· Feedbot team
Crisp Alternatives: Crisp Pricing vs 7 Other Chat Tools
Crisp alternatives compared on real cost: Crisp pricing per workspace and AI credits vs 7 live chat and AI chatbot tools, and who should switch.
TL;DR. Crisp is a good shared inbox with live chat, an AI agent and many channels, priced per workspace: Free (2 seats, no AI), Mini $45, Essentials $95 and Plus $295 a month as of October 2026. The AI runs on included credits, roughly 90 to 1,350 automated conversations depending on the plan. People look for Crisp alternatives when they’re a team of one paying $45 for four seats they don’t use, when AI volume pushes them up a plan, or when they want either a fully free live chat or an AI-first bot. Below: Crisp pricing, who should stay, and seven alternatives with verified prices.
We make Feedbot, one of the tools below. We list it first and say plainly where Crisp or another tool is the better pick.
Crisp pricing in October 2026
Crisp sells one plan per workspace. Seats are included, and AI usage comes from a monthly credit allowance. These figures are from Crisp’s pricing page, monthly billing, as of October 2026.
| Plan | Price per month | Seats included | AI credits (Crisp’s estimate) | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | None | Chat widget, shared inbox, mobile apps, contact forms |
| Mini | $45 | 4 | ~$5 (around 90 automated conversations) | Shared email inbox, chat triggers, custom email domain |
| Essentials | $95 | 10 | ~$25 (around 450) | WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS and more in one inbox, AI chatbot on all channels, knowledge base, routing |
| Plus | $295 | 20+ | ~$75 (around 1,350) | Ticketing, unlimited automations, 100+ integrations, white label |
Extra seats on Mini and Essentials cost $10 a month. There is a 14-day free trial with all features and no card, annual billing is discounted, and Crisp offers 50% off for nonprofits and students.
Two things to notice. First, the AI allowance is credit-based, so “around 450 conversations” is an estimate. Long chats use more. Second, the channel features most people want (WhatsApp, Instagram, knowledge base) start at Essentials, so many teams that try Mini end up at $95.
Why people look for a Crisp alternative
From reviews and the questions we get, the reasons fall into four groups:
- You’re a team of one. Mini costs $45 for four seats. If you’re the only person answering, you pay for capacity you don’t use.
- AI volume. If you want the AI to answer most chats, the credit allowance becomes the limit, and the next step is a plan jump ($95 to $295).
- You only need free live chat. Crisp Free is solid, but it has 2 seats and no AI. Some teams want more agents for free.
- You need a deeper helpdesk. Larger support teams sometimes outgrow Crisp’s reporting and workflows and move to Intercom or Zendesk.
Who should stay on Crisp
Stay if your team answers chats itself across several channels. Crisp’s flat workspace price is excellent value at 5 to 10 agents: Essentials gives 10 seats, WhatsApp, Instagram, a knowledge base and AI for $95. Few per-seat tools come close at that team size.
Crisp alternatives compared
Prices are as of October 2026 and link to each vendor’s pricing page in the sections below. “Price for a small team” means 3 people and about 500 chats a month that the AI should try to answer. For credit-based tools we assumed 4 AI replies per conversation; for per-resolution tools, that half of AI chats count as resolved.
| Tool | Billing model | Price for a small team (3 people, ~500 AI chats) | AI agent | Human handoff | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feedbot (ours) | Flat, by conversations | $19 (Pro, 1,000 conversations) | Yes, built in | Telegram or inbox takeover, email follow-up | Solo founders, SaaS, small businesses wanting AI first |
| Crisp | Flat per workspace + AI credits | $95 to $295 | Yes, credits | Full shared inbox | Teams answering chats on many channels |
| tawk.to | Free chat + AI add-on | $59 (AI Assist Growth + 1,000 extra credits) | Add-on, per AI message | Full live chat (AI escalation from Growth) | Budget live chat |
| Tidio | Plan + Lyro AI tiers | $350+ (Lyro 500 tier) | Lyro, per AI conversation | Full live chat | Online stores |
| Intercom | Per seat + $0.99 per outcome | ~$335 (3 Essential seats + ~250 outcomes) | Fin | Full helpdesk | Support teams that need workflows |
| LiveChat (Text) | Per seat + AI resolutions | ~$323 (3 Essential seats + 5 resolution packs) | Yes, resolutions | Full live chat | Sales-focused live chat, Shopify |
| Chatwoot | Per agent, open source | $57 + extra AI credits | Captain, credits | Full shared inbox | Teams that want open source or self-hosting |
| Zoho SalesIQ | Per operator | $60 (3 Enterprise operators, billed yearly) | Answer Bot on Enterprise | Full live chat | Zoho CRM users |
Feedbot’s $19 covers all 3 people because Pro includes team members and has no seat fee. The catch: Feedbot isn’t a full multi-agent live chat inbox with routing. More on that below.
The 7 best Crisp alternatives
1. Feedbot (ours)
What it is. An AI chatbot for websites and apps that handles support, sales and feedback in one conversation. It answers from your site, docs and FAQ in the visitor’s language, qualifies leads and turns bug reports into grouped issues.
Pricing. Free: 50 conversations a month, knowledge from your own text and FAQ. Starter $5: 100 conversations, website import up to 100 pages. Pro $19: 1,000 conversations, no branding, team members, REST API, MCP, webhooks. Business $49: 5,000 conversations. Extra 500 conversations cost $10. No seats and no per-resolution fees. See pricing.
Pros. Much cheaper than Crisp when the AI does most of the work. A solo founder pays $5 to $19, not $45. When a person is needed, the bot flags the chat and pings you in Telegram, Slack, Discord or email, and you can take over live from Telegram or the inbox. If the visitor left, your reply goes out by email (how handoff works).
Cons. No WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger channels. No chat routing, SLAs or a multi-agent live chat workspace like Crisp’s. No native CRM integration: leads go out by CSV or a lead.created webhook.
Choose it if you want AI to answer first and a human to step in occasionally, especially on a SaaS or small business site.
2. tawk.to
What it is. A live chat platform that is free for the core product, with paid add-ons.
Pricing (tawk.to add-on pricing). Live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base are free. Remove Branding is $39/month or $348/year. AI Assist has a free Hobby plan (100 AI message credits), Growth at $29/month (1,000 credits), Business $99 (5,000) and Enterprise $399 (20,000) per the AI Assist billing guide. Extra credits are $30 per 1,000.
Pros. The cheapest way to put several agents on live chat. Paid human agents are available from $1 an hour if nobody can watch the chat.
Cons. AI credits count every AI message, not every conversation. Escalation from AI to a human starts at Growth. The interface feels older than Crisp’s.
Choose it if your team answers chats and budget matters most. Our tawk.to alternatives post goes deeper.
3. Tidio
What it is. Live chat and helpdesk with the Lyro AI agent and Flows automation, strong for online stores.
Pricing (Tidio pricing). Free: 50 human-handled conversations. Starter $29/month, Growth from $59/month. Lyro is a separate add-on from $39/month for 50 AI conversations to $700 for 1,000. Annual billing gives 2 months free.
Pros. Polished inbox, 10 seats on self-serve plans, Shopify order lookups in chat.
Cons. At high AI volume Lyro costs about $0.70 per conversation. See our Tidio alternatives breakdown.
Choose it if you run a store and people still answer most chats.
4. Intercom
What it is. A full helpdesk with the Fin AI agent.
Pricing (Intercom pricing). Seats at $29 (Essential), $85 (Advanced) or $132 (Expert) per month on annual billing. Fin costs $0.99 per outcome. 14-day trial, and startup discounts through Intercom’s Early Stage program.
Pros. Deep workflows, reporting and ticketing. You pay nothing for AI chats that Fin doesn’t resolve.
Cons. Seats plus outcomes add up fast for small teams. Details in our Intercom pricing guide.
Choose it if you have a real support team and need helpdesk depth more than low cost.
5. LiveChat (now part of Text)
What it is. A long-running live chat product, now sold under the Text brand alongside HelpDesk and ChatBot.
Pricing (LiveChat pricing). Essential $25 per user per month ($19 billed yearly) with 10 AI resolutions a month. Growth $99 per user ($79 billed yearly) with 200 AI resolutions. Extra 50 AI resolutions cost $49.50. 14-day trial.
Pros. Strong sales features: proactive campaigns, Shopify catalog and cart recovery, visitor tracking.
Cons. Per-seat pricing and about $1 per extra AI resolution. No free plan.
Choose it if chat is a sales channel for you and you staff it with people.
6. Chatwoot
What it is. An open-source customer support inbox you can use in the cloud or self-host.
Pricing (Chatwoot pricing). Hacker: free for 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, live chat only. Startups $19 per agent with 300 Captain AI credits. Business $39 per agent with 500 credits. Extra AI credits cost $20 per 1,000.
Pros. Closest to Crisp in shape (shared inbox, many channels) and you can self-host for full data control.
Cons. Per-agent pricing, and self-hosting means you run the servers.
Choose it if you want a Crisp-like inbox and value open source.
7. Zoho SalesIQ
What it is. Live chat and visitor tracking that fits into Zoho CRM.
Pricing (Zoho SalesIQ pricing, billed yearly). Free: 3 operators, 100 operator chat sessions. Basic $7, Professional $12.75 and Enterprise $20 per operator per month. The Answer Bot and training a bot on web URLs are on Enterprise.
Pros. Cheap per operator, lead and company scoring, many messaging channels.
Cons. The AI answering features sit on the top plan, and the product makes the most sense if you already use Zoho.
Choose it if your sales team lives in Zoho CRM.
How to choose a Crisp alternative
- Count who answers chats today. One person: an AI-first tool (Feedbot) or free live chat (tawk.to). Three to ten people on several channels: Crisp is hard to beat, or Chatwoot if you want open source.
- Estimate AI chats per month. Multiply by 4 AI replies for credit-based tools, by your resolution rate for per-outcome tools, then compare with flat plans.
- List the channels you can’t drop. If WhatsApp or Instagram are a must, Feedbot is out. Crisp Essentials, Chatwoot and Zoho SalesIQ cover them.
- Run a one-week test. Every tool here has a free plan or trial. Put it on your real site, then read the transcripts.
Moving off Crisp
- Export your contacts and transcripts before you cancel, so old conversations aren’t lost.
- Reuse your Crisp knowledge base. Most AI tools can import it by URL. In Feedbot, website import starts on Starter (knowledge base docs).
- Swap the widget script. Remove the Crisp snippet and add the new one. Feedbot is a single script tag, a Google Tag Manager tag or a React component (install guide).
- Rebuild routing rules last. Watch a week of chats first; you may need fewer rules than you think.
Prices checked on October 6, 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on their sites before you buy.
Sources
- Crisp pricing: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/
- tawk.to add-on pricing: https://help.tawk.to/article/add-on-pricing-and-key-features
- tawk.to AI Assist billing: https://help.tawk.to/article/how-to-manage-billing-for-ai-assist
- Tidio pricing: https://www.tidio.com/pricing/
- Intercom pricing: https://www.intercom.com/pricing
- LiveChat pricing: https://www.livechat.com/pricing/
- Chatwoot pricing: https://www.chatwoot.com/pricing
- Zoho SalesIQ pricing: https://www.zoho.com/salesiq/pricing.html
- Feedbot pricing: https://feedbotai.com/pricing/