Best LiveChat Alternatives in 2026: 9 Compared With Real Prices

We checked every price on the vendors' own pricing pages and help centers on October 15, 2026, from a US location, billed yearly unless we say otherwise, before tax. LiveChat's rules come from its pricing pages, its help center and its parent company's investor reports. CRMsoftware.pro is our own product, so we list its limits too. No made-up scores or tests: each tool gets its real price, its pros and cons, and who it suits. This guide is about LiveChat (livechat.com), the customer service software, not random chat sites.

What LiveChat costs in 2026

Open LiveChat's pricing page today and you see Text plans. LiveChat's FAQ says pricing "for new trials now lives here, as Text plans" and calls Text "the next product from the team behind LiveChat": live chat plus a shared inbox, ticketing and an AI agent in one subscription. The company behind both renamed itself from LiveChat Software to Text S.A. in September 2023.

• AI resolutions. Text counts one resolution when "the AI directly solved a customer question"; several questions in one chat count once. Extra resolutions cost $49.50 per 50, or $0.99 each. Text's own pages disagree on what happens when they run out: one help-center line says the AI agent stops taking new chats until you add capacity, while its pricing FAQ and migration page say a 50-resolution pack ($49.50) is added automatically, so check your billing settings.
• Channels. Website chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and email arrive in the same inbox on every plan.
• Branding. A white-label widget is listed only on Enterprise.
• Trial. 14 days without a card. There is no free plan.

LiveChat's plans for existing customers

LiveChat's FAQ says existing customers keep their plan, price and login, but the company has since moved most Starter customers to Text (see below). The original plans now sit on a separate pricing page:

These plans include AI help for agents, such as reply suggestions from Team and chat summaries from Business, but not the AI agent that answers customers: LiveChat's own pages say that needs Text. Several pages that rank for this search still quote LiveChat's old prices ($20 for Starter, or $20, $41 and $59) and a separate $52 ChatBot subscription. ChatBot.com's pricing page now shows Text plans as well.

Is LiveChat being replaced by Text?

For new customers, yes in practice. For existing ones, LiveChat's pricing FAQ says "Nothing changes for existing LiveChat customers". Text S.A.'s reports to investors add more:

• In April 2026, it moved all LiveChat customers on monthly contracts from older, grandfathered prices to the current price list (earnings call, July 3, 2026).
• In September 2026, it "moved virtually all Starter-plan customers from LiveChat to Text" and said the migration "is now accelerating significantly" (earnings call, October 5, 2026).
• A move to Text is agreed with a Product Expert. Your chat history, canned responses, agent accounts, settings and groups come across, and the Text subscription replaces your LiveChat, ChatBot and HelpDesk billing.

If you use LiveChat today, expect to be asked to move to Text at some point. That is a good moment to compare prices.

Why teams look for a LiveChat alternative

• Per-user prices add up. Five people on Text Growth cost $395 a month billed yearly, or $495 billed monthly.
• AI is metered. Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month and Growth 200; after that, every 50 cost $49.50.
• The cheapest plans are limited. Text Essential and LiveChat Starter keep 60 days of chat history, Essential tracks 50 live visitors at a time, and Starter allows 1 user.
• Branding stays on every plan below Enterprise.
• A product change on the vendor's timetable. Text S.A. says it moved virtually all LiveChat Starter customers to Text in September 2026 and that migrations are accelerating.
• No free plan, only a 14-day trial.

LiveChat alternatives at a glance

What a 5-agent team pays

One realistic setup: 5 agents handle 1,000 website chats a month. An AI agent takes 500 of them, fully resolves 300 and hands 200 to a person. Billed yearly, on the cheapest plan that covers it, with branding removed where the priced plan or a published add-on allows it (Crisp is shown on Essentials with its branding; removing it needs Plus at $295):

Two things change the order. Fees per resolution or per AI conversation grow with volume, while flat plans have caps: CRMsoftware.pro Growth covers about 1,000 AI conversations a month at 3 messages each, and tawk.to's AI Assist Growth covers 1,000 AI messages. Try your own numbers in our AI chat plan calculator and see how many people your chat volume needs with the live chat staffing calculator.

The 9 best LiveChat alternatives

1. CRMsoftware.pro: best for AI chat plus a CRM at one team price

CRMsoftware.pro is our product, so judge this section with that in mind. Like Text, it pairs website chat with an AI agent that hands chats to your team. Unlike Text, one price covers the whole team, and it adds a CRM: each conversation becomes a contact and a deal, with bookings and AI voice in the same product. The AI answers on your website, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Messenger and Slack, with an email inbox in beta.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free for 3 users and 100 AI messages a month on website chat (AI only: no human handover or unified inbox). Launch $19/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) for 8 users, 1,000 AI messages, 2 websites, chat channels, human handover, a unified inbox and no CRMsoftware.pro branding. Growth $49 ($59) for 20 users, 3,000 AI messages, 5 websites, a team inbox with saved replies and auto-translation. Scale $99 ($119) for 50 users and 10,000 AI messages. Each AI reply to a customer counts as one message; replies from your team don't count.

Pros: one flat price for the whole team; AI messages included, with no per-resolution fees; branding removal from $19; CRM pipeline, bookings and AI voice built in.

Cons: our pages list no live visitor list, proactive chat campaigns, live Shopify catalog sync (Scale imports product feeds) or LiveChat importer; the email inbox is still in beta; a fixed number of AI messages per plan.

Best for: small sales and support teams that want AI to answer chats and their pipeline in the same place.

2. Tidio: best for online stores

Tidio combines live chat, Flows automation and its Lyro AI agent with strong Shopify and WordPress integrations. It prices by conversation volume rather than by seat.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free for 50 billable conversations a month, plus 50 Lyro conversations once. Starter $24.17 a month billed yearly ($29 monthly) for 100 billable conversations; Growth from $49.17 ($59) for 250 up to 2,000; Plus from $300 a month plus usage. A conversation is billable when someone from your team replies; replies from Lyro and Flows don't count. Lyro costs from $32.50 ($39) for 50 AI conversations, and 500 a month cost $291.67 billed yearly. On Growth, removing Tidio branding is a $16.67 add-on ($20 monthly); Starter can't remove it, and Plus includes it. Starter and Growth include 10 seats. 7-day trial.

Pros: no seat fees up to 10 seats; strong e-commerce features; a free plan.

Cons: two meters (conversations with your team and Lyro conversations) make bills harder to predict; branding removal needs Growth plus an add-on; AI gets expensive at volume.

Best for: Shopify and WooCommerce stores. See our Tidio alternatives.

3. Crisp: best flat price per workspace

Crisp charges per workspace, not per agent, and bundles live chat, a shared inbox, a knowledge base and its Hugo AI agent.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free for 2 seats. Mini $45 a month per workspace for 4 seats; Essentials $95 for 10 seats with an omnichannel inbox; Plus $295 for 20 seats, with more at $10 each. AI credits are included: $5, $25 and $75 a month. Crisp says a full AI-handled conversation costs about $0.05 to $0.10, and the AI stops when credits run out unless you turn on pay as you go. Removing the "We run on Crisp" badge needs Plus. Yearly billing can be turned on in the app, with no published discount. 14-day trial.

Pros: a flat price for up to 10 seats on Essentials; low AI costs; a free plan.

Cons: white-labelling only on the $295 plan; AI credits can run out mid-month; no published yearly discount.

Best for: small teams that want a predictable bill. See our Crisp alternatives.

4. tawk.to: best free live chat

tawk.to gives away live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base, and charges only for add-ons.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free, with no limit on agents. AI Assist is free for 100 AI messages a month; Growth costs $29 a month ($290 a year) for 1,000 AI messages with handoff to your team, and Business $99 ($990) for 5,000; extra messages cost $30 per 1,000. Whitelabel, which removes the "Powered by tawk.to" badge, costs $29 a month per property on the add-ons page (the help center lists $39 monthly or $348 a year). Hired chat agents start at $1 an hour.

Pros: free for any number of agents; cheap AI; affordable white-labelling.

Cons: AI is billed per AI message, so long chats use more; the free AI tier has no handoff to people; branding stays without the add-on.

Best for: small teams that want human-led chat without seat fees. See our tawk.to alternatives.

5. Zoho SalesIQ: best low price per operator

SalesIQ is Zoho's live chat and visitor tracking tool, built for sales teams and connected to Zoho CRM.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free for 3 operators and 100 operator chats a month, with 30 days of chat history. Basic US$7 per operator a month billed yearly ($10 monthly) with 1,000 operator chats; Professional $12.75 ($17) with unlimited operator chats; Enterprise $20 ($25) adds the Answer Bot, which answers from your content with Zoho's built-in AI. Zia Agents, AI agents that pick up chats as digital operators, come with every paid plan: 1 on Basic, 3 on Professional, 10 on Enterprise. Extra 5,000 bot sessions cost $8 a month. 15-day trial.

Pros: one of the lowest prices per operator here ($7, the same as HubSpot Starter's discounted seat); AI agents from the cheapest paid plan; visitor tracking for sales; a free plan.

Cons: the built-in Answer Bot is Enterprise only; many add-ons; works best inside the Zoho suite.

Best for: sales teams already on Zoho.

6. Intercom: best AI-first support

Intercom is built around Fin, its AI agent, with live chat, a shared inbox and a help center in every plan.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Essential $19 or $29 per seat a month billed yearly ($29 or $39 monthly): Intercom showed US visitors both prices that day, so check yours. Advanced $85 ($99), Expert $132 ($139). Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, charged once per conversation: when the customer confirms the answer, doesn't ask for more help, or Fin completes a workflow, including a handoff. 14-day trial.

Pros: Fin is built into every plan and billed only per outcome; live chat, shared inbox and help center in every plan.

Cons: seat plus outcome pricing grows fast; handoffs can count as outcomes; prices differ between visitors.

Best for: SaaS and tech teams that want AI to resolve most chats. See our Intercom alternatives.

7. Zendesk: best for enterprise omnichannel support

Zendesk is a full help desk: ticketing, routing, reporting and AI agents across chat, email, phone and social.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Live chat starts on Suite Team at $55 per agent a month billed yearly ($69 monthly); Support Team at $19 has email ticketing but no chat. Suite Professional costs $115 ($149). AI agents include 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Suite Team and 10 on Suite Professional; more cost $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay as you go. Zendesk's help center also describes a newer dollar-based allowance, so confirm which model your quote uses. 14-day trial.

Pros: deep ticketing, routing and reporting; mature AI agents and app marketplace.

Cons: the highest monthly bill in our 5-agent example once AI resolutions add up; chat needs a Suite plan.

Best for: larger support teams with complex routing. See our Zendesk alternatives.

8. LiveAgent: best for chat, tickets and phone on a budget

LiveAgent is a help desk with live chat, ticketing, a call center and social channels in one place.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Small business $15 per agent a month billed yearly ($19 monthly) with live chat and ticketing; Medium $29 ($35) adds a call center with IVR and proactive chat invitations; Large $49 ($59) adds social and messaging channels such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; Enterprise $69 ($85). "Branding Free" costs $19 a month on Medium and Large and is included in Enterprise. The AI chatbot needs a FlowHunt subscription (Starter €46 a month, billed €550 a year, up to 5,000 messages). 30-day trial without a card.

Pros: chat, tickets and phone in one help desk; low prices per agent; a long trial.

Cons: the AI chatbot is billed separately, in euros; branding removal costs extra; prices are per agent.

Best for: support teams that answer phone and chat together.

9. HubSpot Service Hub: best chat on a CRM

HubSpot's live chat sits on its CRM, so every chat lands on a contact record next to deals and emails.

Price (Oct 15, 2026): Free for up to 2 users, with HubSpot branding on the chat. Starter $7 per seat a month billed yearly ($10 monthly), shown as a discount from $20, removes the branding and includes 500 credits, but not Customer Agent. Professional costs $90 per seat ($100 paid monthly on an annual commitment) plus a required one-time $1,500 onboarding fee, with 3,000 credits a month; Customer Agent, the AI agent, uses 50 credits ($0.50) per resolved conversation.

Pros: chat, tickets and CRM in one; a free plan; you pay only for resolved AI conversations.

Cons: the AI agent needs Professional; an onboarding fee; prices rise with seats and hubs.

Best for: teams that already sell with HubSpot. See our HubSpot alternatives.

Also considered

• Olark: live chat at $29 per agent a month; its AI agent costs $400 a month billed yearly, with unlimited conversations and 1 seat for a person, plus $29 for each extra seat. See Olark vs Intercom.
• Smartsupp: free for 1 operator and 25 conversations a month; Plus costs $25 a month billed yearly ($35 monthly) for 3 operators; Mira AI costs $16 per 100 AI conversations. Its branding cannot be removed on any plan.
• Chatwoot: open source and free to self-host, or cloud from $19 per agent a month with 300 AI credits. The free cloud plan covers 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, without AI.
• Freshdesk Omni (Freshchat): $29 per agent a month billed yearly ($35 monthly); 500 AI sessions once, then $49 per 100. See Freshchat alternatives.
• Help Scout: $25 per user a month billed yearly ($30 monthly), with live chat through its Beacon widget; AI Answers cost $0.75 per resolution. The free plan has no live chat. See Help Scout alternatives.

Free LiveChat alternatives

LiveChat and Text have no free plan. These do:

When to stay on LiveChat (or move to Text)

• You rely on its sales tools: visitor tracking, proactive campaigns and, in Text, a live Shopify catalog.
• Your team mostly chats as people, not AI. If you're already on LiveChat Team ($49 per person billed yearly), you keep unlimited history with no AI fees; new sign-ups get Text instead.
• You want AI without losing history. A move to Text keeps your chat history, canned responses, agents, settings and groups.
• You paid for a year upfront. LiveChat does not refund previous payments, so switch near your renewal date.

How to choose

1. Count chats, not seats. How many chats a month, how many AI could fully resolve, and how many need a person.
2. Check how AI is billed: per resolution (Text, Intercom, Zendesk, HubSpot, Help Scout), per AI conversation (Tidio, Smartsupp), per AI message (tawk.to, Chatwoot), or included in the plan (CRMsoftware.pro, Crisp credits).
3. Price the plan without branding if your site needs a clean widget.
4. Check chat history limits: 60 days on Text Essential and LiveChat Starter, 30 days on SalesIQ's free plan.
5. Test with real questions during a trial, including a handover to a person. Our human handover playbook and live chat canned responses help you set this up.

How to switch from LiveChat and keep your chat history

1. Export your chats first. In Archives, you can email a transcript one chat at a time. For all chats, use the LiveChat API (the Agent Chat API's list_archives method returns archived chats in bulk) or a Marketplace app such as Chats Exporter (JSON or CSV, $7 per agent a month).
2. Download reports. Team and higher plans can export each report as a CSV file; Business and Enterprise can also export raw data; each Chats export holds the latest 100,000 records, so export larger archives in parts by date range.
3. Mind the 60-day window. Starter and Text Essential show 60 days of chat history, so export before you downgrade or cancel.
4. Move your canned responses, tags and routing rules into the new tool and write a new greeting.
5. Run both widgets on a test page, then swap the code on your site.
6. Cancel at renewal. Your plan runs to the end of the period you paid for, and previous payments are not refunded.

FAQ

Sources

• LiveChat and Text: pricing and FAQ (Text plans), legacy LiveChat pricing, ChatBot.com pricing, moving from LiveChat to Text and Text subscription help, checked Oct 15, 2026.
• LiveChat help center: chat transcripts, reports and exports, subscription policy; Agent Chat API: list archives; Chats Exporter app.
• Text S.A. investor relations: name change to Text S.A. (September 2023), earnings call transcript, July 3, 2026, earnings call transcript, October 5, 2026.
• Pricing pages checked Oct 15, 2026: Tidio, Crisp (and its AI billing guide), tawk.to add-ons (and add-on pricing help), Zoho SalesIQ, Intercom, Zendesk, LiveAgent (and AI credits), HubSpot Service Hub, Olark, Smartsupp, Chatwoot, Freshdesk Omni, Help Scout, CRMsoftware.pro.