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Crisp vs Chatwoot vs Intercom
Crisp, Chatwoot, Intercom side by side: price, free tier, who each one fits and when to skip it.
| Item | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | Chat widget for your site and a shared inbox for email, WhatsApp, Instagram and other channels, priced per workspace. | Open source support inbox for site chat, email, WhatsApp and social channels, in the cloud or on your own server. | Help desk with in-app chat, email and an AI agent (Fin) that answers customers on its own, charged per seat plus per resolution. |
| Best for | A small SaaS team that wants live chat on the site and its WhatsApp in one inbox without paying per seat. | A SaaS that wants to plug the official WhatsApp API into a shared inbox and host it on its own server to avoid paying per seat. | A SaaS with thousands of users and repetitive questions that wants an AI agent to close tickets before a human sees them. |
| Skip it if | You need WhatsApp from day one on a tight budget: the channel starts at the $95/month Essentials plan. | Nobody on the team wants to run servers: self-hosting means keeping Postgres, Redis and upgrades alive yourself. | You're pre-revenue: there's no free plan, seats and AI resolutions are billed in dollars, and WhatsApp costs extra per use. |
| Setup | A little code. Site chat in 15 minutes; WhatsApp depends on Meta verification, so plan a few days to 2 weeks. | A little code. Cloud site chat in 15 minutes; self-hosting takes a day for someone used to servers; WhatsApp adds Meta's verification on top. | A little code. Chat in your app in an afternoon; give Fin a week of testing on your real questions before trusting it. |
| Price | Mini at $45/month per workspace with 4 seats; Essentials at $95/month. | Startups at $19/agent/month in the cloud, with all channels. | Essential at $29/seat/month ($19 with the new-customer discount), plus $0.99 per Fin AI outcome. |
| What it costs in practice | SaaS with 3 people answering chat and email: Mini at $45/month. Add WhatsApp and it's Essentials at $95/month plus Meta's per-message rate on templates. Estimated. | SaaS with 3 agents on the cloud Startups plan: 3 × $19 = $57/month, plus Meta's WhatsApp rate. Self-hosted Community: $0 in licenses, you pay only the server and Meta. Estimated. | SaaS with 3 agents on Essential: 3 × $29 = $87. Fin resolving 300 conversations: 300 × $0.99 = $297. About $384/month, or $354 with the 35% new-customer price. Estimated. |
| Free plan | Free forever with 2 seats, 100 customer profiles and the site chat widget. | Cloud Hacker plan free for 2 agents and 500 conversations/month (site chat only); self-hosted Community edition free. | No free plan; 14-day free trial with no credit card. |
| Free tier | 2 seats, 100 customer profiles | 2 agents, 500 conversations/month | No free plan (14-day trial) |
| First paid plan | $45/month per workspace (4 seats) | $19/agent/month | $29/seat/month + $0.99 per AI outcome |
| Channels | Chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS | Chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram | Chat, email, in-app; WhatsApp, SMS, phone extra |
| Open source | No: no | Yes: yes | No: no |
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| Price checked | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing | Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing |
Prices are read from each official pricing page on the date shown and can change. Always confirm before signing up.
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