Support chat for shoppers, or a sales floor for your website?
Tidio is a help desk and ecommerce chat tool for small teams — live chat, tickets, Flows and the Lyro AI agent, metered by conversations with 10 seats per plan. Captiwate identifies the company and the person on your site, then a rep chats, calls or video-calls them live, with AI chat after hours and unlimited seats at one price.
Where Captiwate is different
Know who is on the page, not just that someone is
Tidio’s live visitors list shows you “all your website visitors and the pages they’re browsing in real-time” — anonymous sessions on a map. Captiwate identifies the company and, where lawful, the person behind the visit, so a rep decides whether to jump in before the first message is typed.
Built for a sales rep, not a support queue
Tidio is a help desk: shared inbox, tickets, Flows for cart recovery and an AI agent that “eliminates up to 90% of low-level support questions”. Captiwate is the other half of the website: a rep chats, calls or video-calls a high-intent visitor while they are on the pricing page, and AI chat covers the hours nobody is online.
One number instead of three meters
Tidio bills by billable conversations, by Lyro AI conversations and by Flows visitors reached, with 10 seats on every self-serve plan. Captiwate is priced on monthly visitors — from $15,000/year — with unlimited seats, conversations and identified companies on every plan.
Feature comparison: Captiwate vs Tidio
Tidio is a support and ecommerce chat suite; Captiwate is a sales platform that starts from who the visitor is. The table shows what each vendor lists on its own pages.
| Feature | Captiwate | Tidio |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Live sales conversations on your website | Support help desk and ecommerce chat for SMBs |
| Company-level visitor identification | Included | Live visitors list shows pages browsed, not companies |
| Person-level visitor identification | Included | Not included |
| Live chat with a human rep | Included | Included |
| Live video calls from the website | Included | Agent-initiated, inside the widget; paid plans |
| Co-browsing | Included | Not listed publicly |
| AI chat, 24/7 | Included, unlimited | Lyro AI Agent — 50 free conversations, then from $32.50/month or $0.50 per conversation |
| Scheduling & click-to-meet | Included | Not listed publicly; Flows has an appointment-booking template |
| Real-time Slack / Teams alerts | Every plan | Plus and Premium plans only |
| HubSpot & Salesforce sync | Two-way, every plan | Tidio → CRM contacts and transcripts, every plan |
| Ticketing, shared inbox, help desk | Not a help desk | Included |
| Shopify / ecommerce automations (cart recovery, product cards) | Not included | Flows templates and Lyro product recommendations |
| Seats | Unlimited on every plan | 10 on Free, Starter and Growth; custom on Plus and Premium |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA | SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA; ISO 27001 not listed |
| Free trial | No — custom demo on your site | 7-day trial + free plan, no card required |
| Starting price | $15,000/year (Grow) | Free; paid from $24.17/month billed annually |
Swipe sideways to see both columns →
Last verified: 2026-09-04 against tidio.com/pricing, tidio.com, the Lyro, Live Chat, Flows, Features, FAQ and Security pages, Tidio’s HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack and Microsoft Teams integration pages and the Live Video Calls help article. Feature availability as published by each vendor; “not listed publicly” means we could not find it on their pages — confirm with Tidio before deciding. Tidio prices are the per-month figures shown with the annual billing toggle (two months free); monthly billing costs more.
Pricing: three meters vs. one number
Tidio’s bill has three moving parts — billable conversations, Lyro AI conversations and Flows visitors reached — plus a 10-seat cap until you reach a custom plan. Captiwate’s bill has one: your monthly visitors. Seats, conversations, AI chat and identified companies are unlimited.
- Grow: $15,000/year, up to 20,000 monthly visitors
- Scale: $30,000/year, 20,000–100,000 monthly visitors
- Unlimited: Custom, 100,000+ monthly visitors
Billed annually. Unlimited seats, conversations, identified companies and co-browsing on every plan.
- Free: $0 — 50 billable conversations/month, 10 seats, 50 Lyro conversations one-off, 100 Flows visitors/month
- Starter: $24.17/month — 100 billable conversations, 10 seats, live visitors list, operating hours
- Growth: from $49.17/month — from 250 billable conversations, 10 seats, analytics, permissions, chat assignment
- Plus: from $300/month + monthly usage — custom conversations and seats, Flows up to 100,000 visitors, custom branding, Slack / Teams
- Premium: contact for pricing — Lyro from 3,000 conversations/month, pay-per-resolution, SSO, managed service
- Add-ons: Lyro AI from $32.50/month (50 conversations); Flows from $24.17/month (2,000 visitors reached); branding removal $16.67/month
Per-month figures as displayed on tidio.com/pricing with the annual toggle (two months free); billable conversations are chats a human agent replies to. 7-day free trial, no card. Verified 2026-09-04.
Which one fits your team?
Both do their job well — they are different jobs. Tidio is the right pick for a small ecommerce or support team on a tight budget. Pick by what the website is for.
“One thing that should get any business excited about Captiwate is when there is a call coming from a visitor. A user is calling the website — that is pretty cool, and that is the dopamine hit.”
Frequently asked questions
Can I migrate from Tidio to Captiwate?
Yes. Captiwate takes care of teams coming from Tidio financially and during the move. Setup is a single JavaScript snippet that replaces the Tidio widget; from there you connect HubSpot or Salesforce, point alerts at Slack or Teams and your reps are answering identified visitors — with video, co-browsing and AI chat included. Bring your current Tidio setup to a 30-minute walkthrough and leave with a plan.
How does Tidio pricing compare to Captiwate’s?
They are different models. Tidio meters three things: billable conversations (Free 50, Starter 100 at $24.17/month, Growth from 250 at $49.17/month, Plus from $300/month plus usage, Premium by quote), Lyro AI conversations (50 free, then from $32.50/month or $0.50 per conversation) and Flows visitors reached — with 10 seats on Free, Starter and Growth, as listed on tidio.com/pricing on 2026-09-04 with the annual toggle. Captiwate is annual and priced on monthly visitors: Grow is $15,000/year up to 20,000 visitors, Scale is $30,000/year up to 100,000, Unlimited is custom — with unlimited seats, conversations and identified companies included.
Is Tidio a sales tool or a support tool?
Tidio sells four things: Live Chat, Lyro AI Agent, Help Desk and Flows, aimed at small businesses and ecommerce, and it leads with support numbers such as a 67% Lyro resolution rate. Flows and Lyro can capture and qualify leads, but the platform is a help desk with a chatbot builder. Captiwate is built for the sales moment: identify the visitor, let a rep chat or video-call them, book the meeting — and it does not try to be a help desk.
Does Tidio tell me which company is visiting?
Not on its published pages. Tidio’s live visitors list shows visitors and the pages they are browsing in real time, and its CRM integrations sync contacts a visitor has already given you. Captiwate identifies the visiting company and, where lawful, the person before the conversation starts, so reps choose who to engage.
Tidio has video calls too — what is the difference?
Tidio’s help centre confirms live video calls, started by the agent from inside the chat widget, with voice-only as an option. Captiwate adds co-browsing on the same call, one-click scheduling if the visitor prefers a later slot, and the visitor is already identified when the rep picks up. Both work without a download.
Is there a free trial?
No, a free trial is not available today. We offer a fully customized demo built around your website, so you can see how Captiwate would work on your live site before committing.
Do I need a developer to set up Captiwate?
No. Adding Captiwate is a single JavaScript snippet, similar to Google Analytics. Our team handles the full setup and most customers are live within minutes — no engineering resources required.
Want the numbers first? See pricing →
Switching from Tidio? Migration included.
We take care of teams coming from Tidio — financially and during the move. Bring your current setup to a 30-minute walkthrough on your own website and leave with a plan.
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