Tidio
Customer Support · www.tidio.com
Tidio is a customer service platform combining live chat, ticketing, the Lyro AI agent, and no-code Flows automation across channels.
Switching to Crisp saves $290 / year and covers 91% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Tidio alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 7 cheaper alternatives · vs Tidio Starter at $24.17/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Tidio’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
Tidio costs $24.17/mo on the Starter plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 7 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 2 of them cover at least 75% of the 11 compared capabilities. Tidio's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, SAML single sign-on, Mobile CRM app helpdesk — adjacent | 55% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $278 / year 96% cheaper | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, SAML single sign-on, Mobile CRM app | 45% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $62.00 / year 21% cheaper | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Live chat & messaging, AI agents, AI copilot, Routing & assignment, Support automations, Mobile CRM app | 36% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $62.00 / year 21% cheaper | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, AI agents, AI copilot, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Support automations, SAML single sign-on, Mobile CRM app | 18% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $62.00 / year 21% cheaper |
Which Tidio alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Crisp — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 91%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 36%
- Best paid drop-in
- Freshdesk — $19/mo (Growth plan) · covers 45%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, AI agents, AI copilot, canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, routing & assignment, support automations or mobile CRM app?
- Crisp — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need SAML single sign-on?
- Chatwoot — from $0/mo (Hacker plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Tidio has that the top alternatives lack.
- Ticketing — Track customer requests as tickets through resolution.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from Chatwoot.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Chatwoot.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Canned responses / macros — Reuse saved reply templates for common questions.Missing from Zoho Desk.
- Routing & assignment — Automatically route tickets to the right agent or team.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from Chatwoot.
- SAML single sign-on — Sign in through your company's SAML single sign-on.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk.
- Mobile CRM app — Access the CRM from a mobile app.Missing from Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
Feature comparison
Tidio vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Tidio | Crisp | Help Scout | Zoho Desk | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticketing from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel inbox from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat & messaging from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI agents from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI copilot | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Canned responses / macros from Growth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| CSAT surveys | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Routing & assignment from Growth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Support automations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| SAML single sign-on from Premium | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mobile CRM app | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $24.17/mo Starter | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Hacker |
✓ 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 Tidio covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Ticketing — from Free
- ✓ Omnichannel inbox — from Free
- ✓ Live chat & messaging — from Free
- ✓ AI agents — from Free
- ✓ AI copilot
- ✓ Canned responses / macros — from Growth
- ✓ CSAT surveys
- ✓ Routing & assignment — from Growth
- ✓ Support automations
- ✓ SAML single sign-on — from Premium
- ✓ Mobile CRM app
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.tidio.com/pricing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-09-07)
Frequently asked
How much does Tidio cost?
Tidio's Starter plan costs $24.17/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Tidio alternative?
Yes. Crisp has a free plan that covers 91% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Tidio.
What is the cheapest Tidio alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Crisp is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Tidio alternative with SAML single sign-on?
Chatwoot covers SAML single sign-on and costs $0/mo (Hacker plan) in our scenario.
Does Tidio have a free plan?
Yes. Tidio's free plan is limited to 10 seats.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.