The closest Crisp alternatives in 2026 are Tidio, Freshchat and Text, the product LiveChat now sells, which all start from a website chat widget as Crisp does. Intercom, Zoho Desk and HubSpot Service Hub are help desks that include chat, while Help Scout, Sektra and Respond.io treat chat as one channel beside email or WhatsApp. This guide compares the nine on what each is built for, what its entry and middle plans include, how AI is billed and where the price starts. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page or product documentation, checked November 2026.
Tidio, Freshchat and Text are the nearest matches for a team that wants website chat first, and the first two have free plans. Intercom, Zoho Desk and HubSpot Service Hub suit a team that wants tickets, a help center and an AI agent in one help desk. Help Scout, Sektra and Respond.io fit teams whose customers write by email or WhatsApp more often than they open a chat. Across all nine, the bill depends on the pricing unit (workspace, seat or conversation), the channels on the entry plan, and the unit AI answers are billed in.
What Crisp is built for and how it is packaged
Crisp is a customer messaging tool built around the chat widget on a website, with a shared inbox behind it for the team. Its pricing page lists a free plan with two seats and paid plans from $45 to $295 a month, checked November 2026. Each price covers a whole workspace with a set number of seats included, where the tools below mostly charge per seat or per conversation. Crisp pricing goes through what each plan includes.
Three parts of that packaging are worth checking against the alternatives. Seats come in bundles of 2, 4, 10 and 20, so a team of five sits on the ten-seat plan. The shared email inbox starts on the first paid plan, and WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS arrive one plan higher, together with the knowledge base and round robin routing. AI runs on a dollar credit included with each paid plan, which Crisp converts into an approximate number of automated conversations.
We build Sektra, so read our entry with that in mind. Every other figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page or product documentation as it stood in November 2026, in US dollars. Prices are the monthly cost on annual billing where the vendor offers it, with the monthly rate beside it.
Crisp chat alternatives compared
| Tool | Built for | Channels | AI pricing | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crisp | Website chat with a shared inbox | Chat on Free, email from Mini, WhatsApp and SMS from Essentials | Dollar credit in each paid plan | Free, then $45 a month per workspace |
| Tidio | Website chat priced by conversation volume | Chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp on every plan | Lyro add-on, per AI conversation | Free, then about $24 a month |
| Freshchat | A chat inbox from Freshworks | Chat and email on Free, social, SMS and WhatsApp from Growth | $49 per 100 sessions after 500 free | Free for 10 agents, then about $19 per agent |
| Text (LiveChat) | Live chat for sales and service | Website, in-app, Messenger and SMS chat, email tickets | 10 or 200 resolutions a month, then $49.50 per 50 | About $19 per user |
| Intercom | Messenger-led product support | Messenger chat and email, WhatsApp and SMS by usage | Fin at $0.99 per outcome | About $29 per seat |
| Zoho Desk | A ticket desk in the Zoho suite | Email and social on Express, chat and WhatsApp from Standard | Bundled, on your own OpenAI key below Professional | Free for 3 users, then about $7 per user |
| HubSpot Service Hub | A help desk on HubSpot's CRM | Live chat, email, forms and calling | $0.50 per resolved conversation, on Professional | Free for 2 users, then $20 per seat |
| Help Scout | An email-first help desk | Email on Free, chat, WhatsApp and social from Standard | $0.75 per resolution | Free for 5 users, then about $25 per user |
| Sektra | A shared inbox for email, WhatsApp and chat | Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, WhatsApp Business, website chat | Included, with an allowance set by the plan | From $18 per seat a month, billed yearly |
| Respond.io | A messaging inbox led by WhatsApp | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat on every plan | Credits in the plan, then $15 per 1,000 | About $79 a month for 5 users |
How to choose a Crisp alternative
The unit the price is built on comes first, because it decides how the bill grows. Crisp and Respond.io charge per workspace with seats included, Tidio charges by conversation volume, and the others charge for each person who answers. Under a workspace or volume price, another teammate inside the seat bundle adds nothing to the bill, and under a seat price a busier month adds nothing apart from AI and messaging fees.
The channels on the entry plan come next, since email, WhatsApp and a help center sit on different tiers at each vendor. The unit of the AI bill is the third check. Tidio bills AI per conversation and Freshchat per session, while Text, Intercom, Help Scout and HubSpot bill per resolution or outcome, which applies only to conversations the bot finishes. Crisp, Zoho Desk, Respond.io and Sektra include an allowance in the plan instead.
Crisp alternatives that start from website chat
1. Tidio: website chat and ticketing with the Lyro add-on
Tidio combines website live chat, a ticketing help desk and the Lyro AI agent, and it prices plans by conversations a month. The free plan covers 50 billable conversations and ten seats, with Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp integrations on every plan. Starter covers 100 conversations with operating hours and a live visitor list, and Growth starts at 250 and adds automatic assignment and macros.
Lyro is sold separately and billed for every AI conversation, whether or not the question was resolved. The first 50 Lyro conversations are free once, and 50 a month then cost $39 on monthly billing. Starter is about $24 a month on annual billing, or $29 monthly, and Growth starts at about $49, checked November 2026. It suits a small team whose volume fits inside the caps, and Tidio pricing and Tidio alternatives go further.
2. Freshchat: a Freshworks chat inbox that is free for ten agents
Freshchat is the messaging product from Freshworks, built around a chat widget for websites and mobile apps with a shared team inbox. Its free plan covers up to 10 agents and includes the widget, the inbox and a connected support mailbox. Growth adds Facebook and Instagram messaging, SMS, WhatsApp and reporting, and Pro adds multilingual conversations, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies.
The Freddy AI Agent starts on Growth and is billed per session, meaning one customer's exchanges with the bot inside 24 hours. An account gets 500 sessions free once, and further sessions cost $49 per 100. Growth is about $19 per agent a month on annual billing, or $23 monthly, and Pro is about $49, checked November 2026. It fits a team that wants a free chat inbox to begin with, or one already using Freshworks products.
3. Text: the live chat product LiveChat now sells to new customers
Text is the product the LiveChat team now sells to new sign-ups, while existing LiveChat customers keep their plans. It adds a shared inbox with ticketing and an AI agent to a chat widget built for sales and service. Essential covers website, in-app, Messenger and SMS chat with one address for email tickets, and Growth adds chat supervision, team reports and ten AI agents.
AI is billed per resolution, counted once for each chat in which the agent settles the question. Essential includes 10 resolutions a month and Growth 200, and extra packs of 50 cost $49.50. Essential is about $19 per user a month on annual billing, or $25 monthly, and Growth is about $79, checked November 2026. Several of its features are tied to a Shopify store, so it suits a team that sells through chat.
Help desks that include chat and an AI agent
4. Intercom: a Messenger-led help desk with the Fin AI agent
Intercom is built for companies that support the users of a product through its Messenger, with the Fin AI agent answering first. Essential includes Messenger live chat, a shared inbox with ticketing, a public help center and basic automation. Advanced adds a workflow builder, multiple team inboxes, round robin assignment and 20 free Lite seats for colleagues who only collaborate internally.
Fin costs $0.99 per outcome on every plan, charged at most once per conversation, with no outcomes included in the seat price. Essential is about $29 per seat a month on annual billing, with a $19 offer shown for new customers, and Advanced is about $85, checked November 2026. It suits a software company with high chat volume, and Intercom alternatives and Sektra vs Intercom cover it in detail.
5. Zoho Desk: a Zoho ticket desk with a free plan
Zoho Desk is a ticketing help desk in the wider Zoho suite. The free plan covers three users and one support address, and Express, for up to five users, adds social channels and workflow rules. Standard removes the user limit and adds a chat widget for signed-in customers and messaging apps including WhatsApp, while live chat with website visitors through Zoho SalesIQ is listed on Enterprise.
AI is bundled into the seat price with no fee per resolution. Express and Standard run reply suggestions and summaries on your own OpenAI key, Zia's built-in generative AI starts at Professional, and the answer bot in the customer widget is listed on Enterprise. Express is about $7 per user a month on annual billing, or $9 monthly, Standard about $14 and Professional about $23, checked November 2026. It fits a team that wants ticketing at a seat price below the other help desks here, or one already on Zoho.
6. HubSpot Service Hub: a help desk on HubSpot's CRM record
Service Hub is HubSpot's help desk, built on the same contact record as its sales and marketing tools. The free tools cover two users and include live chat that carries HubSpot branding. Starter is a paid seat with 500 HubSpot credits a month, and Professional raises that to 3,000 credits and is the first plan on which the Customer Agent can run.
The Customer Agent uses 50 credits for each conversation it resolves, which is $0.50 at the list rate of $10 per 1,000 credits. Professional's included credits therefore cover 60 resolved conversations a month. Starter lists at $20 per seat a month, and Professional is about $90 on annual billing plus a required onboarding fee of $1,500, checked November 2026. The case for it is a team that already runs sales or marketing on HubSpot.
Alternatives where chat is one channel among several
7. Help Scout: an email-first help desk with a knowledge base
Help Scout is built around a shared email inbox for support teams, with a knowledge base product called Docs and a chat widget on paid plans. The free plan covers five users, one inbox and 100 contacts a month on email alone. Standard adds live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger with two inboxes, and Plus raises that to five inboxes with round robin routing and unlimited AI drafts.
The answering bot, which Help Scout calls Envoy, is an add-on billed at $0.75 per resolution, with the first three months free. Standard is about $25 per user a month on annual billing, or $30 monthly, and Plus is about $45, checked November 2026. It suits a support team whose volume arrives mostly by email, and Sektra vs Help Scout sets the two side by side.
8. Sektra: a shared inbox for email and WhatsApp with website chat
Sektra, which we build, is an AI shared inbox for teams that answer customers from Gmail, Outlook, IMAP mailboxes and a WhatsApp Business number. A chat widget brings website visitors into the same inbox, under the same owners, notes and rules as email. A bot can answer first from the hosted help center, cite the article it used, and hand over to a person with a summary and a drafted reply.
AI is part of the plan price with no fee per conversation, and the bot's replies draw on a monthly allowance set by the plan. Sektra costs $18 per seat a month on Starter or $29 on Team, billed yearly, and the plans, which differ in seats, shared inboxes and that allowance, are on the pricing page. It suits a team whose customers write by email and WhatsApp as well as chat, and it has no phone or SMS channel.
9. Respond.io: a messaging inbox for teams working mainly on WhatsApp
Respond.io is built for sales and support conversations on WhatsApp and other messaging apps. Every plan connects WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, Gmail or Outlook email and a website chat widget to one team inbox. Starter covers five users with AI writing help and basic reports, and Growth covers ten users and adds AI agents, workflow automation and broadcasts.
AI agents run on credits included with the plan, starting at 10,000 a month on Growth, and usage beyond the allowance costs $15 per 1,000 credits. WhatsApp's own message fees are charged separately by Meta. Starter is about $79 a month on annual billing, or $99 monthly, and Growth starts at about $159 with 1,000 active contacts a month, checked November 2026. It fits a business whose customers mostly write on WhatsApp or Instagram, and like Crisp it charges per workspace.
Is there a free alternative to Crisp?
Five of the nine alternatives have a free plan, as Crisp does. Tidio's covers 50 conversations a month, Freshchat's covers up to 10 agents with chat and email, and Help Scout's covers five users on email with 100 contacts a month. Zoho Desk is free for three users with one email address, and HubSpot's free tools cover two users with branded live chat. Intercom, Text, Respond.io and Sektra have no free plan and offer trials of 14, 14, 7 and 7 days.
Where Sektra fits
Sektra is our own product, and it differs from Crisp in where the conversation starts. Crisp begins at the website widget and adds email and messaging channels on paid plans, while Sektra begins at the mailboxes and the WhatsApp number a team already answers from. The chat widget and its bot then bring website visitors into that same inbox, and a reply can follow a visitor to email or WhatsApp after they leave the site. The live chat page shows the setup, and the plans are on the pricing page.
Choosing a Crisp alternative
The choice follows from where customers write and how the team wants to pay. Website chat with a free plan points to Tidio or Freshchat, and chat used mainly for selling is the case for Text. Among the help desks, Intercom is built for product support at volume, Zoho Desk has the lowest seat price here, and HubSpot Service Hub fits where the CRM is already HubSpot. Email-led support leads to Help Scout, WhatsApp-led conversations to Respond.io, and the same customers across email, WhatsApp and chat to Sektra.
The entry price is the right comparison only when the entry plan covers the channels and seats a team needs. The plan to price is therefore the one the team would use with email, WhatsApp and its expected AI volume included. Chatbase alternatives covers the case where the main requirement is an AI bot, and how to add live chat to a website lists the settings to decide before a widget goes live.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Crisp?
No single tool replaces Crisp for every team, because the alternatives are built for different jobs. Tidio and Freshchat are the nearest for website chat with a free plan, and Intercom and Zoho Desk are help desks with tickets. Help Scout, Respond.io and Sektra put email or WhatsApp ahead of chat. The comparison that matters is the price unit, the channels on the plan and how AI answers are billed, all checked in November 2026.
Is there a free alternative to Crisp chat?
Yes. Tidio has a free plan with 50 conversations a month, Freshchat is free for up to 10 agents, and Help Scout is free for five users on email. Zoho Desk is free for three users and HubSpot offers free tools for two users. Crisp's own free plan covers two seats and the chat widget without email or AI, and all of these limits were checked in November 2026.
Crisp vs Tidio: what is the difference?
Crisp charges a flat price per workspace with a set number of seats, from free to $295 a month. Tidio charges by conversation volume, from a free plan with 50 conversations to Growth from about $49 a month on annual billing, with up to ten seats. Crisp includes AI as a dollar credit in each paid plan, while Tidio sells its Lyro agent as a separate add-on billed per AI conversation. Both sets of figures were checked in November 2026.
Crisp vs Intercom: what is the difference?
Crisp prices a workspace, and Intercom prices each seat at about $29 to $132 a month on annual billing. Intercom's Fin agent adds $0.99 for each outcome it reaches, while Crisp includes a dollar credit for AI in each paid plan. Intercom is built for support inside a software product at volume, and Crisp for website chat with a shared inbox, checked November 2026.
Which Crisp alternatives include WhatsApp?
Tidio lists a WhatsApp integration on every plan, and Respond.io connects WhatsApp on every plan with Meta's message fees charged separately. Freshchat adds WhatsApp from Growth, Help Scout and Zoho Desk add it from their Standard plans, and Intercom bills WhatsApp by message. Crisp itself adds WhatsApp Business on its Essentials plan, checked November 2026. Sektra connects a WhatsApp Business number as a shared inbox beside email, as the WhatsApp integration page describes.
