LiveChat Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
LiveChat alternatives: tawk.to, Crisp, Tidio, Chatwoot and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•4 min read•Customer Support & Help Desk
Verdict:LiveChat is paid per agent, so the question is whether you need that seat model or a cheaper inbox. Tawk.to is the free starting point: live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base cost nothing, and removing its branding takes a $29 add-on. Crisp suits a two-person team that shares one inbox, with 2 free seats and 100 customer profiles before you pay. Tidio fits a store that wants a chatbot next to live chat, with 50 billable conversations free each month and Starter at $24.17 a month billed monthly. If you want to self-host, Chatwoot is MIT-licensed and has a free hosted Hacker plan with 2 agents and 500 conversations a month. FreeScout and LibreDesk are AGPL-3.0 help desks you run on your own server, and you should choose them only when someone on your team will keep them running. The trade-off to check first is volume. Free tiers that cap billable conversations or profiles tend to run out on a busy weekday, so count an average week before you pick one. Export your transcripts before you switch.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | Free (Live chat, ticketing and knowledge base free; AI Assist has a free plan for limited chat volume); paid from $29 per month (remove-branding add-on) | Web browser | Small sites that need free live chat | Docs only |
| Crisp | Free (2 seats, 100 customer profiles, no AI credits); paid from $45 per workspace/month, billed monthly (Mini, 4 agents) | Web browser | Two-person teams sharing one chat inbox | Docs only |
| Tidio | Free (50 billable conversations per month); paid from $24.17 per month, billed monthly (Starter) | Web browser | Online stores that want a chatbot with live chat | Docs only |
| Chatwoot | Free (Hacker plan: 2 agents, 500 conversations/month, live chat only, 30 days retention); paid from $19 per agent/month, billed monthly (Startups) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Teams that want a self-hosted support inbox | Docs only |
| FreeScout | Free (free self-hosted core; you pay for your own server) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Small support teams already running their own server | Docs only |
| Libredesk | Free (Self-hosted and free; no paid tiers; needs PostgreSQL and Redis) | Linux, Docker | Teams with a developer who will run the stack | Docs only |
| Intercom | Paid from $29 per seat/month (Essential; the page also shows $19, which appears to be the annual rate; Advanced $85, Expert $132; Fin AI Agent $0.99 per outcome) | Web browser | Customer Support | Docs only |
| Zendesk | Paid from $19 per agent/month, billed annually (Support Team) | Web browser | Help Desk | Docs only |
| Freshdesk | Paid from $19 per agent/month, billed annually (Growth) | Web browser | Help Desk | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You need free live chat on a small website (tawk.to is the pick)
- Two people share one chat inbox (Crisp is the pick)
- A store wants a chatbot alongside live chat (Tidio is the pick)
- A team will self-host its support inbox (Chatwoot is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on LiveChat features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
LiveChat today: Paid from $25 per user/month, billed monthly (Essential; $19 billed annually) (LiveChat pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for LiveChat alternatives
LiveChat has no free plan, only a 14-day trial. Essential costs $25 per user a month ($19 billed annually) and omits chat supervision, team takeover, shared canned responses and routing rules, and keeps 60 days of chat history. Growth is $99 ($79 annually). Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month; extra ones come in packs of 50 for $49.50.
tawk.to
Compared with LiveChat: Tawk.to's live chat, ticketing and knowledge base are free, with an AI Assist free plan. LiveChat is paid per agent, but the free Tawk.to widget carries branding unless you pay a $29 add-on to remove it.
Price: Free (Live chat, ticketing and knowledge base free; AI Assist has a free plan for limited chat volume); paid from $29 per month (remove-branding add-on) (tawk.to pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Small sites that need free live chat.
Worth knowing: Live answering by hired agents is $1 per hour.
Crisp
Compared with LiveChat: Crisp's free plan has 2 seats, 100 customer profiles and no AI credits, while LiveChat bills per agent. Crisp's paid workspace is $45 a month billed monthly, a fit for a small team that outgrows the free seats.
Price: Free (2 seats, 100 customer profiles, no AI credits); paid from $45 per workspace/month, billed monthly (Mini, 4 agents) (Crisp pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Two-person teams sharing one chat inbox.
Tidio
Compared with LiveChat: Tidio's free plan allows 50 billable conversations a month, and its Starter plan is $24.17 a month billed monthly. Against LiveChat it adds chatbots alongside live chat for a lower price, but a busy site will hit the conversation cap quickly.
Price: Free (50 billable conversations per month); paid from $24.17 per month, billed monthly (Starter) (Tidio pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Online stores that want a chatbot with live chat.
Worth knowing: Annual option includes two months free.
Chatwoot
Compared with LiveChat: Chatwoot's core is MIT-licensed and you can self-host it for free. Its hosted Hacker plan is free with 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, and you lose LiveChat's fixed vendor setup but take on running the server.
Price: Free (Hacker plan: 2 agents, 500 conversations/month, live chat only, 30 days retention); paid from $19 per agent/month, billed monthly (Startups) (Chatwoot pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. MIT (repo also contains an enterprise folder) (open source).
Project activity: 38.4k GitHub stars · latest release v4.19.1 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that want a self-hosted support inbox.
FreeScout
Compared with LiveChat: FreeScout is AGPL-3.0 open source help desk software that you host yourself, paying only for your own server. It has no per-agent fee, but you run the updates and backups that LiveChat's hosted service handles.
Price: Free (free self-hosted core; you pay for your own server) (FreeScout pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 4.6k GitHub stars · latest release 1.8.248 (Oct 17, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Small support teams already running their own server.
Libredesk
Compared with LiveChat: LibreDesk is AGPL-3.0 and self-hosted with no paid tiers, but it needs PostgreSQL and Redis. Compared with LiveChat's hosted widget and apps, it is a shared inbox you operate yourself, best for a team with a developer on hand.
Price: Free (Self-hosted and free; no paid tiers; needs PostgreSQL and Redis) (Libredesk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, Docker. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 3.1k GitHub stars · latest release v2.9.0 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams with a developer who will run the stack.
Worth knowing: No hosted version from the project.
Other popular options (paid)
Intercom
Compared with LiveChat: Essential is $29 per seat a month, with $19 shown for new customers, and Fin AI Agent costs $0.99 per outcome. No free plan, 14-day trial.
Price: Paid from $29 per seat/month (Essential; the page also shows $19, which appears to be the annual rate; Advanced $85, Expert $132; Fin AI Agent $0.99 per outcome) (Intercom pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Zendesk
Compared with LiveChat: Support Team is $19 per agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly), the same list price as LiveChat Essential billed annually. No free plan, 14-day trial.
Price: Paid from $19 per agent/month, billed annually (Support Team) (Zendesk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Freshdesk
Compared with LiveChat: Growth is $19 per agent a month billed annually, matching LiveChat Essential's annual rate. No permanent free plan, 14-day trial.
Price: Paid from $19 per agent/month, billed annually (Growth) (Freshdesk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You need free live chat on a small website: tawk.to
- Two people share one chat inbox: Crisp
- A store wants a chatbot alongside live chat: Tidio
- A team will self-host its support inbox: Chatwoot
Limits of this review
Docs-only for tawk.to, Crisp, Tidio, Chatwoot, FreeScout, Libredesk: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from LiveChat. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: LiveChat, tawk.to, Crisp, Tidio, Chatwoot, FreeScout, Libredesk, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshdesk. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.