A free live chat plan is only useful if its limits are written down. This list compares the free tiers each vendor documents on its own pricing and help pages, and flags every limit the vendor leaves out. Undocumented does not mean unlimited: it means you find out after you install.
Four limits matter most: seats, conversations a month, how long chat history is kept, and whether the vendor's branding can come off. Most free plans here keep the branding and include no AI answers. Read is a free live chat plan enough? to judge when to upgrade.
Quick picks
- Fewest limits: tawk.to — Documents unlimited agents, conversations and history free, plus 100 AI credits a month.
- Free team inbox: Freshchat — Free for up to 10 agents, but no conversation cap or history period is documented.
- CRM included: HubSpot Live Chat — Free tools cover 2 users and 1,000 contacts, with no documented conversation cap.
- Every limit stated: Chatwoot — Hacker states 2 agents, 500 conversations a month and 30 days of history.
The ranking
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.
Tidio
Small teams with low, predictable chat volume7.2- Paid plans from
- $24.17 per workspace per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Tiers by conversation volume
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Tidio is a Polish live chat and help desk suite that sells three separately metered quotas: human-handled conversations, Lyro AI Agent conversations and Flows chatbot visitors. Every self-serve plan, including Free, includes 10 seats, so the bill grows with conversation volume rather than headcount, from $29 a month billed monthly on Starter. Tidio suits small shops and support teams with several people but modest, predictable chat volume.
The catch: The Free plan covers only 50 human-handled conversations a month, and at the limit agents can neither see nor answer new messages until the quota resets or the plan is upgraded.
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.
HubSpot Live Chat
Two-person teams already on HubSpot CRM6.5- Paid plans from
- $20 per seat per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes — Free tools
- EU data hosting
- Yes
HubSpot Live Chat is the chat widget and shared inbox that come with HubSpot's free CRM, for up to 2 users at no charge. Removing the HubSpot branding, routing chats and adding the AI customer agent all require paid Service Hub seats, billed per seat, with the agent's resolutions billed in HubSpot Credits on top. It suits small teams that already use, or plan to use, HubSpot as their CRM.
The catch: The widget keeps HubSpot's branding until you buy a paid seat, and HubSpot's own pages list three different Starter prices: $7, $10 and $20 a seat a month.
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.
Lime Connect
Teams that need chat data stored in Germany5.1- Paid plans from
- €87 per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Lime Connect is the product formerly sold as Userlike, a Cologne-based chat and messaging platform owned by Lime Technologies since 2021 and renamed on September 10, 2025. It covers website chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and SMS, and the vendor says all chat data is stored on servers in Germany. The only self-serve paid plan, Pro, starts at €105 a month with a 3-seat minimum, and the Connect AI Agent is a separate add-on.
The catch: The pricing page does not say whether Pro's €105 a month is per seat or covers the whole 3-seat minimum.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Paid plans from | Free plan | AI chatbot | EU data hosting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | 8.5 | Free, with paid add-ons | Free | Yes — Free | AI Assist — billed per credit | No | Budget teams wanting unlimited free agents |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| HubSpot Live Chat | 6.5 | Seats plus AI usage | $20 per seat per month, billed monthly | Yes — Free tools | Customer agent — billed per resolution | Yes | Two-person teams already on HubSpot CRM |
| 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 |
| Lime Connect | 5.1 | Seats plus AI usage | €87 per month, billed annually | Yes — Free | Connect AI Agent — billed per conversation | Yes | Teams that need chat data stored in Germany |
Free-plan audit
| Product | Free seats | Conversations | Chat history | Remove branding | AI on the free plan | Beyond website chat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Paid add-on | 100 / month | Yes |
| Tidio | 10 | 50 / month | Not documented | No | 50, one-off | Yes |
| Crisp | 2 | Unlimited | Not documented | No | No | Chat only |
| Freshchat | 10 | Not documented | Not documented | No | No | Yes |
| HubSpot Live Chat | 2 | Unlimited | Not documented | No | No | Yes |
| Smartsupp | 1 | 25 / month | 14 days | No | 10, one-off | Yes |
| Chatwoot | 2 | 500 / month | 30 days | No | No | Chat only |
| Lime Connect | 1 | 200 | Not documented | Not documented | No | Chat only |
Free-plan audit: does your team fit a free live chat plan?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | Free (Free) | Free (Free) | Free (Free) |
| Tidio | $29 a month (Starter) | $129 a month (Growth) | $349 a month (Growth) |
| 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) |
| HubSpot Live Chat | Free (Free tools) | $100 a month (Service Hub Starter) | $200 a month (Service Hub Starter) |
| Smartsupp | €30 a month (Plus) | €99 a month (Expert) | €244 a month (Expert) |
| Chatwoot | Free (Hacker) | $95 a month (Startups) | $190 a month (Startups) |
| Lime Connect | €105 a month (Pro) | No published plan fits | No published plan fits |
How to choose
If more than two people will answer chats for free, only tawk.to, Freshchat and Tidio document room for them. Of those three, only tawk.to also documents unlimited conversations: Tidio stops at 50 a month, and Freshchat publishes no cap at all.
If you are a team of two, Crisp and HubSpot Live Chat also fit, and both describe free conversations as unlimited. Crisp caps the workspace at 100 customer profiles; HubSpot caps the account at 1,000 contacts.
If you want AI answers without paying, tawk.to is the only free plan here with a recurring allowance: 100 AI Assist credits a month. Tidio's 50 Lyro conversations and Smartsupp's 10 Mira test conversations are one-off allowances that do not reset.
If the widget must show only your brand, none of these free plans documents branding removal at no cost. tawk.to sells removal as an add-on on top of its free core; Crisp reserves white label for its Plus plan, and Smartsupp says its branding cannot be removed on any plan.
If a limit is marked unknown in the free-plan audit, ask the vendor in writing before you install. Freshchat's conversation cap is not documented, and neither is the chat history kept on the free plans of Tidio, Crisp, HubSpot Live Chat, Freshchat and Lime Connect.
Verdict
tawk.to is the default free pick: it is the only free plan here that documents unlimited agents, conversations and history together. Ignore it if chat data must stay in the EU, because tawk.to stores data in the United States; Crisp hosts its Free plan in the EU, within a limit of 2 seats.
For buyers in the United States
The United States has no general federal privacy law, so the expensive risk for a website chat widget is California's wiretapping statute. Plaintiffs sue site owners under Penal Code § 631 for helping a third-party chat vendor read messages in transit, and § 637.2 sets damages at $5,000 per violation with no proof of harm required. Show a short notice at the chat input before the first message: the chat is recorded, a named vendor processes it, and here is the privacy policy. This is general information, not legal advice.
The vendor contract matters as much as the notice. Courts are split on whether a chat vendor is a mere extension of your website or a separate listener, and some find it enough that the vendor is capable of using transcripts for its own benefit, such as model training. Ask for terms that limit the vendor to providing the service to you. Do not wait for California's SB 690: as of 18 September 2026 the official bill history shows it on the Governor's desk, neither signed nor vetoed, and the final text does not touch § 631 chat claims.
If an AI bot answers first, label it as a bot in its first message and make it answer "am I talking to a human?" truthfully; California, Utah and Maine each have a disclosure rule, and the FTC treats overstated AI claims as deception. Get prior express written consent before sending marketing texts to a number collected in chat. Health providers need a signed business associate agreement with the chat vendor before any patient information goes through the widget, and vendors often reserve that for higher plans.
Live chat, privacy and the law: what a US business should check
Frequently asked questions
Which free live chat has no limits?
None has no limits at all. tawk.to documents unlimited agents, conversations and history, but its branding stays unless you pay for the add-on, and its AI allowance is 100 credits a month.
Is Tidio free?
Tidio has a Free plan with 10 seats and 50 conversations a month. Its 50 Lyro AI conversations are a lifetime allowance that does not reset. Paid plans start with Starter at $29 a month on monthly billing; see tawk.to vs Tidio.
What happens when a free plan hits its conversation cap?
It depends on the vendor. Tidio's help center says agents can neither see nor answer new messages until the quota resets or the plan is upgraded. Smartsupp counts automatic messages toward its 25-conversation monthly limit. The other vendors on this list do not describe it in the pages we read.
Can I remove the branding on a free live chat plan?
Not at no cost on any plan here. tawk.to sells a Remove Branding add-on that works on its free core, at $39 a month per property on monthly billing according to its help center. The other free plans keep the vendor's branding, or do not document it.
Did you test these free plans?
No. The limits come from each vendor's pricing page and help center, linked in the sources below. Where a vendor does not document a limit, the free-plan audit says unknown instead of guessing.
Keep reading
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
- Best live chat software for small businessbest list
- Best live chat software for ecommercebest list
- Best live chat software with an AI chatbotbest list
- Best live chat software with EU data hostingbest list
- 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
Sources
- tawk.to pricing — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- tawk.to add-ons — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Add-on pricing and key features — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Why is tawk.to free? — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- 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
- Why do you need my personal data? — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Data Processing Addendum — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Sub-processors — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- Data protection — tawk.to · September 18, 2026
- 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
- Tidio pricing — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Lyro AI Agent — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- About Tidio — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- 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
- Lyro multilanguage support — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Privacy Policy and GDPR compliance — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- How are security matters handled at Tidio — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio trust centre — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio integrations — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio mobile SDK — Tidio · 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
- Shopify integration — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- WordPress plugin — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub pricing — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub Preise (hubspot.de) — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot Product & Services Catalog — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub pricing (HubSpot blog) — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub product page — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot live chat — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- AI customer service agent — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Understand the customer agent — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot cloud infrastructure and data hosting FAQ — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot security — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Create and customize a mobile chatflow — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Our story — HubSpot · 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
- Lime Connect pricing — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Lime Connect home page — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Data privacy — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- AI automation — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Lime Connect integrations — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Multilingual chat support — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Userlike is now Lime Connect — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Userlike becomes Lime Connect — Lime Technologies · September 18, 2026
- Userlike joins Lime Technologies — Lime Technologies · 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