10 Best Tidio Alternatives & Competitors in 2025

Updated on December 12, 2024

Tidio has been making a lot of noise in the conversational AI space for the past few years. Small businesses and enterprises use their Lyro AI chatbot, and many eCommerce vendors have adapted it to their websites. 

However, several customers have complained about some persistent issues with the product. Heather J., a contact center manager and a Tidio user, says, “The mobile app occasionally suffers from sync issues with the desktop version, which can cause missed messages or delayed notifications.”

Today, we’re looking at viable alternatives to Tidio to help people like Heather make the following purchase decisions. We will review the pros and cons of 10 different tidio alternatives and provide a detailed review. We’ll cover:

1. Tidio
2. Kommunicate
3. Drift
4. Intercom
5. Salesforce
6. Kore.ai
7. Amazon Lex
8. IBM Watson
9. Yellow
10. AISera
11. Freshchat by Freshworks
12. Tidio Alternatives Comparison

Tidio – A Detailed Analysis

Tidio is an all-in-one customer service platform that offers live chat and email automation. Their customer service chatbot, Lyro AI, has been trained specifically for the eCommerce use cases. 

The AI chatbot provides 24/7 attention to your website audience and is always ready for customer service. The mobile app provides notifications for customer service agents throughout the day and is very convenient. 

However, there have been several complaints about their services over the years. Several people have complained about connectivity issues and syncing issues. Several customers also complain that the app can be slow at times. 

Pros of Tidio

• Intuitive Interface – Tidio is relatively easy to navigate and use, and several customers commend them for having an easy-to-use AI flow designer. 
• Live Dashboard – Tidio has an interactive live dashboard that helps businesses track real-time customer interaction. 
• eCommerce-specific Integrations – Tidio integrates with most eCommerce and ticketing platforms.

Cons of Tidio

• Lack of Integrations – While Tidio has integrations with eCommerce platforms, it needs integrations with several external platforms. 
• High Pricing – A verified user of a consulting platform says that Tidio quadrupled their prices quickly, causing significant problems for their business. Several other companies have also complained about the rapid price changes.
• Clunky Mobile App – Several customers have complained that the mobile app is slow and lacks the desktop app’s features. Several customers, like Heather, have also complained about connectivity issues with the mobile app. 

Pricing of Tidio

Tidio offers four plans

1. Starter – $29/month
2. Growth – $59/month
3. Plus – $749/month
4. Enterprise Plan – Customized plans

You will need the Plus plan if your website handles more than 2000 monthly conversations because only the Plus and Enterprise plan offers these features.

10 Best Tidio Alternatives 

1. Kommunicate – Best for Enterprises 

We’re biased about Kommunicate, but it’s the best Tidio alternative. It allows you to design conversations and provide customers with much information directly from a generative AI chatbot. Over the last few months, the team has also focused on creating better integrations with AI tools so customers can use all frontier AI models to power their conversational systems. 

While our product has also recently started piloting an email marketing model like Tidio. 

If your primary concern is increasing customer engagement and conversion rates, Kommunicate is a great Tidio alternative. 

Pros of Kommunicate

• Generative AI Leadership – Built-in integrations with significant major AI platforms, enabling sophisticated contextual conversations. Our no-code platform makes AI implementation and training intuitive, letting businesses deploy AI solutions without technical expertise.
• Customer-Centric Development – As an agile startup, we prioritize customer needs and rapidly implement feature requests. Our development team regularly creates custom solutions for specific business requirements, ensuring our platform evolves with your needs.
• Simple Integration Architecture – Our native, plug-and-play integration ecosystem eliminates technical barriers. Connect your existing tools and systems without writing code, significantly reducing implementation time and complexity.
• Premium Support Experience – We pride ourselves on exceptional service, with dedicated solution engineers available throughout your business hours. Our rapid response times and proactive support ensure minimal disruption to your operations. As Madalina B, our enterprise customer, says, “The team’s constant support, suggestions, testing, and adjustments, including for dashboards, are invaluable and greatly simplify our work.”

Cons of Kommunicate

• Limited Marketing Features – Our current focus is customer support excellence. We are working to integrate more marketing and sales features into our product soon. 
• Limited Integration Network – Our integration ecosystem has all the primary business tools. We actively develop custom integrations on request and continuously add new partnerships to meet enterprise needs.

Pricing of Kommunicate

Kommunicate offers three plans:

• Lite – $83.33/month
• Advanced – $166.66/month
• Enterprise – Customizable pricing based on needs

Our straightforward pricing includes all features with no hidden costs. Enterprise clients benefit from flexible, customized plans tailored to their specific requirements.

2. Drift – Best for eCommerce Marketing

We tried out Drift for our competitive analysis, and their features were impressive and can be considered to be added in this list of Tidio alternatives. The feature that allows you to browse the companies that have visited your website in the past few days is a massive benefit to any organization.

Additionally, the chatbot helps you book demos and convert audiences at any time of the day. It also easily integrates with Gmail and SAP, assisting enterprises to automate multiple steps in their daily sales processes. 

However, we’ve received some persistent complaints from customers as well. Sometimes, Drift will book meetings not aligned with the salesperson’s territory. The app also crashes sometimes and leaves unanswered questions. 

Drift is an excellent addition to the sales system but has some persistent problems. Let’s break it down into pros and cons. 

Pros of Drift

• Integrations – Drift integrates with the entire enterprise tech stack with a robust SAP, Salesforce, and Gmail integration that’s helpful for sales agents. 
• Ease-of-Use – The UI is designed to be intuitive to the average employee at any business. So, sales agents can use and update the app without any development help. 
• See Your Prospects on Website – The Prospector Dashboard from Drift catches a lot of information about the people who visit your website. This further helps you close deals. 

Cons of Drift

• Training and Costs – As Brian A, an enterprise customer of Drift, puts it, “Initial setup is not easy. I think Drift could improve a lot on that part. It was frustrating to find the option to change the default time your meetings were booked and the settings overall.”
  The initial training for Drift is complicated and costly for most mid-market enterprises. 
• Misaligned Bookings – Drift uses an algorithm to assign bookings to different SDRs, and a common resonant complaint is that it will often assign meetings that don’t align with the SDR’s territory.
• Missing Integration-Specific Features – While the integrations between Drift and enterprise technologies are robust, some features still need to be included. For example, Glorianna S., a small business that uses Drift, says, “It would be better if Drift could map/push attributes to customized Salesforce objects.”

Pricing of Drift

While Drift and Salesloft don’t provide transparent pricing plans on the website, several reports say the costs range around $2500/month. There’s customizable pricing based on the features you choose for your organization.

3. Intercom

Intercom, our next Tidio alternative is a leading Customer Experience (CX) industry player, renowned for its extensive integration ecosystem and strong focus on ticketing and support processes. Their offering is Fin, a fine-tuned AI chatbot designed to enhance the customer service experience and be a directive Tidio alternative. 

Based on our experience, Intercom is a feature-packed platform that excels in lifecycle marketing and customer support. However, its rigid pricing structure and limited responsiveness to feature requests can pose challenges.

Pros of Intercom

• Comprehensive Feature Set – Intercom has been a CX industry mainstay, boasting features, including A/B testing, outbound marketing, personalization tools, and advanced customer segmentation.
• Expansive Integration Ecosystem – The platform supports many integrations, enabling seamless connectivity with almost any tool in your tech stack.
• Scalability for Diverse Use Cases – Thanks to its rich features and integration capabilities, Intercom adapts well to various business needs, from small-scale operations to enterprise-level requirements. Users can also set up automated playbooks and funnels for streamlined workflows.

Cons of Intercom

• Limited Customization Options – A recurring criticism of G2 is Intercom’s inflexibility. The platform does not accommodate customized modifications, and some users report delays or lack of responsiveness from customer support.
• Inflexible Pricing – Many reviews highlight dissatisfaction with Intercom’s pricing structure. Customers are locked into year-long contracts, with overage charges frequently leading to higher-than-expected costs.

Pricing of Intercom

Intercom’s pricing is divided into three tiers:

• Essential: Starts at $39/seat/month
• Advanced: Starts at $99/seat/month
• Expert: Starts at $139/seat/month

While these figures reflect the base pricing listed on Intercom’s website, many users report additional charges due to overages and other fees, making actual costs unpredictable.

4. Salesforce

If you’re exploring alternatives to Tidio, Salesforce’s Customer 360 platform is a highly established option offering impressive features. With a strong focus on data analytics, marketing, and service automation, Salesforce is a powerhouse in the customer experience space. However, its complexity and premium pricing may require careful consideration, especially for smaller businesses.

Salesforce offers far more advanced tools for lifecycle marketing and service automation than Tidio. While it demands a higher level of investment and expertise, its capabilities make it suitable for businesses looking to scale or gain deeper insights into their operations.

Pros of Salesforce

• Advanced Automation Tools – Like Intercom, Salesforce excels in lifecycle marketing automation. Its suite includes advanced A/B testing, outbound emailing, and other cutting-edge tools designed to optimize workflows and customer engagement.
• Feature Depth and AI Integration – Salesforce continually expands its functionality, integrating AI and acquiring SaaS companies like Slack to provide a comprehensive customer experience platform. Its features set it apart as one of the most versatile options in the market.
• Extensive Integration Ecosystem – Salesforce seamlessly connects with a wide range of technology products thanks to its native integration ecosystem. Updated and reliable integrations are easy to find, given the platform’s ubiquity among SaaS providers.

Cons of Salesforce

• Complexity of Implementation – Salesforce’s robust features come with a steep learning curve. Many enterprises hire consultants or dedicate development resources to fully implement and optimize the system, which can increase costs and timelines.
• High Pricing – With complex pricing structures and additional costs for add-ons, Salesforce can be significantly more expensive than other platforms. Some users report spending as much as $3,900 per user annually.
• Tiered Support Accessibility – Access to Salesforce’s customer support varies by pricing tier. Smaller and mid-sized companies on lower-tier packages often need more support in support access, which can hinder issue resolution.

Pricing of Salesforce

Salesforce Customer 360 offers four pricing tiers:

• Essential: $300/user/year
• Professional: $1,200/user/year
• Enterprise: $2,100/user/year
• Unlimited: $3,900/user/year

Remember that these tiers often require add-ons to fully meet specific business needs, which can further increase costs.

5. Kore.ai

Kore.ai is an emerging customer experience (CX) player, gaining traction across Asia-Pacific and Europe. Its user-friendly interface and plug-and-play design make the platform appeal to businesses seeking a straightforward CX solution. However, this alternative to Tidio have some room for improvement in its AI chatbot training and ticket resolution processes, which may limit its effectiveness in some scenarios.

Pros of Kore.ai

• User-Friendly Interface – Like Kommunicate, Kore.ai offers an intuitive no-code interface for conversation design and automation setup. This simplicity makes the platform accessible even for teams without technical expertise.
• Comprehensive Documentation – Kore.ai provides extensive, regularly updated training materials, enabling users to explore and implement features independently without requiring external support.
• Customizable Dashboards – Like Tidio, Kore.ai features live dashboards that can be tailored to track customer data and critical metrics, offering a consolidated view of performance in real-time.

Cons of Salesforce

• Bugs on Platform – A common complaint from G2 users is the extended time required for Kore.ai’s AI systems to reflect changes. As Alex D., a customer of Kore.ai, puts it, “Many times, the platform becomes slow or freezes. There are days when the automatic saving of changes does not work correctly.”
• Slow Ticket Resolutions – Kore.ai struggles with resolving support tickets promptly, which can impact user satisfaction during critical times.

Pricing of Salesforce

Kore.ai offers three pricing tiers:

• Essential: $50/month
• Advanced: $150/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Additional functionality is available through optional add-ons, but these come at an extra cost, which should be factored into budget considerations.

6. Amazon Lex

Amazon Lex, built on the AWS cloud platform, is a powerful tool for creating chatbots with advanced conversational AI and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR). Leveraging Amazon’s expertise in natural language understanding from Alexa, Lex offers sophisticated capabilities for voice and text interactions. However, limitations in integrations, documentation, and language support present challenges for some users.

Pros of Amazon Lex

• Advanced Natural Language IVR – With Alexa-like natural language recognition, Lex delivers robust voice chatbot experiences, making it a strong choice for businesses requiring IVR capabilities.
• Scalability – As part of the AWS ecosystem, Lex benefits from seamless scalability. It can handle large volumes of interactions through AWS’s reliable cloud infrastructure.
• Dual Text and Voice Support – Amazon Lex is one of the few platforms offering text- and voice-based chatbot capabilities catering to diverse customer interaction needs.

Cons of Amazon Lex

• Challenging Non-AWS Integrations – While Lex integrates smoothly within the AWS ecosystem, connecting it with third-party services or migrating from other platforms can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
• Inconsistent Documentation – Users frequently report that Lex’s documentation is insufficient, outdated, or conflicting, which can slow development and troubleshooting processes. As Vijaykrishna R., a software architect and a customer of Amazon Lex, says, “Conflicting documentation. Very hard to integrate the chatbot with your website. Support or documentation how to do this is very less.”
• Limited Language Support – Although Lex supports multiple languages, it lacks some widely used ones, such as Hindi, which limits its usability for specific regions and markets.

Pricing of Amazon Lex

Amazon Lex is part of the AWS cloud system and charges based on the server time you take. For example, if you train a chatbot in the Lex ecosystem, you must pay $0.50/minute. 

For 2000 conversations, you need to pay $4, or $0.002 per conversation. 

7. IBM Watson

As the pioneer of conversational AI, IBM continues to innovate with WatsonX, a chatbot platform widely adopted by enterprises. Known for its advanced learning capabilities, IBM WatsonX excels at understanding customer needs and enhancing complaint resolution. While it offers excellent integration and scalability, it has a steeper learning curve and high enterprise pricing.

Pros of IBM Watson

• Integrations – WatsonX supports various integrations, making connecting with existing tools and workflows easy.
• Scalability – Built for enterprise-scale operations, WatsonX leverages cloud services to handle high conversation volumes efficiently.
• User-Friendly GUI – WatsonX is more intuitive and easy to use than Amazon Lex and Dialogflow, even though it lags behind Kommunicate and Tidio.

Cons of IBM Watson

• Steep Initial Learning Curve – Users need familiarity with data preparation and fine-tuning, which can pose challenges for those without technical expertise. Siddharth D., an agency owner and a user of Watson X, says, “Although the platform has many features, some technical skills are required to use it effectively. For some platforms, the integration process can be tedious, requiring additional workflows for smooth operation.”
• High and Unpredictable Pricing – With costs often exceeding $1,050/month, the token-based pricing structure complicates budgeting, drawing customer criticism.

Pricing of IBM Watson

IBM Watson X comes with three featured plans:

• Lite – Free but with limited features.
• Plus – $140/month for 2000 MAUs, $14 for each additional MAU
• Enterprise – Customized Pricing

8. Yellow

Yellow, another Tidio alternative is a promising contender in the conversational AI space, particularly in the APAC market. Known for its multi-LLM architecture, the platform supports diverse languages and enables highly customizable chatbots for customer support. While user-friendly and versatile, users report challenges with analytics and specific integrations.

Pros of Yellow

• User-Friendly Interface – Yellow.ai offers an intuitive UI, making it accessible even for users with limited technical expertise.
• Multi-LLM Flexibility – The platform’s architecture supports various proprietary and open-source large language models (LLMs), enabling tailored responses for different use cases.
• Robust Channel Integrations – Yellow.ai’s chatbots can be deployed across numerous channels, enhancing versatility and reach.

Cons of Yellow

• Learning Curve – Many features and conversation design options can overwhelm new users.
• Analytics Limitations – Some customers have noted that the analytics features are less robust than their competitors.
• Complex Integrations – While documentation is available, integrating Yellow.ai with CRMs and ticketing platforms can be challenging and time-consuming.

Pricing of Yellow

Yellow has a freemium plan but doesn’t offer a pricing chart on its website.

AISera

AISera is a leading provider of conversational AI chatbots tailored for domain-specific customer experience needs similar to other alternatives to Tidio. Known for its stability, user-friendly design, and scalability, the platform supports seamless deployment across various channels. However, certain aspects of its functionality, such as retraining workflows and testing environments, could be improved.

Pros of AISers

• Ease of Use – AISera’s intuitive interface ensures a smooth learning curve for users without technical expertise.
• Proactive Support – The platform’s support team is highly responsive and adept at resolving queries efficiently.
• Robust Integrations – With numerous built-in integrations, AISera facilitates easy multi-channel deployment.

Cons of AISers

• Challenging Data Updates – Retraining the chatbot by removing outdated articles is cumbersome due to a less intuitive UI.
• Lack of Training – Several customers have complained about needing more quality documentation and support from AISera. As Steve B., a small business owner and an AISera user, put it, “No documentation for the application. Each Aisera release contains bugs, which testing seems lacking in the release cycle. No training on the application.”
• Staging Environment Limitations – Customers have reported difficulties with testing, citing challenges in using the staging environment effectively.

Pricing of AISers

While AISera does not mention its pricing upfront on its website, its Salesforce marketplace pricing starts at $100,000 annually for 0-1000 employees. 

10. Freshchat by Freshworks

Freshworks is a highly regarded business in the customer service space. It recently expanded its ecosystem with Freshchat, an AI-powered chatbot that integrates with its CRM and ticketing platform. Designed to handle both FAQs and complex queries, Freshchat is a strong option for businesses seeking an established alternative to Tidio.

Pros of Freshchat

1. Effective Notification System – Freshchat’s robust notification system ensures timely alerts for agents and managers, streamlining request handling.
2. Extensive Integration Ecosystem – Leveraging Freshworks’ long-standing presence, Freshchat integrates with numerous platforms, enabling broad deployment options.
3. User-Friendly Workflows – The platform simplifies automation with intuitive workflows that are easy to implement.

Cons of Freshchat

1. Slow Customer Support – Some users report delays and inefficiencies in Freshchat’s customer support services.
2. Complex Pricing – Freshchat’s pricing structure has become increasingly complicated, posing challenges for the small businesses it initially targeted.
3. Overwhelming Tool Ecosystem – Freshworks’ diverse range of tools can make selecting the appropriate ones for specific workflows difficult.

Pricing of Freshchat

Freshchat has four plans:

1. Free – $0/month with limited features and up to 10 agents.
2. Growth – $19/agent/month 
3. Pro – $49/agent/month
4. Enterprise – $79/agent/month

Detailed Comparisons of the Best Tidio Alternatives

We’ve listed our reviews of all Tidio alternatives on a table to make it easier for you. We’ll grade the applications according to customization, integration ecosystem, depth of features, and pricing.

Application	Customizable	Integrations	Feature-Richness	Ease-of-Use	Pricing
Tidio	Yes	Small	Feature-rich for eCommerce	Easy	Starting from $25/month
Kommunicate	Yes	Small but plug-and-play	AI-rich features	Easy	Starting from $100/month
Salesforce	No	Very wide and development-heavy	Lots of features	Not easy	Starting from $300/user/year
Drift	Yes	Small	Conversational Marketing Features	Easy	Ranging up to $2500/month
Intercom	No	Very wide but, development-heavy	Lots of Features	Not easy	Starting from $39/user/month
Kore.AI	Yes (Slow Development)	Small and Plug-and-Play	AI-Rich Features	Easy	Starting from $50/month
Amazon Lex	No	Huge but, development-heavy	AI-Rich feature	Tech-Heavy	$0.002 per conversation $0.5/minute of chatbot training
IBM Watson X	No	Huge, but can be development-heavy	Feature-rich	Steep learning curve	Starting at $140/month
Yellow.AI	Yes	Small and sometimes teach-heavy	Multilingual, AI-rich features	Steep learning curve	Freemium, no transparent pricing on the website
AISera	Yes	Small and plug-and-play	Some features missing	Easy	$100,000 for 0–1,000 employees
Freshchat by Freshworks	No (Very slow development)	Very wide (but, tech-heavy)	Feature-rich	Steep Learning Curve	Starts at $19/month/agent

Final Thoughts

This article explores alternatives to Tidio, highlighting robust chatbot platforms tailored for diverse customer experience needs. Alongside Tidio, we have reviewed Kommunicate, Drift, Intercom, Salesforce, Kore.AI, Amazon Lex, IBM WatsonX, Yellow.ai, AISera, and Freshchat. Each platform’s unique strengths—from integrations, scalability, and AI capabilities to ease of use—are evaluated, along with their drawbacks, such as steep learning curves, complex pricing, or limited customer support. Whether you’re looking for scalability, advanced analytics, or domain-specific solutions, this guide provides a comprehensive breakdown to help businesses select the best Tidio alternatives to meet their goals.

Ultimately, each platform has its strengths and trade-offs, so carefully evaluate features and pricing to align with your goals.

If you’re looking for a Tidio alternative that solves 80% of recurring customer service complaints. Talk to Us!