The Cheapest Live Chat Software in 2026, Ranked by Price
One list, sorted from free upward, with the catch written next to every option. No vendor number appears here unless we checked it on that vendor's own pricing page. If a price is not published, we say so instead of guessing.
Before the list
- EzyConn is our own product. We are in the ranking, so read our rows with that in mind. Every EzyConn line is labelled.
- Competitor figures were checked in July 2026. Prices move. Verify before you pay, and treat any number older than a quarter as a hint.
- This is a shortlist, not a pricing explainer. For how vendors charge and where fees hide, see AI chatbot pricing explained. For per-seat versus flat-rate arithmetic, see AI support pricing models compared.
The one number that decides your bill
It is not the headline price. It is your seat count. Live chat vendors split into two camps: those that charge per seat, and those that sell a plan with a seat allowance. Below about three people, the two look similar. Above that, they diverge fast.
So before comparing anything, write down how many people need their own login. Count the weekend cover and the person who only answers at lunchtime. Those part-timers are where per-seat pricing quietly gets expensive, and where teams start sharing one login and breaking their reporting.
The price ladder, cheapest first
Monthly list prices in US dollars. Competitor figures checked July 2026. Where we write "not verified by us", the vendor publishes a price but we have not confirmed the seat detail, so we do not state one.
| Option | Price | Seats | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp click-to-chat button | $0 | Whoever holds the phone | Not really software. No website widget, no shared history, no routing, no reporting. |
| EzyConn Free (our product) | $0 | 2 | 1 chatbot, 500 messages and 1,000 AI credits a month. |
| Crisp free | $0 | 2 | No AI on the free tier, and the Crisp watermark stays on your widget. |
| Tidio free | $0 | Not verified by us | Branding removal is a paid add-on, and the 50 free Lyro AI conversations are one-off. |
| EzyConn Starter (our product) | $25, or $240 a year billed annually | 4 | Adds Workflows, AI Actions, Voice and Outbound. 3 chatbots and 5,000 messages a month. |
| Social Intents Lite | $29 | Not verified by us | Their entry tier. We publish the price, not their feature list. |
| Social Intents Starter | $39 | Not verified by us | Same caveat. We publish the price, not their feature list. |
| Intercom Essential | $39 per seat | Priced one by one | Ten seats is $390 a month before AI, and Fin adds $0.99 per resolution. |
| Crisp Mini | $45 | 4 | About $5 of AI credit, which Crisp equates to roughly 90 automated conversations. |
| Social Intents Basic | $69 | Not verified by us | Same caveat: price only. |
| EzyConn Professional (our product) | $95, or $912 a year billed annually | 11 | Adds AI Email, AI Insights and removes the EzyConn badge. 10 chatbots and 25,000 messages a month. |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 | 10 | About $25 of AI credit, roughly 450 automated conversations. |
| Social Intents Pro | $99 | Not verified by us | Same caveat: price only. |
| Social Intents Business | $199 | Not verified by us | The top of their published ladder. |
| Crisp Plus | $295 | Higher than Essentials | This is the first Crisp tier where the watermark can be removed. |
Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, LiveChat, Tawk.to, Help Scout, Front, Plain and Pylon are missing from the price column on purpose. Zendesk and Freshdesk bill per agent with AI metered separately. Help Scout and Front are email-first tools priced per user. Pylon publishes no pricing and sells through a call. We describe the model rather than repeat numbers we have not verified.
What actually ends the free ride
Free live chat rarely stops because of message volume. It stops for one of four reasons, and it is worth knowing which one will hit you first.
- A third person needs a login. Most free tiers stop at two seats.
- You add a second website. Free plans are usually one widget on one domain. Agencies and multi-brand shops hit this on day one.
- The vendor logo becomes embarrassing. Removing Tidio branding costs roughly $16.67 a month on lower tiers. On Crisp, the watermark can first be removed on the Plus plan at $295 a month. Removing the EzyConn badge comes with the Professional plan. Checked July 2026.
- The AI runs out. Tidio's free 50 Lyro conversations are a one-off allowance rather than a monthly reset, and Crisp's free plan has no AI at all.
Price the plan you will be on in month four, not the one you sign up to today. If your AI is metered, our cost per conversation breakdown shows how to price a busy month.
The most popular chat tool in the wild is free
We scanned 4,278 small business websites across seven countries and found that only 7.5% ran any chat widget. Among the ones that did, a plain WhatsApp click-to-chat button accounted for 53.7%, more than every dedicated vendor combined. The full method is in our live chat adoption study. If you are shopping on price, that is the honest benchmark: the market's favourite answer costs nothing. It is also the weakest one on this page, because the conversation leaves your website, lands on a personal phone, and leaves no shared history for anyone else to pick up.
What we add over a cheaper rival
EzyConn answers from your own website pages and uploaded documents and shows the source, and it offers the visitor a person. On a yes, the chat goes to your team, assigned by round robin, least busy, most recently active or by hand.
Our own position on this list
We should be direct about it. EzyConn charges per workspace: Starter is $25 a month and Professional $95 a month, with the free plan at $0 forever and Enterprise by agreement. Annual billing takes 20% off, so Starter comes to $240 a year. There is no per-seat fee and no per-resolution fee at any tier, and GPT-4o and Claude are included on every plan including the free one. Full details sit on our pricing page, and the head-to-head breakdowns live under compare. If what you want is a free-forever widget rather than a paid plan, our best free AI chatbot roundup covers the no-cost options in more depth.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest live chat software in 2026?
A WhatsApp click-to-chat link is the cheapest at $0, and it is also the most limited. Among real chat tools, free-forever plans are the floor: EzyConn (our product) covers 2 people with 500 messages a month for $0, and Crisp gives a free tier with 2 seats but no AI. The cheapest paid tier we verified is EzyConn Starter at $25 a month, or $240 a year billed annually. Competitor figures checked July 2026.
Is free live chat software worth using?
Yes, if you understand which limit you will hit first. Free plans are usually capped on three things: seats, websites, and vendor branding on the widget. In our scan of 4,278 small business websites, only 7.5% ran any chat at all, so a free widget answered by one person still beats the contact form that most sites rely on. Move to paid when a second person needs their own login, or when you add a second website.
How much should live chat software cost for a small business?
For a team of two to four people on one website, $0 to $30 a month is a fair range in 2026, and paying more than that usually buys features rather than chat. Verified reference points, checked July 2026: EzyConn Starter is $25 for 4 people, Social Intents Lite is $29 and Starter is $39, and Crisp Mini is $45 for 4 seats. Intercom Essential is $39 per seat per month on monthly billing, which is a different pricing shape entirely.
What is the cheapest live chat software with unlimited agents?
Very few tools offer that, so the useful comparison is what ten agents cost. EzyConn prices per workspace rather than per agent: Professional at $95 a month, or $912 a year billed annually, covers 11 people. Crisp also prices by plan: Crisp Mini is 4 seats at $45 and Essentials is 10 seats at $95. Intercom charges per seat, so ten seats on Essential is $390 a month before AI. Figures checked July 2026.
Start free, add seats when you actually need them
2 people and 500 messages a month that reset, for $0 forever. Starter at $25 a month covers 4 people and Professional at $95 a month covers 11, with no per-seat fee at any tier.
Start freeCompetitor pricing checked July 2026 from each vendor's own published pricing pages. Prices change without notice, so confirm before purchase. Where a vendor does not publish a figure we describe the billing model rather than estimate an amount. EzyConn is our own product and is labelled as such throughout.