Best Tidio Alternatives in 2026: 8 Options Compared

Most people looking for a Tidio alternative like the widget well enough; what they dislike is the bill: the Lyro AI agent is a separate quota on top of the chat plan, a busy month draws down two meters at once, and taking the Tidio logo off means moving to Growth and buying an add-on.

This roundup is for store owners, SaaS founders and small support teams who run Tidio today or priced it and stopped. Every pick names the problem it solves, and one table prices the same month on every tool: 300 AI conversations and two seats.

PepoChat is our product; we include it where it fits and say where other tools are the better choice. Facts below were checked on vendor pages on 4 November 2026.

Why do people look for a Tidio alternative?

People leave Tidio for three reasons: the Lyro AI agent is sold as its own conversation quota, AI and human work are counted on two separate meters, and branding removal sits behind the Growth plan.

The first is the AI quota. Tidio's pricing page gives every account Lyro's "first 50 conversations are free (lifetime)", a one-off sample. After that the Lyro add-on costs $39 a month for 50 conversations on monthly billing ($32.50 billed annually), $210 for 300 and $700 for 1,000, about $0.70 each. A Lyro conversation is Tidio's AI billing unit: any customer interaction that "has at least one reply from our AI Agent", counted once however often Lyro answers.

The second is the double meter. A billable conversation is one that "includes a message from a human agent", and it sets your plan: Free includes 50 a month, Starter is $29 for 100 and Growth starts at $59 for 250. A double meter is pricing where two counters can bill the same conversation, which happens when Lyro answers first and a person finishes the chat.

The third is the plan ladder. "No Tidio branding" is a $20-a-month add-on ($16.67 billed annually) that only Growth can buy, so a badge-free Tidio with Lyro answering 300 conversations costs $59 + $20 + $210 = $289 a month. Tidio's strengths are real: ten seats on every self-serve plan, and social channels even on Free. Our Tidio pricing guide works every step of the meters.

Best Tidio alternatives at a glance

Eight tools replace Tidio's website chat, human inbox and AI agent, and six of them include AI in the plan price instead of selling it as a separate quota.

Prices and features from each vendor's own pages, checked 4 November 2026. Monthly billing unless marked annual.

How we chose these Tidio alternatives

We kept tools that do Tidio's job, website chat with an AI agent and a human inbox, and compared them on five criteria.

1. How the AI is sold: in the plan, as a quota, or per resolution.
2. How many meters bill one conversation.
3. Free plan and seats for a team of two.
4. Branding removal and the plan it needs.
5. Channels and store actions compared with Tidio's.

Human handoff is the moment the AI passes a conversation to a person with the transcript attached; every tool here has it, though Chatbase includes its human inbox only from the Basic plan. We read each vendor's pricing page, help center and integration docs on 4 November 2026 and compared them on the criteria above.

What do 300 AI conversations a month cost on each Tidio alternative?

At 300 AI conversations a month with two seats, Tidio costs $210 on monthly billing, and the alternatives run from $39 on PepoChat Starter to $198 or more on LiveChat's Text plans.

The month assumes 300 conversations the AI answers with three AI replies each (900 replies), about 40 handoffs a person answers, two teammates, the badge left on, and monthly billing wherever the vendor publishes it.

Prices and features from each vendor's own pages, checked 4 November 2026. Before tax.

Tidio: 300 Lyro conversations land on the $210 step; 40 handoffs fit Free's 50 billable conversations. Crisp: Essentials' $25 of credits covers "around 450 automated conversations" by Crisp's count, Mini's $5 about 90. tawk.to: the default model costs 3 credits a reply, so 900 replies need 2,700 credits: Growth plus 2,000 top-up credits ($89) or Business ($99). Chatwoot: two agents at $19, 300 included credits at one per assistant reply, and 1,000 more for $20.

Zoho SalesIQ: two Enterprise operators at $25, the plan whose Answer Bot trains on your web pages. Smartsupp: Plus at $35 and Mira at $20 per 100 conversations, or $25 and $16 billed annually. Chatbase: 900 one-credit replies exceed Hobby's 700, so add a $40 recharge, or take Basic for the Helpdesk inbox. LiveChat (Text) bills resolutions: $198 if 200 or fewer resolve, $297 if all 300 do. PepoChat: 900 replies fit Starter's 2,000; Free has one member.

1. Crisp: best Tidio alternative for a multichannel inbox at a flat price

Crisp is a customer messaging platform with a shared inbox and the Hugo AI agent, and Crisp is the best Tidio alternative for small teams that want every channel in one inbox at a flat price per workspace.

Pricing: As of November 2026, Crisp bills per workspace per month, not per conversation. Free has 2 seats, the chat widget, a contact form and no AI; Mini is $45 with 4 seats, email and Messenger, and $5 of AI credits; Essentials is $95 with 10 seats, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS and phone, and $25 of credits; Plus is $295 with 20 or more seats, $75 of credits and white labelling.

Strengths: Essentials puts twelve channels and ten seats in one inbox for $95, so no Tidio channel is lost. The AI comes with the plan: Crisp's Hugo billing article says a conversation "is not billed per message" and estimates $0.05 to $0.10 for one Hugo handles fully.

Limits: Credits are token-based, so cost varies, and when they run out Hugo stops unless you enable Pay-As-You-Go. Crawled pages are not refreshed automatically, Hugo's order and billing lookups are a Plus feature, and removing the badge needs Plus at $295.

Verdict: The closest like-for-like replacement for Tidio's inbox; our Tidio vs Crisp vs PepoChat comparison goes deeper.

2. tawk.to: best free Tidio alternative for human live chat

tawk.to is a free live chat platform with ticketing and an omnichannel inbox, and tawk.to is the best Tidio alternative when people answer most chats and you want unlimited seats for nothing.

Pricing: The chat platform is free, with "no limits at all on the number of Agents, chat volumes or sites", per its FAQ. AI Assist is a separate plan per site: Hobby is free with 100 message credits a month, Growth $29 a month ($290 a year) for 1,000, Business $99 for 5,000 and Enterprise $399 for 20,000. The AI Assist billing article says the default Auto model "costs 3 credits per reply", so the free tier covers about 33 replies. Top-ups are $30 per 1,000 credits. Removing the badge costs $39 a month per site, or $348 a year.

Strengths: Live chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and Telegram share one free inbox with unlimited members. Human replies cost nothing, so AI is the only meter, and from Growth the AI can look up Shopify orders once the visitor verifies an email, phone or ZIP code.

Limits: On the default model 1,000 credits is about 333 replies, and usage past your credits runs a negative balance you settle later. Add-ons are bought per website, and AI crawls cap at 100 pages on Hobby.

Verdict: The best free swap for Tidio's human inbox; see our tawk.to vs Tidio comparison.

3. PepoChat: best Tidio alternative with the AI included instead of a quota

PepoChat is an AI support agent for websites with a team inbox built in, and PepoChat is the best Tidio alternative when you want the AI agent included on every plan instead of bought as a separate conversation quota.

Pricing: As of November 2026, PepoChat meters one thing, AI replies; replies your team types in the inbox are free. Free includes 200 AI replies a month, 5 knowledge sources and 1 member, with no credit card. Starter is $39 a month or $390 a year for 2,000 replies and 3 members; Growth is $149 or $1,490 for 10,000 replies, 10 members and no "Powered by PepoChat" line. Paid plans bill extra replies at $10 per 1,000. When Free reaches 200 replies, new conversations go to the team inbox with a friendly message.

Strengths: Every feature except new-lead emails to the team is on every plan: handoff to the team inbox, 22 prebuilt actions such as Shopify order status by order number, WooCommerce orders by number or email and Stripe subscription checks, booking through PepoSmart, and a knowledge base from a 200-page crawl, files, Notion or Google Drive, where a whole crawl counts as one source.

Limits: The chat runs in the web widget; WhatsApp and Messenger are in limited rollout, with no Instagram, email, SMS or phone channel. Free has 1 member and Starter 3, against Tidio's 10. Removing the badge needs Growth at $149, more than Tidio's $79 route without Lyro. PepoChat publishes no SOC 2 or other certification and is a young product with few public reviews.

Verdict: The best pick for website-first support that wants a flat AI bill.

4. Chatwoot: best open-source Tidio alternative

Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform with a shared inbox and the Captain AI agent, and Chatwoot is the best Tidio alternative for teams that want to self-host or pay per agent with AI credits included.

Pricing: The Chatwoot pricing page lists cloud plans per agent per month: Hacker is free for 2 agents and 500 conversations, live chat only, without Captain; Startups is $19 with all channels and 300 Captain credits; Business $39 with 500; Enterprise $99 with 800. Extra credits cost $20 per 1,000. One credit buys "an assistant reply to a customer", and usage is one total for the account. Self-hosted, the Community Edition is free without Captain; Premium Support at $19 per agent adds Captain on your own OpenAI key.

Strengths: Website chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and SMS share one inbox, with voice from Business. Captain learns from your website, PDFs and help center, the code is public, and the cloud shows a SOC 2 Type II badge.

Limits: The bill grows with every agent, and neither free path includes AI. When credits run out, new conversations reach the team with no AI reply, and custom tools need Business. Self-hosting means running the server and upgrades yourself.

Verdict: The pick when owning the stack matters. Our open-source support chatbots guide prices the hosting.

5. Zoho SalesIQ: best Tidio alternative for Zoho CRM users

Zoho SalesIQ is Zoho's live chat, visitor tracking and chatbot product, and Zoho SalesIQ is the best Tidio alternative for businesses that already run Zoho CRM or Zoho Desk.

Pricing: Per operator per month: Free has 3 operators, 100 operator chat sessions and no bot; Basic is $10 ($7 billed annually) with 25,000 bot sessions; Professional $17 ($12.75) with 50,000; Enterprise $25 ($20) with 200,000. The generative Answer Bot, which answers from your articles and web pages using Zoho's Zia or an AI provider you connect, is Enterprise only. Zia Agents (1 on Basic, 3 on Professional, 10 on Enterprise) use Zoho data, webhooks and Shopify or Stripe tools; their usage pricing is not published.

Strengths: A live list of website visitors on every plan, lead scoring from Basic, Zoho CRM and Desk on every plan, Zoho Bookings from Professional, and WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, LINE and WeChat on paid plans. Large bot session caps let two Enterprise operators cover 300 AI conversations for $50 a month.

Limits: Free has no bot, website-trained answers need Enterprise for every operator, and bot flows need building and upkeep. The pricing page says nothing about removing Zoho branding.

Verdict: The obvious pick inside the Zoho family; more setup for everyone else.

6. Smartsupp: best Tidio alternative for European online stores

Smartsupp is a live chat and AI shopping-assistant platform for online stores, priced in euros, crowns, zloty and dollars, and Smartsupp is the best Tidio alternative for European ecommerce teams.

Pricing: The Smartsupp pricing page shows annual prices by default: Free with 1 operator and 25 conversations a month; Solo $17 (€14); Plus $25 (€21) with 3 operators; Expert $83 (€69) with 5; Ultimate from $280. Monthly billing is $24, $35 and $117. The Mira AI Agent is an add-on at $16 per 100 conversations billed annually, $20 monthly, from 100 to 5,000; each visitor session Mira responds to counts once.

Strengths: WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram are on every plan including Free, with email from Solo. Mira learns your products from your XML feed, plus up to 20 web pages and your own Q&A pairs.

Limits: The Smartsupp logo "cannot be removed or hidden on any plan". Mira works only in the website widget, stops replying when its quota is used up, and does not create tickets in other helpdesks.

Verdict: A cheap fit for a European store that can live with the badge.

7. Chatbase: best Tidio Lyro alternative for an AI-first agent on many channels

Chatbase is an AI agent platform that trains one agent on your content and deploys it to the web, messaging apps, email and phone, and Chatbase is the best Tidio Lyro alternative when the AI, not a human inbox, is what you need.

Pricing: Chatbase bills message credits: Hobby is $40 a month ($32 billed yearly) for 700 credits and 2 members; Basic $150 ($120) for 4,000 and 3 members; Business $500 ($400) for 15,000; Enterprise is custom. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. A reply costs 1 to 5 credits depending on the model, more when an action triggers a second request. Extra credits are $40 per 1,000 and removing "Powered By Chatbase" is $99 a month, per the Chatbase pricing page.

Strengths: Sixteen deployment channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email, Slack and phone. On Hobby, its Shopify actions look up order status and tracking, manage carts and handle returns.

Limits: The Helpdesk inbox, voice, Stripe and helpdesk integrations start on Basic at $150. When credits run out, the widget says the agent is "currently unavailable" until you top up, and each plan includes one agent.

Verdict: The pick for an AI-led setup across channels, if a $150 inbox fits.

8. LiveChat (Text): best Tidio alternative for staffed chat desks

LiveChat is a long-running live chat product whose pricing page now sells Text plans with an AI Agent built in, and LiveChat is the best Tidio alternative for staffed support teams that want AI billed per resolution.

Pricing: As of November 2026, new LiveChat customers buy Text plans from the same team, per user: Essential is $25 a month or $19 billed yearly, with 10 AI resolutions a month for the workspace; Growth is $99 or $79 with 200; Enterprise is custom. Extra resolutions come in packs of 50 for $49.50. The Text pricing page counts a resolution "when the AI Agent provides an answer that directly solves at least one customer question", once per conversation; handovers without an answer are free. Existing customers keep the classic plans.

Strengths: You pay for resolved conversations, where Lyro bills every conversation it replies in. Growth keeps unlimited history, the AI Agent reads Shopify order data, and Text cites a SOC 2 Type 2 audit.

Limits: Per-user pricing makes it the priciest option here for two people. There is no free plan, Essential keeps 60 days of history, and Text's pages disagree on whether the AI stops or auto-refills at the limit.

Verdict: Worth it for a team that staffs chat all day and wants AI billed only on success.

Which Tidio alternative fits your reason for leaving?

The right Tidio alternative depends on which of the three problems pushed you out.

Staying is sometimes right: if several people answer Instagram and WhatsApp all day and Lyro handles a few dozen chats, Tidio's ten seats are hard to beat. The Tidio alternative page compares Tidio with PepoChat line by line.

For Shopify stores, Tidio's native Shopify actions for agents start on Growth, and Lyro's own order-status template is for Plus and Premium. Chatbase reads orders, tracking and returns from Hobby, and PepoChat reports order status by order number on every plan, without tracking numbers. Gorgias, a Shopify helpdesk from $10 a month for 50 tickets with AI interactions at $0.90 to $1.00 each, goes deepest on order changes; our Gorgias pricing guide works its two meters.

How do you switch from Tidio without losing anything?

You switch from Tidio by exporting what you want to keep, rebuilding the AI's knowledge from the same sources, and swapping the widget only once the new inbox works.

Rebuild the knowledge Lyro learned from, your pages, help articles, FAQs and files, reconnect Shopify and your helpdesk, and test 20 real questions from last month. Export conversation history and contacts, because they rarely move between vendors, then swap the script tag or plugin. If Instagram or WhatsApp matter and the new tool lacks them, keep Tidio for social channels. The live chat migration checklist lists what each vendor lets you export.

What to do next

• Compare related roundups: the best Intercom alternatives for smaller teams and AI chatbots with live chat and a team inbox.
• Price your own month: count last month's AI-answered and human-answered conversations in Tidio and run them through the cost table above.
• Read the Lyro vs Fin vs Zendesk AI agents comparison if you are weighing the AI agents rather than the inbox.
• Compare PepoChat's plans on the pricing page, or start a free workspace, add your site as one knowledge source and run it next to Tidio for a month.