Best live chat software for business in 2026: real prices, compared
Best live chat software for business in 2026: real prices, compared
How we make money: if you subscribe for Provide Support through our links, Provide Support pays us a commission. You pay the same price. None of the other six tools pay us, and those links go straight to their official pricing pages.
Live chat pricing has become hard to compare. Some tools charge per agent, some per workspace, some per conversation, and the newest charge per AI “resolution” on top. We compared seven tools small and mid-sized businesses actually shortlist, priced the same scenario for each (a three-person support team), and noted which costs grow as you get busier. Prices come from each vendor’s live pricing page.
Our picks at a glance
Prices from live pricing pages, Oct 5, 2026Provide Support
Plain, dependable live chat with every feature on every plan. You pay only for the number of agent seats: $24/mo for one, or $156 a year. Unlimited chats and websites, apps for every platform, and no per-conversation or AI-resolution fees.
Comparison: how each tool charges
The billing model matters more than the headline price. Per-seat pricing grows with your team. Per-conversation and per-AI-outcome pricing grows with your traffic.
| Tool | Best for | Free plan | Charged by | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provide Support | Simple, flat pricing | 10-day trial | Seat; all features | $24/mo · $156/yr |
| tawk.to | $0 budget | Yes, unlimited | Optional add-ons | $0 |
| Crisp | Small teams, flat fee | Yes, 2 agents | Workspace | $45/mo (4 seats) |
| Tidio | Free start, AI | Yes, 50 convos/mo | Conversations | $24.17/mo yearly |
| LiveChat | Dedicated teams | 14-day trial | Seat | $25/mo · $19 yearly |
| Zendesk | Full help desk | Trial | Agent + add-ons | $19/agent yearly |
| Intercom | AI-first support | 14-day trial | Seat + $0.99/AI outcome | $29/seat yearly |
What a three-person team pays per month
Same scenario for every tool: three people answering chats. “Not shown” means the pricing page we loaded didn’t display that billing option.
| Plan | Paying monthly | Billed yearly | Grows with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provide Support Corporate | $53 | $25.83 ($310/yr) | Seats only |
| tawk.to | $0 | $0 | Optional add-ons |
| Crisp Mini (4 seats) | $45 | Not shown | Plan tier; $10 per extra agent |
| Tidio Starter | Not shown | $24.17 | Conversations (100 incl.) |
| LiveChat Starter ×3 | $75 | $57 | Seats |
| Zendesk Suite Team ×3 | Not shown | $165 | Agents, add-ons, usage |
| Intercom Essential ×3 | Not shown | $87 + AI | Seats + $0.99 per Fin outcome |
Provide Support’s yearly price is a big discount: one seat is $24 a month, or $156 for the year (about $13 a month). Its 10-seat Enterprise plan is $108 a month or $713 a year. tawk.to is free with a small “Powered by tawk.to” badge. Removing it costs $29 a month, and its AI Assist chatbot starts at $29 a month.
The 7 live chat tools, reviewed
Each review covers what the tool is best at, the limits that matter, and who should skip it.
Provide Support: best simple, predictable live chat
- Trial10 days, all features, unlimited seats, no card
- Plans1 seat $24/mo or $156/yr · 3 seats $53/mo or $310/yr · 10 seats $108/mo or $713/yr
- Guarantee30-day money-back after first payment
Provide Support has been selling live chat for more than 20 years, and its pricing is the easiest here to understand. Every plan has the same features. The only difference is how many agent seats you get. Chats and websites are unlimited, there’s no branding on paid plans, and agents can answer from desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux, mobile apps for iOS and Android, or a web app. It integrates with WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Magento, Joomla, and others.
Pricing is $24 a month for one seat, $53 for three, or $108 for ten. Yearly billing cuts that to $156, $310, or $713 a year. Optional add-ons are automatic chat translation ($249 a year) and a chat link on your own domain ($49 a year per domain). The trade-offs: there’s no free-forever plan, and AI chatbots aren’t a focus on its pricing page. If you want an AI agent to answer most chats for you, Tidio or Intercom are built for that.
Pros
- Every feature on every plan
- Flat per-seat price; no per-chat or AI-outcome fees
- Unlimited chats and websites
- Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and web
Cons
- No free-forever plan
- AI chatbot isn’t a focus on its pricing page
- Translation is a $249/yr add-on
- Interface is more functional than flashy
Skip it if you want an AI agent to resolve most conversations without a human.
tawk.to: best free live chat
- FreeUnlimited agents and chats, free for life
- Remove branding$29/mo
- AI AssistFrom $29/mo; free tier for low volume
tawk.to is genuinely free. You get unlimited agents and chats, a ticketing inbox, and a knowledge base without paying. It makes money from optional extras: $29 a month to remove the “Powered by tawk.to” badge, an AI Assist chatbot from $29 a month (with a free tier for low-volume sites), and hired human chat agents for $1 an hour.
The catch is polish and focus. The dashboard is busy, and the free model means you depend on the add-ons staying cheap. For many small sites, though, it’s the obvious place to start.
Pros
- Free for unlimited agents
- Optional $1/hr hired chat agents
- Ticketing and knowledge base included
Cons
- Branding unless you pay $29/mo
- Dashboard feels crowded
- Advanced AI costs extra
Skip it if you need a clean, branded experience and don’t want to pay for add-ons.
Crisp: best flat price for a small team
- Free2 agents, website chat widget
- Mini$45/mo per workspace, 4 seats
- Essentials$95/mo, 10 seats · Plus $295/mo, 20+ seats
Crisp charges per workspace rather than per agent, so a team of four pays the same $45 a month as a team of one on Mini. Mini adds a shared email inbox, shortcuts, chat triggers, and $5 of AI credits. Essentials ($95, 10 seats) adds the omnichannel inbox and workflow automation. Extra agents are $10 a month each.
The free plan covers 2 agents with the basic chat widget. Crisp says the price stays the same however many conversations you have, which makes budgeting easy. Every paid plan has a 14-day free trial.
Pros
- Flat workspace price, seats included
- Free plan for 2 agents
- Price doesn’t grow with chat volume
Cons
- Big jump from Mini to Essentials
- AI credits are small on lower plans
- Yearly prices weren’t shown
Skip it if you’re a solo founder happy with tawk.to’s free plan.
Tidio: best free plan with an AI agent option
- Free50 billable conversations/mo, 10 seats
- Starter$24.17/mo billed yearly, 100 conversations
- Lyro AI50 free AI conversations once; paid AI from $32.50/mo
Tidio combines live chat, ticketing, automated Flows, and Lyro, its AI agent. It bills by “billable conversations”: threads where a human agent replies. Unanswered chats and AI or Flow replies don’t count. The free plan includes 50 billable conversations a month and 10 seats. Starter ($24.17 a month billed yearly) raises that to 100.
Lyro is the main draw. Every account gets 50 AI conversations once. After that, AI is a separate paid quota starting at $32.50 a month. Growth starts at $49.17 a month billed yearly. If your volume grows, your bill grows with it.
Pros
- Real free plan with 10 seats
- Strong AI agent (Lyro)
- You aren’t billed for unanswered chats
Cons
- Costs climb with conversation volume
- AI is priced separately
- Monthly prices weren’t shown on its page
Skip it if you have high chat volume and want a fixed bill.
LiveChat: polished chat for dedicated support teams
- Trial14 days, no card
- Starter$25/person/mo, or $19 billed yearly
- Team / Business$59 / $89 monthly, or $49 / $79 yearly
LiveChat is a polished, mature product used by full-time support teams. It combines chat and ticketing in one inbox and offers an AI agent that hands off to a human. Starter is limited, with 60 days of chat history and up to 100 tracked visitors, so most teams end up on Team ($49 per person per month billed yearly).
It’s per person, so cost scales directly with headcount: three agents on Team cost $147 a month billed yearly. That’s worth it if chat is a core sales channel, and expensive if it isn’t.
Pros
- Very polished agent experience
- Mature integrations and reporting
- AI agent with handoff to humans
Cons
- Starter keeps only 60 days of history
- Per-person pricing adds up
- No free plan
Skip it if chat is a side channel for you, not a core one.
Zendesk: best if you need a full help desk
- Support Team$19/agent/mo billed yearly
- Suite Team$55/agent/mo billed yearly, with AI agents
- Add-onsCopilot $50/agent/mo, and more
Zendesk is a full customer-service platform: tickets, messaging, a knowledge base, and AI agents. Support Team ($19 per agent per month billed yearly) covers core ticketing. Suite Team ($55) unifies channels and adds AI agents. Suite Professional is $115.
Zendesk says its total cost includes the base plan, usage-based features, and add-ons such as Copilot ($50 per agent per month). That’s a lot of platform for a small business that just wants a chat box.
Pros
- Complete help desk with AI agents
- Scales to large teams
- Huge app marketplace
Cons
- Overkill for simple website chat
- Add-ons and usage fees on top
- Monthly prices not shown
Skip it if you only need chat on a small website.
Intercom: best for AI-first support at scale
- Essential$29/seat/mo billed yearly
- Advanced / Expert$85 / $132 per seat/mo billed yearly
- Fin AI Agent$0.99 per outcome
Intercom pairs a help desk and its Messenger chat widget with Fin, its AI agent. Seats start at $29 a month billed yearly on Essential. Each conversation Fin resolves costs $0.99, so if AI handles most of your chats, that charge can exceed your seat costs.
It’s a strong product for software companies with a lot of support volume. For a small business, the per-outcome fee makes the monthly bill hard to predict. Startups under $10M raised with 15 or fewer employees can apply for 93% off.
Pros
- Leading AI agent (Fin)
- Polished Messenger and help center
- Startup discount program
Cons
- $0.99 per AI outcome on top of seats
- Expensive for small teams
- Monthly prices not shown
Skip it if you want a fixed, predictable bill.
How we picked
To be clear about our method: this guide is based on research, not a months-long hands-on test of every tool. Here’s what went into it:
- Live pricing pagesWe loaded each pricing page on October 5, 2026, switched between monthly and yearly where possible, and priced a 3-agent team.
- Help docs and FAQsHow each vendor defines a seat, a billable conversation, or an AI outcome, and what’s free.
- Published reviewsIndependent reviews and user feedback on reliability, apps, and support.
- Cost as you growWhich bills grow with headcount, chat volume, or AI usage.
Commissions don’t decide the ranking, and we’ve said plainly where our top pick is weaker. Provide Support is first because it’s the most predictable choice for a small business: every feature on every plan, unlimited chats and sites, and a bill that only grows when you add a person. If $0 is the budget, tawk.to is the better pick. If you want an AI agent answering most chats, look at Tidio or Intercom. We say so above.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best free live chat software?
tawk.to. It's free for unlimited agents and chats; you pay only for optional extras like removing its branding ($29/mo). Crisp (2 agents) and Tidio (50 conversations a month) also have free plans with tighter limits.
How much does live chat cost for a small business?
For three agents: Provide Support is $53 a month, or $310 a year; Crisp Mini is $45 a month for 4 seats; LiveChat Starter is $75 a month, or $57 billed yearly. Zendesk Suite Team and Intercom Essential cost $165 and $87 a month billed yearly, before add-ons and AI fees.
Per seat or per conversation: which is cheaper?
Per seat is more predictable: your bill only changes when you add people. Per-conversation pricing (Tidio) and per-AI-outcome pricing (Intercom's $0.99 per Fin outcome) can be cheaper at low volume but grow as you get busier.
Does Provide Support have a free plan?
No. It has a 10-day free trial with all features and unlimited seats, no card needed, plus a 30-day money-back promise after your first payment.
Do I need an AI chatbot?
Not necessarily. AI agents help most when you get many repeat questions. For a small site with modest traffic, a human-answered chat with saved replies is often enough and costs less.
Will live chat slow down my website?
Any chat widget adds a script to your pages. Load it after the page content, keep only one chat tool installed, and check your Core Web Vitals (especially INP) after adding it.