Disclosure: we make SupportVia, and it’s on this list. Everything we say about the other six tools comes from their own pricing and help pages, checked on October 30, 2026, with links. Prices change often, so check them again before you buy.
The short answer
The best AI chatbot with human handoff for most small teams is the one that hands over at the right moments, shows your teammate what the customer needs, and goes quiet the moment a person replies. As of October 2026, SupportVia, Boei, Crisp and Tidio suit teams of one to ten people, while Intercom Fin and Zendesk suit larger teams that need tickets and many channels. The biggest difference in cost is how the AI is charged: per conversation, per credit, or per outcome on top of seats.
Most roundups of the best AI chatbots with human handoff list features and starting prices. They rarely say what a month actually costs at a realistic volume, whether the bot keeps talking once your teammate replies, or what happens at 11 pm when nobody is online. This one covers all three, and says where each tool, ours included, is weaker.
If you want the background first, our guide to chatbot human handoff explains when a bot should hand over and what a good handover looks like.
How we compared
We looked at five things, because these are what decide whether a chatbot with human takeover works on a real website:
- When it hands over. Can the customer ask for a person at any time? Does the AI hand over by itself when it can’t answer? What about errors and timeouts?
- What the person sees. The full transcript at least. Better: a short note or summary of what the customer needs, plus their name and email.
- Whether the bot stops when a person replies. Two voices answering the same customer is the most common way a handover goes wrong.
- Which plans include the team inbox. Some tools sell the bot on every plan but keep live chat, the summary or extra seats for higher tiers.
- How the AI is priced. Per conversation, per credit, per resolution or per outcome, and whether the chat that gets handed over is charged.
We didn’t give scores or star ratings. We haven’t run the same test on every tool, and a number would pretend we had. Where a vendor’s page doesn’t say something, we say so, and you should test it in the trial.
The order below is by fit for a small team that mainly needs website chat. It isn’t a ranking.
SupportVia
Who it suits: small businesses and agencies that want the AI to answer only from their own website and hand the chat to the team when it isn’t sure. It’s website chat only.
How it hands over. A customer can ask for a person at any point in the chat. Every handover carries a note your team sees and the customer doesn’t. When the AI hands over by itself, that note says what the customer needs. When nothing on your pages, Q&As or notes covers a question, it says it isn’t sure and offers a teammate instead of guessing. If the AI errors or times out, the chat goes to your team with an apology to the customer.
Does the bot stop? Yes. Once a teammate replies or takes over, the AI stops, and a reply it was still writing is dropped. Your team can hand the chat back to the AI when they’re done.
When nobody’s online. While the customer waits for a person, the chat asks for their name and email, and the conversation becomes a lead in your inbox.
Inbox and plans. The shared inbox is on every plan, with folders such as Needs a human, My open and Leads. Alerts are desktop notifications and a waiting count in your browser tab.
AI price (as of October 2026). Plans count one thing, AI conversations: Starter $29 a month for 150, Growth $79 for 500, Pro $199 for 1,500. Chats your team answers aren’t counted; past the allowance, chats go to your team unless you ask for extras and switch them on with a monthly cap. Source: our pricing page.
Watch for: there’s no mobile app, no email or Slack alerts, no ticketing, canned replies or routing rules, and no WhatsApp or other channels. If your team lives on their phones or needs a helpdesk, choose something else on this list.
Crisp
Who it suits: small teams that want a shared inbox with mobile apps and room to add channels later.
How it hands over. Crisp is a live chat inbox first, with an AI agent added on paid plans. Its pricing page lists a shared inbox and website chat on every plan, private notes from Mini, and routing rules and assignment from Essentials. It doesn’t describe the handover itself in detail, so try a handover in the trial.
Inbox and plans. The free plan has 2 seats, the shared inbox and mobile apps, but no AI credits. Mini is $45 a month per workspace with 4 seats. Essentials is $95 with 10 seats. Plus is $295 with 20 or more.
AI price (as of October 2026). AI credits are included in money terms: $5 on Mini (“around 90 automated conversations”), $25 on Essentials (around 450) and $75 on Plus (around 1,350). Source: crisp.chat/en/pricing.
Where it’s stronger than us: mobile apps on every plan, routing and assignment, private notes, and more channels on Essentials.
Watch for: the price is per workspace, so several websites with separate teams can mean several subscriptions. The included AI credits are an estimate in conversations, not a fixed count. Compare with our page on Crisp alternatives.
Tidio
Who it suits: small shops that want live chat, an AI agent and automations from one vendor, starting on a free plan.
How it hands over. Tidio’s pricing page lists “Human handoff” as part of the Lyro AI Agent, and its Lyro page says Lyro passes questions it can’t answer to a human agent. Neither page describes the handover in detail, so try one in the trial.
Inbox and plans. Live chat is on every plan, including Free, and the pricing page lists a mobile app on every plan. Free covers 50 billable conversations. Starter is $24.17 a month billed yearly (about $29 billed monthly) for 100. Growth starts at $49.17 a month billed yearly for 250 or more.
AI price (as of October 2026). Lyro is sold in its own tiers, beside billable conversations and Flows visitors. Free includes the first 50 Lyro conversations once, Starter includes 50 once, and the Lyro add-on starts at $32.50 a month for 50. The page lists Lyro tiers up to 1,000 a month but not the price of each tier. Source: tidio.com/pricing.
Where it’s stronger than us: a free plan, Flows automations, ticketing, and more channels.
Watch for: you track three separate meters (billable conversations, Lyro conversations and Flows visitors), so work out your real month in Tidio’s calculator before you commit. More in our Tidio alternatives page.
Boei
Who it suits: small businesses and agencies that want an AI chatbot across a few domains, and agencies that need white label.
How it hands over. Boei’s pricing page says each plan includes live chat agent seats. Its FAQ says that when a visitor asks for a person or the AI hands over, the agent “gets notified and can reply directly from the Boei inbox”. An AI summary on handover is included from Growth up, not on Starter.
Inbox and plans. Starter is $25 a month (1 domain, 1 live chat agent). Growth is $69 (3 domains, 3 agents). Business is $179 (10 domains, 5 agents). Scale is $309 (10 domains, 7 agents). Paying yearly lowers each price.
AI price (as of October 2026). AI credits: 2,000, 7,000, 20,000 and 25,000 a month. How many credits a reply uses depends on the AI model you pick. Human live chat messages don’t use credits. When credits run out, the bot stops replying, and the widget and live chat keep working. Source: boei.help/pricing.
Where it’s stronger than us: white label and a custom domain from Business, a separate agency white-label option at $99 a month, webhooks and an API from Growth, and AI actions and workflows.
Watch for: credits that vary by model are harder to predict than a count of conversations, and Starter has no handover summary.
Kommunicate
Who it suits: teams that want one AI agent across the website, WhatsApp, apps and email.
How it hands over. Kommunicate’s home page says the AI hands over ambiguous, emotional or high-stakes conversations “to a human with full context”. Its pricing FAQ says human escalation is built in. It doesn’t say whether the bot stops when a person replies, so test that.
Inbox and plans. Starter is $40 a month ($34 billed yearly) with 1 team seat and 1 AI agent. Extra seats are $20 each. Professional is $200 a month ($167 yearly) with 3 seats and 2 AI agents, plus AI Summary and Agent Assist.
AI price (as of October 2026). Starter includes 250 conversations a month and Professional 2,000, with overage listed on the page. Source: kommunicate.io/pricing.
Where it’s stronger than us: many channels, including WhatsApp, and AI summaries and agent assist on Professional.
Watch for: the big jump from Starter to Professional. A team of three on Starter pays for two extra seats.
Intercom Fin
Who it suits: support teams that want a mature helpdesk, tickets and many channels in one tool, and can budget for a per-outcome fee.
How it hands over. Intercom’s pricing page says Fin “hands off to agents” in the inbox you prefer. Fin can also run alongside other helpdesks.
Inbox and plans. Seats are $29 a month on Essential (billed yearly; new customers pay $19 while subscribed), $85 on Advanced and $132 on Expert. Billed monthly they are $39, $99 and $139.
AI price (as of October 2026). Fin costs $0.99 per outcome. An outcome counts when the customer confirms the issue is resolved, when they don’t ask for more help after Fin answers, or when Fin completes a workflow, including a handoff. It’s charged once per conversation. Source: intercom.com/pricing. Our Intercom Fin pricing guide works through the totals.
Where it’s stronger than us: tickets, workflows, many channels, mobile apps, reporting and integrations, built for large teams.
Watch for: a customer who doesn’t ask for more help can count as an outcome, even if they simply left. Your bill moves with traffic, on top of seats. Our Intercom Fin alternative page goes through the numbers.
Zendesk
Who it suits: teams that need multichannel ticketing, SLAs and a large agent team, with an AI agent in front.
How it hands over. Zendesk’s pricing page says its AI agents are billed per automated resolution, which it defines as a request resolved without being escalated to a human. So a chat handed to your team isn’t charged as a resolution. The page doesn’t describe the handover itself.
Inbox and plans. Per agent per month: Support Team $19 yearly or $25 monthly, Suite Team $55 or $69, Suite Professional $115 or $149.
AI price (as of October 2026). 5 automated resolutions per agent per month on Support Team and Suite Team, 10 on Suite Professional. After that, pay-as-you-go resolutions are $2.00 each, with a lower committed rate. Source: zendesk.com/pricing.
Where it’s stronger than us: everything a full helpdesk does: tickets, SLAs, voice, many channels and integrations. Not charging for handed-over requests is also a fair model.
Watch for: a small allowance of resolutions per agent, then $2.00 each. For a team of three with a busy website, the AI can cost more than the seats.
Comparison table
All figures as of October 2026, in US dollars, before tax, on monthly billing unless the text above says yearly, from each vendor’s own pricing page linked above. “Not stated” means the vendor’s page doesn’t say, not that the feature is missing.
| Tool | Team inbox on the entry plan | Note or summary on handover | Bot stops when a person replies | Channels | How the AI is charged |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SupportVia | Yes | A note with every handover; the AI’s note on what the customer needs when it hands over | Yes, even mid-reply | Website chat | Per AI conversation in the plan; your team’s chats not counted |
| Crisp | Yes, free plan included | Private notes from Mini | Not stated | Website, plus more from Essentials | AI credits in money terms per plan |
| Tidio | Yes, free plan included | Not stated | Not stated | Website and more | Lyro tiers, beside billable conversations |
| Boei | Yes, 1 agent | AI summary from Growth | Not stated | Website, plus external inboxes | AI credits; usage depends on model |
| Kommunicate | Yes, 1 seat | AI Summary on Professional | Not stated | Website, WhatsApp, apps, email | Conversations included, then overage |
| Intercom Fin | Yes, per seat | Not stated on pricing page | Not stated | Many | $0.99 per outcome, on top of seats |
| Zendesk | Yes, per agent | Not stated on pricing page | Not stated | Many | 5 to 10 resolutions per agent, then $2.00 each |
What a month costs at 500 AI chats
Starting prices don’t tell you much. Here is a rough month for a team of three people whose AI handles 500 chats. For the two tools that charge per outcome or resolution, we assume 300 of the 500 count (60%), a middle case. Our AI chatbot pricing study shows the same tools with every chat counted and with half counted, at three volumes. Change the share to match your own traffic.
| Tool | Plan that fits | Rough monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| SupportVia | Growth: 500 AI conversations, 5 teammates | $79 |
| Boei | Growth: 3 agents, 7,000 credits | $69, if 7,000 credits cover 500 chats on your model |
| Crisp | Essentials: 10 seats, about 450 AI conversations in credits | $95, plus credits for the last 50 or so |
| Kommunicate | Professional: 3 seats, 2,000 conversations | $200 |
| Intercom Fin | 3 Essential seats at the yearly list price ($87) + 300 outcomes × $0.99 ($297) | about $384 |
| Zendesk | 3 Suite Team agents ($207) + 285 resolutions × $2.00 ($570) | about $777 |
| Tidio | Growth ($59) + the Lyro tier for 500 ($350), both billed monthly | $409, or $340.84 billed yearly |
The point isn’t that one tool is cheapest. It’s that per-outcome and per-resolution pricing grows with your traffic, while a plan with a fixed number of conversations or credits is easier to predict. For more on how these models compare, see our alternatives hub.
How to choose
You’re a team of one to five, and the chat is on your website only
You want the AI to answer common questions, hand over cleanly, and catch leads after hours. Shortlist SupportVia and Boei. Choose Boei if you need white label, webhooks or AI actions. Choose SupportVia if you want answers only from your own pages, with the page it read linked under each answer, a note with every handover, and your team’s chats left off the meter.
Your team works from their phones, or you want more channels soon
Shortlist Crisp and Tidio. Both have a free plan, mobile apps and more channels than website chat. Crisp’s per-workspace price suits a team that grows. Tidio suits shops that want Flows automations. If WhatsApp is your main channel, look at Kommunicate.
You run a support team with tickets and SLAs
Shortlist Intercom Fin and Zendesk. They are full helpdesks with the AI in front. Model your month with real traffic before you sign, because the AI fee sits on top of seats.
Test the handover in every trial
Whatever you shortlist, run the same four tests on the same day:
- Ask for a person in your first message. You should get one without having to fail first.
- Ask something that isn’t on your website, such as a discount you don’t offer. A good bot says it isn’t sure and offers a person. A bad one invents an answer.
- Reply as a teammate while the bot is still typing. The customer should see one answer, from your teammate, not two.
- Hand over when nobody is online. The chat should take the customer’s name and email and tell them how they’ll hear back.
Then open the inbox and check what your teammate sees. If they would have to ask the customer to repeat themselves, the handover isn’t good enough, whichever tool it is.