tawk.to is free, so it’s an easy first choice for website chat. The catch comes later. You find out the “Powered by tawk.to” badge costs $29 a month to remove, the AI chatbot is an extra, and customers who’d rather message you on WhatsApp have no way to reach you there.

If you’ve hit one of those walls, you’re in the right place. We’ve compared eight alternatives, checked every price on the vendor’s own pricing page, and matched each one to the reason you might be leaving.

Why businesses move on from tawk.to

tawk.to does its job well for a free chat tool. It’s rated 4.6 out of 5 from 345 reviews on Capterra. People don’t usually leave because it’s bad. They leave because their business grows past what a free website widget was built for.

“Free” is only the starting price. The live chat itself is free, with unlimited agents and chat history. Almost everything you’d add as you grow is paid. Here’s what tawk.to’s pricing page lists:

So a clean widget with an AI chatbot costs at least $58 a month, before you pay anyone to cover the chats the AI can’t answer. That doesn’t make tawk.to expensive, but it’s the number to compare alternatives against, not $0.

No WhatsApp. In Meta’s 2026 research, 73.3% of consumers said they prefer messaging when contacting a business. tawk.to’s pricing page doesn’t mention WhatsApp, and its other messaging channels (Facebook, SMS, Telegram) are listed as “Beta” and “out soon.” If your customers already message you on WhatsApp or Instagram, that’s a second app to manage.

Missed and late notifications. This is the most common complaint in Capterra reviews. One reviewer says “notification emails from missed chats can take 30 - 60 minutes to be sent.” Another finds the mobile app “not as quick to toggle between multiple conversations.” A chat you see an hour late is often a customer you’ve already lost.

It’s a chat widget, not much more. tawk.to handles live chat, but reviewers note that “advanced in-box integrations like CRM or ERP sync are missing.” There’s no built-in way to run campaigns, automate follow-ups, or manage customers across channels.

Tawk.to alternatives compared 

Here’s how the eight compare at a glance. Prices are the lowest paid plan listed on each vendor’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026.

The 8 best tawk.to alternatives

Each tool below starts with the tawk.to problem it fixes, so you can skip straight to the ones that match your reason for leaving.

1. Heyy

Heyy is a customer messaging platform that puts your website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and SMS in one shared inbox. Every plan includes an AI Employee that answers customers from your business information, day or night, and hands the chat to a teammate when a person needs to step in. 

You can assign chats, run automations and campaigns, and keep track of customers in a mini-CRM, all from the same place.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: no WhatsApp, and AI that costs extra.

Key features

• Live chat widget you can customize with your own title, opening messages, quick-reply buttons, colors, and position, with install guides for WordPress, Wix, Webflow, Squarespace, and Framer
• WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS, and website chat in the same inbox
• An AI Employee that answers questions from your business information at any hour and hands the chat to a teammate when a person needs to step in
• Chat assignment, team inboxes, automations, campaigns, and a mini-CRM

Pricing: Hobby is $49/month for 1 user, 1 AI Employee, and 3 channels. Pro is $149/month for 5 users and 2 AI Employees. Ultra is $499/month for 10 users. 

Where it falls short:There’s no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Email isn’t one of its channels yet, though the team says it’s coming soon.

Best for: Businesses whose customers message them on WhatsApp and Instagram as well as their website, and who want AI answering first.

2. Tidio

Tidio combines live chat, an AI agent called Lyro, and a visual automation builder, all designed around online stores. Lyro answers shoppers’ questions from your knowledge base, while Flows sends automated messages that recover sales and guide visitors to buy.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: limited automation for ecommerce.

Key features

• Live chat, email, and social messages in one inbox
• Lyro, an AI agent that answers from your knowledge base
• Flows, a visual builder for automated messages and sales prompts
• WhatsApp listed on every plan, including Free

Pricing: Free for 50 billable conversations a month. Starter is $24.17/month and Growth starts at $49.17/month, both shown with annual billing. Lyro is sold separately from $32.50/month for 50 AI conversations. 

Where it falls short: Costs grow with volume. Conversations, AI conversations, and automation visitors are each capped and priced separately, so busy stores need to model their usage first.

Best for: Online stores that want chat and sales automation in one place.

3. Crisp

Crisp gives small teams a shared inbox for website chat, with AI, a knowledge base, and customer profiles built in. As you upgrade, it adds WhatsApp and other channels, so you can grow into it without switching tools again.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: you want a free plan, but a more modern product.

Key features

• Shared inbox for website chat, with WhatsApp and other channels from the Essentials plan
• AI credits included on paid plans
• Knowledge base and customer profiles
• Flat workspace pricing, so adding agents doesn’t multiply the bill

Pricing: Free for 2 seats and 100 customer profiles. Mini is $45/month for 4 seats, Essentials is $95/month for 10 seats, and Plus is $295/month. A 14-day trial is available on paid plans. 

Where it falls short: The free plan has no AI, and WhatsApp starts on Essentials ($95/month).

Best for: Small teams that want to keep a free plan but need more room to grow.

4. LiveChat

LiveChat is built for teams that answer chats all day, with a fast agent app that handles many conversations at once. AI agents, reply suggestions, and a large library of integrations help those agents work faster.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: missed notifications and a slow agent experience.

Key features

• A fast agent app designed for handling many chats at once
• AI agents and reply suggestions on every plan
• A large library of integrations
• Chat and ticket summaries on the Growth plan

Pricing: Essential is $19/user/month billed annually ($25 monthly), with 10 AI resolutions a month. Growth is $79/user/month billed annually ($99 monthly). There’s a 14-day free trial. 

Where it falls short: Every agent needs a paid seat, so costs rise quickly as the team grows. AI resolutions are capped, with extras sold in packs of 50 for $49.50.

Best for: Support and sales teams with dedicated chat agents.

5. Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ pairs live chat with visitor tracking, so your team can see who’s on your site and what they’re looking at. Its AI assistant, Zia, powers chatbots and smart routing, and everything connects to Zoho CRM.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: you want to stay free, but with WhatsApp and AI available when you upgrade.

Key features

• Live chat with visitor tracking
• Zia, Zoho’s AI, for chatbots and AI-powered routing on paid plans
• WhatsApp from the Basic plan
• Works with Zoho CRM and the rest of the Zoho suite

Pricing: Free for 3 operators, 10,000 visitors, and 100 operator chats a month. Paid plans are priced per operator, and prices vary by region. 

Where it falls short: The free plan caps operator chats at 100 a month, and has no chatbots or WhatsApp.

Best for: Small teams, especially those already using Zoho.

6. HubSpot

HubSpot’s live chat and chatbot builder sit inside its free CRM, so every chat is saved to the right contact automatically. Your sales and support teams see the full customer history in one place, without copying anything between tools.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: chats that don’t connect to your CRM.

Key features

• Free live chat and chatbot builder
• Conversations saved in the free CRM’s inbox
• Slack integration and a mobile app
• An AI customer agent on higher plans

Pricing: Free for up to 2 users, with HubSpot branding on the widget. Starter is priced per seat and removes the branding. WhatsApp and the AI customer agent are on Professional and Enterprise. 

Where it falls short: WhatsApp and AI sit on the higher plans, which cost much more per seat than Starter.

Best for: Businesses already using HubSpot, or planning to.

7. Intercom

Intercom combines live chat, a full helpdesk, and Fin, an AI agent that answers and resolves customer questions on its own. Its ticketing, workflows, and reporting are built to handle the volume of a large support team.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: you need a full helpdesk, not just a chat widget.

Key features

• Fin, an AI agent that answers and resolves customer questions
• Ticketing, workflows, and reporting for larger teams
• In-app and website messaging
• WhatsApp, SMS, and phone on a pay-as-you-go basis

Pricing: Essential is $29/seat/month, Advanced $85, and Expert $132. Fin is charged at $0.99 per outcome on top. 

Where it falls short: Costs add up fast. You pay per seat and per AI outcome, plus channel usage.

Best for: Larger support teams that need ticketing and are ready to pay for it.

8. Chatwoot

Chatwoot is an open-source messaging platform that brings website chat, WhatsApp, and other channels into one inbox. You can run it in the cloud or on your own servers, and its AI assistant, Captain, helps your team reply faster.

Fixes this tawk.to problem: you want control over your data and setup.

Key features

• Open source, with a self-hosted option
• Live chat, plus WhatsApp and other channels on paid cloud plans
• Captain, an AI assistant, with credits included from the Startups plan
• Help center and automation rules on higher plans

Pricing: The Hacker plan is free for 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, with live chat only. Startups is $19/agent/month, Business $39, and Enterprise $99. Extra AI credits cost $20 per 1,000. See Chatwoot pricing.

Where it falls short: Self-hosting needs technical skills, and automation rules only start on the Business plan.

Best for: Technical teams that want open source or need data on their own servers.

Which alternative fits your reason for leaving

Not everyone needs to switch. If you’re one person answering a handful of chats a day, mostly from your website, tawk.to is hard to beat. It’s time to move when chats start arriving outside working hours, on channels tawk.to doesn’t cover, or faster than one person can keep up with. The right alternative depends on which of those you’ve hit, so find your reason below and start with the tools next to it.

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Tawk.to alternatives FAQs

1. Is tawk.to really free?

The live chat itself is free, with unlimited agents. Removing the branding costs $29 a month, AI Assist is paid beyond a low-volume free tier, and hired agents cost $1 an hour.

2. Does tawk.to have WhatsApp?

tawk.to’s pricing page doesn’t list WhatsApp. Its other messaging channels are marked as beta. If you need WhatsApp in the same inbox as your website chat, look at Heyy, Crisp (Essentials plan), or Chatwoot.

3. Does tawk.to have an AI chatbot?

Yes, through AI Assist. It has a free tier for sites with low chat volume, and paid plans start at $29 a month.

4. What’s the best free tawk.to alternative?

Crisp is the closest like-for-like option, free for 2 seats. Zoho SalesIQ is free for 3 operators, HubSpot for 2 users, and Chatwoot for 2 agents. Each free plan has tighter limits than tawk.to’s, so check them against your chat volume.

5. Tawk.to vs Tidio: which is better?

tawk.to suits businesses that answer every chat themselves and want to pay nothing. Tidio suits online stores that want an AI agent and sales automation, and are happy to pay as their volume grows.

Your next chat tool

tawk.to is a good place to start, and plenty of businesses never need more. But if your customers want to reach you on WhatsApp, chats come in when nobody’s there to answer, or AI keeps showing up as another add-on, it’s time to look elsewhere.

If that sounds like you, Heyy puts your website chat, WhatsApp, and Instagram in one inbox, with an AI Employee that answers first, day or night, and passes chats to your team when a person needs to step in.

→ Try Heyy free for 7 days