Tidio is the live-chat tool small businesses start with, and its free plan and Lyro AI agent are why. People leave when the conversation caps bite, when they need ticketing and channels Tidio does not cover, or when the AI allowance runs out. Seven tools compared for those three moments.
7 tools compared · Last reviewed
Tidio pairs live chat, light ticketing and automation flows with Lyro, an AI agent that answers from your help content, and its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Starter at $24.17 and Growth from $49.17 per month billed annually, Plus from $300 per month plus usage, and Lyro standalone from $32.50 per month on annual billing, with a permanent free plan and a 7-day trial of paid features.
The friction is in how Tidio counts. Plans are sized by billable conversations, the free tier's Lyro allowance is a lifetime figure rather than a monthly one, and Plus jumps to $300 plus usage. A growing store hits those walls in a specific order, and each alternative below removes one of them: Freshchat and Chatwoot are free by agent count rather than conversation count, Crisp charges per workspace, Intercom is the platform Tidio is usually compared upward to, and Gorgias, Re:amaze and Hiver cover ticketing and channels Tidio treats lightly.
Every price here was read from the vendor's own pricing page on 14 September 2026 and is quoted with its billing term. Where a page did not publish a figure in readable form, the entry says so.
Tidio's tiers are sized by billable conversations, and a site that gets busy pays for volume regardless of team size. Freshchat is free for up to ten agents, Chatwoot free for two, and Crisp prices per workspace, so a busy small team does not pay per chat.
AI allowances run out
The free plan's 50 Lyro conversations are a lifetime allowance, and paid Lyro is metered. Chatwoot includes AI credits and sells more at $20 per 1,000, Freshchat includes 500 AI sessions a month, and Intercom's Fin is priced per outcome, which is dearer but scales without a cliff.
Ticketing and email are secondary
Tidio is chat-first. Teams whose support is really email, or who need SLAs and a knowledge base, move to Freshdesk-class tools or, inside Gmail, to Hiver. E-commerce stores that need order data in the ticket move to Gorgias or Re:amaze.
Channel coverage
WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and SMS are where Chatwoot, Freshchat and Crisp are broadest. Tidio covers the main ones; if your customers message on the rest, that decides it.
How we chose
We added the tools people move to from Tidio — Crisp, Chatwoot, Freshchat, Intercom, Hiver and Re:amaze — to our directory alongside Gorgias which was already listed, then opened each vendor's own pricing page on 14 September 2026 and read the figures from the HTML. Gorgias's listing was rewritten the same day because its published prices no longer matched the vendor. Prices carry billing terms; gaps are stated rather than estimated. Help Scout could not be reached, HelpCrunch's page rendered no readable tier prices, and Kayako publishes only a per-resolution AI rate, so none is ranked. Promotional offers seen that day are not quoted.
Best for: Small teams that want free multi-agent chat and WhatsApp
The free plan Tidio users wish they had: ten agents rather than a conversation cap, with web chat, a shared inbox and email included. Paid tiers add WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and automation: Growth at $19, Pro at $49 and Enterprise at $79 per agent per month billed annually on 14 September 2026, with the first 500 AI agent sessions included.
Free tier: Yes — free for up to 10 agents.
Watch out: Ticketing depth lives in Freshdesk, sold separately. Monthly billing was stated as about 20% more, and AI sessions beyond 500 were $49 per 100.
Best for: Teams that want a flat monthly bill with seats bundled
Crisp charges per workspace, not per seat or per conversation: Mini at $45 per month with 4 seats, Essentials at $95 with 10 and Plus at $295 with 20 or more, as listed on 14 September 2026, each with a block of automated conversations and AI credits. It has the chat widget, chatbot flows, knowledge base and WhatsApp coverage Tidio users expect.
Free tier: Yes — a free-forever first inbox.
Watch out: Automated conversations and AI credits are capped per plan, so it swaps Tidio's conversation cap for an automation cap. Extra agents were $10 per month.
Best for: Developers, and anyone who wants to self-host their support desk
Open source and honest: the cloud Hacker plan was free for two agents and 500 conversations a month, Startups $19, Business $39 and Enterprise $99 per agent per month billed annually on 14 September 2026, and self-hosting costs only a server. Channel coverage — WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, SMS, Messenger — is the widest on this page.
Free tier: Yes — free for 2 agents on the cloud; free to self-host.
Watch out: The Captain AI assistant is younger than Lyro, reporting is basic, and self-hosting needs ops skills. Extra AI credits were $20 per 1,000.
Best for: Teams moving up to the strongest AI agent and a full support platform
The upgrade path. Intercom's Fin resolves more than Lyro and its inbox, help centre and messenger are the category benchmark. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Essential at $29, Advanced at $85 and Expert at $132 per seat per month on the page's default billing view, and Fin from $0.99 per resolved outcome.
Free tier: No; a 14-day trial.
Watch out: The bill is seats plus outcomes plus add-ons (Copilot $29 to $35 per agent, proactive messaging $99 per month), and there is no free plan. If you left Tidio over cost, this is the wrong direction; see our Intercom alternatives comparison.
Best for: Small online stores that want chat, chatbots and a help desk for a flat rate
Re:amaze covers live chat, chatbots, email inboxes, FAQs, a status page and an AI agent, and its Starter plan was a flat $59 per month for unlimited team members up to 500 responded conversations on 14 September 2026. Per-member tiers were Basic $29, Pro $49 and Plus $69 per month ($26.10, $44.10 and $62.10 annually).
Free tier: No; a 14-day trial, no card.
Watch out: AI resolutions beyond 5 to 20 per user per month were $0.85 each. The interface is dated next to Tidio's.
Best for: Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce stores whose chats are about orders
If your Tidio conversations are where-is-my-order questions, Gorgias answers them from the order record and its AI Agent can act on them. Pricing is per ticket with unlimited agents: Starter at $40 per month with 50 tickets, Basic at $90 or $77 annual with 300, Pro at $550 or $471 annual with 2,000, as listed on 14 September 2026.
Free tier: No; a free trial without a card.
Watch out: Starter is monthly-only and small, overage was $0.40 per ticket, and outside e-commerce it is the wrong tool.
Best for: Google Workspace teams whose support is mostly email
For the team that realised its support is email, not chat. Hiver turns Gmail into a help desk with assignment, SLAs and analytics, and adds chat, WhatsApp and voice. Its pricing page on 14 September 2026 listed Growth at $25 per user per month annual or $35 monthly, Pro at $55 or $65 and Elite at $85 or $95.
Free tier: No; a 7-day trial.
Watch out: Gmail only, a 7-day trial, and no AI agent comparable to Lyro for self-service.
Yes. Freshchat is free for up to ten agents, Chatwoot is free for two agents on its cloud and free to self-host, and Crisp's Basic plan is free forever for a first inbox. All three count agents rather than conversations, which is the difference from Tidio's free plan.
What is the cheapest paid Tidio alternative?
Freshchat and Chatwoot at $19 per agent per month on annual billing, as read on 14 September 2026, or Crisp's $45 workspace with four seats included for a small team. Tidio's own Starter was $24.17 per month billed annually.
Which alternative has an AI agent like Lyro?
Intercom's Fin is stronger and priced per outcome from $0.99. Gorgias's AI Agent is the best for order questions. Freshchat includes 500 AI agent sessions a month, Chatwoot includes AI credits, Crisp includes credits per plan, and Re:amaze includes 5 to 20 resolutions per user. Only Intercom clearly exceeds Lyro; the rest trade some capability for a better price.
Which is best for WhatsApp and Instagram?
Chatwoot, Freshchat and Crisp all put WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in the inbox on their paid plans, and Chatwoot adds Telegram and SMS. Hiver and Re:amaze cover fewer channels.
What does Tidio cost?
A permanent free plan with a limited conversation allowance; Starter at $24.17 and Growth from $49.17 per month billed annually; Plus from $300 per month plus usage; Premium custom; and the Lyro AI agent standalone from $32.50 per month on annual billing ($39 monthly), as listed on 14 September 2026.
Will my chat widget and history move?
The widget is a script swap on your site, so switching takes minutes. Chat transcripts and contact lists export as CSV from Tidio, but conversation history does not import cleanly anywhere; keep the export for reference and start the new inbox fresh. Lyro's knowledge sources are your own help content, which every alternative can ingest again.
