The best live chat software for small business in 2026: prices checked, live chat vs AI chat, and which to pick
Live chat puts a chat bubble on your website so visitors can ask a question before they leave. This guide is for small businesses picking one: six tools with prices from their own pages, what each is genuinely good at, two worked monthly bills, and the question that decides most of these purchases, which is who answers when nobody is online.
Quick answer
The best live chat software for a small business depends on budget and staffing: tawk.to is free, Crisp has a free plan and flat team pricing, Tidio and LiveChat start around $19 to $25 a month, and Intercom suits chat-first teams wanting a strong AI agent. If nobody can answer chats promptly, choose a tool with AI that replies for you.
Live chat or AI chat: what are you actually buying?
Live chat software lets a person on your team reply to website visitors in real time. AI chat software answers visitors automatically from your content, and passes the conversation to a person when needed. Most products now do some of both, but each is built around one of them, and that shapes the price and the work.
Live chat first
A person replies. Strong at sales conversations and complex questions. Needs someone watching the chat during the hours you show as online; outside them it becomes a contact form.
AI chat first
The software replies instantly from your website, documents and FAQs, at any hour. Strong at routine questions. Needs good content and a clean way to reach a person.
Our full comparison is in live chat vs an AI chat widget. This page assumes you want a chat tool on your site and helps you pick one.
The shortlist, with prices checked October 2026
All prices are from each vendor's own pricing page on 17 October 2026. "Billed annually" means the monthly equivalent when you pay for a year.
| Tool | Free option | Paid from | Priced by | AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | Free forever, with "Powered by tawk.to" branding | $29 a month to remove branding | Add-ons | AI Assist from $29 a month; hired human agents from $1 an hour |
| Crisp | Free plan | $45 a month per workspace (Mini, 4 seats) | Workspace | AI credits included on paid plans ($5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials) |
| Tidio | 7-day trial | $24.17 a month billed annually (Starter, 100 billable conversations) | Conversations | Lyro AI Agent from $32.50 a month for 50 Lyro conversations |
| LiveChat | Trial | $19 per user a month billed annually (Essential); Growth $79 | User | Essential includes 1 AI agent with 10 AI resolutions |
| Intercom | 14-day trial | $19 per seat a month billed annually (Essential) | Seat plus AI outcomes | Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome |
| Chatwoot | Free cloud plan for 2 agents and 500 conversations; open source to self-host | $19 per agent a month (Startups) | Agent | AI credits included from Startups |
Short reviews: who each live chat tool suits
tawk.to: best free live chat
Free forever if you keep the branding, which is rare among full live chat products. Good for a business that wants a human-answered chat at no cost. Watch out: AI and branding removal are paid add-ons, and the free plan does nothing for you while you are offline beyond collecting messages. See tawk.to alternatives if it is not quite right.
Crisp: best flat price for a small team
Pricing is per workspace, not per person, so four people on Mini cost the same as one. Good for small teams that want chat plus a shared email inbox. Watch out: the omnichannel inbox for WhatsApp, Instagram and others is on Essentials at $95.
Tidio: best for small online shops
Easy setup, strong e-commerce features and a well-known AI agent, Lyro. Good for shops that want chat, flows and AI in one product. Watch out: pricing is by billable conversations, so check how many your traffic will generate; our Tidio pricing page explains the tiers.
LiveChat: best for sales-focused chat teams
A mature, polished agent app with good reporting and many integrations. Good for teams whose chat is a sales channel. Watch out: per-user pricing climbs quickly on the Growth plan, and AI resolutions on Essential are limited.
Intercom: best chat-first help desk with AI
Helpdesk, messenger and the Fin AI agent in one system, built for scale. Good for software and online businesses with real support volume. Watch out: $0.99 per outcome becomes the biggest line on the bill as AI handles more; see Intercom Fin pricing.
Chatwoot: best open-source option
Open source under the MIT license, with a free cloud tier and paid plans that add channels and AI. Good for teams with technical help that want control of their data. Watch out: self-hosting means maintaining a server.
Two monthly bills, worked out
Both businesses are hypothetical. Prices are the entry plans above; check each vendor's definitions of conversations and outcomes before relying on these.
| Tool | Solo owner, 150 chats a month, wants AI to answer | Three-person team, 600 chats a month, humans reply |
|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | $29 (AI Assist from) | $0, or $29 without branding |
| Crisp | $45 (Mini, AI credits included) | $45 (Mini covers 4 seats) |
| Tidio | From $49.17 (Growth, since Starter covers 100 billable conversations), plus Lyro if needed | From $49.17, rising with conversations |
| LiveChat | $19 (Essential; 10 AI resolutions only) | $57 (3 users on Essential) |
| Intercom | $19 plus 60 AI outcomes × $0.99 = about $78 | $57 plus any Fin outcomes |
| Chatwoot | $19 (Startups) | $57 (3 agents on Startups) |
The free and flat-priced tools win for human-answered chat. Once you want AI to do real work, the price depends on how each vendor meters it, and that is where the bills spread out.
Who answers when nobody is online?
This is the question that decides most live chat purchases, and it is rarely on the pricing page. A chat bubble that says "We are online" and then takes 20 minutes to answer is worse than no chat, and outside your hours most live chat tools fall back to a form.
You have three ways to cover it:
- Staff it. Someone owns the chat during the hours you show as online. Realistic for a team with a dedicated support person.
- Outsource it. tawk.to advertises hired agents from $1 an hour; answering services such as Ruby sell chat plans from $143 a month for 10 chats.
- Let AI answer first. An AI agent replies instantly from your content and hands harder chats to a person, who picks them up when available. This is what most small businesses without a support team should do.
The same logic applies to every customer channel at night, which is why we wrote a separate guide to after-hours customer service.
How to choose live chat software in five questions
- Will a person reliably answer within a few minutes during open hours? If not, prioritize AI.
- How many people will reply? One person favors per-user pricing; four favor per-workspace pricing.
- How many chats a month? Conversation-based and outcome-based pricing grow with volume.
- Where else do customers message you? If most of them use WhatsApp, a website-only chat solves half the problem.
- What do you need it to connect to? Your shop platform, CRM or help desk may narrow the list quickly.
Where ReplyKit fits among live chat tools
We make ReplyKit, so weigh our view accordingly. ReplyKit is AI chat first, not a live chat suite. One line of code adds a website assistant with its own instructions and knowledge, and the same product answers your WhatsApp number. Both feed one shared inbox, where you can take over any chat in one click and hand it back when you are done.
It does not have the things live chat suites are built around: no visitor tracking, no co-browsing, no ticketing, no Shopify app, no Instagram or Messenger. If you want people answering chats in real time with a full agent app, choose one of the tools above. If most of your enquiries come by WhatsApp and you want the website and WhatsApp answered by the same AI, ReplyKit covers both. WhatsApp connects by Quick Connect, a QR-code linked-device pairing that is unofficial and not sanctioned by Meta; use a dedicated number.
Plans are $29, $49 and $99 a month with AI replies included, and every plan includes at least one website assistant. Start the 7-day free trial, no credit card needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free live chat software?
tawk.to is the best-known fully free option, free forever as long as you keep its branding. Crisp and Chatwoot also have free plans with limits on features or agents.
What is the difference between live chat and an AI chatbot?
With live chat, a person on your team replies to visitors in real time. An AI chatbot or agent replies automatically from your content and hands conversations to a person when needed; many tools now combine both.
How much does live chat software cost for a small business?
From free to about $25 a month for entry plans: tawk.to is free, Tidio starts at $24.17 a month billed annually, and LiveChat and Intercom start at $19 per user or seat billed annually. AI is often charged separately or metered by conversation or outcome.
Is live chat worth it for a small business?
It is worth it if someone can answer within a few minutes during the hours you show as online, or if AI answers for you when they cannot. A chat bubble that goes unanswered is worse than a clear contact form.
Can live chat software answer WhatsApp messages too?
Some can through an omnichannel inbox, usually on higher plans and via Meta's official WhatsApp platform with its own message fees. Website-only live chat tools do not answer WhatsApp.
Is ReplyKit live chat software?
Not in the traditional sense. ReplyKit is an AI agent for your website and WhatsApp with one-click human takeover in a shared inbox, but it has no visitor tracking, co-browsing or ticketing.
Answer your website and WhatsApp with one AI
ReplyKit replies from your own content, books appointments and hands the tricky chats to you. 7-day free trial, no credit card.
Sources and further reading
- tawk.to, Pricing · free plan, $29 branding removal, AI Assist from $29 and hired agents from $1 an hour (checked October 2026)
- Crisp, Pricing · free plan and per-workspace Mini and Essentials plans (checked October 2026)
- Tidio, Pricing · Starter, Growth and Plus prices and Lyro AI Agent pricing (checked October 2026)
- LiveChat, Pricing · Essential and Growth per-user prices billed annually (checked October 2026)
- Intercom, Pricing · Essential per-seat price and Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome (checked October 2026)
- Chatwoot, Pricing · free cloud plan and per-agent paid plans (checked October 2026)
- Ruby, Pricing · outsourced live chat plans from $143 a month for 10 chats (checked October 2026)
ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp, or with any chat vendor named here. Prices for other vendors are taken from their public pricing pages as checked in October 2026 and may change. This article is general guidance, not financial advice.