Live chat is a person answering in real time. A chatbot follows a script you build. An AI agent writes its own answers from your content and can take actions. Most products in this category now sell all three in one widget, and the pricing, the handoff rules and the legal duties differ for each.
Three definitions
| Live chat | Rule-based chatbot | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers | A human agent | Pre-written flows and buttons | A large language model, using your help content |
| What it can handle | Anything the agent knows | Only the paths you scripted | Open questions within its sources; some actions |
| Typical billing | Per seat or per workspace | Often included, sometimes metered | Per resolution, outcome, session, conversation or credit |
| Main risk | No answer outside staffed hours | Visitors stuck in a loop | Wrong or invented answers; usage costs |
Live chat is the widget plus an inbox where your team replies. Its cost scales with people: see per-seat vs per-workspace pricing.
A rule-based chatbot asks questions and routes on the answers: collect an email, offer order tracking, route to sales. It never says anything you did not write. Tidio sells these as Flows, priced by visitors reached. HubSpot's free tools include rule-based bots for tickets, lead qualification and meetings.
An AI agent reads your knowledge base and writes answers in its own words, and some can perform actions such as a password reset. The vendor names are proper nouns: Intercom's Fin AI Agent, Tidio's Lyro AI Agent, Freshchat's Freddy AI Agent, HubSpot's Customer agent, Zendesk AI agents, Crisp's Hugo, Chatwoot's Captain AI, Smartsupp's Mira AI Agent, Lime Connect's Connect AI Agent and tawk.to's AI Assist.
When each one fits
- Live chat alone fits a small team whose visitors ask varied, high-value questions during staffed hours, such as quotes, complex orders or B2B sales.
- A rule-based chatbot fits repetitive, structured tasks: capturing leads out of hours, routing by department, answering a handful of fixed questions. It is predictable and usually cheap.
- An AI agent fits a large volume of questions already answered in your help content, especially outside staffed hours. It only works as well as that content, and every unit it consumes has a price.
- All three together is what most vendors now sell: a bot or AI agent answers first and hands over to a person when it cannot help.
Human handoff: read the billing rule
Handoff is where the three meet, and where billing definitions matter. Intercom does not charge an outcome when the customer asks for a human, but does charge for a Procedure you configured to end in a handoff. HubSpot waives its charge only for a visitor-initiated handoff within 72 hours; assignment by your team or a workflow does not count. Tidio does not deduct a Lyro conversation when Lyro hands over immediately. When AI credits run out, Crisp and Chatwoot hand conversations to humans, and Freshchat's AI agent stops and hands over to live agents.
A handoff only helps if someone is there to receive it. Out of hours, the fallback is usually a contact form or email. Check what each product's widget does when no agent is online, and whether the AI agent tells the visitor that. The AI billing guide covers each vendor's definitions in full.
Disclosure: telling visitors a bot is answering
When an AI answers first, the law increasingly requires that visitors know it. In the EU, the transparency duty in Article 50 of the AI Act has applied since 2 August 2026: people must be told they are interacting with an AI system unless that is obvious from the context. In Spain, Ley 10/2025 on customer-service gives customers of companies in its scope the right to be attended by a human.
Choosing a product
If you mainly want people answering, start with the best live chat software and the free-plan audit. If an AI agent is the priority, the best live chat with an AI chatbot ranks products on how clearly they document what the AI costs. For a direct comparison of two AI-heavy suites, see Intercom vs Zendesk.
Frequently asked questions
Is a chatbot the same as an AI agent?
No. A rule-based chatbot only follows flows you wrote. An AI agent generates answers from your content with a language model. Vendors price them differently: Tidio, for example, sells Flows and the Lyro AI Agent as separate quotas.
Do I need to tell visitors they are talking to a bot?
In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act has required this for AI systems that interact with people since 2 August 2026, unless it is obvious. Details and other markets are in the guide to live chat and the law.
Can an AI agent replace live chat entirely?
Vendors market high resolution rates, but those are their own claims. Documentation from HubSpot, Crisp, Chatwoot and Freshchat all describe handing conversations to humans, and Spain's Ley 10/2025 gives customers of companies in its scope a right to a human. Plan for a person behind the bot.
Which is cheapest to run?
Live chat costs per person, a rule-based bot is often included, and an AI agent adds usage costs on top. Compare the units in the AI billing guide against your expected volume.
Keep reading
- Is a free live chat plan enough for your team?guide
- Per-seat vs per-workspace pricing: what your team size does to the billguide
- How live chat vendors bill for AIguide
- Does a chat widget slow your site?guide
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
- Free-plan audit: does your team fit a free live chat plan?
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not installed or tested these products ourselves. Method: How we review