Picking free live chat in 2026 is harder than dropping in tawk.to suggests

I compared ten products that all put a chat bubble on your site: tawk.to, Crisp, Freshchat, HubSpot, Tidio, Smartsupp, JivoChat, LiveChat, Zendesk, and Intercom. Forum threads still say “just use tawk.to” or “HubSpot if you already have CRM.” That leaves out agent caps, conversation limits, vendor branding, whether WhatsApp is on the free tier, and what happens when you need EU hosting or SSO six months later.

For a solo operator or side project that has to stay at zero cost, my default is tawk.to. Official pages advertise unlimited agents, unlimited chat volume, unlimited sites, unlimited history, and no concurrent-chat ceiling on the core product. Basic live chat is free. You pay for branding removal, voice/video/screensharing, and heavier AI usage.

If I need EU-only data hosting and a shared inbox I can grow into, I look at Crisp instead. The free tier caps you at two seats. Workspace pricing and EU hosting make more sense once you are past solo work.

For a tiny team already living in HubSpot, HubSpot free chat can work if you know the limits: two users, one inbox, 1,000 contacts, simple bots, and HubSpot branding on the widget. For a support team in the 5-20 agent range, Freshchat is the one I would start with. The free plan covers up to 10 agents. Growth is $19/agent/month billed annually.

At 50+ agents, I stop trying to stay on free tiers. Zendesk is the one I trust more for support operations. Intercom fits product-led SaaS that wants chat, workflows, and Fin in one product, if you can model seat fees plus per-Fin-outcome billing.

Seven vendors here have a permanent free tier: tawk.to, Freshchat, HubSpot, Crisp, Tidio, JivoChat, and Smartsupp. LiveChat, Zendesk, and Intercom have 14-day trials only. I did not find a permanent free Zendesk Chat plan in current official materials.

I used official docs, pricing pages, and trust centers from mid-June 2026. Where docs were thin, I say so instead of guessing.

You cannot compare these on “free” alone

“Free” here can mean add-ons, seats, conversation caps, or a 14-day trial. The homepage number rarely tells you which.

flowchart LR
    need[Need website chat] --> model{Pricing model}

    model --> addon[Free core plus add-ons]
    addon --> tawk["tawk.to"]

    model --> workspace[Flat workspace]
    workspace --> crisp[Crisp]

    model --> perAgent[Per-agent freemium]
    perAgent --> fresh[Freshchat]
    perAgent --> jivo[JivoChat]
    perAgent --> livechat[LiveChat]

    model --> volume[Volume-gated freemium]
    volume --> tidio[Tidio]

    model --> crmBundle[CRM bundle]
    crmBundle --> hubspot[HubSpot]

    model --> trial[Trial into paid suite]
    trial --> zendesk[Zendesk]
    trial --> intercom[Intercom]

Model	Vendors	What you trade
Free core plus add-ons	tawk.to	Unlimited core chat vs branding, voice/video, AI add-ons
Flat workspace	Crisp	Predictable team pricing vs tighter free seat cap
Per-agent freemium	Freshchat, JivoChat, LiveChat	Cheap at tiny scale vs compounding seat cost
Volume-gated freemium	Tidio	Generous agent count vs conversation and flow ceilings
CRM bundle	HubSpot	Free chat tied to CRM limits and HubSpot identity
Trial into suite	Zendesk, Intercom, LiveChat	Full product trial vs no forever-free path

The questions I ask before picking one:

Question	Why it matters
Forever-free or realistic pilot?	HubSpot and tawk.to stay free; Zendesk and Intercom do not
Agent count in 12 months	Freshchat free covers 10; Crisp free covers 2; JivoChat free covers 5 concurrent
Omnichannel now or later?	WhatsApp and social often start one tier above free
CRM-first, support-first, or product-led?	HubSpot, Freshchat/Zendesk, Intercom respectively
EU hosting, SSO, or SCIM?	Crisp and Smartsupp store data in the EU; SSO is rarely on free tiers
AI billing model	Intercom charges per Fin outcome; Zendesk ties AI to resolution usage

HubSpot is free forever, but two users and one inbox get tight fast. Intercom and Zendesk still make sense when you need governance, a proper help center, or regional hosting more than cheap chat volume.

Free tiers at a glance

Provider	Permanent free	Key free limits	Paid entry	Best fit
tawk.to	Yes	Unlimited agents, volume, sites, history, concurrent chats; tawk.to branding unless removed	Core stays free; Remove Branding $39/mo or $348/yr; Video + Voice + Screensharing $49/mo or $348/yr	Zero-budget support, agencies, micro-SaaS
Freshchat	Yes	Up to 10 agents; 100 campaign contacts/account/month; WhatsApp and social on Growth	Growth $19/agent/mo annual; Pro $49; Enterprise $79	Small teams piloting support, then moving to omnichannel
Crisp	Yes	Up to 2 seats; unlimited conversations; no Hugo AI or advanced automation; free history retention unspecified	Mini ~$45/workspace/mo; higher tiers $95 and $295	Solo operators wanting EU hosting and flat workspace pricing
HubSpot	Yes	2 users, 1 inbox, 1,000 contacts; simple bots only; 3 active chats per user default	Starter from $20/seat; promo $10/seat observed on pricing page	CRM-first freelancers already on HubSpot
Tidio	Yes	Up to 10 agents; 50 conversations/month; flows for 100 unique visitors/month; 1 Lyro Guidance and 1 Smart Action; history retention unspecified	Paid plans from ~$29/mo depending on chat, flows, and AI mix	Ecommerce shops with moderate volume and automation needs
JivoChat	Yes	Up to 5 agents online at once; fewer features on Free; chat export on Professional and Enterprise only; branding/history limits unspecified	Basic $28/agent/mo; Professional $42; Enterprise $56	Messenger-heavy SMBs that also want telephony or WhatsApp
Smartsupp	Yes	Free tier exists; agent caps, history retention, and message caps unspecified in reviewed docs	Solo $17/mo annual; tiers at $25, $83, $280	Ecommerce teams wanting session replay and EU-only storage
LiveChat	No	14-day trial; Starter has 1 user and 60-day history	Starter $19/agent/mo annual; Team $49; Business $79	Teams wanting a specialist paid live-chat product
Zendesk	No permanent free tier found	14-day trial; live chat inside Suite with ticketing, help center, voice, AI	Plans from $19/mo; exact chat-equivalent cost depends on Suite package	Maturing support ops with governance and regional hosting needs
Intercom	No	14-day trial; seat pricing plus usage-based Fin outcomes; regional hosting on Advanced/Expert annual only	Essential $29/seat/mo + $0.99 per Fin outcome; Advanced $85; Expert $132	Product-led SaaS wanting messaging, automation, and AI in one stack

tawk.to includes live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, contacts, APIs, and mobile apps on the free plan, with no agent or volume caps on the core product. Data at rest sits in Google data centers in the United States. You live with vendor branding unless you pay to remove it. The free plan is still US-hosted.

Freshchat is the most generous free plan I found for a team. Ten agents on free is enough for a pilot. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and richer routing wait on Growth. Extra Freddy AI usage is billed once you go past the paid allotment.

Tidio looks generous with 10 agents, but 50 conversations per month and 100 flow visitors per month force an upgrade faster than Freshchat on any site with real traffic. Once those ceilings bite, Lyro and flows are how you end up on a paid plan.

Crisp free is tighter on seats than tawk.to or Freshchat. Unlimited conversations on two seats can still work for a solo operator or a pair. Unlimited chat history starts on Mini, so I would not assume free history retention until I checked it in the product.

Smartsupp and JivoChat both have free tiers, but the official snippets I reviewed did not clearly list agent caps, history limits, or branding rules. I would budget as if those limits exist and confirm inside the product.

Pricing models and what forces an upgrade

The usual mistake is comparing list prices without looking at how they bill. There are six billing models in this group.

tawk.to is free core plus paid add-ons. Team size and chat volume do not trigger a bill. Branding control, voice/video/screensharing, and heavier AI Assist usage do. Remove Branding is $39/month or $348 annually. Video + Voice + Screensharing is $49/month or $348 annually. AI Assist has a free Hobby tier with usage caps, then paid tiers above that.

Crisp is flat workspace pricing. You upgrade when you need more than two seats, private notes, proactive triggers, shared email, a custom domain, unlimited history, then ticketing and advanced analytics. Mini starts around $45/workspace/month on the pricing page I reviewed.

Freshchat, LiveChat, and JivoChat bill per agent. At 2-5 agents with modest volume, that can look cheap. At larger teams with a stable workload, Crisp’s workspace model can beat per-agent compounding.

Tidio is volume-gated freemium. Fifty conversations per month or 100 flow visitors per month is when you pay. Paid packaging from about $29/month depends on how much live chat, flows, and AI you need.

Intercom blends seat fees with usage-based AI outcomes. Essential is $29/seat/month plus $0.99 per Fin outcome on the pricing page I reviewed. If Fin handles a lot of conversations, that line item grows with success. Zendesk is doing something similar, with AI resolution fees inside Suite.

On HubSpot, you pay more when you need more users, more inboxes, branding removal, or bot logic beyond simple ticket/lead/meeting flows. Starter shows $20/seat in the product catalog. I also saw a temporary $10/seat promotional price on the public pricing page at research time. Recheck before you buy.

Cheap “omnichannel” entries often cover the web widget and maybe email. WhatsApp, Messenger, richer automation, private help centers, SLA policy, custom routing, and identity controls are one or two tiers higher. You see that in Freshchat, HubSpot, Intercom, and Zendesk, and partly in Crisp too.

Agent-based tools are often cheaper at very small scale. Workspace pricing can win once the team grows and per-agent math starts to hurt. Intercom needs a spreadsheet before you commit. Seat fees and per-outcome AI billing stack in ways a simple per-agent comparison will miss.

Features and integrations

tawk.to is mostly a widget plus a free help center, while HubSpot, Freshchat, Crisp, Zendesk, and Intercom cover more of the support stack.

tawk.to still includes a lot on the free plan: chat, tickets, hosted knowledge base, contacts, unlimited history, JavaScript API, REST API, and mobile apps. I did not find a public mobile SDK in the reviewed docs. Their docs tell developers to embed the widget or a webview instead.

HubSpot connects chat to CRM, inbox, and ticketing. The developer platform, APIs, SDKs, and marketplace are strong for something you can start at $0. Setup is heavier than pasting a snippet once you start routing, bot logic, and identity.

Freshchat is built around a support desk, with a unified agent workspace and omnichannel on paid tiers. Freddy AI is on paid plans. APIs and SDKs are good enough for real integrations.

Crisp starts as a shared inbox and grows into automation, ticketing, analytics, and extra channels on higher tiers. Hugo AI and advanced workflows are paid. It hooks into a lot of SMB tools: WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Webflow, WhatsApp, Instagram, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Zapier, n8n, Twilio SMS, and more.

Intercom, Zendesk, Freshchat, Crisp, HubSpot, and Tidio lean hardest on AI and automation in their docs. Intercom bills Fin with seat pricing plus per-outcome fees. Zendesk bundles AI agents into Suite and prices them against successful automated resolutions. HubSpot limits free bots to ticket, lead, and meeting use cases, with no custom branching. Tidio treats Lyro and flows as a major paid step once free thresholds are exceeded.

Freshchat, Intercom, Zendesk, Crisp, and JivoChat cover more than a web widget. Freshchat puts WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and other digital channels above Free. Zendesk puts live chat inside a Suite that also includes voice. JivoChat puts live chat, social messengers, email, and calls in one operator environment, which matters if the widget is really a sales and telephony hub.

For developer work, HubSpot, Intercom, LiveChat, Crisp, and Freshchat have the fullest API and SDK docs here, including web and mobile. tawk.to has JavaScript and REST APIs, but less on the mobile side.

Crisp Magic Browse is one of the few native co-browsing-style features here, with explicit docs on consent and privacy defaults. It does not expose the visitor’s desktop or files. Smartsupp session video recordings are useful for ecommerce troubleshooting. tawk.to sells video, voice, and screensharing as an add-on. JivoChat has telephony and separate video-call modules.

HubSpot documents website activity, dashboards, and chat-capacity controls. Crisp documents event tracking via its SDK and customer ratings. LiveChat and JivoChat both document file transfer with a 10 MB limit in agent apps. tawk.to documents Geo-IP, engagement tracking, and reporting. Most of the others have some mix of operator apps, visitor tracking, and conversation analytics, but they are less consistent about what they document.

Privacy, security, setup, and reliability

If you cannot store chat transcripts in the US, tawk.to’s free plan is a non-starter no matter how generous the agent cap looks.

Provider	Hosting (from reviewed docs)
Crisp	EU-only; messaging data in the Netherlands, plugin data in Germany
Smartsupp	EU-only data storage
tawk.to	US Google data centers
HubSpot	US, EU, Canada, Australia; paid accounts can migrate to preferred region
Freshworks (Freshchat)	US, Europe, India, Australia; AWS-backed regional hosting
LiveChat	US or EU data-center choice
Zendesk	AWS regions across US, EEA, UK, Asia-Pacific; regional hosting tied to policy and entitlement
Intercom	US, EU, Australia on qualifying plans; region change requires a new workspace
JivoChat	US, Southeast Asia, EU
Tidio	Encryption and GDPR/CCPA alignment documented; specific data region less explicit

tawk.to states encryption in transit and at rest with retention until deletion. Freshworks documents AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2 in transit. Tidio documents HTTPS/TLS, encryption at rest, hashed credentials, and GDPR/CCPA alignment. LiveChat documents 256-bit SSL, secure storage, and credit-card masking. HubSpot and Zendesk point you at trust-center materials rather than a simple feature list. Intercom’s security docs mention SSO, SCIM, 2FA, IP restrictions, and uptime language more explicitly than the others. Which plan you need for which control is less consistent.

SSO is rarely on the free tier. LiveChat, Freshworks, HubSpot, and Intercom publish the clearest SSO documentation. Zendesk’s trust materials describe it as an enterprise governance platform, though exact tiering depends on packaging. Crisp documents 2FA clearly; I did not find an equally clear public SSO doc during this pass. I did not see SSO called out in the free-tier docs for tawk.to, Tidio, Smartsupp, or JivoChat. If you need federated identity, check that before you commit.

You install the widget with copy-paste JavaScript or a CMS plugin almost everywhere. Tidio markets roughly five-minute setup. Routing, channel rules, identity, analytics, the data model, and regional hosting are where the time goes. HubSpot is heavier than the “free chat” branding suggests. Zendesk and Intercom take the most work to run well.

tawk.to talks about globally distributed architecture on Google Cloud. Crisp runs EU-hosted core storage and relay servers outside the EU for latency. Intercom Fin claims redundancy across regions and a 99.8% SLA in the materials I reviewed. A free tool can still stay up, but you usually do not get a published SLA or a security review packet.

A 2024 TechRadar review of tawk.to called it exceptional value for a free live-chat solution, while noting that some competitors are better on mobile and AI depth. That matches the docs I read: tawk.to is the best free core. The paid suites are stronger on AI and extra channels, and they are the ones with SSO docs and a security review packet.

What to pick by team size

Solo freelancer or side project

My default is tawk.to. No other vendor I reviewed documents a free plan that is unlimited on agents, history, volume, sites, and concurrent chats. Everyone else caps something or runs a trial.

Choose Crisp instead if privacy or EU hosting matters, or if you expect to grow into a shared inbox and prefer flat workspace pricing over maximizing the free plan.

Choose HubSpot only if chat is lead capture and you already run HubSpot. Two users and one inbox work for a freelancer. They break down once support is a team.

Smartsupp is worth a look for ecommerce side projects where session video recordings help you debug checkout friction, if EU-only storage fits and you verify the unspecified free-tier limits in the product.

Small business with 5-20 agents

My default is Freshchat. The free plan lets you pilot with up to 10 agents. Growth at $19/agent/month adds more channels, dashboards, routing, and administration. You are not buying an enterprise suite on day one.

Tidio is the option I would try next if support is ecommerce-heavy and conversation volume stays modest. The 50-conversation and 100-flow-visitor free ceilings mean you usually hit paid faster than with Freshchat.

Crisp is worth costing out at this team size if you want flatter pricing and clear EU hosting, especially once per-agent tools start compounding.

JivoChat fits sales-led or messenger-heavy SMBs that also want calling or WhatsApp in the same operator environment. Free covers five agents online at once, but export stays limited until Professional or Enterprise.

Startup scaling to 50+ agents

My default is Zendesk. It is the better fit when you need ticketing, live chat, a help center, voice, AI, a security review, and region-aware hosting in one place.

Intercom is the better choice when the widget is part of a wider system: onboarding, product support, proactive messages, and AI handoff. Model Fin usage carefully. Seat fees plus per-outcome billing can improve the customer experience. They can also make the invoice harder to forecast.

LiveChat is still solid if you specifically want paid live chat. I would not pick it as the main support system for a 50+ agent org.

Migration and decision checklists

Confirm your data model, exports, routing, identity assumptions, and success metrics before you swap the snippet.

Crisp says it can migrate chats, help-center articles, and contacts. Tidio publishes migration guides from Zendesk, LiveChat, and Intercom. Intercom’s regional-hosting documentation says changing region requires a new workspace and a manual transfer, not an in-place migration. JivoChat chat export is limited to Professional and Enterprise, which can make leaving painful if you did not plan for it.

flowchart LR
    A["Audit channels, agents, KPIs, privacy requirements"] --> B["Export chats, contacts, articles, macros"]
    B --> C[Clean data and retire obsolete rules]
    C --> D["Map inboxes, tags, automations, and ownership"]
    D --> E[Pilot on one site or one channel]
    E --> F[Train agents and run dual support briefly]
    F --> G["Cut over widget, snippets, channel routing"]
    G --> H["Validate history, analytics, consent, and escalation"]

Migration checklist:

Confirm what must move: chats, contacts, tickets, articles, macros, tags, CSAT history, and analytics baselines.
Confirm what cannot move cleanly: social-channel history, region moves, AI training data, and bot logic are the usual problem areas.
Freeze your taxonomy before export. Teams that migrate bad tags and bad canned replies just recreate the old mess.
Pilot with one web property or one channel first.
Train agents on routing, handoff rules, mobile usage, and privacy prompts before cutover.
Keep your old KPI baseline for at least one reporting cycle so you can tell whether the new tool is actually better.

Decision checklist:

Do you need forever-free, or just a realistic pilot?
How many agents will you have in 12 months, not just at launch?
Do you need WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, SMS, or voice now, or only later?
Is chat for CRM, support, or product messaging?
Are EU-only hosting, regional residency, SSO, or SCIM mandatory?
Do you need co-browsing, session replay, or voice/video escalation?
Are you comfortable with usage-based AI pricing, or do you need cost predictability?

Gaps in the public docs

Smartsupp and JivoChat were the thinnest on free-tier details. I could not find clear public numbers for retention, branding removal, or concurrent chat limits on either site. Crisp and Tidio were better, but still left gaps on the items that usually decide whether “free” survives past launch week.

HubSpot had promo pricing on the public page when I wrote this. Treat the dollar figures as a snapshot from the day I checked the page.

I did not run a side-by-side delivery test across all ten vendors. Reliability notes here come from each vendor’s docs and trust pages. TechRadar’s 2024 tawk.to review was the only third-party write-up I leaned on heavily.