Crisp repriced in late 2024 — Pro at $25 and Unlimited at $95 became Mini $45, Essentials $95 and Plus $295, with no grandfathering — and the February 2026 “AI Core Update” put AI credits on every plan. If that sent you here, this list compares seven Crisp chat alternatives with real June-2026 pricing, honest verdicts, and a clear note on where each one beats our own product.
ConvChat — full disclosure: it's our product — is a live-chat platform built in Switzerland by Appik Studio. Each website or app project is billed separately on one of three monthly or yearly plans. Yearly pricing is Starter at CHF 49/mo (1,000 conversations, human-operated), Growth at CHF 99/mo (5,000 conversations with AI) and Scale at CHF 200/mo (20,000 conversations with AI); monthly billing is CHF 59, CHF 119 and CHF 240. Every project includes unlimited support agents and email continuation, so a chat that outlives a browser tab carries on by email. Growth and Scale have no AI credits or per-resolution fees, and no plan has per-seat fees. The honest caveats: it's a young product with a shorter track record than anything else on this list. There's no native mobile app yet, and WhatsApp and Instagram channels aren't here yet either — if multi-channel is your core need today, Crisp or Intercom serve it better.
Unlimited support agents on every project
AI on Growth and Scale — no credits or per-resolution fees
Email continuation keeps missed chats alive
Free concierge migration from Crisp; 30-day trial, no credit card
Young product, shorter track record
No native mobile app yet
No WhatsApp or Instagram channels yet
Verdict:The strongest pick if Crisp's repricing or AI credits are driving your switch: pricing is clear per project, agents are unlimited, and we migrate you for free. Not the pick if you need WhatsApp or Instagram today.
Intercom is the most capable tool on this list, and moving to it from Crisp is a step up in power, not just a sideways move. Fin is a genuinely leading AI agent, the automation and workflow engine is deep, and the omnichannel and enterprise features (SSO, HIPAA support, multibrand) are real. The cost structure is the catch: $29 (Essential), $85 (Advanced, 20 Lite seats included) or $132 (Expert, 50 Lite seats) per seat per month billed annually — $39/$99/$139 monthly — plus $0.99 per Fin “outcome” since March 2026, a definition that includes “assumed resolutions” where the customer simply stops replying. The Copilot assistant for human agents is another $29/agent/mo. Bills scale with seats and AI volume at once, and bill shocks are documented — public reports include jumps from roughly $4k to $9k a month, and $119 to $854 for a small startup.
Fin is a leading AI agent
Deepest automation, omnichannel and enterprise features here
Huge integration ecosystem
Per-seat + per-outcome pricing compounds fast
“Outcomes” include assumed resolutions
Documented bill shocks ($119→$854, ~$4k→$9k/mo)
Verdict:If you left Crisp over capability, Intercom is the upgrade and worth the money for funded teams. If you left over pricing, it points the wrong way.
Tidio is a polished, SMB-friendly live-chat and chatbot platform with strong e-commerce integrations and built-in marketing automation (Flows). Plans run from a useful free tier through Starter (~$29/mo) and Growth (~$59/mo) up to Plus at $749 and Premium around $2,999/mo. The Lyro AI agent is a separate add-on starting near $39/mo for 50 AI conversations. The thing to understand before switching from Crisp: Tidio meters three quotas separately — Lyro conversations, billable conversations and Flow triggers — and by default auto-upgrades your plan at 95% of any quota. Reviewers document bills silently doubling ($32→$64, $25→$120); disable auto-upgrade and conversations stop entirely at 100%. If you're leaving Crisp because the AI went on a meter, note that Tidio's AI is also metered — just with a different shape. The product itself is genuinely good for e-commerce.
Genuinely useful free tier
Strong e-commerce integrations and Flows automation
Lyro is a capable AI agent
Three separately metered quotas
Auto-upgrade at 95% — documented silent bill doubling
AI is a paid add-on with its own quota
Verdict:A fair pick for e-commerce SMBs who'll watch their quotas. If metered AI is why you're leaving Crisp, Tidio swaps one meter for three.
Tawk.to is the honest budget answer: genuinely free, with unlimited agents and unlimited sites and no trial clock. It monetises through add-ons — removing the “powered by tawk.to” branding runs about $19–29/mo, and the AI Assist add-on costs $29–399/mo by volume — plus optional low-cost hired chat agents. For a hobby project or a pre-revenue site, it's a perfectly reasonable choice and nothing else on this list competes with its price. The trade-offs are operational rather than hidden: reviewers document unreliable mobile push notifications (which means missed chats), widget overlay glitches on some sites, forced branding unless you pay, and an interface that has aged. Configure it the way a business would — AI plus branding removal — and you're at roughly $48–430/mo, which is paid-tool territory without a paid product's polish.
Genuinely free — unlimited agents and sites
Native iOS and Android apps
Optional low-cost hired chat agents
Unreliable mobile push reported — missed chats
Forced branding unless you pay (~$19–29/mo)
Dated UX; AI costs $29–399/mo extra
Verdict:Unbeatable for hobby sites — take it and don't overthink. For a business where a missed chat costs money, the free price has real costs.
Chatwoot is the open-source contender: a multi-channel shared inbox you can self-host for free, or use as a cloud service at $19, $39 or $99 per agent per month. Its Captain AI agent is credit-metered, like Crisp's. The appeal is control — your data, your servers, no vendor repricing you — and that's a genuine answer to the trust dent Crisp's 2024 repricing left. The honest counterweight is the cost you don't see on a pricing page: self-hosting means provisioning, upgrades, backups, scaling and security patching, and that maintenance burden is real and ongoing. Cloud Chatwoot removes the ops work but reintroduces per-agent pricing, so a ten-person team is $190–990/mo — more than Crisp in most configurations. The product is solid and improving, though its UI has historically trailed the polish of commercial rivals.
Open source — self-host free, full data control
No vendor can reprice your self-hosted install
Multi-channel inbox
Real, ongoing self-hosting maintenance burden
Cloud is per-agent ($19–99/agent/mo)
Captain AI is credit-metered too
Verdict:The right pick if you have ops capacity and data-control requirements. If you just want cheaper chat with less hassle, self-hosting is a trap.
6. PlainOur closest positioning neighbour
Plain deserves a fair mention because it's close to ConvChat's positioning: it also markets “AI included” and a clean, fast, keyboard-driven support experience. Pricing is per seat: Foundation at $35/seat/mo with a five-seat cap and 2,000 AI credits a month included, and Horizon at $299/mo including three seats, with extra seats at $99 and a ten-seat cap. Plain bills per seat and includes AI as a credit allowance; ConvChat bills each project by conversation volume, with no AI credits on Growth or Scale. Plain is squarely aimed at B2B/SaaS support teams; it's less natural for agencies running many client sites.
Excellent, fast, keyboard-driven UX
AI credits included in seat price
Strong fit for B2B/SaaS support
Per-seat pricing with seat caps (5 / 10)
AI is a monthly credit allowance, not unmetered
Less suited to agencies and multi-site setups
Verdict:If you're a B2B SaaS team under ten seats and like the 'AI included' philosophy, Plain is a genuinely strong choice — the trade is per-seat pricing and AI credits versus our flat, by-volume model.
7. ZendeskThe enterprise help desk
Zendesk is on this list because people compare it, not because it's a like-for-like Crisp replacement — it's a full enterprise help desk with ticketing, voice/IVR, deep reporting and a huge app marketplace. The Suite runs $55 (Team), $115 (Professional) and $169 (Enterprise) per agent per month billed annually, with Support Team from $19. AI is priced per automated resolution at roughly $1.00–2.00 each, advanced AI is a $50/agent/mo add-on, and since January 2026 usage above your committed volume is billed automatically as overage — no cap, no prior warning. For a team leaving Crisp's $45–295 workspaces, Zendesk usually means spending more, not less, in exchange for genuine enterprise capability. If you need SLAs, compliance and a contact center, it's proven at scale. If you need a chat widget and an inbox, it's overkill.
Full enterprise help desk: ticketing, voice, reporting
Proven at very large scale
Huge app marketplace
Per-agent pricing plus AI add-on plus per-resolution fees
Automatic, uncapped overage billing since Jan 2026
Overkill for chat-first SMBs
Verdict:Choose it for enterprise requirements, not for price. Most teams leaving Crisp over cost should look elsewhere on this list.
Why are people looking for Crisp alternatives in 2026?
Two pricing changes. In late 2024 Crisp repriced (Pro $25 and Unlimited $95 became Mini $45, Essentials $95 and Plus $295) without grandfathering existing customers, and the February 2026 “AI Core Update” made AI credit-metered on every plan — roughly 90 automated conversations a month on Mini, 450 on Essentials and 1,350 on Plus. Billing is also per workspace, so multi-brand teams pay several times over.
Is Crisp still a good product?
Honestly, yes. Capterra rates it 4.6/5 and G2 4.5/5, and its complaints concentrate on billing rather than the product (its Trustpilot 1.8/5 is dominated by refund disputes — Crisp's terms exclude refunds). If the per-workspace model and AI credits fit your usage, staying is a reasonable decision.
What is the cheapest Crisp chat alternative?
Tawk.to — it's genuinely free with unlimited agents and sites, and a fair choice for hobby sites. ConvChat starts at CHF 49 per project with unlimited agents; Growth and Scale include AI without credits.
Which Crisp alternative includes AI without credits?
ConvChat includes its AI assistant with no credits and no per-resolution fees on Growth and Scale; Starter is human-operated. Plain includes a monthly AI credit allowance in its seat price (2,000 credits/mo on Foundation). Everything else meters AI separately: Intercom at $0.99 per outcome, Zendesk at ~$1–2 per resolution, Tidio via the Lyro add-on, and Chatwoot's Captain via credits.
How hard is it to migrate away from Crisp?
The widget side is easy — replacing one embed snippet on your site. The work is moving your knowledge-base content, contacts and conversation history. ConvChat offers free concierge migration: our team moves your setup with you during the 30-day trial.
What about an open-source Crisp alternative?
Chatwoot is the main one: self-host free with full data control, or cloud from $19/agent/mo. Budget honestly for the self-hosting maintenance burden (upgrades, backups, scaling, security) — it's the real price of free.
Full disclosure: ConvChat is our product, so we’re not a neutral party — which is why it’s ranked with its cons listed, every competitor figure comes from public sources current as of June 2026, and we say where each tool genuinely beats ours. Competitor pricing changes often; check each vendor’s pricing page for the latest.