Crisp vs Tiledesk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Crisp grades higher than Tiledesk: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Crisp grades higher on value for money, features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Crisp
Live chat and shared inbox priced per workspace, not per seat
Tiledesk
Open-source live chat and AI agent builder for support teams
Which one is for you
Pick Crisp if
- Fits if you want one flat monthly price instead of per-conversation billing
- Works for a team of up to 4 on a Shopify, WooCommerce or WordPress store that mostly needs chat and email
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're on your own, since the first paid plan is $45 a month
- Pricey if you need WhatsApp, Instagram or a help center, as they start on Essentials at $95 a month
- Tight if you lean on the AI agent, as Mini's $5 of credits covers around 90 conversations and top-up prices aren't listed
- Tight if you stay free: 2 seats, chat and a contact form only, 100 customer profiles and no AI
- Watch out: ticketing needs Plus at $295, and a workspace connects one account per messaging channel
Pick Tiledesk if
- Fits if you want an open-source agent builder you could self-host
- Works for teams that want AI answers with a human taking over
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you are one person: the cheapest plan is €124 a month for 3 users
- Tight on limits: Pro has 3,000 conversations and 5M AI tokens a month
- Watch out: Business is sold through contact sales, and prices are shown in euros only
- Watch out: a white-label option is quoted separately
How we grade them
| 2.6GPACrispGood | 2.0GPATiledeskFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CMini is $45 a month for 4 seats, about $11 each, but $45 for one person. A team of five needs Essentials at $95 for 10 seats, $19 a head, a little under the middle of help desks. That's also where WhatsApp, Instagram and a help center start. | D€124 a month on yearly billing (€149 monthly) for 3 users, against $110 for the dearest tenth of customer-support tools. A solo user still pays that floor. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan with 2 seats, the chat widget, a contact form and the apps, plus a 14-day trial. The cap you'll hit is 100 customer profiles, and there's no email channel and no AI. | C14 days free with no card, and the code is open source, but there is no free hosted plan. |
| Features | BChat with a live visitor map, a shared inbox for email, social, WhatsApp, SMS and phone, the Hugo AI agent, a chatbot and workflow builder and a multilingual help center. Across the plans it covers the job, though ticketing needs Plus. | CA visual agent designer, a knowledge base, human handoff and channels. The listing shows caps on AI tokens and conversations, and no ticketing or help center is named. |
| Ease of use | C4.43 from 522 App Store ratings, below most support apps here. The chat box is quick to add, but the chatbot builder and channel connections take setting up. | CNo store rating on record. You build agents in a designer and train them on your content. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android apps, with Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, Slack, HubSpot, Zapier, Stripe and Salesforce, and an API. Every device type is covered. | BWeb only, with WhatsApp, Messenger, Shopify and Google Calendar connections. |
| Best for | flat-priced chat and inbox for small teams | open-source AI chat agents with human handoff |
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: Crisp and Tiledesk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Crisp starts at $45 a month and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Tiledesk starts at about $138.53 a month and scores 2.3.
Crisp scores higher and starts $93.53 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 2 score higher than Crisp for less, and 33 score higher than Tiledesk 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
- Tiledesk is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Crisp also covers shared inbox and help center.
- Tiledesk also covers whatsApp messaging and chatbots.
At a glance
| Crisp | Tiledesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $45 per workspace / month, with 4 seats | €124 per month for 3 users, billed annually (€149 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 2 seats, the website chat widget, a contact form and shared inbox, mobile and desktop apps, store integrations and 100 customer profiles. No AI credits. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of any plan | 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Crisp IM SAS | Tiledesk S.r.l. |
| Price read from | crisp.chat | tiledesk.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Crisp
- The Free plan has 2 seats, chat and contact forms only, 100 customer profiles and no AI.
- AI use is capped by credits: $5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials and $75 on Plus. The pricing page does not say what extra credits cost.
- WhatsApp, Instagram, a help center and analytics need Essentials at $95 a month; ticketing and white labelling need Plus.
- A workspace connects one account per messaging channel; more require higher limits. Agents beyond 20 on Plus cost $10 a month each.
Tiledesk
- Pro and Business plans cap AI tokens and monthly conversations; Business is sold through a contact-sales button.
- Prices are shown in euros only.
- Users included are limited to 3 on Pro and 5 on Business.
- A white-label option for agencies and vendors is quoted separately.
Key features
Crisp
- Chat widget
- A customizable chat box for websites with a live visitor map, proactive messages and, from Essentials, video and audio chat and live translation.
- Shared inbox for every channel
- Chat, contact forms, email, Messenger, Telegram and X from Mini; WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, Viber, LINE and phone from Essentials.
- Hugo AI agent
- An AI agent answers customers from Mini up, paid from included AI credits. Essentials adds knowledge training, an internal copilot and writing help.
- Chatbot and workflow builder
- A no-code builder for AI chatbots and automated flows with conditions, webhooks and CRM triggers, from the Essentials plan.
- Help center
- A multilingual help center with its own domain, search and SEO settings, included from Essentials.
- Unlimited conversations
- Every plan is a flat monthly price per workspace with no cap on the number of conversations handled.
Tiledesk
- Visual AI agent designer
- Design Studio builds conversation flows without code, with prompt chains and multiple agents that can hand off to each other.
- Knowledge base with RAG
- Several separate knowledge repositories, hybrid full-text and semantic search, guardrails and search fallbacks.
- Human handoff and agent assist
- AI agents escalate complex chats to people with context, and suggest replies and article links to human agents.
- Multichannel deployment
- One agent can run on the web widget, WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger and voice.
- Shopify and calendar use cases
- A Shopify connection syncs the product catalog into chat, and appointment agents link to Google or Outlook calendars.
- Open source and on-premise
- The stack is open source, with an on-premise version that can be installed on your own servers or private cloud, plus open APIs and webhooks.
Plans
Crisp
Free$0
2 seats, website chat and a contact form in a shared inbox, 100 customer profiles and Shopify, WooCommerce and WordPress links. No AI.
Mini$45
per workspace / month, with 4 seats
Adds email, Telegram, Messenger and X, canned replies, internal notes, full history and the AI Agent with $5 of credits, around 90 automated conversations.
Essentials$95
per workspace / month, with 10 seats
Adds WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS and phone, a help center, a workflow and chatbot builder, analytics, round-robin and $25 of AI credits (about 450).
Plus$295
per workspace / month for 20 seats, plus $10 per extra agent
Adds a ticketing portal, white labelling, Stripe and Salesforce, AI spam filter and summaries, and $75 of AI credits, around 1,350 automated conversations.
EnterpriseCustom
A custom plan arranged with Crisp for larger needs.
Tiledesk
Pro€124
per month for 3 users, billed annually (€149 billed monthly)
20 AI agents, 5M AI tokens and 3,000 conversations a month, 300 knowledge base items and priority support.
Business€416
per month for 5 users, billed annually (€499 billed monthly)
50 AI agents, 10M AI tokens and 5,000 conversations a month, 1,000 knowledge base items, dedicated support.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited users, agents, tokens, conversations and knowledge base items, with an SLA and an account manager.
Ways to pay less
Crisp
- Nonprofit
50% off for nonprofits
Crisp's pricing FAQ offers nonprofits a 50% discount through a promo code requested in chat.
- Education
50% off for students
Crisp's pricing FAQ offers students a 50% discount through a promo code requested in chat.
- Other savings
20% off extra workspaces
Accounts paying for several Essentials or Plus workspaces can get 20% off three additional workspaces by asking Crisp in chat.
Tiledesk
- Annual discount
2 months free on yearly billing
The pricing page says yearly billing gives 2 months free: Pro is €124 a month billed yearly against €149 monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Crisp or Tiledesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Crisp is cheaper to start with: $45 a month, against about $138.53 a month for Tiledesk. Crisp starts at $45 per workspace / month, with 4 seats, and Tiledesk starts at €124 per month for 3 users, billed annually (€149 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Crisp or Tiledesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Crisp has a free plan. Tiledesk does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Crisp and Tiledesk run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Crisp 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.