Best Live Chat Software 2026: 9 Tools Priced for 5 Agents
Nine paid live chat tools compared on seat price, what the entry plan includes, AI charges and the monthly bill for a five-agent team, with prices read on vendor pages in October 2026.
Short answer: LiveChat is the best dedicated live chat software in 2026: Essential costs $19 per user a month billed annually ($25 billed monthly), with a 14-day trial and an AI agent on every plan. Tidio is the cheapest full team plan, with 10 seats on Starter for $24.17 a month on annual billing. Intercom is the pick for AI-first support, billed per seat plus $0.99 per Fin outcome, and Zendesk Suite Team fits teams that need chat, email and phone in one ticket queue.
For a five-agent team on annual billing, the monthly bill runs from Tidio's flat Starter price to $275 on Zendesk Suite Team, before any AI usage fees.
Key facts9 tools compared: LiveChat, Tidio, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshchat, Crisp, LiveAgent, Gorgias…
- 9 tools compared: LiveChat, Tidio, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshchat, Crisp, LiveAgent, Gorgias, Olark
- Tidio (best for: Small teams of up to 10 people with modest chat volume that want one low flat bill): Starter $24.17/mo billed annually ($290 a year), 10 seats, 100 billable conversations. Growth from $49.17/mo.
- Intercom (best for: Teams that want an AI agent to resolve most chats and humans to handle the rest): Essential $29 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin AI Agent outcome. Advanced $85, Expert $132.
- Zendesk (best for: Support teams that want chat, email and phone tickets in one queue with routing): Suite Team $55 per agent a month billed annually, $69 monthly. Suite Professional $115 annually.
Most growing teams overpay for live chat because they compare seat prices instead of the whole bill. A per-seat price with a per-outcome AI fee, a $45 workspace with four seats, and a ticket-priced helpdesk do not line up on a pricing page. They only line up once you price the same team on each one, which is what this page does.
Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 53 live chat tools for its live chat ranking, and the median cheapest paid plan in the category is $19 a month (checked 19 October 2026). Two of the nine tools here, LiveChat Essential and Freshchat Growth, sit at that median per seat on annual billing.
Methodology: we read each vendor's own pricing page on 19 October 2026 and priced the same team, five agents, on the lowest paid plan that includes website chat. We ranked the nine tools on fit for a small or mid-size support team: the five-agent monthly cost, what the entry plan includes (history, AI allowance, channels) and how predictable the bill stays as volume grows. Dupple runs no test lab, so nothing here describes hands-on use. If you only need the free tiers, our free live chat software guide covers those limits instead.
Top Picks
Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.
The specialist pick: chat is the product, every plan includes an AI agent, and the price is per seat with no usage fee.
Essential $19 per user a month billed annually, $25 monthly. Growth $79 annually. 14-day trial.
Sales and support teams that want a dedicated chat product with an AI agent from the first plan.
The cheapest full team on this list: 10 seats on Starter for one flat price, with the conversation count as the real limit.
Starter $24.17/mo billed annually ($290 a year), 10 seats, 100 billable conversations. Growth from $49.17/mo.
Small teams of up to 10 people with modest chat volume that want one low flat bill.
The AI-first pick: Fin answers in the Messenger and inbox, billed per resolved outcome on top of the seat price.
Essential $29 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin AI Agent outcome. Advanced $85, Expert $132.
Teams that want an AI agent to resolve most chats and humans to handle the rest.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| LiveChat | Essential $19 per user a month billed annually, $25 monthly. Growth $79 annually. 14-day trial. | Sales and support teams that want a dedicated chat product with an AI agent from the first plan. |
| Tidio | Starter $24.17/mo billed annually ($290 a year), 10 seats, 100 billable conversations. Growth from $49.17/mo. | Small teams of up to 10 people with modest chat volume that want one low flat bill. |
| Intercom | Essential $29 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin AI Agent outcome. Advanced $85, Expert $132. | Teams that want an AI agent to resolve most chats and humans to handle the rest. |
| Zendesk | Suite Team $55 per agent a month billed annually, $69 monthly. Suite Professional $115 annually. | Support teams that want chat, email and phone tickets in one queue with routing. |
| Freshchat | Growth at the category's median seat price, billed annually. Pro $49 and Enterprise $79 per agent. | Teams that want chat, social messengers and SMS in one inbox at a low seat price. |
| Crisp | Mini $45/mo per workspace with 4 seats. Essentials $95 with 10 seats. Extra seats $10 a month. | Teams of 4 to 10 agents that want a flat workspace price instead of a bill per seat. |
| LiveAgent | Small Business $15 per agent a month billed annually. 30-day trial, no credit card. | Budget-minded teams that want chat, ticketing and a knowledge base on one low seat price. |
| Gorgias | Basic $50/mo billed annually, $60 monthly, 300 tickets a month. Starter $10/mo, 50 tickets. | Ecommerce stores that want chat inside a helpdesk priced by ticket volume rather than seats. |
| Olark | Live Chat $29 per agent a month, 14-day trial. AI Website Agent $400/mo billed annually. | Teams that want human-only chat with no AI usage fees, or an AI agent with unlimited conversations. |
Pricing read from each vendor's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.
LiveChat
The specialist pick: chat is the product, every plan includes an AI agent, and the price is per seat with no usage fee.
- Pricing
- Essential $19 per user a month billed annually, $25 monthly. Growth $79 annually. 14-day trial.
Best for: Sales and support teams that want a dedicated chat product with an AI agent from the first plan.
Pros
- Essential includes 1 AI agent and 10 AI resolutions a month, so a bot is in place before you upgrade.
- Growth removes the history limit and adds 10 AI agents, 200 AI resolutions and 30 proactive campaigns.
- The 14-day trial needs no credit card, and seats bill per user with no per-chat count.
Cons
- Essential keeps 60 days of chat history, so a thread from three months ago is gone.
- Growth is $79 per user on annual billing, a big step from Essential for teams that need full history.
Tidio
The cheapest full team on this list: 10 seats on Starter for one flat price, with the conversation count as the real limit.
- Pricing
- Starter $24.17/mo billed annually ($290 a year), 10 seats, 100 billable conversations. Growth from $49.17/mo.
Best for: Small teams of up to 10 people with modest chat volume that want one low flat bill.
Pros
- Starter covers 10 seats at one price, so five agents cost the same as one.
- Growth starts from 250 billable conversations and keeps the 10 seats.
- The Lyro AI agent and Flows automations are also sold standalone, so you add only the part you use.
Cons
- Starter stops at 100 billable conversations a month, which a busy store can use up in days.
- The widget keeps Tidio's branding unless you pay the $16.67 a month No Tidio Branding add-on.
Intercom
The AI-first pick: Fin answers in the Messenger and inbox, billed per resolved outcome on top of the seat price.
- Pricing
- Essential $29 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin AI Agent outcome. Advanced $85, Expert $132.
Best for: Teams that want an AI agent to resolve most chats and humans to handle the rest.
Pros
- Essential already includes Fin, the Messenger, a shared inbox, ticketing and a public help center.
- Advanced adds the workflow automation builder, round robin assignment and 20 free Lite seats.
- Fin can run standalone on top of another helpdesk such as Salesforce, with no seat requirement.
Cons
- Every resolved Fin outcome is billed, so 1,000 of them add $990 to the month.
- SSO, HIPAA support and SLAs sit on Expert at $132 per seat a month.
Zendesk
The omnichannel pick: messaging and live chat arrive with ticketing, telephony and AI agents on the first Suite plan.
- Pricing
- Suite Team $55 per agent a month billed annually, $69 monthly. Suite Professional $115 annually.
Best for: Support teams that want chat, email and phone tickets in one queue with routing.
Pros
- Suite Team bundles messaging and live chat with telephony, a knowledge base and omnichannel routing.
- AI agents are included, with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Suite Team and 10 on Suite Professional.
- The 14-day trial opens every Suite Professional feature.
Cons
- Messaging and live chat start on Suite Team: the cheaper Support Team plan leaves them out.
- At $275 a month for five agents on annual billing, it is the priciest entry point on this list.
Freshchat
The low-cost omnichannel pick: social and SMS channels arrive on Growth, with 500 Freddy AI sessions included before usage fees.
- Pricing
- Growth at the category's median seat price, billed annually. Pro $49 and Enterprise $79 per agent.
Best for: Teams that want chat, social messengers and SMS in one inbox at a low seat price.
Pros
- Growth adds social messengers, SMS and reporting to the chat widget at the category's median seat price.
- The first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions are included, and more cost $49 per 100 sessions.
- Pro adds multilingual conversations, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies.
Cons
- Freddy AI Copilot, the agent assist, is a paid per-agent add-on on Pro and Enterprise.
- Skill-based routing, audit logs and IP whitelisting wait for Enterprise.
Crisp
The flat-price pick: one workspace fee covers a block of seats, and paid plans keep full history.
- Pricing
- Mini $45/mo per workspace with 4 seats. Essentials $95 with 10 seats. Extra seats $10 a month.
Best for: Teams of 4 to 10 agents that want a flat workspace price instead of a bill per seat.
Pros
- Essentials spreads one workspace fee over 10 seats, so the cost per agent falls as the team fills them.
- Paid plans list full conversation history and unlimited data retention.
- Each paid plan includes AI credits: $5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials, $75 on Plus.
Cons
- Ticketing, white labelling and advanced analytics sit on Plus at $295 a month.
- Mini covers about 90 automated conversations a month, so AI-heavy teams outgrow it fast.
LiveAgent
The lowest per-seat price here, with live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base all on the entry plan.
- Pricing
- Small Business $15 per agent a month billed annually. 30-day trial, no credit card.
Best for: Budget-minded teams that want chat, ticketing and a knowledge base on one low seat price.
Pros
- Small Business includes ticketing, live chat and a knowledge base on every seat.
- Medium Business adds AI agents, a call center and IVR to the same inbox.
- The 30-day trial is the longest on this list and needs no credit card.
Cons
- Social channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram wait for Large Business at $49 per agent.
- The comparison table prints no chat history limit per plan, so confirm retention with sales.
Gorgias
The ecommerce pick: the price follows how many tickets you handle, so adding agents does not change the plan price.
- Pricing
- Basic $50/mo billed annually, $60 monthly, 300 tickets a month. Starter $10/mo, 50 tickets.
Best for: Ecommerce stores that want chat inside a helpdesk priced by ticket volume rather than seats.
Pros
- Plans are priced by monthly tickets: 300 on Basic, 2,000 on Pro, 5,000 on Advanced.
- Pro, at $300 a month billed annually, includes 190 automated AI interactions.
- Starter gives a very small store a paid entry point with 50 tickets a month, below every per-seat plan here.
Cons
- Extra tickets cost $0.40 each on Basic, so a sale weekend can raise the bill.
- The AI agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction on annual billing once the allowance is used.
Olark
The predictable-bill pick: human chat per agent, or a flat AI agent plan with no token or usage charges.
- Pricing
- Live Chat $29 per agent a month, 14-day trial. AI Website Agent $400/mo billed annually.
Best for: Teams that want human-only chat with no AI usage fees, or an AI agent with unlimited conversations.
Pros
- Live Chat is human-only at a per-agent price, so there is no AI line on the bill.
- The AI Website Agent plan includes unlimited AI conversations and one human seat.
- Extra human agents can join the AI plan at a per-agent price.
Cons
- The AI plan is $4,800 a year, a large commitment next to Tidio or Crisp.
- Regional routing, multiple teams and SSO sit on custom enterprise plans with no printed price.
What it is
Live chat software is a website widget and agent inbox that lets visitors message your team in real time, with routing, canned replies, visitor details and, on most 2026 plans, an AI agent that answers before a human does. Paid plans differ on four things: how they bill (per seat, per workspace or per ticket), how long chat history lasts, how many AI answers are included, and which other channels share the inbox.
Why it matters
The billing model decides who wins at your size. Per-seat tools such as LiveChat, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshchat, Olark and LiveAgent get more expensive with every agent you hire. Crisp bills per workspace with a set number of seats, Tidio's Starter covers 10 seats at one price, and Gorgias bills by ticket volume, so those three reward teams with many agents and modest volume.
AI is the second line on the bill. Intercom charges for every Fin outcome on top of seats, Gorgias charges per automated interaction once the included allowance runs out, and Zendesk includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Suite Team. A busy month can move an AI-heavy bill more than a new hire would. If most of your chats are really support tickets, compare these plans with our help desk software guide before you buy.
Key features to look for
Pricing
Prices checked on 19 October 2026 on each vendor's own pricing page: LiveChat, Tidio, Intercom, Zendesk, Freshchat, Crisp, LiveAgent, Gorgias and Olark. Plan names and figures are as the pages print them.
Five agents, annual billing, before AI usage: Tidio Starter is the cheapest bill because its 10 seats cost one price. Crisp Mini covers four seats, so the fifth agent is one extra seat on top of the workspace fee. LiveAgent Small Business comes to $75, LiveChat Essential and Freshchat Growth to $95 each, Intercom Essential and Olark Live Chat to $145 each, and Zendesk Suite Team to $275.
Monthly billing raises most of those totals. Five LiveChat Essential seats cost $125 billed monthly, and five Zendesk Suite Team seats cost $345. Gorgias does not price by seat, so its bill depends on ticket volume instead of headcount.
AI is billed on top in three different ways. Intercom charges per Fin outcome, Freshchat bills Freddy sessions past the included 500 in blocks of 100, and Gorgias charges per automated interaction past the allowance. Toolradar profiles every tool here, for example LiveChat, Intercom, Zendesk, Tidio and Gorgias.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| LiveChat Essential | $19/user/mo billed annually, $25 monthly | 1 AI agent, 10 AI resolutions a month, 60 days of chat history |
| LiveChat Growth | $79/user/mo billed annually, $99 monthly | Unlimited chat history, 10 AI agents, 200 AI resolutions a month |
| Tidio Starter | $24.17/mo billed annually | 10 seats and 100 billable conversations a month |
| Tidio Growth | From $49.17/mo billed annually | 10 seats, from 250 billable conversations, custom Lyro AI quota |
| Intercom Essential | $29/seat/mo | Fin AI Agent, Messenger, shared inbox, ticketing and a public help center |
| Intercom Advanced | $85/seat/mo | Workflow automation builder, round robin assignment, 20 free Lite seats |
| Intercom Fin outcome | $0.99 per outcome | Charged on every plan for each chat Fin resolves |
| Zendesk Suite Team | $55/agent/mo billed annually, $69 monthly | Messaging and live chat, telephony, AI agents, 5 automated resolutions per agent a month |
| Zendesk Suite Professional | $115/agent/mo billed annually, $149 monthly | Skills-based routing, IVR phone tree, 10 automated resolutions per agent a month |
| Freshchat Growth | $19/agent/mo billed annually | Social messengers, SMS, reporting and 500 included Freddy AI sessions |
| Freshchat Pro | $49/agent/mo billed annually | Multilingual conversations, custom dashboards and intelligent routing |
| Crisp Mini | $45/mo per workspace | 4 seats, shared email inbox, AI credits worth $5 |
| Crisp Essentials | $95/mo per workspace | 10 seats, omnichannel inbox, workflow automation and a knowledge base |
| LiveAgent Small Business | $15/agent/mo billed annually | Live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base |
| LiveAgent Medium Business | $29/agent/mo billed annually, $35 monthly | Adds AI agents, a call center and IVR |
| Gorgias Basic | $50/mo billed annually, $60 monthly | 300 helpdesk tickets a month with live chat included |
| Gorgias Pro | $300/mo billed annually, $360 monthly | 2,000 tickets a month and 190 automated AI interactions |
| Olark Live Chat | $29/agent/mo | Human-only live chat with no AI usage charges |
| Olark AI Website Agent | $400/mo billed annually | Unlimited AI conversations and one human seat |
The bottom line
LiveChat is the best dedicated live chat software for most teams in 2026: a per-seat price with no usage fee, an AI agent from Essential, and a 14-day trial. Pick Tidio when the budget is tight and volume is modest, Intercom when AI should resolve most chats and you can budget the outcome fee, and Zendesk Suite Team when chat is one channel in a ticket queue. Ecommerce stores should price Gorgias on their ticket volume, and teams of 4 to 10 should check Crisp's flat workspace price.
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Cite this: Techpresso, "Best Live Chat Software 2026: 9 Tools Priced for 5 Agents", October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
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Sources
Prices and plan details come from each vendor's own pricing page, re-checked by the Toolradar pricing tracker.
- Tidio pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Intercom pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Zendesk pricingchecked Sep 2026
- Gorgias pricingchecked Sep 2026
Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.
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