The tawk.to Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about tawk.to in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
tawk.to
The Insider’s Guide
Free live chat, ticketing and help center, with paid add-ons
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among help desk and live chat tools, read from tawk.to’s own pages.
Made by tawk.to · checked Oct 17, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from tawk.to’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on tawk.to’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 17, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
3.0
GPA, above 17 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools we grade
tawk.to is a free customer messaging platform with a website chat widget, a shared inbox, ticketing, a knowledge base, chat pages and a simple CRM. It charges nothing per seat; its income comes from optional add-ons, such as an AI agent and removing its branding, and from hired chat agents who answer on your behalf by the hour.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about tawk.to, taken from its own pages and our grades.
It's free to start, but you still paste the chat box into your site, set up the help center and, if you want it, teach the AI agent.
- 1
Best for free website chat for any size of team
tawk.to gives you website chat, a shared inbox, tickets, a help center and a simple CRM for nothing, with no charge per seat, and its apps cover every device.
- 2
Paid plans start at $29 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $29 per month for the AI Assist or Whitelabel add-on.
- 3
There is a free plan
The whole platform is free: live chat, inbox, ticketing, knowledge base, chat pages and CRM, with no seat charges. A "Powered by tawk.to" badge stays unless removed for a fee.
- 4
It runs on 5 platforms
Web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
- 5
Live chat widget
A chat box for websites that can be styled to match a brand, plus chat pages that turn a link into a conversation for businesses without a site.
- 6
Inbox and ticketing
Chat, email, form and messaging conversations arrive in one dashboard, with free ticketing for issues that need follow-up.
- 7
Knowledge base
A free hosted help center where customers can look up answers, which the AI Assist add-on also draws on.
- 8
A 3.0 GPA, above 17 of 19
That is against the other help desk and live chat tools we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace tawk.to you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
tawk.to at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $29 per month for the AI Assist or Whitelabel add-on
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- None stated
- Runs on
- Web, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
- Made by
- tawk.to, since 2013
- Category
- Help Desks & Live Chat
- Our grade
- 3.0 GPA, very good
The report card
Best for free website chat for any size of team
tawk.to gives you website chat, a shared inbox, tickets, a help center and a simple CRM for nothing, with no charge per seat, and its apps cover every device. You could run it free for good. The catches: its "Powered by tawk.to" badge stays unless you pay $29 a month, and the AI agent is free only at small volumes.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A | The whole platform is free, chat, inbox, tickets, help center and CRM, with no seat charges, which is free and substantial. You'd pay only for add-ons: $29 a month for the AI agent or for removing the badge. |
| Free plan and trial | A | Free outright for every seat, with no cap on chats in the listing. The catch is the "Powered by tawk.to" badge on your widget, chat page and help center, which costs $29 a month per site to remove. |
| Features | C | Website chat, chat pages for businesses without a site, an inbox for chat, email and forms, tickets, a help center, a CRM, and people you can hire to answer for $1 an hour. The gap: no phone, as voice agents were still waitlist-only. |
| Ease of use | C | No store rating on record. It's free to start, but you still paste the chat box into your site, set up the help center and, if you want it, teach the AI agent. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | Web, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android apps, so every device is covered. What keeps it off an A is the connections: the listing names just Shopify and WordPress, and no API. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who tawk.to is for
- Great if you want chat on your site and don't want to pay per seat
- Handy when your team is big but your budget is small, since every seat is free
- Good for anyone who'd rather hire someone to answer chats, at $1 an hour
Who it is not for
- Skip it if the "Powered by tawk.to" badge bothers you and $29 a month a site does too
- Not for you if you need phone support, as voice agents were still waitlist-only
- Too light for teams that need lots of integrations, with only Shopify and WordPress listed
Good to know
Good for
- Small businesses that want website chat without paying per seat
- Teams that need chat, tickets and a help center on one free account
- Businesses that would rather pay someone else to staff the chat
Worth knowing
- Removing the "Powered by tawk.to" badge from the widget, chat page and knowledge base costs $29 a month per property.
- AI Assist is free only for limited volume; paid plans start at $29 a month.
- Hired chat agents cost $1 an hour and dedicated virtual assistants from $7 an hour.
- Voice Agents (from $49 a month plus usage) and Data Enrichment (from $59 a month) were waitlist-only when read.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$29
A month to start. There is a free plan too
tawk.to has a free plan. Paid plans start at $29 per month for the AI Assist or Whitelabel add-on.
The whole platform is free, chat, inbox, tickets, help center and CRM, with no seat charges, which is free and substantial.
Free
$0
Live chat widget, shared inbox, ticketing, a hosted knowledge base, chat pages and contacts, with the tawk.to badge shown. AI Assist has a free tier for limited volume.
AI Assist
$29
per month and up
Add-on: AI agents that answer from your knowledge base and AI workflows that route and follow up, handing off to a person when needed.
Whitelabel
$29
per property / month
Add-on: removes the tawk.to badge and puts the chat page, knowledge base and ticketing emails on your own domain and address.
The free plan
The whole platform is free: live chat, inbox, ticketing, knowledge base, chat pages and CRM, with no seat charges. A "Powered by tawk.to" badge stays unless removed for a fee.
Read from tawk.to on Oct 17, 2026.
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
5
Places it runs: Web, macOS, Windows, iOS and Android
Free live chat, ticketing and help center, with paid add-ons. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: help desk, live chat, help center, AI support agent.
The gap: no phone, as voice agents were still waitlist-only.
- Live chat widget
- A chat box for websites that can be styled to match a brand, plus chat pages that turn a link into a conversation for businesses without a site.
- Inbox and ticketing
- Chat, email, form and messaging conversations arrive in one dashboard, with free ticketing for issues that need follow-up.
- Knowledge base
- A free hosted help center where customers can look up answers, which the AI Assist add-on also draws on.
- AI Assist
- AI agents and workflows that answer routine questions and hand off to a person with the conversation's history attached.
- Hired chat agents
- Trained human agents who answer chats on your behalf around the clock for $1 an hour, offered as a paid service.
- CRM and pipeline
- Contact records built from conversations, segments and tags, a deal pipeline and booking activities in the same dashboard.
Where it runs
- Web
- macOS
- Windows
- iOS
- Android
What it works with
- Shopify
- WordPress
tawk.to is made by tawk.to, and has been around since 2013.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
17/19
Other help desk and live chat tools it is graded above
tawk.to's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 17 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools we grade.
It stands best on free plan and trial (A, above 19 of 19) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $29 a month, against a middle price of $24.17 for the category: 11 of the 18 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 10 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 20 help desk and live chat tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. tawk.to’s own letter is outlined.
- AValue for moneyAbove 16 of 19
- AFree plan and trialAbove 19 of 19
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 19
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 19
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 19
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 19 help desk and live chat tools. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. tawk.to is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace tawk.to you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. 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 3.0 is higher than 17 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools we grade. It costs $348 a year.
What you could make
- Help desk and help center: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- Apps for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other.
- Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
What this rests on. tawk.to’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.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Tidio, Crisp, Text by LiveChat, Chatwoot and Smartsupp
The 5 tools tawk.to is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 3.2GPA
Tidio
Free plan · from $24.17/mo
Live chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations.
- tawk.to also covers help center.
- 2.6GPA
Crisp
Free plan · from $45/mo
Live chat and shared inbox priced per workspace, not per seat.
- tawk.to also covers help desk.
- Crisp also covers shared inbox.
- 2.4GPA
Text by LiveChat
Free trial · from $19/mo
Website chat, ticketing and an AI agent from the LiveChat team.
- tawk.to has a free plan. Text by LiveChat does not, though it has a free trial.
- tawk.to also covers help center.
- 2.4GPA
Chatwoot
Free plan · from $19/mo
Open-source support inbox you can self-host or use in the cloud.
- Only tawk.to lists Windows and macOS apps.
- Chatwoot is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- tawk.to also covers help desk.
- 2.4GPA
Smartsupp
Free plan · from $17/mo
Live chat, WhatsApp and email inbox with the Mira AI shopping agent.
- Only tawk.to lists Windows and macOS apps.
- tawk.to also covers help desk and help center.
- Smartsupp also covers shared inbox.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
11
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is tawk.to free?
tawk.to has a free plan. The whole platform is free: live chat, inbox, ticketing, knowledge base, chat pages and CRM, with no seat charges.
How much does tawk.to cost?
tawk.to lists 3 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does tawk.to work on?
tawk.to is available on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
Does tawk.to have a Linux app?
No Linux app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 17, 2026. tawk.to is listed for Web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.
Is tawk.to open source?
tawk.to is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 17, 2026.
What does tawk.to integrate with?
tawk.to's listing names Shopify and WordPress. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Who makes tawk.to?
tawk.to is made by tawk.to. It dates from 2013.
What are the alternatives to tawk.to?
The closest alternatives to tawk.to in our directory are Tidio, Crisp, Text by LiveChat, Chatwoot and Smartsupp.
How does tawk.to compare with other help desk and live chat tools?
tawk.to's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 17 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools we grade.
Is tawk.to good value for money?
ToolGPA grades tawk.to A for value for money. Its paid plans start at $29 a month, against a middle price of $24.17 for the category: 11 of the 18 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of tawk.to?
To replace tawk.to you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from tawk.to’s own pages on Oct 17, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 17, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from tawk.to's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by tawk.to. Prices change, so check tawk.to before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
1,858
Tools graded, in 46 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
ToolGPA is free to read. It may earn a commission from affiliate links and it works with sponsors, but anything paid for is labelled and no one can pay for a grade. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
1,858
tools graded
46
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- tawk.to, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/tawk-to
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "tawk.to: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 17, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/tawk-to
Know someone choosing between help desk and live chat tools?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/tawk-to/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded help desk and live chat tools after tawk.to, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Help Desks & Live Chat Insider's GuideEvery one of the 20 help desk and live chat tools we grade, compared
- Zoho Desk Insider's GuideLow-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users3.4 GPA
- Tidio Insider's GuideLive chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations3.2 GPA
- Gorgias Insider's GuideEcommerce help desk priced by tickets, with a paid-per-use AI agent2.8 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what tawk.to’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. ToolGPA uses affiliate links and may earn a commission from them, and it works with sponsors; anything paid for is labelled, and no one can pay for a grade. tawk.to is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by tawk.to. Prices and plans change: check tawk.to before you buy.