LiveChat vs Crisp

LiveChat and Crisp side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.

At a glance

Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.

Key differences

Crisp lists a free tier and LiveChat does not.

LiveChat has the lower starting price ($19/mo against $45/mo for Crisp). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.

Both are in our Customer Support & Chatbots category.

About each tool

L

LiveChat

Live chat and messaging tool, sold under the Text brand, with an AI Agent and reply suggestions. Essential is $19 per user a month billed annually ($25 monthly).

Who it is for

The vendor aims it at support and sales teams that want chat on their site, from small teams on Essential to larger teams on Growth or Enterprise. Enterprise is positioned for larger teams, custom AI Agents and custom usage limits.

Strengths

• The pricing page lists a 14-day free trial of the full plan with no credit card required on Essential and Growth; Enterprise starts with a sales call.
• The AI page says the AI Agent answers from websites (up to 5,000 pages per site, rescanned on a schedule you set), uploaded files up to 50 MB each (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT, CSV, MD) and articles written in Text.
• The AI page says visitors can ask for a person and the AI transfers the chat to your team, or creates a ticket if no teammate is free within 30 seconds.
• The pricing page lists channels on all plans: website widget, in-app, Messenger, SMS through Twilio and a live Shopify catalog, plus WhatsApp and integrations for Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace and Webflow.
• The AI page says Text is SOC 2 Type 2 audited and built for GDPR and CCPA compliance; it also lists PCI DSS SAQ A and WCAG 2.2.
• The AI page says a resolution counts once per conversation when the AI Agent answers at least one question on its own; transferred chats with no AI answer, spam and greetings do not count.

Limitations

• Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month and Growth includes 200. The AI page says the AI Agent stops taking new chats when the allowance runs out until you buy a package (50 resolutions for $49.50), and unused resolutions do not roll over.
• Essential keeps chat history for 60 days, tracks 50 live visitors and allows 3 proactive campaigns; Growth lists unlimited history, 400 visitors and 30 campaigns. The pricing page's comparison table marks multilingual support (48 languages) as Growth and Enterprise, and SSO, audit logs and white label as Enterprise.
• Prices are per user. The subscription policy says refunds are not given on processed payments, and cancellation keeps the subscription active until the end of the paid period.
• The vendor's pages disagree: the pricing page lists Essential, Growth and Enterprise at $19, $79 and custom, while the help pages on choosing a plan (updated Mar 13, 2026) and the subscription policy still name Starter, Team and Business at $19, $49 and $79 per agent a month billed annually.
• The AI page does not say whether customer data is used to train AI models; it points to a Privacy Policy and Data Processing Addendum that were not read.

LiveChat profileVisit site ↗

C

Crisp

Shared inbox and live chat platform with Hugo, an AI agent billed through monthly credits. Free plan available; paid plans start at $45 a month per workspace.

Who it is for

Small and growing support teams that want live chat and a shared inbox, with optional AI replies. Crisp bills per workspace with a set number of seats per plan, and lists a Plus plan with 20+ seats and Enterprise for larger organizations.

Strengths

• Crisp lists a Free plan with 2 seats and 100 customer profiles that includes the website chat widget, shared inbox, mobile apps, chat SDKs, contact form and e-commerce integrations.
• Crisp says Hugo is included by default from the Mini plan with monthly credits ($5 Mini, $25 Essentials, $75 Plus), and that workflows are not billed as Hugo usage.
• Crisp's help center says Hugo learns from website content, knowledge base articles, Q&A snippets and TXT, CSV or PDF files, and can use native integrations and custom MCP servers to look up data or take actions within rules you set.
• Crisp's help center says Hugo is not trained on all conversations in your inbox and does not automatically learn from resolved conversations.
• Essentials adds an omnichannel inbox, workflow builder, knowledge base and routing rules. Crisp lists channels including email, WhatsApp Business Platform, Instagram DM, Messenger, SMS, Line and Viber, plus phone through Aircall or Ringover.
• With Pay-As-You-Go turned on, Crisp says Hugo keeps answering after included credits run out, and you can set billing limits. Crisp lists a 14-day free trial and 50% off for nonprofits and students via a promo code.

Limitations

• The Free plan includes no Hugo credits, and Free is capped at 2 seats and 100 customer profiles.
• Hugo is metered in USD credits that reset monthly. Without Pay-As-You-Go (off by default), Hugo stops answering when credits run out and new conversations go to human operators.
• Crisp's help center estimates a Hugo-handled conversation at about $0.05 to $0.10, and says cost varies with message length, knowledge size, language and the model chosen. Trial usage also consumes credits.
• Pricing is per workspace, so cost steps up when you pass a plan's seat count (Mini 4, Essentials 10, Plus 20+). The pricing page lists additional agents at $10 a month per seat for Plus, and some integrations and extra contacts are opt-in extras.

Crisp profileVisit site ↗

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