The longer answer
Two things decide what live chat costs you: how the vendor charges for people (per agent, or one price per workspace up to a seat limit) and how it charges for AI answers. Every price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, in US dollars before tax (prices checked 23 October 2026). 'Billed yearly' means the monthly price when you pay for a year up front.
Priced per agent: the bill grows with every hire
- LiveChat Essential: $19 per user a month billed yearly ($25 monthly). Includes 10 AI resolutions a month; 50 more cost $49.50.
- Help Scout Standard: $25 per user a month billed yearly, with live chat. AI Answers cost $0.75 per resolution.
- Intercom Essential: $29 per seat a month billed yearly ($39 monthly; $19 for new customers). The Fin AI agent costs from $0.99 per outcome, with a minimum monthly commitment. Intercom pricing explained walks through the maths.
- Zendesk Suite Team: $55 per agent a month billed yearly ($69 monthly), with messaging and live chat and 5 automated resolutions per agent a month; extra ones cost $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay as you go. How it compares: Replyze vs Zendesk.
Priced per workspace or plan: flat until a seat or volume limit
- Tidio Starter: $24.17 a month billed yearly ($29 monthly) for up to 10 seats and 100 billable conversations a month. The Lyro AI agent is extra: from $32.50 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly) for 50 AI conversations. How it compares: Replyze vs Tidio.
- Crisp Mini: $45 a month per workspace, billed monthly (Crisp lists no yearly price), for 4 seats with AI credits for around 90 automated conversations. Essentials is $95 a month for 10 seats and around 450.
- Replyze Pro (our product): $55 a month billed yearly ($69 monthly) for up to 5 teammates, unlimited conversations and 1,000 AI replies a month. Business is $159 billed yearly ($199 monthly) for up to 15 teammates and 5,000 AI replies. Details: Replyze plans.
Free core
- tawk.to: the live chat itself is free. Removing tawk.to branding costs $29 a month, and AI Assist starts at $29 a month.
What a team pays for seats (cheapest plan that fits, billed yearly where offered, before extra AI usage)
- 1 person: $0 on a free plan (limits below). Cheapest paid entry: LiveChat $19, Tidio $24.17, Help Scout $25, Intercom $29 ($19 for new customers), Crisp $45, Zendesk $55, Replyze $55.
- 5 people: Tidio $24.17 (Starter, under 100 conversations a month; Growth from $49.17), Replyze $55, LiveChat $95, Crisp $95 (Essentials; Mini stops at 4 seats), Help Scout $125, Intercom $145, Zendesk $275.
- 10 people: Tidio $24.17 or from $49.17 by conversation volume (10 seats is its self-serve maximum), Crisp $95, Replyze $159 (Business), LiveChat $190, Help Scout $250, Intercom $290, Zendesk $550.
Then add the AI. Each vendor counts AI differently: Intercom bills outcomes, Zendesk automated resolutions, Help Scout and LiveChat resolutions, Tidio Lyro conversations and Crisp credits, while Replyze counts AI replies (each AI answer uses one, so a chat with three AI answers uses three). As an example, say AI fully answers 300 conversations a month for a 5-person team. The monthly totals become: Replyze Pro $55 (300 chats at up to three AI answers each fit in the 1,000 replies), Crisp Essentials $95 (credits for around 450), Help Scout $350 ($125 + 300 × $0.75), LiveChat $392 ($95 + six packs of 50), Intercom from $442 ($145 + 300 × $0.99; $392 at the new-customer price) and Zendesk $687.50 ($275 + 275 extra resolutions × $1.50 committed). Tidio shows the price of Lyro's 300-conversation tier only in its calculator. At low volume the picture changes: one person who needs only a few AI answers pays $19 on LiveChat Essential. When Replyze's monthly AI replies run out, the AI hands new chats to your team instead; there is no overage charge.
Costs that hide in the small print
- Monthly billing costs more: Replyze Pro and Zendesk Suite Team are $69 instead of $55, Intercom Essential $39 instead of $29, LiveChat Essential $25 instead of $19, Tidio Starter $29 instead of $24.17.
- Introductory prices and minimums: Intercom's $19 seat is for new customers, and Fin comes with a minimum monthly commitment.
- Branding: removing it is a $16.67-a-month add-on on Tidio Growth and $29 a month on tawk.to; it's included on Replyze Pro and Business.
- Seat caps: flat prices hold only up to a limit (Tidio 10 seats on self-serve plans, Crisp 4 on Mini and 10 on Essentials, Replyze 5 on Pro and 15 on Business).
- Channels by plan: on Replyze, email, WhatsApp and Telegram start on Pro.
- Data location: Zendesk sells a data center location add-on, and Intercom offers EU and Australian hosting to new workspaces on Advanced and Expert, on a contract. Replyze is hosted in Germany; AI replies are generated by Anthropic (USA) under our DPA.