Shopxare Team
Short answer: Crisp's free plan covers 2 agents and 100 customer profiles, with no AI credits. Paid plans are priced per workspace: Mini is $45 a month for 4 agents, Essentials $95 for 10 agents, Plus $295 for 20 (as of November 2026). The best Crisp alternative depends on why you are leaving: tawk.to if you only need free chat, Chatwoot if you want open source you can host yourself, Smartsupp if you want low per-operator prices (also billed in EUR or PLN), Tidio if you want a polished chatbot builder, and Shopxare if you want chat, email tickets and an AI agent for 3 or more people on a free plan.
Below: what Crisp's plans include, what a 3-person team pays on each tool for the same month, a comparison table, when Crisp is the better deal (for some teams it clearly is), and how to switch without losing history. All prices were checked on each vendor's own pricing page on 5 November 2026.
What Crisp's plans include
Crisp sells plans per workspace, not per seat. That is the single most important thing to understand before you compare it with anything else (Crisp pricing).
| Crisp plan | Price per month | Agents | Customer profiles | AI credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 2 | 100 | None |
| Mini | $45 | 4 | 5,000 | About 90 automated conversations ($5) |
| Essentials | $95 | 10 | 50,000 | About 450 automated conversations ($25) |
| Plus | $295 | 20+ ($10 per extra agent) | 200,000 | About 1,350 automated conversations ($75) |
Three limits decide whether the free plan still works for you:
- 100 customer profiles. Every visitor who leaves an email or chats becomes a profile. A store with steady traffic reaches 100 quickly.
- 2 agents. A third teammate means Mini.
- No AI credits. The AI chatbot needs a paid plan. WhatsApp Business, Instagram DMs and SMS come with Essentials ("Omnichannel inbox"), and the shared email inbox with Mini.
Every paid plan has a 14-day free trial. Crisp is a good product, and per-workspace pricing is generous once you have 6 to 10 agents. For a small store that just outgrew the free plan, though, the jump from $0 to $45 or $95 is real money.
What a 3-person team pays: one month, same workload
The scenario: 3 agents, live chat and email, about 300 conversations a month answered by AI. List prices in USD, checked 5 November 2026.
| Tool and plan | Price for 3 agents | AI for about 300 conversations | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopxare (Free) | $0 | Included AI budget, then AI credit | $0 |
| tawk.to | $0 | AI Assist: free tier for low volume, paid from $29 | $0 to $29+ |
| Smartsupp Plus (billed annually) | $25 | Mira AI from $16 for 100 conversations; more for 300 | from $41 |
| Chatwoot Cloud Startups | 3 × $19 = $57 | 300 Captain credits included, extra $20 per 1,000 | $57+ |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 (up to 10 agents) | About 450 automated conversations included | $95 |
| Tidio Growth + Lyro (billed annually) | from $49.17 (250 conversations) | Lyro from $32.50 for 50 conversations; more for 300 | from $81.67 |
Notes on the math: Crisp Mini ($45) would cover the 3 seats but only about 90 AI conversations, so the AI workload pushes you to Essentials. Chatwoot counts AI in credits, and one AI answer is not one credit, so check your real usage during the 15-day trial. Smartsupp and Tidio show their lower annual prices on the pricing page; monthly billing costs more. tawk.to sells add-ons per property (per website) (tawk.to add-ons).
The picture changes with team size. At 3 agents Crisp is mid-priced. At 8 agents Crisp Essentials still costs $95, while Chatwoot Startups would be 8 × $19 = $152.
The 5 Crisp alternatives
1. tawk.to: free chat with no seat limit
tawk.to describes live chat and ticketing as free forever. You pay only for add-ons: AI Assist from $29 a month, removing the "Powered by tawk.to" badge for $29 a month, both per property (tawk.to add-ons). Pick it if you want a free chat for a whole team and do not mind the badge or a busier interface. Our tawk.to alternatives post compares its free plan with the others in detail.
2. Chatwoot: open source, cloud or self-hosted
Chatwoot's free Hacker plan covers 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, live chat only. Paid cloud plans are per agent: Startups $19, Business $39, Enterprise $99, each with monthly Captain AI credits (300, 500, 800). The self-hosted Community Edition is free, without the Captain AI (Chatwoot pricing, self-hosted plans). Pick it if you have a developer, want your data on your own server and are comfortable maintaining it.
3. Smartsupp: cheap operators, prices in EUR, CZK and PLN
Smartsupp's free plan has 1 operator, 25 conversations a month and 14 days of history. Paid plans billed annually: Solo $17 (1 operator), Plus $25 (3 operators), Expert $83 (5 operators, extra operators from $24). The Mira AI agent starts at $16 a month for 100 conversations (Smartsupp pricing). Prices are also shown in EUR, CZK and PLN, excluding VAT. Pick it if you run a 2 to 3 person store and want a low, predictable bill.
4. Tidio: the friendliest chatbot builder
Tidio's free plan includes 50 conversations, and the Lyro AI agent's first 50 conversations are free. Starter shows $24.17 a month for 100 conversations and Growth from $49.17 for 250, both with annual billing; Lyro starts at $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations (Tidio pricing). Pick it if you want visual flows and a Shopify-friendly setup and your volume is modest. See our Tidio alternatives post for what happens when volume grows.
5. Shopxare: chat, email tickets and an AI agent on a free plan
Shopxare has one plan today and it is free, with no credit card. For a team coming from Crisp, the parts that map directly:
- Website chat: the Messenger installs on any site, WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify, ikas or Google Tag Manager (Install the Messenger).
- Shared inbox and email tickets: reply from your own address and track numbered tickets (Tickets and email).
- AI agent: Are AI answers from your help center, pages and files and hands over to your team when it should (Are AI). Copilot drafts and rewrites replies; nothing is sent without a person.
- Help center, live translation, Telegram and marketplace messages from Amazon, eBay, Allegro, Trendyol and others in the same inbox (Marketplaces).
Where it falls short of Crisp: WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger are on the way, not available yet, and there is no SMS channel. If most of your customers write on WhatsApp or Instagram today, Crisp Essentials is the better fit.
Comparison table
| Free option | Pricing model | AI agent | Hosting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crisp | 2 agents, 100 profiles | Per workspace | Credits from Mini | Cloud |
| tawk.to | Free, no seat limit | Add-ons per website | AI Assist add-on | Cloud |
| Chatwoot | 2 agents, 500 conv./month | Per agent | Captain credits from Startups | Cloud or self-hosted |
| Smartsupp | 1 operator, 25 conv./month | Plan + operators | Mira add-on | Cloud |
| Tidio | 50 conversations | By conversations | Lyro add-on | Cloud |
| Shopxare | Free plan, no end date | Free | Included AI budget, then AI credit | Cloud |
If WhatsApp or Instagram matter to you, check each vendor's channel list before you decide; of the tools above, we verified those channels only for Crisp (Essentials and up) and Shopxare (on the way).
When to stay with Crisp
Stay if you have 5 to 10 agents (Essentials at $95 is hard to beat per head), if WhatsApp, Instagram or SMS carry a large share of your conversations, or if your team already depends on Crisp's workflow builder and integrations. Leaving a tool that works to save $45 a month is rarely worth a week of setup.
Example: a 3-person shop that outgrew the free plan
A small coffee equipment shop (an illustration, not a customer) runs Crisp Free with 2 people. In October it hires a third person for the holiday season and hits the 100 profile limit. Its options: Crisp Mini at $45 for seats only, or Essentials at $95 to let AI answer "where is my order" questions. It decides to test an alternative for two weeks before paying: import contacts, add the new chat to a staging copy of the store, connect the support email and let AI answer only outside office hours. After two weeks it compares answer quality and how many conversations reached a person, not just price.
How to switch without losing history
- Export or import contacts and past conversations. Shopxare imports from Crisp, tawk.to, Intercom, Zendesk and others (Move to Shopxare).
- Move help articles and recreate saved replies and tags before the switch.
- Replace the Crisp snippet with the new one; don't run two chat widgets on the live site.
- Forward your support address and send a test from an outside account.
- Keep Crisp open read-only for a couple of weeks for late replies.
FAQ
Is Crisp free?
Crisp has a free plan for 2 agents and 100 customer profiles, with website chat, a shared inbox and mobile apps but no AI credits. Paid plans start at $45 per workspace per month (November 2026).
How much does Crisp cost per month?
As of November 2026: Mini $45 (4 agents), Essentials $95 (10 agents), Plus $295 (20 agents, $10 per extra agent), all per workspace. Enterprise is quoted on request.
What is the best free alternative to Crisp?
For free chat with no seat limit, tawk.to. For self-hosting, Chatwoot Community Edition. For chat, email tickets and an AI agent in one free tool, Shopxare.
Is Crisp better than Intercom?
For a small team, Crisp is much cheaper because it charges per workspace, while Intercom charges per seat plus per AI resolution. Intercom has deeper product-tour and reporting features. Our Intercom alternatives post has the full cost breakdown.
Shopxare is free, no credit card. Create a workspace, import your Crisp data and run it next to Crisp for two weeks before you decide.
