Tidio prices by conversation volume: 10 seats are included on every self-serve plan, but the Free plan stops at 50 conversations a month and the Growth tiers climb to $349 a month. Teams usually look elsewhere when volume, not headcount, starts to drive the bill.
The alternatives below either do not cap conversations or charge per seat instead, each listed for a reason documented by that vendor. The worked examples further down show list-price costs for teams of 2, 5 and 10. For head-to-heads, see Tidio vs Crisp, LiveChat vs Tidio and tawk.to vs Tidio; for the background, the Tidio review.
Why teams look beyond Tidio
- The free plan locks at the cap. Tidio Free allows 50 conversations a month, and at the cap agents cannot see or answer new messages until the quota resets or the plan is upgraded.
- The price follows volume. Growth starts at $59 for 250 conversations and reaches $349 for 2,000.
- AI is a separate meter. Lyro AI Agent is sold from $39 a month for 50 Lyro conversations, and the free allowance of 50 is one-off and never resets.
- Tidio's own pages disagree on the rules. The pricing page and help centre define a billable conversation differently, and give three different descriptions of when quotas reset.
- No published price beyond the included seats. Self-serve plans stop at 10 seats; Plus has a $300 platform fee plus usage at unpublished rates.
The alternatives, ranked
tawk.to
Budget teams wanting unlimited free agents8.5- Paid plans from
- Free
- Pricing model
- Free, with paid add-ons
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- No
tawk.to is a US-based live chat, ticketing and knowledge base platform whose core product is free with unlimited agents, conversations and chat history. The vendor earns from optional add-ons bought per property (roughly one website or brand), such as branding removal, AI Assist credits and hired human agents. tawk.to suits small businesses and solo operators who want real support on a free plan and can accept US data hosting.
The catch: Data is stored only in the United States, and removing the Powered by tawk.to badge costs $39 a month billed monthly per property according to the help center, while the marketing pages say $29.
Crisp
Teams wanting flat pricing and EU hosting6.9- Paid plans from
- $45 per workspace per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Per workspace
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Crisp is a French customer support suite (shared inbox, chat widget, CRM, knowledge base) that charges a flat monthly price per workspace with a fixed number of seats and no conversation cap. Paid plans run from Mini at $45 a month for 4 seats to Plus at $295 for 20, and the Hugo AI agent is metered through included USD credits. Crisp suits small and growing teams that want a predictable bill, many channels and data held in the EU.
The catch: The Crisp watermark stays on every plan below Plus at $295 a month, and the Free plan has no full conversation history and caps you at 100 customer profiles.
Freshchat
Teams wanting many agents on a free plan6.8- Paid plans from
- $19 per seat per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Freshchat is Freshworks' live chat and messaging product, with a Free plan for up to 10 agents and paid plans billed per agent from $19 a month on annual billing. Its Freddy AI Agent is sold in packs of 100 sessions for $49, available from the entry paid plan. It suits small and mid-sized teams that want several people on chat for free and may later move up to Freshworks' helpdesk.
The catch: Freddy AI Agent is billed per 24-hour session whether or not the question gets resolved, and rule-based bot flows and builder previews draw from the same session pool.
Smartsupp
Small online stores with up to three people6.1- Paid plans from
- €14 per workspace per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Per workspace
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Not documented
Smartsupp is a live chat, WhatsApp and Messenger inbox from Brno, Czechia, sold per workspace: Solo covers 1 operator, Plus 3 and Expert 5. Its Mira AI Agent is an add-on billed in blocks of 100 conversations a month, and prices are published in EUR, USD, CZK and PLN. The "Powered by Smartsupp" logo stays on the widget on every plan, paid ones included.
The catch: The "Powered by Smartsupp" branding cannot be removed or hidden on any plan, including Expert and Enterprise.
Chatwoot
Technical teams willing to self-host, or US-based teams5.4- Paid plans from
- $19 per seat per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Per seat
- Free plan
- Yes — Hacker
- EU data hosting
- No
Chatwoot is an open-source customer support inbox from Chatwoot Inc. in San Francisco, sold as a US-hosted cloud service billed per agent and as a free, MIT-licensed Community Edition you run on your own servers. The cloud plans cover website chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Telegram and, on Business and Enterprise, voice. Its Captain AI is metered in credits, with 1 credit per AI message or action.
The catch: Chatwoot Cloud is hosted only on AWS in the United States, so keeping data in the EU means self-hosting and maintaining the software yourself.
LiveChat
Established teams with budget per agent5.2- Paid plans from
- $19 per seat per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Per seat
- Free plan
- No free plan · 14-day trial
- EU data hosting
- Yes
LiveChat is a paid live chat and messaging platform from Text, a Polish company, billed per agent account from $19 a month on annual billing or $25 billed monthly. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the autonomous AI Agent is sold in Text and ChatBot.com plans rather than in classic LiveChat plans. LiveChat suits established sales and support teams that want wide channel coverage and can afford a price that rises with every seat.
The catch: LiveChat has no free plan and Starter holds a single user, so any team of two or more pays the Team rate of $59 per person a month billed monthly, or $49 billed annually.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Paid plans from | Free plan | AI chatbot | EU data hosting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | 7.2 | Tiers by conversation volume | $24.17 per workspace per month, billed annually | Yes — Free | Lyro AI Agent — billed per conversation | Yes | Small teams with low, predictable chat volume |
| tawk.to | 8.5 | Free, with paid add-ons | Free | Yes — Free | AI Assist — billed per credit | No | Budget teams wanting unlimited free agents |
| Crisp | 6.9 | Per workspace | $45 per workspace per month, billed monthly | Yes — Free | Hugo — billed per credit | Yes | Teams wanting flat pricing and EU hosting |
| Freshchat | 6.8 | Seats plus AI usage | $19 per seat per month, billed annually | Yes — Free | Freddy AI Agent — billed per session | Yes | Teams wanting many agents on a free plan |
| Smartsupp | 6.1 | Per workspace | €14 per workspace per month, billed annually | Yes — Free | Mira AI Agent — billed per conversation | Not documented | Small online stores with up to three people |
| Chatwoot | 5.4 | Per seat | $19 per seat per month, billed monthly | Yes — Hacker | Captain AI — billed per credit | No | Technical teams willing to self-host, or US-based teams |
| LiveChat | 5.2 | Per seat | $19 per seat per month, billed annually | No free plan · 14-day trial | AI Agent (sold in Text and ChatBot.com plans) — billed per resolution | Yes | Established teams with budget per agent |
What it costs at 2, 5 and 10 seats
| Product | 2 seats · 100 conversations a month | 5 seats · 500 conversations a month | 10 seats · 2,000 conversations a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | $29 a month (Starter) | $129 a month (Growth) | $349 a month (Growth) |
| tawk.to | Free (Free) | Free (Free) | Free (Free) |
| Crisp | Free (Free) | $95 a month (Essentials) | $95 a month (Essentials) |
| Freshchat | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise $46 a month (Growth) | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise $115 a month (Growth) | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise $230 a month (Growth) |
| Smartsupp | €30 a month (Plus) | €99 a month (Expert) | €244 a month (Expert) |
| Chatwoot | Free (Hacker) | $95 a month (Startups) | $190 a month (Startups) |
| LiveChat | $118 a month (Team) | $295 a month (Team) | $590 a month (Team) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Tidio?
tawk.to documents unlimited agents and conversations for free. Crisp Free has no conversation cap for 2 agents. Chatwoot's Hacker plan allows 500 conversations a month. All three keep the vendor logo on the free plan. See free live chat software.
Which Tidio alternative is cheaper at high chat volume?
Products that do not meter conversations. Crisp Essentials stays at $95 a month whatever the volume, and tawk.to's free core documents unlimited conversations, while Tidio's Growth tier reaches $349 a month at 2,000 conversations. Run your numbers in the free-plan audit.
Which alternative bills AI more simply than Lyro?
tawk.to sells AI Assist credits at $30 per 1,000, with one credit per AI message, and Freshchat sells AI sessions in packs. The units differ, so compare them with the AI billing guide.
Related pages
- Tidio reviewreview
- Tidio pricing explainedpricing
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
Sources
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- Lyro AI Agent — Tidio · September 18, 2026
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- The free version and downgrading your account — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- The monthly conversations limit — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- The Lyro AI agent limit — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- The monthly flow limit — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Automatic upgrades — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Chat history — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Change and add languages in your chat widget — Tidio · September 18, 2026
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- How are security matters handled at Tidio — Tidio · September 18, 2026
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- Tidio mobile SDK — Tidio · September 18, 2026
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- tawk.to add-ons — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Add-on pricing and key features — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
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- tawk.to live chat — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- How to manage billing for AI Assist — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- How to add message credits (overages) to your AI Assist plan — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- How to purchase tawk.to's Hired Agent service — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
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- GDPR — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- What languages does tawk.to support? — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- An introduction to integrations in tawk.to — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- How to add the tawk.to widget to your mobile application — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Viewing, deleting and exporting your chat history — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Q1 2026: omnichannel grows, automation expands and AI gets smarter — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- tawk.to company profile — Dealroom · September 18, 2026
- Crisp pricing — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Getting started with the Free plan — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Hugo pricing and billing explained — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- How to increase my limits and quotas — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp EU GDPR compliance status — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp compliance status with SOC 2 — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp compliance with ISO 27001 — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp sub-processors — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- What languages are supported by Crisp — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Chatbox SDKs — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- About Crisp — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp live chat — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Crisp AI Core Update (Hugo launch, AI replies become paid) — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Summer 2026 Crisp product update — Crisp · September 18, 2026
- Shopify integration — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- WordPress plugin — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshchat pricing — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freddy AI Agent and chatbot sessions FAQs — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Understanding Freddy AI features and pricing — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- How can I remove the Freshworks branding from the widget? — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Provide multilingual support to your customers — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Where are your data servers located? — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks sub-processors — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks Trust Center — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- What is Freshchat? — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshchat live chat software — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshchat developer documentation — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks announces winners of the 2026 Global Customer Awards — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Smartsupp pricing — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- Can I remove the chat box logo? — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- Data privacy and GDPR — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- AI shopping assistant FAQ — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- Smartsupp integrations — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- About Smartsupp — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- Smartsupp product updates — Smartsupp · September 18, 2026
- Introducing Abugo — ABUGO Group · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot Cloud pricing — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot self-hosted plans — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- How AI credits work in Captain — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Captain AI credits and billing — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Fair use policy — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot security — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot home page — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot for enterprise — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot integrations — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot changelog — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot handbook: company — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- Chatwoot LICENSE — Chatwoot · September 18, 2026
- WooCommerce integration — Text · September 18, 2026
- LiveChat pricing — Text · September 18, 2026
- Text pricing (plans with the AI Agent) — Text · September 18, 2026
- ChatBot.com pricing — Text · September 18, 2026
- Pay-per-agent pricing model — Text · September 18, 2026
- LiveChat subscription policy — Text · September 18, 2026
- Data storage policy — Text · September 18, 2026
- Data Processing Addendum — Text · September 18, 2026
- List of sub-processors — Text · September 18, 2026
- How to change the chat widget language — Text · September 18, 2026
- LiveChat Marketplace — Text · September 18, 2026
- LiveChat features — Text · September 18, 2026
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