Which chat and customer support software should a small business choose?

Analysis of official documentation, with no testing on a paid account.

Update to 27 September 2026. This analysis compares public offers and official documentation. Prices and quotas change; check the grid before any purchase.

From the last thirty customer requests

Sort them into four groups: simple questions about opening hours or delivery, problems requiring access to the case, sales enquiries and issues that need to leave chat for later follow-up. For each, record the arrival time, channel, time to first response and outcome. If no one is available after 17 h, displaying “immediate response” until 22 h disappoints visitors. Provide an offline form and a realistic response-time commitment.

Then choose a useful indicator: proportion of conversations with response within the announced time frame, proportion requiring resumption, and number of requests lost when switching from chat to email. The number of windows opened on the site is not a result. For a small team, designating a person responsible by time range is often more decisive than the list of features.

Compare LiveChat, Tidio and Crisp depending on the actual stream

LiveChat: the price follows the people who access the tool

The grid LiveChat announces an entry tier at 19 US$ per person per month with annual billing, or 25 $ with monthly billing. It specifies that every user account created is billed, even when the person is not logged in. Two agents taking turns therefore do not necessarily count as a single seat. LiveChat documents chat routing, reports and data export; check exactly which of these features your plan includes. A trial must assess handing a case over between agents, not just the widget's appearance.

A store that receives a lot of questions before purchasing can create groups by topic and observe the first answer. But if it has only one occasional respondent, the cost of seats and scheduling can be greater than the wealth of routing. Also test the transition from an unfinished conversation to a ticket or email, which retains responsibility for the answer.

Tidio: distinguishing human conversation and Lyro conversation

The tariff page Tidio explains that a human conversation is billable when a reply is sent in Tidio or a conversation is started. It states that the first 50 Lyro conversations are free on a one-off basis; a Lyro plan is needed for a renewed monthly allowance. Do not describe “50 free AI conversations” as a permanent monthly package. Check chat allowances, Lyro allowances and seats separately.

For a fair AI test, prepare ten frequently asked questions, then three ambiguous variations and two requests requiring a human decision: an exceptional refund or a missing delivery, for example. Record the exact answers, escalation, history passed to the agent and number of conversations counted. A fluent but false answer costs more than an explicit handover.

Crisp: Pay space and check channels

The French grid Crisp lists a free plan with two licences and up to 100 customer profiles; Mini is listed at 45 US$ per workspace per month with four licences, and Essentials at 95 $ with ten licences. The tiers add distinct capabilities and channels. For a team receiving messages from its website, Instagram and email inbox, consolidation may be valuable, but check that each channel is included in the intended tier and that a customer's history remains understandable.

For a small business with two people, pricing per workspace may be easier to budget than individual seats. This does not mean everything is unlimited: customer profiles, AI credits and features have their own limits. Model a month using your actual volume rather than comparing only 45 $ with 19 $.

A five-step test that reveals faults

1. Publish the widget during tenable hours. Ask a colleague to ask a normal question and measure the first answer, then do the same thing offline.
2. Transfer a request between people. The second officer must see the context without forcing the client to repeat his story.
3. Ask the bot an unknown question. The expected answer is a clarification or transfer, not an assured invention.
4. Find a conversation a week later. Check search, status, export and link to the command or folder.
5. Calculate the pilot month invoice. Separate agent accounts, conversations, credits AI and additional channels.

Before integrating a widget, also check its mobile loading speed, keyboard behavior and effect on the page. Inform the visitor of the data collected and their use; the LiveChat documentation itself describes how to configure information in the pre-chat form. Have the retention and consent settings validated for your site and channels. Your site's compliance also depends on these settings and your practices.

When not to install chat

If you receive three requests a week, email with a stated response time already meets the need, and no one can provide staffed coverage, start by improving the FAQ and contact form. If chat reduces back-and-forth or demonstrably prevents lost sales, keep it with a process for picking up outstanding requests. The criterion is the number of requests resolved without abandonment, not the animation in the lower corner of the screen.