LiveChat alternatives
Customer Support · www.livechat.com
LiveChat is a customer service platform offering a website chat widget, multichannel messaging, AI assistance, reporting and agent management for support and sales teams.
Switching to Tidio, which covers 56% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top LiveChat alternatives
We compared 17 products and found 11 cheaper options (5 of them cover at least half the compared features) · vs LiveChat Essential at $25/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
LiveChat costs $25/mo on the Essential plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 11 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 1 of them covers at least 75% of the 9 compared capabilities.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: Canned responses / macros, Routing & assignment helpdesk — adjacent | 78% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $288 / year 96% cheaper | |
TOP PICK Smartsupp Solo plan · missing: AI agents, Knowledge base / help center, Ticketing, Support automations | 56% | $17/mo how? ⓘ | $96 / year 32% cheaper | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Routing & assignment, Support automations | 67% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Live chat & messaging, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys | 67% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Live chat & messaging, AI copilot, AI agents, Knowledge base / help center, Support automations | 44% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, Canned responses / macros, Routing & assignment, CSAT surveys | 56% | $24.17/mo how? ⓘ | $10.00 / year 3% cheaper |
Which LiveChat alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Tidio — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 56%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $19/mo (Startups plan) · covers 67%
- Best paid drop-in
- Chatwoot — $19/mo (Startups plan) · covers 67%
- Need live chat & messaging, AI copilot, AI agents, ticketing or support automations?
- Tidio — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need knowledge base / help center or canned responses / macros?
- Help Scout — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need routing & assignment?
- Smartsupp — from $17/mo (Solo plan)
- Need CSAT surveys?
- Helply — from $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan)
What you give up
Capabilities LiveChat has that the top alternatives lack.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from Help Scout, tawk.to.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Help Scout, tawk.to.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Help Scout, tawk.to.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat.
- Ticketing — Track customer requests as tickets through resolution.Missing from JivoChat.
- Canned responses / macros — Reuse saved reply templates for common questions.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- Routing & assignment — Automatically route tickets to the right agent or team.Missing from Tidio, Help Scout, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from Help Scout, JivoChat.
- CSAT surveys — Survey customers on satisfaction after a support interaction.Missing from Tidio, Help Scout, JivoChat, tawk.to.
Feature comparison
LiveChat vs the top alternatives, on the 9 compared capabilities.
| Capability | LiveChat | Tidio | Help Scout | JivoChat | tawk.to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live chat & messaging from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI copilot from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI agents from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Knowledge base / help center | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ticketing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Canned responses / macros from Essential | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Routing & assignment from Essential | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Support automations from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| CSAT surveys from Essential | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $25/mo Essential | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What LiveChat covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Live chat & messaging — from Essential
- ✓ AI copilot — from Essential
- ✓ AI agents — from Essential
- ✓ Knowledge base / help center
- ✓ Ticketing
- ✓ Canned responses / macros — from Essential
- ✓ Routing & assignment — from Essential
- ✓ Support automations — from Essential
- ✓ CSAT surveys — from Essential
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.livechat.com/pricing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-28)
Frequently asked
How much does LiveChat cost?
LiveChat's Essential plan costs $25/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing).
Is there a free LiveChat alternative?
Yes. Tidio has a free plan that covers 56% of the 9 capabilities we compared against LiveChat.
What is the cheapest LiveChat alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Tidio is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest LiveChat alternative with Routing & assignment?
Smartsupp covers Routing & assignment and costs $17/mo (Solo plan) in our scenario.
Does LiveChat have a free plan?
No. LiveChat has no free plan on its official pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-10-26 and 2026-10-29, on the vendors' official pricing pages.