one costs a small business
Tidio charges for its AI on top of its plans, and the bill can grow during the month. I worked out what eight alternatives would cost a small business instead.
If you want something that works like Tidio for less, I would look at Crisp first, because it charges one price for the team and includes the AI. If you want to spend as little as possible, tawk.to's live chat is free and its AI starts at $29 a month. If most of your messages are the same few questions, a chatbot that answers them, such as ChatFrom, may be all you need.
Tidio is one of the most popular live chat tools for small businesses, and it is easy to see why. It has a free plan, every plan includes Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, and you can add an AI called Lyro that answers customers for you. The catch is in how the AI is priced. Lyro is sold in bundles on top of your plan, and the bill can change during the month.
For a business with 500 conversations a month, where Lyro answers 300 on its own and two people answer the rest, Tidio comes to $269 a month, or $224.17 if you pay yearly. On a monthly plan, though, Tidio moves you to a bigger Lyro bundle once you use 95% of yours, which would make the same month $409.
I looked at eight alternatives and worked out what each would cost that business, using each company's own pricing page. The cheapest come to $29 a month and the most expensive to $355. ChatFrom, which I make, is one of them. It is not a live chat inbox, though, and for some businesses that matters more than the price.
How much does Tidio cost a small business?
Tidio is free for 50 conversations a month and $29 a month for 100, and its AI costs from $39 a month on top. It charges for two things separately. Your plan covers the conversations your team answers, and Lyro covers the conversations the AI answers. These are the plans a small business chooses between.
| Tidio plan | Conversations your team answers | Paid monthly | Paid yearly, per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 50 a month | $0 | $0 |
| Starter | 100 a month | $29 | $24.17 |
| Growth | From 250 a month | From $59 | From $49.17 |
| Plus | Set with Tidio | From $300, plus usage | From $300, plus usage |
Lyro comes on top, in bundles you choose in advance. A conversation counts as soon as Lyro replies once, and paying yearly gives you two months free. There is no published price for going past your bundle, and above 1,000 conversations a month you need to talk to Tidio.
| Lyro conversations a month | Paid monthly | Paid yearly, per month |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | $39 | $32.50 |
| 100 | $75 | $62.50 |
| 300 | $210 | $175 |
| 500 | $350 | $291.67 |
| 1,000 | $700 | $583.33 |
Three rules can make the bill bigger than it first looks.
- Monthly plans upgrade themselves. When you use 95% of a bundle, Tidio moves you to the next one, and this is switched on by default. For the business above, Lyro 300 would become Lyro 500 at its 285th conversation, and the month would cost $409 instead of $269. You can switch it off, and yearly plans are not upgraded this way.
- One conversation can count twice. If Lyro replies and a person then takes over, the conversation uses one Lyro conversation and one of your team's conversations. Only a hand-off straight away, before Lyro answers, leaves your Lyro bundle alone.
- A customer who comes back can count again. Tidio's pricing page says a returning customer is still one conversation, but its help centre says a conversation closes after 15 quiet minutes and the next message counts as a new Lyro conversation.
In return you get a lot for a small business. Live chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp work on every plan, including the free one, and Lyro answers on all of them. It can look up an order's status in Shopify on every plan too, and up to 10 people can share the inbox. There is a 7-day trial with no card. WhatsApp replies are free up to 1,000 messages per number a month, and after that Tidio passes on Meta's fees.
Live chat with AI, or a chatbot that answers?
Most tools on this list do the same two jobs as Tidio. They give your team an inbox where people answer chats and emails, and they add an AI that answers some conversations before anyone has to. You pay for the people, the inbox or both, and then again for the AI.
A chatbot that only answers is a different kind of tool. It answers from your website, help pages and documents, and when it cannot help, it passes the customer to you by email or in another tool. ChatFrom works this way. Chatbase started this way too, and now sells an inbox on its Basic plan and above. If your team spends most of its time on the same few questions, the answering part may be the only part you need.
The alternatives at a glance
Here is what each one is, what it costs to start and how it charges for its AI.
| What it is | Price to start | How the AI is paid for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | Live chat and help desk | Free, then $24.17 a month | Bundles, from $39 a month for 50 conversations |
| tawk.to | Free live chat and inbox | Free | Credits per reply, from $29 a month for 1,000 |
| Crisp | Live chat and inbox with an AI called Hugo | Free for 2 seats, then $45 a month | Credits included in the plan |
| Chatbase | AI chatbot builder with an inbox from Basic | $32 a month | Credits per reply, included in the plan |
| Freshchat | Live chat and inbox by Freshworks | Free for 10 agents, then $19 an agent a month | Packs of 100 sessions for $49 |
| Help Scout | Email help desk with live chat | Free for 5 users, then $25 a user a month | $0.75 for each chat it resolves |
| LiveChat, now Text | Live chat and help desk | $19 a user a month | Some resolutions included, then $49.50 for 50 more |
| Intercom | Help desk with an AI called Fin | $19 a seat a month for new customers | $0.99 per outcome |
| ChatFrom | A chatbot that answers and hands over | Free, then $29 a month | Included in the plan |
What each one costs a month
Here is what each one would cost the business above every month. It gets about 500 conversations, the AI handles 300 of them without anyone stepping in, and two people answer the rest. The prices are for paying monthly, and the line under each bar gives the yearly price where there is one.
| A month (paid yearly) | How it adds up | |
|---|---|---|
| Intercom Essential | $355 ($335) | Two seats cost $29 each at the price for new customers, and 300 Fin outcomes cost $0.99 each. |
| LiveChat (Text) Growth | $297 ($257) | Two users cost $99 each, the plan includes 200 AI resolutions, and the other 100 come in two packs of 50 at $49.50. |
| Help Scout Standard | $285 ($275) | Two users cost $30 each, and 300 AI resolutions cost $0.75 each. |
| Tidio Growth with Lyro | $269 ($224.17) | Growth for 250 team conversations costs $59, and the Lyro bundle for 300 costs $210. |
| Freshchat Growth | $193 ($185) | Two agents cost $23 each, and 300 AI sessions take three packs at $49. |
| Chatbase Basic | $150 ($120) | The plan includes the inbox and 4,000 credits, and this business would use between 900 and 2,600 of them. |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 | The plan includes ten seats and AI credits for about 450 conversations. |
| tawk.to with AI Assist | $29 ($24.17) | The chat and inbox are free, and 300 conversations of three replies use 900 of AI Assist's 1,000 credits on its cheapest models. |
| ChatFrom Pro | $29 | The plan includes 7,000 credits, and this business would use about 1,500 at most. |
Two things move these numbers more than anything else. The first is whether the AI is paid per conversation. Intercom, Help Scout, Freshchat, LiveChat and Tidio all charge for the conversations their AI handles, either straight away or once an included number runs out, so the bill grows as the AI does more of the work. Crisp, Chatbase, tawk.to and ChatFrom include the AI in a monthly allowance. The second is whether you pay for each person. Intercom, LiveChat, Help Scout and Freshchat charge per person, while Tidio, Crisp, tawk.to and ChatFrom charge one price for the team.
The picture changes if the AI answers first in every chat, including the 200 that a person finishes. Tidio would then need its 500-conversation Lyro bundle, which makes the month $409. Freshchat would count 500 sessions and cost $291. LiveChat counts a chat as resolved whenever its AI answers at least one question before handing over, so every 50 of those adds $49.50. Intercom and Help Scout charge nothing for a chat their AI hands to a person, unless you build an Intercom procedure that is meant to end in a hand-off. Crisp, tawk.to, Chatbase and ChatFrom would use more of their credits, and Crisp's, which cover about 450 conversations, could run short.
A few of these prices come with conditions. tawk.to's $29 assumes you pick one of its cheapest AI models, because its default setting uses three credits per reply and would make the month $89. Intercom's figure uses the lower price its pricing page offers new customers, and you need its Advanced plan, at $495 a month, to answer on Messenger and Instagram. Help Scout gives new accounts their first three months of AI free, so for those months the bill is $60. And Crisp lets you pay yearly but does not publish a yearly price.
The alternatives, one by one
tawk.to
tawk.to gives away its live chat, inbox and ticketing, with no limit on how many people use them. It makes its money from add-ons, and its AI, called AI Assist, is one of them. AI Assist answers on your website, WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram and SMS, though I could not confirm Instagram. It is paid in credits per reply. The free tier has 100 credits a month, and Growth is $29 a month for 1,000, or $290 a year.
The model you choose matters a lot here. The default setting uses three credits per reply, while the cheapest models use one, so the same month can cost $29 or $89. When the credits run out, the AI stops joining new conversations until you buy more, at $30 per 1,000. On a paid plan it can look up a Shopify order once the customer confirms an email, phone number or zip code that matches it. Removing tawk.to's branding from the chat costs extra.
Crisp
Crisp is the closest thing to Tidio on this list. It is live chat and a shared inbox with an AI called Hugo, and it charges one price per workspace instead of per person. The free plan has two seats and no AI. Mini is $45 a month for four seats, and Essentials is $95 a month for ten seats and adds Instagram, WhatsApp and phone.
Each paid plan includes AI credits. Essentials comes with $25 of them, which Crisp says covers about 450 conversations, and Crisp puts the cost of one Hugo conversation at about 5 to 10 cents. When the credits run out, Hugo stops and passes conversations to your team, unless you turn on pay-as-you-go, whose rate Crisp does not publish. Hugo can look up a Shopify order and change its shipping address, though Crisp does not say which plan that needs.
Chatbase
Chatbase is an AI chatbot builder, and its Basic plan and above include an inbox for your team. It is paid in credits, and each AI reply uses one credit on its default model. Hobby is $40 a month for 700 credits, and Basic is $150 a month, or $120 if you pay yearly, for 4,000 credits and three team members.
For a business where people answer too, Basic is the plan to compare, because Hobby has no inbox. When the credits run out, the chatbot stops answering until they reset, unless you turn on automatic top-ups at $40 per 1,000. Its Shopify actions can look up an order, start a return without your approval and request an exchange that you approve, but none of them cancels an order. Removing Chatbase's branding costs $99 a month. I compared it with ChatFrom in more detail in ChatFrom vs Chatbase.
Freshchat
Freshchat is the live chat and messaging inbox from Freshworks. The free plan covers up to 10 agents with web chat and email, but it has no AI and no social channels. Growth is $23 an agent a month, or $19 if you pay yearly, and adds Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and SMS.
Its AI, called Freddy, is sold in packs of 100 sessions for $49. A session is everything one customer says to the AI within 24 hours, which is generous when a customer comes back the same day. New accounts get 500 free sessions once, but buying any pack ends the free ones that are left. I could not confirm that Freddy can look up a Shopify order in Freshchat on its own.
Help Scout
Help Scout is an email help desk with live chat, and many teams like it because it is simple. You pay per user, $30 a month or $25 if you pay yearly, and its AI costs $0.75 for each chat it resolves without a person. New accounts get their first three months of AI free, and you can set a monthly spending cap.
The limits matter if you are coming from Tidio. Help Scout's AI answers only in the chat on your website or app. It does not answer email yet, nor Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp, even though your team can answer all of them. It also cannot look up or change an order on its own, although your team can refund or cancel one from the sidebar.
LiveChat, now Text
LiveChat now sells its plans to new customers under the name Text. You pay per user, from $25 a month on Essential, and its AI agent comes with some resolutions included, 10 a month on Essential and 200 on Growth. Growth is $99 a user a month, or $79 if you pay yearly, and more resolutions come in packs of 50 for $49.50.
Two details make the bill harder to predict. A chat counts as resolved if the AI answers even one of the customer's questions, so a chat it starts and a person finishes can count too. And when you run out, the AI stops taking new chats until you buy another pack. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial. The AI can recommend products from a Shopify catalog, but I found nothing saying it can look up an order.
Intercom
Intercom is a full help desk with an AI agent called Fin, and it is the most expensive option here for a small team. Fin costs $0.99 for each outcome, which mostly means a conversation it resolves. A customer who leaves without asking for more help after Fin's answer counts as resolved. Seats come on top, and the pricing page offers new customers the Essential plan at $29 a seat a month, or $19 if you pay yearly, instead of $39 and $29.
Essential covers chat, email and WhatsApp. For Messenger and Instagram you need Advanced, at $99 a seat a month, which makes the month $495. Fin can do the most with orders of anything here, because Intercom's new Shopify connector lets it look orders up, cancel or update them and issue refunds, though Intercom does not say which plans include it. There is no free plan, but there is a 14-day trial with no card. I wrote more about it in ChatFrom vs Intercom Fin.
ChatFrom
ChatFrom is what I make, and it is the odd one out here because it is not a live chat inbox. It is a chatbot that answers your customers from your website, help pages and documents, on your website, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Crisp and email. It can also look up a Shopify order, book a meeting in Cal.com or Calendly, and add a lead to Google Sheets or HubSpot. When it cannot help, it hands the conversation to you by email, in Slack or in your help desk.
It costs $29 a month on Pro for 7,000 credits, and each reply on the default model uses one. The business above would use about 1,500 a month, with nothing added on top. You choose the AI model yourself, and I tested how often each of them makes things up in a separate article. If you want your two people to answer live, ChatFrom can answer inside Crisp's chat and step aside when your team writes. Crisp's documentation says its web hooks and developer API work on the free plan, which would keep the whole setup at $29, but I have not tried it on a free Crisp workspace yet.
Also worth a look
Three more names come up often. Zendesk and Gorgias are full help desks that usually cost more for a team this size, and I compared them in ChatFrom vs Zendesk and Gorgias alternatives for small Shopify stores. If you run a Shopify store, Shopify Inbox is free, and its AI can answer product questions and look up an order once the customer signs in. It only works in the chat on your store, though, and on Shopify's Basic plan only the owner can answer, so a second person needs the Grow plan.
What ChatFrom does not do
- It is not a live chat inbox. There are no tickets, assignments or reports for a team. People answer in Crisp, by email or in Slack.
- It does not answer on Instagram or Facebook Messenger. It works on your website, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Crisp and email.
- It does not refund, cancel or change orders. It looks orders up and sends return requests that you approve in Shopify.
- There is no WordPress plugin or Shopify app to install. You paste a short snippet into your site, and you connect Shopify with a small app you create in your store, which takes about ten minutes.
- There is no yearly discount. Every plan is paid monthly.
- There are no phone or video calls. Tidio, Crisp and Intercom offer one or both.
Common questions
Is there a free alternative to Tidio?
Yes, there are a few. tawk.to's live chat and inbox are free with no limit on people, and its AI has a free tier of 100 credits a month. Crisp and Freshchat have free plans without AI, Help Scout has a free plan for email, and ChatFrom's free Hobby plan includes 50 credits a month to try it on your own pages.
Why did my Tidio bill go up during the month?
It is usually the automatic upgrade. On monthly plans, Tidio moves you to the next Lyro bundle, or the next plan, once you use 95% of the one you have. It is switched on by default, and you can switch it off.
Does Tidio charge for a chat that Lyro starts and a person finishes?
Yes, it does. The conversation uses one Lyro conversation and one of your team's conversations. The only exception Tidio describes is a hand-off straight away, before Lyro answers.
Which alternative is most like Tidio?
Crisp is the most similar. It is live chat and an inbox with its own AI, priced per workspace rather than per person, and its Essentials plan adds Instagram and WhatsApp for $95 a month with AI credits included.
What does ChatFrom cost for a small business?
ChatFrom Pro costs $29 a month, and Business costs $49. A typical conversation takes one to three replies at one credit each on the default model, and Pro includes 7,000 credits a month, so a business with a few hundred conversations stays well within it.
Which one to choose
| If you want | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Free live chat with cheap AI | tawk.to | The chat and inbox are free for any number of people, and AI Assist starts at $29 a month. |
| Something like Tidio with the AI in the price | Crisp | Essentials costs $95 a month for ten seats, Instagram and WhatsApp, with AI credits for about 450 conversations. |
| An AI chatbot with a simple inbox | Chatbase | Basic costs $150 a month with 4,000 credits and room for three people. |
| Live chat priced per agent, with AI by the session | Freshchat | Growth costs $23 an agent a month, and the AI comes in packs of 100 sessions for $49. |
| Live chat with a set number of AI answers included | LiveChat (Text) | Growth includes 200 AI resolutions a month for $99 a user. |
| A calm email inbox | Help Scout | It suits a team that works by email, with AI in website chat at $0.75 a resolution. |
| The most capable AI with orders, and the budget for it | Intercom | Fin can look up, change and refund orders, at $0.99 per outcome plus seats. |
| Answers to the same questions for a flat price | ChatFrom | It answers from your pages and looks up orders for $29 a month, and hands the rest to your team. |
If you stay with Tidio, pay yearly or switch off the automatic upgrade, and size your Lyro bundle for every chat it answers first, not only the ones it finishes. If you move, the biggest saving usually comes from AI that is included in the plan instead of charged per conversation, because that is the part that grows with every customer who writes.
I would start with the question of which job you need done. If your team answers live all day, a live chat tool like Crisp or tawk.to fits better. If most of your messages are the same few questions, you may only need something that answers them. Either way, try one or two of these on a week of your real messages before you decide.
ChatFrom builds a chatbot that answers your customers from your own pages and documents, looks up orders and hands the rest to your team. You can start on the free Hobby plan with no card, and see how it compares on the compare page and the pricing page.