Gist review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Live chat, help desk and email marketing in one small-business app
Black Friday: is there a Gist sale?
Gist report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for live chat and a team inbox for a very small team
Gist is a live chat and team inbox with a free plan for 2 support seats. Professional is $29 a month for 5 seats, and chatbots, reports and assignment rules sit on Premium, shown at $99 against a crossed-out $499.
Who Gist is for
- Fits if you are a very small team, as the free plan covers 2 support seats
- Works for teams that prefer a flat price for several seats
Who Gist is not for
- Tight if you stay free: 2 seats, and email forwarding is a paid feature
- Watch out: Premium's $99 is shown against a crossed-out $499 and marked ending soon, with no end date
- Watch out: marketing and all-in-one bundles are priced by contact count, and no annual rate is shown
- Watch out: the page mentions 30% off for new customers in India for a limited time
Why Gist gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for money$29 a month for up to 5 support seats on Professional. Premium's $99 is a promotion, shown against a crossed-out $499.
- BFree plan and trialA free plan with 2 support seats, live chat, team inbox, unlimited history and mobile apps, plus a 21-day trial.
- CFeaturesLive chat, inbox, knowledge base and bots. Email, bots and reports sit on paid plans, and marketing is sold separately.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. Chat, bots and a knowledge base to set up.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb plus iOS and Android apps, with Zapier, WordPress, WooCommerce, Stripe, Google Calendar and Zoom.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Gist's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Gist? Put this grade on your site
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/gist#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/gist.svg" alt="Gist: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Gist stands among help desk and live chat tools
Gist's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 49 of the 66 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 9.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 53 of 66) and worst on features (C, above 3).
Its paid plans start at $29 a month, against a middle price of $29 for the category: 27 of the 57 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 16 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 67 help desk and live chat tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Gist’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 44 of 66, level with 15
- BFree plan and trialAbove 53 of 66, level with 12
- CFeaturesAbove 3 of 66, level with 42
- CEase of useAbove 5 of 66, level with 56
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 6 of 66, level with 54
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 59 help desk and live chat tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Gist, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Gist you would be making one mailbox that several people work at once. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 49 of the 66 other help desk and live chat tools we grade. It costs $348 a year.
What you could make
- Help center: an app builder makes this well.
What you could not
- One mailbox that several people work at once.
- Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- Email sent in volume that still reaches the inbox.
- A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- A chatbot builder hooked into the messaging apps.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It plugs into other products, Zapier, WordPress and WooCommerce among them.
What this rests on. Gist’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Gist?
Gist combines a website chat messenger and team inbox with a knowledge base, chatbots, email marketing, forms and a basic CRM. Support and marketing are priced as separate product lines, with a free plan for two support seats. It is aimed at small teams that want one tool instead of several.
Worth knowing
- Premium is shown at $99 against a crossed-out $499, marked "ending soon" with no end date; the regular price may apply later.
- Marketing and All-in-One bundle prices are separate and depend on contact count; only the Support plans are listed here.
- The pricing page was read with its billing toggle hidden, so these are monthly prices; the page did not show an annual rate.
- The pricing page says new customers based in India can get 30% off some plans for a limited time.
Key features
- Live chat and team inbox
- A messenger for your site or app and a shared inbox for the team, with saved replies, office hours and iOS and Android apps.
- Knowledge base
- A multilingual help center that customers can search, with article ratings and feedback. The public knowledge base starts on the Professional plan.
- Chatbots and support bot
- A lead qualification bot comes on Professional and custom bots on Premium. A support bot that answers repeat questions is listed as an add-on.
- Email marketing and automation
- Email campaigns, workflows, event tracking, forms and a deal pipeline sit in a separate Marketing product line priced by contact count.
- Meetings and surveys
- Automated meeting scheduling syncs with Google and Office 365 calendars; surveys and product tours are on the Premium support plan.
Gist pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Gist has a free plan, and paid plans start at $29 per month for 5 support seats.
- Starts at
- $29 per month for 5 support seats
- Free plan
- Gist Support Free: 2 support seats with live chat, team inbox, unlimited conversation history, saved replies and mobile apps.
- Free trial
- 21-day free trial of paid plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free (Support) | $0 | 2 support seats, live chat, team inbox, unlimited conversation history, saved replies, office hours and mobile apps. |
| Professional (Support) | $29per month for up to 5 support seats | Adds email forwarding, Facebook and Twitter integrations, a public knowledge base, chat triggers, a lead qualification bot, satisfaction ratings and Zapier. |
| Premium (Support) | $99per month for unlimited support seats | Adds custom chatbots, surveys, product tours, assignment rules, reports and roles. Shown as $99 against a crossed-out $499, marked "ending soon". |
Read from getgist.com on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Gist before you buy.
Works with
Gist alternatives
- Gist vs Intercom
Free trial · from $29/mo
- Gist vs Crisp
Free plan · from $45/mo
- Gist vs Tidio
Free plan · from $24.17/mo
- Gist vs HelpCrunch
Free trial · from $12/mo
- Gist vs Text by LiveChat
Free trial · from $19/mo
Common questions
Does Gist have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Gist is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Gist have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Gist is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Gist open source?
Gist is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.