tawk.to vs Tidio, Crisp, LiveChat and HiQBot
tawk.to is free live chat with a shared inbox for WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, SMS and email, and it charges only for add-ons, such as AI Assist from $29 a month. Tidio suits a small store, Crisp one price per workspace, LiveChat a large human team, and HiQBot an AI agent that qualifies and books on six channels.
HiQBot is a conversational platform for customer service, with AI agents and live chat on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE.
tawk.to alternatives at a glance
Lists of tawk.to alternatives mostly name two reasons for leaving: the AI and the reports. These five cover those, plus channels tawk.to does not list, such as LINE. Each link goes to the vendor’s own pricing page, read on 12 November 2026, and ours are on the HiQBot pricing page.
tawk.to (for reference)
- Best for
- Free live chat and a shared inbox for any size of team
- How it charges
- Free, with unlimited team members; four paid add-ons
- AI agent
- AI Assist add-on: a free tier for low volume, then from $29 a month
- Instagram and LINE
- Instagram listed among its channels; LINE not listed
HiQBot
- Best for
- Teams that want the AI to answer, qualify and book on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE, with people taking over
- How it charges
- Flat monthly plans with message credits
- AI agent
- Included, with a monthly credit allowance
- Instagram and LINE
- Instagram DMs and comment replies; LINE
Tidio
- Best for
- Small online stores
- AI agent
- Lyro, from $32.50 a month billed annually, after 50 free AI conversations
- Instagram and LINE
- Instagram listed; LINE not listed
Crisp
- Best for
- One flat price for the whole workspace
- AI agent
- AI credits included on the paid plans
- Instagram and LINE
- Both, from the Essentials plan
LiveChat
- Best for
- Larger teams of human agents
- How it charges
- Per user, sold as Text plans: $19 a month on Essential, $79 on Growth, billed annually
- AI agent
- 10 AI resolutions a month on Essential, 200 on Growth
- Instagram and LINE
- Instagram listed; LINE not listed
JivoChat
- Best for
- Chat plus phone, callback and video calls
- AI agent
- A module at $69 per agent a month, billed annually; see our JivoChat alternatives
- Instagram and LINE
- Instagram on every plan; LINE not listed
tawk.to pricing: what is free and what costs extra
The core product costs $0. Live chat, the shared inbox, ticketing, the knowledge base and the CRM are free, with unlimited team members and no card to start. tawk.to says 99% of businesses use it entirely for free.
You pay for four add-ons, each billed monthly, and for hired help. AI Assist has a free tier for low chat volume, then starts at $29 a month. Removing the “Powered by tawk.to” badge is $29 a month per property.
HiQBot has no free plan. Each plan on our pricing page has one price that includes the AI agent, a set number of seats and a monthly allowance of message credits. When the credits are gone the AI pauses until the plan renews or you add a pack; nothing is bought for you. Meta bills WhatsApp template messages to your own WhatsApp account on HiQBot.
| What you get | Price |
|---|---|
| Live chat, inbox, ticketing, help center, CRM | Free, unlimited team members |
| AI Assist (AI agents and workflows) | Free tier for low volume, then from $29 a month |
| Whitelabel (removes “Powered by tawk.to”) | $29 a month per property |
| Voice Agents (answers your phone line) | From $49 a month plus usage; waitlist |
| Data Enrichment (names site visitors) | From $59 a month per property; waitlist |
| Hired chat agents | $1 an hour |
tawk.to vs Tidio
Tidio’s free plan covers 50 conversations. Paid plans start at $24.17 a month billed annually for 100 billable conversations, and a conversation is billable once your team replies in it. Its AI agent, Lyro, gives every account 50 free conversations once, then is bought separately, from $32.50 a month billed annually. Tidio lists Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp integrations (tidio.com/pricing).
tawk.to lists no conversation cap for human chat and charges nothing for it. Pick tawk.to when people answer most chats and volume is high. Pick Tidio when you run a small store and want its Lyro AI agent, and the volume stays low enough for the conversation price.
tawk.to vs Crisp
Crisp charges per workspace, not per person: free for 2 seats, $45 a month for 4 seats on Mini, and $95 for 10 on Essentials. AI credits come with the paid plans. Mini adds Messenger and Telegram; Essentials adds WhatsApp Business, Instagram DMs, SMS, LINE and Viber (crisp.chat/en/pricing).
tawk.to is free for any number of seats; Crisp’s free plan stops at 2. Pick Crisp when you want LINE or Viber with AI credits in a fixed monthly price.
tawk.to vs LiveChat
LiveChat now sells new accounts as Text plans, charged per user: $19 a month on Essential and $79 on Growth, billed annually, with 10 or 200 AI resolutions a month and packs of 50 more at $49.50 (livechat.com/pricing). It has a free trial and no free plan.
Five people on Growth cost $395 a month billed annually, against $0 on tawk.to for the chat itself. LiveChat suits a team that will pay per seat for AI resolutions in the plan and SMS. Our LiveChat alternatives page compares it in detail.
tawk.to vs HiQBot: the AI agent
tawk.to’s AI Assist answers from your knowledge base and hands off to your team. HiQBot’s agent starts from your industry and works toward a booking or a sale. This table uses tawk.to’s add-ons and inbox pages as read on 12 November 2026, against HiQBot’s own feature list.
| What the agent does | tawk.to AI Assist | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| Price | AI Assist add-on: free tier for low volume, then from $29 a month | Included in the plan, with a monthly credit allowance |
| Where it starts | Your knowledge base, website, documents and saved shortcuts | One of twelve industry packs, such as SaaS, automotive, hospitality, restaurants, travel or e-commerce, with that trade’s questions and closing step, which you then edit |
| Qualifying a lead | Its AI workflows list routing, qualifying and follow-ups | Asks the industry’s qualifying questions, captures the lead and labels it hot, warm or cold on a status pipeline |
| Booking | Not described on the pages we read | Takes the booking into your dashboard, and onto Google Calendar when it is connected |
| Selling from a store | Its AI Assist page shows a sample order-status reply; product search and checkout are not described | With WooCommerce: finds products from a description, answers price and stock, sends a checkout link with the items in the cart, and reads an order’s status |
| Handing over to a person | Passes the conversation to your team with the context attached | Sees when a person is needed, checks working hours, assigns and notifies, in the same thread, on plans with live chat seats |
| Buttons and steps without the AI | Not described on the pages we read | Guided flows on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE: menus, forms and booking steps |
| WhatsApp outbound | Not described on the pages we read | Template broadcasts to contacts you pick by tag or imported list |
Channels and calls
| Channel | tawk.to | HiQBot |
|---|---|---|
| Website chat | Yes | Yes |
| Yes, in the inbox | Yes, connected inside the dashboard, with coexistence | |
| Listed among its channels, not on its inbox page | DMs, plus comment rules that reply to post comments | |
| Facebook Messenger | Yes | Yes |
| Telegram | Yes | Yes |
| LINE | Not on its inbox page | Yes |
| SMS and email | Yes, in the inbox | Not offered as chat channels |
| Calls | Phone calls and SMS from the dashboard listed as “Beta soon”; Voice Agents for your phone line from $49 a month plus usage (waitlist) | Customers call your WhatsApp number and it rings your team in the inbox, on plans with WhatsApp calling; your team can call back from there |
On HiQBot every channel lands in one inbox, and each channel can run its own agent. The website chat widget goes in with one tag. Your WhatsApp number connects from the dashboard and can stay in the WhatsApp Business app on your team’s phone at the same time (WhatsApp setup).
With WhatsApp calling, customers call your WhatsApp Business number and it rings your team in the HiQBot inbox, beside the chat, on plans with WhatsApp calling. The AI agent itself works in writing.
tawk.to vs HiQBot: which to pick
If price decides it, tawk.to wins, and the right-hand column says where else it is the better buy.
- You want an AI agent that qualifies the lead and takes the booking for your trade, included in the plan price.
- Your customers write on LINE, or you want replies to Instagram post comments, in the same inbox as website chat and WhatsApp.
- You want buttons and steps that collect details on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE without the AI.
- You send WhatsApp template broadcasts to your contacts.
- Customers call your WhatsApp number and you want it to ring your team beside the chat, on plans with WhatsApp calling.
- People answer your chats, and you want that free for any number of agents.
- You want SMS and email in the same inbox, or a hosted help center and ticketing at no cost.
- You would rather pay $1 an hour for tawk.to’s hired agents than staff the chat yourself.
- You want to start without a card. Our trial is 7 days and asks for one.
What the HiQBot agent does
The agent starts from one of twelve industry packs, such as SaaS and technology, automotive, hospitality, restaurants, travel, or e-commerce and retail. It asks what a good salesperson would ask in that trade, answers from the documents you upload, and closes: service businesses get the booking taken into the dashboard, and onto Google Calendar if you connect it. With a WooCommerce store connected, it finds products, answers price and stock questions and sends a checkout link with the items in the cart.
On plans with live chat seats, anyone on shift can take a conversation over in the same thread, with assignment, routing and team reports. You can also set a whole channel to live chat mode: no AI answers there, and the conversation goes straight to a person.
Switching from tawk.to, step by step
- Start the 7-day trial on a plan with live chat seats if people will answer chats, or on one where the AI answers on its own (compare plans). The trial asks for a card.
- Give the agent what your team already answers from: upload your help articles, price lists and policies, and add the website pages that hold the rest.
- Pick your industry and review the questions the agent asks before it books or sends a checkout link.
- Add the website chat tag to a test page and run it next to tawk.to for a few days before you swap the widget site-wide.
- Connect WhatsApp from the dashboard. If the number is connected to tawk.to today, disconnect it there first, since a number sits with one provider at a time. Then connect Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE.
- Invite the team, set routing, and decide which channels the AI answers and which run as live chat only.
Questions people ask before switching.
Is tawk.to really free?
Yes. Live chat, the shared inbox, ticketing, the knowledge base and the CRM are free, with unlimited team members, as read on tawk.to on 12 November 2026. It charges for four add-ons: AI Assist and Whitelabel at $29 a month each, Voice Agents from $49 a month plus usage, and Data Enrichment from $59 a month. It also sells hired chat agents at $1 an hour.
What is the best alternative to tawk.to?
HiQBot for an AI agent that answers, qualifies and books on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and LINE; Tidio for a small online store; Crisp for one price for the whole workspace; LiveChat for a large team of human agents. If price is all that matters, stay on tawk.to: no paid tool beats free.
Who are tawk.to’s main competitors?
Tidio, Crisp, LiveChat, Zendesk, Fin (formerly Intercom), Zoho SalesIQ, Freshchat, LiveAgent, Chatwoot and JivoChat come up on most lists of tawk.to alternatives. HiQBot is the one built around an AI agent on six chat channels.
Does tawk.to have an AI chatbot?
Yes, as a paid add-on called AI Assist. Its agents answer from your knowledge base, its workflows handle routing, qualifying and follow-ups, and a conversation passes to your team when a person is needed. It has a free tier for low volume and paid plans from $29 a month. HiQBot includes its AI agent in the plan, with a monthly allowance of message credits.
Does tawk.to support WhatsApp and Instagram?
Yes. tawk.to lists WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, SMS and email beside its website widget. LINE is not listed. HiQBot answers Instagram DMs, replies to Instagram post comments, and takes LINE messages in the same inbox as website chat and WhatsApp.
Can HiQBot take phone calls?
Over WhatsApp, yes. Customers call your WhatsApp Business number and it rings your team in the HiQBot inbox, beside the chat, on plans with WhatsApp calling, and your team can call back from there. The AI agent itself works in writing. tawk.to lists phone calls and SMS from its dashboard as “Beta soon”, and a voice agent for phone lines from $49 a month plus usage, with a waitlist.
Can I keep my WhatsApp number in the WhatsApp Business app?
Yes. HiQBot supports coexistence, so the number runs on the WhatsApp API and in the Business app at the same time, and your team keeps answering on the phone they already use.
What does tawk.to have that HiQBot does not?
A free plan with unlimited team members, SMS and email in the inbox, ticketing at no cost, a hosted help center, and hired chat agents at $1 an hour. HiQBot has a 7-day trial that asks for a card.
Run both for a week.
Test HiQBot on one page of your site for seven days with your own documents while tawk.to stays on the rest, then compare the same week of conversations.