Tidio vs Tiledesk (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 2.0.
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.
Tidio
Live chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations
Tiledesk
Open-source live chat and AI agent builder for support teams
Which one is for you
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
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
| 3.2GPATidioVery good | 2.0GPATiledeskFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | 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 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. | C14 days free with no card, and the code is open source, but there is no free hosted plan. |
| Features | 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 for agents, with Shopify, WordPress, Zendesk, Salesforce and Zapier, and an API. That's every device type covered. | BWeb only, with WhatsApp, Messenger, Shopify and Google Calendar connections. |
| Best for | live chat for small online stores | 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: Tidio and Tiledesk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Tidio starts at $24.17 a month and scores 3.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Tiledesk starts at about $138.53 a month and scores 2.3.
Tidio scores higher and starts $114.36 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, none scores higher than Tidio 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.
- Tidio also covers help desk.
- Tiledesk also covers whatsApp messaging and chatbots.
At a glance
| Tidio | Tiledesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $24.17 per month for 100 conversations, billed annually ($29 monthly) | €124 per month for 3 users, billed annually (€149 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of all plans and add-ons, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of all features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Tidio LLC | Tiledesk S.r.l. |
| Price read from | tidio.com | tiledesk.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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, Tidio or Tiledesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Tidio is cheaper to start with: $24.17 a month, against about $138.53 a month for Tiledesk. Tidio starts at $24.17 per month for 100 conversations, billed annually ($29 monthly), and Tiledesk starts at €124 per month for 3 users, billed annually (€149 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Tidio or Tiledesk?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Tidio has a free plan. Tiledesk does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Tidio and Tiledesk 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.