Automate Basics

Tidio vs Intercom vs Chatbase vs Manychat

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 16 October 2026.

Written head to head: Tidio vs Chatbase · Manychat vs Chatbase · Manychat vs Tidio, with when to choose each side.

Compared on
Tidio

Free plan · from $24.17/mo

Intercom

Free trial · from $19/seat/mo

Chatbase

Free plan · from $32/mo

Manychat

Free plan · from $14/mo

What it isLive chat, ticketing and an AI agent (Lyro) for customer serviceCustomer service helpdesk with a built-in AI agent, FinBuilds AI support agents trained on a company's own contentAutomates social DMs and comment replies on Instagram, WhatsApp and more
Free plan50 billable conversations a month, 10 seats, live chat and ticketing, 50 Lyro AI Agent conversations (one-off, lifetime), 100 visitors reached by Flows a monthNo50 message credits/month, 1 AI agent, 1 member, limited model access, 1 MB training content; agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity25 Active Contacts per month, 1 user, up to 4 live automations, any 2 channels from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook Messenger and Telegram (no WhatsApp, SMS or email), Manychat branding; no credit card required
Cheapest paid plan$24.17/mo billed annually (Starter)Tidio pricing$19/seat/mo billed annually (Essential)Intercom pricing$32/mo billed annually (Hobby)Chatbase pricing$14/mo billed annually (Essential)Manychat pricing
What it covers100 billable conversations/month; annual billing is advertised as 2 months free.Fin AI Agent is charged separately at $0.99 per outcome; minimum of 1 full seat.700 message credits/month, 1 AI agent, 2 members; yearly option shown as $384 billed annually.250 Active Contacts a month included, then a fee per extra contact; $168 billed annually.
Free trial7-day free trial of all features and plans, no credit card needed; the account moves to the Free plan at the end unless you upgrade14-day free trial, no credit card required; includes all features, Fin and add-ons7-day trial of Hobby, Standard and Pro14-day free trial of Essential or Pro (none on Business or Advanced); a saved card is required and the plan renews unless you cancel
PlatformsWebWebWeb, APIWeb
Integrations (vendor's figure)Not statedNot statedNot statedNot stated
Open sourceNoNoNoNo
Good for
  • Adding live chat and an AI agent to a small online shop's website
  • Answering repetitive customer questions automatically
  • Collecting leads or quote requests with automated chat flows
  • Answering routine customer questions automatically before they reach support staff
  • Running a shared support inbox and help centre for a small support team
  • Adding an AI agent to an existing helpdesk such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Freshdesk
  • Creating a customer-facing AI agent for a website from existing help content
  • Handling first-line customer questions on WhatsApp or Slack
  • Giving a small team a support agent with usage capped by monthly credits
  • Replying automatically to Instagram comments and direct messages
  • Collecting email addresses from social media followers
  • Managing messages from several social channels in one inbox
Watch out for
  • Free plan is limited to 50 billable conversations a month and 100 Flows visitors
  • Lyro's free allowance is a one-off 50 conversations; more needs a paid Lyro quota (from $39 a month, or $32.50 billed annually, for 50 conversations)
  • Starter includes 100 billable conversations a month; Growth starts at 250
  • No free plan; a 14-day free trial is offered
  • Fin is billed per outcome on top of seat fees, and using Fin with another helpdesk carries a minimum monthly commitment (the page's example is 50 outcomes)
  • Multiple team inboxes and workflow automation start on Advanced; SSO and HIPAA support need Expert
  • Free plan: 50 message credits a month, and agents are deleted after 14 days of inactivity
  • Each plan includes one AI agent; extra agents cost $25 per agent per month
  • Removing 'Powered By Chatbase' branding is a $99/month add-on
  • Free plan: 25 active contacts a month, 2 channels and up to 4 active automations, with Manychat branding
  • Each plan includes a set number of active contacts; contacts above that cost $0.004 to $0.10 each, by plan
  • WhatsApp, SMS and email start on Pro; unlimited channels start on Business
Made byTidioFin (the company formerly named Intercom)Chatbase Inc.Manychat, Inc.

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in AI customer support tools is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.