Best live chat software for small teams: 7 tools compared on price and AI

Best live chat software: the short list

The best live chat software for a small team is LiveChat when people staff the chat and want an AI Agent on every plan, tawk.to when chat should be free, Tidio when the price should follow conversations, and Zendesk when one help desk should cover email and messaging. LiveChat Essential is $25 per user a month, billed monthly, or $19 billed annually, as read on 7 October 2026.

On LiveChat's pricing page, new trials are Text plans, which it calls "the next product from the team behind LiveChat". An AI Agent is software that answers chats on its own from the knowledge you give it, and each LiveChat plan includes at least one. The table sets seven tools side by side, each price on its own billing basis.

How these tools charge: seats, conversations or nothing

LiveChat, Zendesk, Help Scout, LiveAgent and HubSpot charge per user or seat. Tidio charges by billable conversations, meaning conversations that include a message from a human agent. tawk.to charges nothing for core chat and sells four add-ons, so it has no seat fee.

On monthly billing, LiveAgent Small is $19 per agent, LiveChat Essential is $25 per user, Help Scout Standard is $30 per user and Zendesk Suite Team is $69 per agent; HubSpot's Starter list price, $20 per seat, has no billing basis printed. Zendesk's live chat starts on Suite Team; its Support Team plan, $25 per agent billed monthly, is email and ticketing.

LiveChat bills every user who logs in to answer chats or tickets, with no minimum team size, and tawk.to is priced per property, not per seat.

Billing basis matters for LiveChat: annual billing means paying 12 months upfront, while monthly billing has no long-term contract and can be canceled any time. That is why the table shows both figures.

AI agents: what each includes and what extra answers cost

LiveChat counts AI resolutions: a conversation in which the AI Agent directly solves at least one customer question, counted once however many questions it solves. Essential includes 10 a month, Growth includes 200 and a pack of 50 more costs $49.50.

Zendesk includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Suite Team and sells extra ones at $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Help Scout's AI Answers add-on is $0.75 per resolution, with 3 months of free resolutions at sign-up. tawk.to's AI Assist add-on is $29 a month with a forever-free tier for limited volume. Tidio's AI agent, Lyro, gives the first 50 conversations free for life.

Free plans and trials

tawk.to's core chat is free and needs no trial. HubSpot says its live chat and chatbot builder start free with no credit card. Tidio's Free plan covers 50 billable conversations, and Help Scout's Free plan covers 5 users. Best free live chat for website sets out where each free plan stops.

LiveChat has no free plan; its 14-day trial of Essential or Growth and Help Scout's 15-day trial both start without a card. Zendesk's 14-day trial opens on Suite Professional, a higher plan than the Suite Team price in the table, and LiveAgent gives 30 days.

At the end of LiveChat's trial you choose a plan and a billing period and add a payment method; your workspace, chat history and settings carry over, and LiveChat says nothing is charged automatically.

Best for each kind of small team

• LiveChat for a staffed team that wants an AI Agent, tickets and a Shopify live catalog in one plan. The limit: no free plan, and routing rules need Growth. The LiveChat review covers the rest.
• tawk.to for a solo owner on no budget. The limit: the tawk.to badge stays unless you pay for Whitelabel.
• Tidio for a store that wants to pay by conversation volume. The limit: every conversation with a human reply counts toward the 100.
• HubSpot for a team whose contacts already live in HubSpot's CRM. The limit: the free live chat carries HubSpot branding.
• Help Scout for a team that works from an email inbox and wants live chat beside it. The limit: AI answers are billed per resolution.
• LiveAgent for the lowest per-agent price in the table. The limit: proactive chat invitations are listed from its Medium plan.
• Zendesk for one help desk across email and messaging. The limit: live chat starts on Suite Team, not Support Team.

A team of one to three can start with best live chat software for small business, and LiveChat alternatives lists more rivals.