The short answer
Pick Chatbase if the bot is the product you want: an AI agent built from your content, with a generous monthly allowance of message credits, and a team inbox only once you need one. Pick Tidio if your team already answers chats and you want live chat first, with an AI agent you can add and pay for as you go. As of October 2026, Chatbase starts at $32 a month billed yearly ($40 billed monthly) with 700 message credits a month and no helpdesk inbox. Tidio starts at $24.17 a month billed yearly with 100 billable conversations for your team and 50 Lyro AI conversations, once.
Most Chatbase vs Tidio pages compare feature lists. This one works out what each costs once the AI and the team are both in use, explains the three meters you’d be paying on, and says plainly where the vendors’ own pages are silent. Every figure comes from the vendor’s own page, checked on October 30, 2026, with the source linked. Prices change often, so check both pages again before you buy.
Two different starting points
The two tools look alike on a website: a chat bubble that answers questions. They’re built from opposite ends.
- Chatbase is a bot builder. You create an AI agent, feed it your content, and pay for the AI’s replies in message credits. People come in later: its helpdesk inbox is listed from the second paid plan, Basic.
- Tidio is a live chat suite. The team inbox comes first, on every plan, including Free. Its AI agent, Lyro, is an add-on with its own meter, and automations (Flows) have a third meter.
That difference drives almost everything below. If nobody on your team will watch an inbox, much of what you pay for in Tidio sits idle. If people will, Chatbase’s entry plan doesn’t give them anywhere to answer.
Pricing side by side (as of October 2026)
| Chatbase | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|
| How it charges | Per plan, with members and message credits in each | Per plan, with billable conversations, Lyro conversations and Flows visitors |
| Free plan | None listed on the pricing page | 50 billable conversations and 50 Lyro conversations, once |
| Trial | 7 days on each paid plan | 7 days, no card; then the Free plan |
| Entry paid plan | Hobby: $40 a month, or $32 billed yearly. 700 credits, 2 members | Starter: $24.17 a month billed yearly. 100 billable conversations, 50 Lyro once |
| Middle plan | Basic: $150, or $120 billed yearly. 4,000 credits, 3 members | Growth: from $49.17 a month billed yearly, from 250 billable conversations |
| Upper plan | Business: $500, or $400 billed yearly. 15,000 credits, 5 members | Plus: from $300 a month plus usage |
| Top plan | Enterprise: price on request | Premium: price on request |
| AI included | Message credits in every paid plan | 50 Lyro conversations once; then Lyro tiers from $32.50 a month for 50, up to 1,000 |
| More AI | Auto-recharge: $40 per 1,000 credits | Lyro tiers up to 1,000 a month ($583.33 a month billed yearly for 1,000) |
| Team inbox | Helpdesk inbox from Basic | Every plan |
| Extras worth a look | Removing “Powered by Chatbase”: $1,188 a year | Flows on their own from $24.17 a month for 2,000 visitors |
Sources: Chatbase pricing, Tidio pricing and Tidio Lyro, as of October 2026.
Three things are easy to miss:
- Both pages lead with yearly prices. Chatbase shows the yearly rate with the monthly one struck through beside it; yearly is 20% off. Tidio shows yearly by default (“2 months free”); billed monthly, Starter is $29 and Growth starts at $59. Our Tidio pricing guide works through each plan and how Lyro is billed.
- A Chatbase message credit is not a conversation. Each AI reply uses credits, and the page doesn’t say how many each AI model uses. A customer who asks four questions uses at least four replies’ worth.
- A Tidio conversation is two different things. A billable conversation is a chat your team handles. A Lyro conversation is a chat with at least one Lyro reply. Each has its own allowance and its own upgrade.
What a three-person team pays
Take a small business with three people who answer chats, one website, about 300 chats a month the AI answers and 200 the team handles. These are our estimates from the vendors’ published rates; ask each vendor for a quote at your volume.
Chatbase. Hobby has no helpdesk inbox and only 2 members, so a team of three needs Basic: $120 a month billed yearly, or $150 billed monthly. Its 4,000 credits a month cover 300 AI chats as long as each chat uses about 13 credits or fewer. If every reply costs one credit, that’s 13 replies a chat, which is plenty; on a model that uses more credits per reply, it could run short, and extra credits are $40 per 1,000.
Tidio. 200 team chats is more than Starter’s 100 billable conversations, so you’d need Growth at 250, $49.17 a month billed yearly ($59 monthly). The AI is on top: Lyro’s 300 tier is $175 a month billed yearly ($210 monthly). That’s $224.17 a month in total on yearly billing, or $269 billed monthly.
| Monthly cost, yearly billing | AI part | Team part | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatbase Basic | Included (4,000 credits) | Included (3 members, inbox) | $120 |
| Tidio Growth + Lyro | $175 (Lyro 300) | $49.17 (Growth 250) | $224.17 |
Now flip the mix: a site where nobody answers chats, 300 AI chats a month. Chatbase Hobby at $32 probably covers it, credits permitting. Tidio would mean paying for Lyro at 300 conversations a month, $175 billed yearly, on top of a plan whose main feature, the team inbox, you wouldn’t use. For the same question across more tools, our AI chatbot cost calculator runs the numbers, and the AI chatbot pricing study explains each way of charging.
Handing the chat to a person
Chatbase hands a chat to its helpdesk inbox through a live chat action: the AI decides the customer wants a person, following instructions you write (Chatbase docs). The pricing page lists that inbox from Basic, so on Hobby there’s no one to hand the chat to inside Chatbase.
Tidio has live chat and a helpdesk in the same tool on every plan, and lists “Human handoff” under Lyro. The handoff is the natural move here, because the people were there before the AI.
Chatbase’s live chat docs say the AI agent stops handling the conversation once it is handed to the inbox, but not how the chat goes back to the AI. Tidio’s pages don’t say either. That matters more than it sounds. A bot that keeps answering over a teammate confuses the customer. Our guide to chatbot human handoff lists what to test in a trial.
Does the AI show where its answer came from?
Tidio says Lyro shows your team the source of each answer so they can check it (Tidio, as of October 2026). Neither vendor says whether customers see a link to the page an answer was drawn from. That’s worth asking. A link lets the customer check a price or a returns window for themselves, and lets you spot a bad answer quickly.
Two tests to run in both trials:
- Ask a question your content answers, and see whether the reply points to where it came from.
- Ask one your content doesn’t answer at all, and see whether the bot guesses or hands over. Our page on how SupportVia answers and the guide to stopping chatbot wrong answers have more questions to try.
More than one website
Chatbase gives one AI agent per plan; an extra agent is $300 a year. Two websites with different content means two agents.
Tidio lists “multiproject” under its Plus and Premium plans. Its pricing page doesn’t say how extra projects work or are billed on the lower plans, so ask before you commit.
If several websites are the normal case for you, see live chat for multiple websites.
Who each one suits
| Your situation | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Nobody watches a chat inbox; you want the bot to do the answering | Chatbase | Hobby’s 700 credits a month, with no team tools to pay for |
| Your team already answers chats and you want to add AI slowly | Tidio | The inbox is on every plan; Lyro is added by the tier |
| You want to try both for free first | Tidio | A free plan and a trial with no card; Chatbase lists a 7-day trial only |
| A team of three wants AI and an inbox on one predictable bill | Chatbase | Basic includes both; Tidio’s bill depends on two meters |
| Several websites, each with its own content | Ask both | Chatbase charges per extra agent; Tidio doesn’t publish its project billing |
| Website chat only, with AI answers, sources shown and a team behind | Consider a third option | See below |
If you’ve already ruled one out, our pages on Chatbase alternatives and Tidio alternatives go through other options, and Tidio vs Crisp compares Tidio with another live chat suite. The alternatives hub lists them all.
A third option: a bot and a team inbox on every plan
Chatbase puts the bot first and the inbox later. Tidio puts the inbox first and meters the bot. If you want both from the start, on one meter, SupportVia may fit. It’s an AI chatbot for your website that answers only from your own pages, Q&As and notes, shows up to five “Read more” links to the pages it used, and hands the chat to your team’s shared inbox when it isn’t sure or the customer asks for a person. Once a teammate replies, the AI stops until you hand the chat back.
For the three-person team above: 300 AI conversations a month fits Growth at $79 a month, which includes 500 AI conversations, 5 websites and 5 teammates. Chats your team answers aren’t counted on any plan. Starter is $29 a month for 150 AI conversations and 2 teammates. See plans and limits.
What it doesn’t do, so you can rule it out quickly: no file or PDF uploads, no WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger or email channels, no ticketing and no mobile app for your team. If you need any of those, Chatbase or Tidio will serve you better. The free trial lasts 7 days or 50 AI conversations, whichever comes first, with no card.