Chatlio vs Tidio (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Tidio: it is second in our ranking of help desk and live chat tools, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 2.4.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Tidio grades higher on value for money, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
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
Tidio
Live chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations
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 Tidio if
- Fits if you run a small Shopify or WordPress store and want chat on the site
- Works for up to 10 people sharing support, since seats aren't charged one by one
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you get lots of chats, as Growth climbs to $349 a month at 2,000 conversations
- Not for you if you need a help center or phone support in the same tool
- Tight if you have more than 10 agents, since more seats need Plus from $300 a month plus usage
- Watch out: Lyro's 50 free conversations come once; after that it's $39 a month for 50, up to $700 for 1,000
- Watch out: Flows reach 100 visitors a month free, and more cost from $29 a month for 2,000
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAChatlioFair | 3.2GPATidioVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | AGrowth, from 250 conversations, is $49.17 a month billed yearly for the whole team, about $9.83 a head for five, just under 60% of what the cheaper quarter of help desks charges. Starter is $24.17 for 100 conversations, under $5 a head. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 30-day free trial on every plan with no card needed. No free plan. | CA free plan with 10 seats, live chat, ticketing and the social channels, plus a 7-day trial with no card. The cap you'll hit is 50 answered conversations a month, and Lyro's 50 free conversations come once, not monthly. |
| 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. | CLive chat with a visitor list, one inbox for five channels, ticketing, the Lyro AI agent, rule-based Flows and AI reply help. But the listing has no help center or phone support, and ongoing Lyro use is an add-on from $39 a month. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You install the widget and link a chat app. | A4.76 from 4,767 App Store ratings, the top band for support apps. Adding the chat box to a Shopify or WordPress store is what it's built around. |
| 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, WordPress, Zendesk, Salesforce and Zapier, and an API. That's every device type covered. |
| Best for | website chat answered from Slack | live chat for small online stores |
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 Tidio. 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. Tidio starts at $24.17 a month and scores 3.3.
Tidio scores higher and starts $5.83 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 22 score higher than Chatlio for less, and none scores higher than Tidio 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.
- Tidio also covers help desk and AI support agent.
At a glance
| Chatlio | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly | $24.17 per month for 100 conversations, billed annually ($29 monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 50 billable conversations a month and 10 seats, with live chat, ticketing, email, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, 50 one-off Lyro AI conversations and 100 Flows visitors a month. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required | 7-day free trial of all plans and add-ons, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Chatlio LLC | Tidio LLC |
| Price read from | chatlio.com | tidio.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.
Tidio
- Plans are capped by conversations a human answers: 50 a month free, 100 on Starter and up to 2,000 on Growth; above that is Plus, from $300 a month plus usage.
- Lyro is free for 50 conversations once; ongoing use is an add-on from $39 a month for 50 conversations, up to $700 for 1,000, on monthly billing.
- Free, Starter and Growth are limited to 10 seats; more seats need Plus.
- Flows reach 100 visitors a month free; more cost from $29 a month for 2,000 visitors on monthly billing.
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.
Tidio
- Live chat widget
- A chat box for websites and stores, with a list of visitors on the site right now, operating hours and live video calls.
- One inbox for every channel
- Chat, email, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp conversations arrive in a single inbox, with a ticketing system for issues that need follow-up.
- Lyro AI Agent
- Answers questions from your FAQ and website content and hands off to a person. It can also be bought alone and added to Zendesk or Salesforce.
- Flows
- Rule-based chat automations built in a visual editor from sales and FAQ templates, such as quote requests or capturing missed conversations.
- AI reply help
- An AI reply assistant and Copilot help agents write answers; Premium adds Advanced Copilot, AI insights and CSAT.
- Apps on every platform
- 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.
Tidio
Free$0
50 billable conversations a month and 10 seats, with live chat, ticketing, social channels and 50 Lyro AI conversations for the life of the account.
Starter$24.17
per month for 100 conversations, billed annually ($29 monthly)
100 billable conversations a month and 10 seats, adding a live visitors list, operating hours and basic analytics.
Growth$49.17
per month from 250 conversations, billed annually ($59 monthly)
Adds advanced analytics, permissions, auto-assignment and macros. The price rises with volume, to $349 a month at 2,000 conversations on monthly billing.
Plus$300
per month, plus usage for AI and human conversations
Custom limits and seat counts, departments, several projects, custom branding, ticketing automations, OpenAPI and a success manager. Sold through sales.
PremiumCustom
From 3,000 Lyro conversations with a guaranteed 50% resolution rate, pay-per-resolution billing, a mobile SDK, SSO and Lyro run as a managed service.
Ways to pay less
Chatlio
No public discounts listed.
Tidio
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
Tidio's pricing page gives two months free on annual billing: Starter works out to $24.17 a month billed annually against $29 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Chatlio or Tidio?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Tidio is cheaper to start with: $24.17 a month, against $30 a month for Chatlio. Chatlio starts at $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly, and Tidio starts at $24.17 per month for 100 conversations, billed annually ($29 monthly).
Which has a free plan, Chatlio or Tidio?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Tidio has a free plan. Chatlio does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Chatlio and Tidio run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Tidio 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.