Chatlio vs Text by LiveChat (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Chatlio and Text by LiveChat share a 2.4 GPA, neither has a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about value for money, where Chatlio grades higher, or platforms, where Text by LiveChat does.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Chatlio
Website live chat that your team answers from Slack, Teams or Discord
Text by LiveChat
Website chat, ticketing and an AI agent from the LiveChat team
Which one is for you
Pick Chatlio if
- Fits if your team already lives in Slack, Teams or Discord
- Works for a small site that wants live chat and nothing else
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want triggers, saved replies or bots, because Mini lacks them and Team is $70
- Tight if you get many chats, as plans cap conversations from 250 up to 20,000 a month
- Not for you if you want a mobile app of its own, since replies happen inside your chat app
- Watch out: Slack restricted accounts and single-channel guests cannot answer without an invite to each channel
- Watch out: Team's $70 is shown as a launch price, with $100 as the regular price
Pick Text by LiveChat if
- Fits if you sell online and want chat that shows what a shopper has in their cart
- Works for teams who answer from desktops as well as phones
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you need unlimited chat history or multilingual chat, as both wait on Growth at $79 a user
- Not for you if you want a help center or phone support in the same tool
- Tight if your AI agent gets busy, since Essential has 10 resolutions a month and 50 more cost $49.50
- Watch out: Essential gives 5 AI reply suggestions per user a month, tracks 50 live visitors and allows 3 campaigns
- Skip it if you're on an older LiveChat plan and want Text features, as they aren't part of those plans
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAChatlioFair | 2.4GPAText by LiveChatFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$30 a month for 2 operators, $15 each, inside the category's cheaper quarter of $19. Team is $70 for 5. | CEssential is $19 a user a month billed yearly ($25 monthly), between the cheaper quarter and the middle of help desks. It already has chat, tickets and an AI agent, but only 10 AI resolutions a month, and the next plan, Growth, is $79 a user. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 30-day free trial on every plan with no card needed. No free plan. | CA 14-day free trial of Essential or Growth with no card needed. There's no free plan, and once it ends every person who answers chats or tickets needs a paid seat. |
| Features | CLive chat, styling, visitor context, hours and an API. It does that job fully, but it is a smaller job than a help desk, with no ticketing. | CWebsite chat that shows who's browsing and what's in their cart, one inbox for chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and email, tickets, an AI agent and reply help. The gaps: no help center or phone channel on the listing, and Essential keeps 60 days of history. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You install the widget and link a chat app. | CNo store rating on record. You add the chat box to your site, connect each channel and point the AI agent at your knowledge sources before it does much on its own. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb widget answered through Slack, Teams or Discord, with an API and webhooks, but no app of its own. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android apps for agents, with Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Webflow, WhatsApp, Instagram and Klaviyo, and an API. Every device type is covered. |
| Best for | website chat answered from Slack | website chat with an AI agent included |
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: Chatlio and Text by LiveChat. How we grade
Price against what you get
Chatlio starts at $30 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Text by LiveChat starts at $19 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Text by LiveChat scores higher and starts $11 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 22 score higher than Chatlio for less, and 1 scores higher than Text by LiveChat for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Chatlio also covers shared inbox, workflow automation and chatbots.
- Text by LiveChat also covers help desk and AI support agent.
At a glance
| Chatlio | Text by LiveChat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly | $19 per user / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of Essential or Growth, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Chatlio LLC | Text, Inc. |
| Price read from | chatlio.com | livechat.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Chatlio
- Replies happen inside Slack, Teams or Discord; there is no separate Chatlio mobile app.
- Mini has no triggers, saved replies, custom bots or white-label widget; those start at Team.
- Slack restricted accounts and single-channel guests cannot answer chats without being invited to each one.
- Plans cap conversations per month, from 250 on Mini to 20,000 on Scale.
Text by LiveChat
- New sign-ups now get Text plans; the older LiveChat plans stay only for existing customers, and Text features are not part of them.
- AI resolutions beyond the monthly allowance (10 on Essential, 200 on Growth) cost $49.50 per pack of 50.
- There is no free plan, and every person who answers chats or tickets needs a paid seat.
- Essential keeps chat and file history for 60 days and tracks 50 live visitors; unlimited history and multilingual chat need Growth.
Key features
Chatlio
- Answer chats from Slack, Teams or Discord
- Each visitor conversation opens in its own channel, so several teammates can join one chat and several chats can run at once.
- Widget styling and CSS access
- Every plan allows unlimited domains, full widget customization and CSS changes; the Team plan and up adds a white-label widget.
- Triggers and pre-chat questions
- Automatic chat invitations, pre-chat questions for lead qualification and saved replies are included from the Team plan.
- Visitor context
- Operators see where the visitor is on the site, their location, browser and operating system, plus data sent with the JavaScript identify call.
- Operating hours and offline mode
- Set hours for the widget; outside them it can show an email form or hide itself.
- API and webhooks
- A widget API, server API and webhooks come on every plan, for example to export transcripts to other systems.
Text by LiveChat
- Website chat with visitor tracking
- A chat widget for websites and stores that shows who is browsing, which pages they view and, for Shopify stores, what is in their cart.
- One inbox for several channels
- Website chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS through Twilio and email arrive in one inbox, with a ticketing system for follow-ups, on every plan.
- AI Agent
- Answers customers from your knowledge sources and hands over to a person. Essential includes 1 agent and 10 resolutions a month, Growth 10 agents and 200.
- AI Copilot for agents
- Suggests replies and edits text for the team: 5 suggestions per user a month on Essential and 50 on Growth, which also adds chat and ticket summaries.
- Proactive campaigns
- Chat invitations and cart recovery messages shown to visitors, with sales reports tied to chats. Essential allows 3 campaigns and Growth 30.
- Apps for desktop and phone
- Agents can work in a browser or in apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.
Plans
Chatlio
Mini$30
per month for up to 2 operators, billed monthly
2 operators, 1 widget and 250 conversations a month, with reports, API and webhooks.
Team$70
per month for up to 5 operators, billed monthly
5 operators, 2 widgets, 2,000 conversations; adds triggers, saved replies, bots. Shown as a launch price; regular $100.
Business$200
per month for up to 15 operators, billed monthly
15 operators, 10 widgets, 6,000 conversations a month and priority support.
Scale$500
per month for up to 50 operators, billed monthly
50 operators, 25 widgets, 20,000 conversations a month, invoice payment and a direct line to the founder.
Text by LiveChat
Essential$19
per user / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
Chat, inbox and ticketing, 1 AI Agent with 10 AI resolutions a month, 50 live visitors tracked, 3 proactive campaigns and 60 days of chat history.
Growth$79
per user / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
Adds 10 AI Agents and 200 AI resolutions a month, chat supervision, shared canned replies, unlimited history, 400 live visitors and team reports.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom AI agents built for you, flexible usage limits, a white-label widget, SSO and audit logs, SLAs and a dedicated account team. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
Chatlio
No public discounts listed.
Text by LiveChat
- Annual discount
About 20% to 24% off with annual billing
The pricing page puts the annual saving at about 24% on Essential ($19 against $25 per user a month) and about 20% on Growth ($79 against $99).
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Chatlio or Text by LiveChat?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Chatlio starts at $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly, and Text by LiveChat starts at $19 per user / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Chatlio or Text by LiveChat?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Chatlio nor Text by LiveChat has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
Which platforms do Chatlio and Text by LiveChat run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Text by LiveChat 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.