tawk.to alternatives: is tawk.to free, and which free or paid tools beat it?

tawk.to is the default free live chat for millions of small websites, and for good reason. This guide is for owners who are using it, or about to, and wonder whether another free tool gives more, or whether it is time to pay for something that answers when nobody is online.

By Ritchie, ReplyKit · Published 17 October 2026 · 7 min read

Is tawk.to really free?

Yes. tawk.to's live chat software is free forever, with no time limit and no stated cap on agents or chats. It earns money from optional add-ons and services, not from the chat itself.

What tawk.to's pricing page listed in October 2026:

Its features page also shows WhatsApp and email feeding one shared inbox. For a website where someone is around to reply, it is very hard to beat on price. Our ReplyKit vs tawk.to page compares it directly with an AI agent.

Why look past tawk.to if it costs nothing?

Because free live chat only works while a person is watching. The common reasons we hear:

• Nobody is online after hours. Visitors who arrive in the evening see an offline form. Many leave rather than fill it in. Our guide to after-hours customer service covers the alternatives.
• The branding. Removing it costs $29 a month, which is $348 a year for something you thought was free.
• AI is an add-on. Answering automatically from your content is a separate paid product beyond the free low-volume tier.
• Customers are on WhatsApp, not your website. For many service businesses, most enquiries never touch the site.

Free tawk.to alternatives: what each free plan really allows

Every vendor below has a free plan, but the limits vary widely. Checked on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.

The honest takeaway: for a free plan with many agents and no chat cap, tawk.to is still the most generous. The alternatives win on other things, such as AI, a cleaner inbox or a CRM, usually once you pay. Our roundup of free AI chatbots for websites covers the AI side in more depth.

Eight tawk.to alternatives in detail

Paid prices from each vendor's page, October 2026. We make ReplyKit, so weigh our view accordingly.

Zoho SalesIQ

Best for: businesses on Zoho, or anyone who wants visitor tracking. Basic is $10 per operator a month ($7 billed yearly) and adds WhatsApp and Zia AI agents. Pros: low paid price, strong visitor insight. Cons: Zoho's settings take time to learn.

Chatwoot

Best for: anyone who wants to own the software. Free cloud plan for two agents, or self-host the MIT-licensed core. Startups is $19 per agent with all channels and 300 Captain AI credits a month. Pros: open source, all channels on paid plans. Cons: self-hosting needs technical skills.

Tidio

Best for: online stores. Starter is $24.17 a month billed yearly for 100 conversations; Lyro AI from $32.50 for 50 AI conversations. Pros: polished, Shopify-friendly. Cons: AI priced per conversation. See Tidio alternatives.

Crisp

Best for: small teams that want a shared inbox at one flat price. Mini is $45 a month for four seats with a small AI credit; Essentials is $95 for ten seats with the AI chatbot. Our Crisp alternatives page covers its pricing in detail.

HubSpot

Best for: businesses that want chat tied to a free CRM. Free for two users with HubSpot branding; paid Service Hub seats from $20 a month. Pros: CRM included. Cons: AI agent needs the Professional tier.

Smartsupp

Best for: European online shops. Solo is $17 a month billed yearly for one operator with unlimited conversations; Plus is $25 for three operators. Live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and email in one place. The Mira AI agent is $16 a month billed yearly for 100 AI conversations.

JivoChat

Best for: teams that want many messaging apps in one place. Paid plans start at $28 per agent a month billed yearly; WhatsApp needs Professional ($42) and a $27 a month WhatsApp add-on; the AI Agent is $69 per agent a month. Pros: broad channel list. Cons: per-agent pricing adds up.

ReplyKit

Best for: service businesses that want an AI to answer and book on WhatsApp and the website. No free plan, but a 7-day trial with no card. $29, $49 or $99 a month with AI replies included. Details below.

The $29 question: pay tawk.to for add-ons or switch?

Many owners hit the same decision point: tawk.to is free, but the two things they want next, no branding and AI answers, are $29 a month each. Here is a simple way to decide.

1. If you only mind the branding: paying tawk.to $29 is the simplest fix; switching tools to save $29 rarely pays back your setup time.
2. If you want AI answers on your website only: compare tawk.to AI Assist from $29 with Smartsupp's Mira AI at $16 for 100 conversations and Tidio Lyro from $32.50 for 50. Test each on your real questions during a trial.
3. If most enquiries arrive on WhatsApp: a website chat tool, free or not, answers the smaller channel. Put the AI where the messages are.
4. If you want both add-ons: that is $58 a month on tawk.to. At that point compare with tools that include AI in one price.

For a fuller view of human chat versus AI on a website, see live chat versus an AI chat widget.

Where ReplyKit fits for tawk.to users

ReplyKit is worth testing if the reason you are leaving tawk.to is that nobody answers out of hours, or your customers prefer WhatsApp. One line of code adds a website assistant with its own instructions and knowledge, and the same AI answers WhatsApp. It answers from your website, PDFs and price lists, captures leads with name, need, budget and timing, and books real slots with a reminder about 24 hours before. When a chat needs you, you are notified and can take over in one click. See the three plans.

WhatsApp connects with Quick Connect, a QR pairing that links your number as a device in about two minutes. It is unofficial, not the WhatsApp Business API, and a number can be restricted. You see one plain notice, and pressing Connect accepts section 3 of our Terms. Replies are capped per number (30 an hour and 200 a day by default), and we recommend a dedicated number.

Stay on tawk.to if you are happy for people to answer and you want no monthly bill; nothing here beats free for that. Choose Chatwoot or JivoChat if you need email, Instagram or Telegram in one inbox, which ReplyKit does not do. If you want after-hours answers and bookings, start a free 7-day trial.

Frequently asked questions

ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp, or by tawk.to or any other 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.