Best Tidio alternatives in 2026: 10 options compared

People leave Tidio for different reasons, so a single "best" list doesn't help much. We grouped the alternatives by the job you need done: an AI that answers website visitors by itself, live chat with AI for a small team, an ecommerce helpdesk, or a full support platform. For each tool we read its pricing and product pages on October 7, 2026 and noted the free plan, the entry price (billed monthly or annually), how the AI is billed and what removing the vendor's branding costs.

Prices change often. Every price below links to the vendor's pricing page so you can check the current figures before you decide.

Before looking elsewhere, it's worth being clear about what you'd give up. Tidio puts several tools in one product:

• Live chat and a helpdesk where people on your team answer visitors, with up to 10 seats on the free plan.
• Lyro, an AI agent that answers from content you give it (FAQ upload, FAQ and website scrapers, Q&A) and hands over to a person when needed.
• Automation flows for greetings, lead capture and routine questions.
• A multichannel inbox, so chats and messages from other channels arrive in one place.
• Ecommerce integrations such as Shopify, which is why many small online stores use it.

If your team uses most of this every day, Tidio is hard to replace with a single tool. The alternatives below make sense when you use only part of it, or when a different part matters more.

These are trade-offs in how Tidio is packaged and priced, as listed on Tidio's pricing page on October 7, 2026. They matter more for some businesses than others.

• The AI is a separate add-on. Lyro costs from $39 a month billed monthly ($32.50 billed annually) for 50 Lyro conversations a month, on top of the Tidio plan itself.
• The free AI allowance is one-off. The free plan includes 50 Lyro AI conversations once, not every month, alongside 50 billable conversations a month.
• Two meters. Plans count billable conversations (Starter includes 100), and Lyro conversations are counted separately, so a busy month can raise both.
• The headline price is the annual one. Starter is $29 a month billed monthly; $24.17 is the per-month price billed annually. Growth starts at $59 billed monthly ($49.17 annually) and Plus at $300 a month.
• Branding removal costs extra on lower plans. It's an add-on from the Growth plan and included on Plus and Premium.
• It's a full helpdesk. If all you want is an AI that answers website questions, you set up and pay for an inbox, flows and channels you may not use.

If none of these apply to you, you may not need to switch at all. The section on when to stay with Tidio, further down, lists the signs.

• Only AI answers on your website (no one watching the chat): Nexoply for a small business that wants answers from its own services, prices and policies; Chatbase if you also want WhatsApp or Messenger; Chatling for many AI models on a small budget; Boei if you also want contact buttons in the same widget.
• Live chat plus AI for a small team: Crisp for flat per-workspace pricing; Freshchat for free seats now and AI later; tawk.to if you want free human live chat with a little AI on top.
• An online store on Shopify: Gorgias, whose AI can act on orders.
• An established support team: Intercom Fin, or Zendesk for larger omnichannel teams.

If you added Tidio mainly so your website could answer questions after hours, Nexoply does only that job. You enter or import your services and prices, FAQs, policies, opening hours and service areas, and the assistant answers visitors from that information only. When the answer isn't there, it says so and points to your phone, email or contact page instead of guessing. There's one meter, conversations a month, and the AI is part of every plan rather than an add-on.

• Pricing: Free with 50 conversations a month, no credit card. Starter $19, Business $49 and Pro $99 a month billed monthly; billed yearly they're $190, $490 and $990 (two months free). Removing "Powered by Nexoply" is included from Business. See the pricing page.
• Strengths: reads your website and suggests services with prices, FAQs and policies for you to approve; answers in 12 languages; installs with one line of code on WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow or any HTML site; every conversation is in your dashboard, and questions it couldn't answer become FAQs in one click.
• Considerations: it replaces Tidio's AI, not its inbox. There's no live chat for your team, no WhatsApp, Instagram, email or phone channel, no order tracking, and it doesn't take bookings or payments (it links to your booking page, phone or WhatsApp). One chatbot per business, and no WordPress plugin or Shopify app: it installs with a script tag.
• Best for: a plumber, salon, clinic or restaurant that used Tidio mostly for answers to the same questions about prices, hours and policies, and doesn't have someone free to watch a chat window.

For a plan-by-plan view, see our Nexoply vs Tidio comparison.

Chatbase builds an AI agent from your website, files, text and Q&A, and deploys it on your website and on channels such as WhatsApp, Slack, Messenger and Instagram, with actions and integrations. It suits a business that wants AI in more places than the website but doesn't need Tidio's human inbox.

• Pricing: Free with 50 message credits a month, 1 agent and 1 MB of training data. Hobby $40 a month billed monthly ($32 billed yearly) with 700 credits; Standard $150 ($120); Pro $500 ($400). Removing "Powered by Chatbase" is a $99/month add-on, and extra agents cost $25 a month each. Chatbase pricing.
• Strengths: many channels, actions and integrations, a choice of AI models, many languages.
• Considerations: billed in message credits rather than conversations, so one chat uses several; free agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity; there are more settings to configure than in a simple business-information form.
• Best for: teams comfortable configuring an AI agent that should also answer on WhatsApp or Messenger.

If Chatbase is on your list, also read the best Chatbase alternatives and Nexoply vs Chatbase.

Chatling is a no-code AI chatbot builder for websites, with actions and workflows. Unlike Tidio's one-off free AI allowance, its free AI credits renew every month.

• Pricing: Free with 200 AI credits a month, 1 AI agent, 1 seat and the web widget only. Starter $25 a month billed monthly ($21 annually) with 1,750 credits and 2 agents; Growth $75 ($63); Scale $295 ($246), which removes the branding. On other plans, removing "Powered by Chatling" is a $35/month add-on. Chatling pricing.
• Strengths: free credits every month, a wide choice of AI models, over 80 languages, and paid channels including WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Telegram.
• Considerations: each reply costs between 0.5 and 25 credits depending on the AI model, so the number of answers you get depends on the model you pick; branding removal adds $35 a month below Scale.
• Best for: owners who want to try different AI models on a small budget.

Boei combines an AI chatbot with a light live chat and a widget of contact options (it lists more than 50 channels, such as WhatsApp and email). The company is based in Utrecht and keeps data in the EU.

• Pricing: no free plan; a 7-day trial without a card, after which the account becomes read-only. Starter $25 a month billed monthly ($19 annually) with 1 chatbot, 2,000 AI credits a month and 1 live-chat agent; Growth $69 ($49); Business $179 ($129), which removes the branding. On Starter and Growth, branding removal is a $14/month add-on. Boei pricing.
• Strengths: a simple rule (one AI reply uses one credit), unlimited human live-chat messages, a WordPress.org plugin, and the lowest branding-removal add-on we found.
• Considerations: no free plan; when the monthly credits run out, the chatbot stops replying until they reset (the widget and live chat keep working).
• Best for: small businesses that want AI answers plus WhatsApp, phone and email buttons in one place.

Crisp keeps what many Tidio users value, a shared inbox and live chat for the team, but prices it per workspace instead of per conversation, with AI credits included on paid plans.

• Pricing: Free plan without AI. Mini $45, Essentials $95 and Plus $295 a month per workspace, with AI credits worth $5, $25 and $75 (about 90, 450 and 1,350 automated conversations). The autonomous AI Agent and white label are on Plus. Crisp pricing.
• Strengths: predictable pricing for a team, many channels, translation in 50+ languages.
• Considerations: no AI on the free plan, small AI allowances on Mini, and removing Crisp's branding needs Plus.
• Best for: small teams that answer chats themselves and want AI help without paying per seat.

Freshchat is Freshworks' messaging and live-chat product, with the Freddy AI Agent and Copilot. Its free plan covers human chat for a small team.

• Pricing: Free for up to 10 agents (no AI agent). Growth $19, Pro $49 and Enterprise $79 per agent a month billed annually. The Freddy AI Agent includes the first 500 sessions, then costs $49 per 100 sessions; Copilot is $29 per agent a month billed annually. Freshchat pricing.
• Strengths: generous free seats, AI sessions included to start with, part of the wider Freshworks suite.
• Considerations: costs grow with each agent and with AI sessions; the AI agent isn't on the free plan.
• Best for: support teams of a few people that expect to grow.

tawk.to offers free live chat, ticketing, a knowledge base and contacts with unlimited agents, and earns money from add-ons. AI Assist is its AI chatbot add-on.

• Pricing: live chat is free. AI Assist Hobby is free with 100 message credits a month, 1 AI agent and up to 100 crawled web pages. Growth is $29 a month billed monthly ($290 a year) with 1,000 credits and escalation to human agents; Business is $99 ($990 a year). Each AI message uses 1 credit. Removing "Powered by tawk.to" costs $29 a month. tawk.to pricing and AI Assist plans.
• Strengths: free human live chat for any number of agents, free AI credits every month, and a WordPress.org plugin with 100,000+ active installs.
• Considerations: when the credits run out, AI Assist finishes current conversations but doesn't join new ones; the add-on is bought per property (website); branding removal is a separate fee.
• Best for: businesses that want to keep free live chat for their team and add some AI answers.

If you use Tidio because of its Shopify integration, Gorgias is the specialist: a helpdesk with an AI agent built for online stores that can act on orders.

• Pricing: no free plan; a free trial. Helpdesk with AI from $40 a month billed monthly (50 tickets and 30 automated interactions). The AI costs $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction depending on the plan, and Gorgias is never priced per agent. Gorgias pricing.
• Strengths: deep Shopify integration and an AI that takes order actions.
• Considerations: built for ecommerce only; pricing grows with ticket volume.
• Best for: Shopify stores where "Where is my order?" is the most common question. An AI-only assistant such as Nexoply can't look up orders, so it isn't the right swap here.

More options for stores: the best AI chatbots for Shopify.

Intercom is a full support platform (inbox, ticketing, help center) with Fin, a strong AI agent. Teams usually move to it from Tidio when support becomes a department rather than a side task.

• Pricing: no free plan; a 14-day trial. Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, charged at most once per conversation and not when the customer asks for a person. Helpdesk seats are priced on top, and WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go. Intercom pricing.
• Strengths: a capable AI agent, mature helpdesk and workflows; Fin can also run on other helpdesks.
• Considerations: two cost parts (seats plus outcomes), no free plan, and more platform than a small business usually needs.
• Best for: established support teams with steady volume.

Weighing Intercom too? See the best Intercom alternatives.

Zendesk is a customer service suite for email, messaging, social and phone, with AI agents built in.

• Pricing: per agent, with a 14-day trial. On Zendesk's European pricing page, Support Team is €19, Suite Team €55 and Suite Professional €115 per agent a month billed annually (€25, €69 and €149 billed monthly). AI agents are included in all Suite and Support editions, with usage-based pricing on automated resolutions. Prices in other currencies depend on your region. Zendesk pricing.
• Strengths: mature omnichannel ticketing, AI agents for messaging, email and voice, a large app ecosystem.
• Considerations: per-agent pricing plus AI usage; designed for teams rather than a single owner.
• Best for: support teams handling email, messaging and phone at volume.

Switching only makes sense if it removes cost or work you don't need. Tidio is probably still the right tool if:

• People on your team answer chats every day and rely on its inbox and helpdesk.
• You run an online store and use its ecommerce integrations, for example with Shopify.
• You've built automation flows that your sales or support process depends on.
• You answer messages from several channels in Tidio's multichannel inbox.
• Your Lyro usage fits the add-on comfortably and you value having one vendor for chat, AI and helpdesk.

In that case, check whether a different Tidio plan or Lyro tier fits your volume better before moving anything. A switch has its own cost: rebuilding flows and retraining your team.

1. 01

   List what you really use

   Write down which Tidio features you used last month: inbox, Lyro, flows, channels, integrations. Anything not on the list is something you don't need to replace.

2. 02

   Export your FAQs and content

   Save the questions and answers you gave Lyro, your FAQ list and the website pages it learned from. Any alternative will need the same information, and good FAQs are most of the work.

3. 03

   Collect real questions

   Copy 15-20 questions from recent conversations, such as a salon's "Can I cancel the day before?" or a plumber's "Do you cover my area?", plus one question your information can't answer.

4. 04

   Test with those questions

   Ask each candidate the same questions on a test page. Check that it answers from your information, and says it doesn't know rather than inventing an answer.

5. 05

   Compare cost at your volume

   Price each option at your real number of chats a month, AI replies, team members and channels, billed monthly or annually, as you'd actually pay.

6. 06

   Check branding

   If you remove the vendor's logo today, find out what that costs on the new tool: an add-on, a higher plan, or included.

7. 07

   Swap the code and watch the first week

   Remove Tidio's code or plugin, add the new snippet so only one chat widget is live, and read the first week of conversations to fill any gaps.

If you're considering an AI-only setup, you can test Nexoply without touching your live site: create a free account, import your website, and ask your own questions on a sample page before you install anything. When you're ready, the installation guide shows where the one line of code goes. To compare more AI-only tools, see the best AI chatbots for websites, and for monthly costs at different volumes, how much an AI chatbot costs.