Acquire vs tawk.to (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick tawk.to: it is third in our ranking of help desk and live chat tools, and it grades higher too, 3.0 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
tawk.to grades higher on value for money, the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Acquire
Customer support platform with live chat, SMS, email and video
tawk.to
Free live chat, ticketing and help center, with paid add-ons
Which one is for you
Pick Acquire if
- Fits if your support team wants chat, SMS and email in one workspace
- Works for teams that sometimes need a video session with a customer
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price on the page, as none is shown
- Watch out: the bot, cross-channel conversations, video recording and task management are listed as coming soon
- Not for you if you need to know the trial terms, because they aren't stated
- Watch out: tailored professional services are sold separately
Pick tawk.to if
- Fits if you want chat on your site and don't want to pay per seat
- Works for anyone who'd rather hire someone to answer chats, at $1 an hour
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if the "Powered by tawk.to" badge bothers you, as removing it costs $29 a month per site
- Watch out: AI Assist is free only for limited volume; paid plans start at $29 a month
- Not for you if you need phone support, as voice agents (from $49 a month plus usage) were still waitlist-only
- Too light for teams that need lots of integrations, with only Shopify and WordPress listed and no API
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAAcquireWeak | 3.0GPAtawk.toVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published; the page points to sales or a demo. | AThe whole platform is free, chat, inbox, tickets, help center and CRM, with no seat charges, which is free and substantial. You'd pay only for add-ons: $29 a month for the AI agent or for removing the badge. |
| Free plan and trial | DA free trial is offered but its length and terms aren't stated. No free plan. | AFree outright for every seat, with no cap on chats in the listing. The catch is the "Powered by tawk.to" badge on your widget, chat page and help center, which costs $29 a month per site to remove. |
| Features | CLive messaging, workflows, queues, SLAs, video and reporting. A bot, cross-channel conversations and task management are marked coming soon. | CWebsite chat, chat pages for businesses without a site, an inbox for chat, email and forms, tickets, a help center, a CRM, and people you can hire to answer for $1 an hour. The gap: no phone, as voice agents were still waitlist-only. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Workflows and routing queues to set up. | CNo store rating on record. It's free to start, but you still paste the chat box into your site, set up the help center and, if you want it, teach the AI agent. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, and the listing names no integrations. | BWeb, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android apps, so every device is covered. What keeps it off an A is the connections: the listing names just Shopify and WordPress, and no API. |
| Best for | chat, SMS and email in one agent workspace | free website chat for any size of team |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Acquire and tawk.to. How we grade
Where they differ
- Acquire also covers shared inbox, workflow automation and video calls.
- tawk.to also covers help desk, help center and AI support agent.
At a glance
| Acquire | tawk.to | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $29 per month for the AI Assist or Whitelabel add-on |
| Free plan | None | The whole platform is free: live chat, inbox, ticketing, knowledge base, chat pages and CRM, with no seat charges. A "Powered by tawk.to" badge stays unless removed for a fee. |
| Free trial | The site offers a free trial; its length is not stated | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Acquire | tawk.to |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | tawk.to |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Acquire
- No prices are published; the pricing page lists features under a self-service and an integrated solution and points to contacting sales or booking a demo.
- The pricing page marks a bot, cross-channel conversations, video recording and task management as coming soon.
- The free trial is offered on the site, but its length and terms are not stated on the pages read.
- Tailored professional services are sold separately.
tawk.to
- Removing the "Powered by tawk.to" badge from the widget, chat page and knowledge base costs $29 a month per property.
- AI Assist is free only for limited volume; paid plans start at $29 a month.
- Hired chat agents cost $1 an hour and dedicated virtual assistants from $7 an hour.
- Voice Agents (from $49 a month plus usage) and Data Enrichment (from $59 a month) were waitlist-only when read.
Key features
Acquire
- Live messaging
- A chat widget for websites, with SMS and email channels in the same conversation view.
- Unified agent view
- Shows the whole conversation history and customer information in one place and lets an agent switch between chat, SMS and email.
- Workflows and API
- API-based workflows bring customer information from other systems into the conversation and drive prioritization and self-service.
- Queues, SLAs and routing
- Customers can be prioritized by type, wait time or custom attributes, with SLA alerts and several routing setups.
- Video support
- A live video session can be launched from a chat on either the agent's or the customer's side.
- Reporting
- The pricing page lists reporting and customer-data import and export among its features.
tawk.to
- Live chat widget
- A chat box for websites that can be styled to match a brand, plus chat pages that turn a link into a conversation for businesses without a site.
- Inbox and ticketing
- Chat, email, form and messaging conversations arrive in one dashboard, with free ticketing for issues that need follow-up.
- Knowledge base
- A free hosted help center where customers can look up answers, which the AI Assist add-on also draws on.
- AI Assist
- AI agents and workflows that answer routine questions and hand off to a person with the conversation's history attached.
- Hired chat agents
- Trained human agents who answer chats on your behalf around the clock for $1 an hour, offered as a paid service.
- CRM and pipeline
- Contact records built from conversations, segments and tags, a deal pipeline and booking activities in the same dashboard.
Plans
Acquire
Pricing could not be confirmed. See acquire.io.
tawk.to
Free$0
Live chat widget, shared inbox, ticketing, a hosted knowledge base, chat pages and contacts, with the tawk.to badge shown. AI Assist has a free tier for limited volume.
AI Assist$29
per month and up
Add-on: AI agents that answer from your knowledge base and AI workflows that route and follow up, handing off to a person when needed.
Whitelabel$29
per property / month
Add-on: removes the tawk.to badge and puts the chat page, knowledge base and ticketing emails on your own domain and address.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Acquire or tawk.to?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Acquire has no price we could confirm, and tawk.to starts at $29 per month for the AI Assist or Whitelabel add-on.
Which has a free plan, Acquire or tawk.to?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only tawk.to has a free plan. Acquire does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Acquire and tawk.to run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only tawk.to lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.