Tidio and tawk.to are both helpdesk & cx app tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-08-29, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Both are priced in the same range — the decision comes down to features and fit. On the Shopify App Store, Tidio holds 4.8 ★ across 1,247 reviews and tawk.to holds 3.6 ★ across 55. Tidio: These reviews suggest the app fits Shopify merchants that want quick-to-launch live chat, AI-assisted customer support, and basic sales or lead-capture help across an online store. tawk.to: These reviews suggest the app fits merchants who want a low-cost live chat tool with broad customization and are comfortable managing settings outside Shopify admin. — from tracked pricing and recent App Store review analysis.
Starts at 250 billable conversations and scales up to 2,000; 10 seats
Plus
—
$300 per month base plus monthly usage; custom billable conversations, Lyro AI conversations, Flows visitors, and seats
Premium
—
Custom billable conversations and limits; from 3,000 Lyro AI conversations; pay-per-resolution billing
Lyro AI Agent (standalone add-on)
—
Starts with 50 Lyro AI conversations per month; selectable paid quotas range from 50 to 1,000, with custom quotas available
Flows (standalone add-on)
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Starts with 2,000 visitors reached per month; selectable quotas scale to 100,000, with custom quotas available
Prices are in USD. The Annually option appears selected and states '2 months free,' so displayed recurring prices are recorded as annual USD per month; separate month-to-month prices are not shown.
Extracted from each vendor's App Store listing (2026-07-20);
"—" = not stated there. Verify tier availability on vendor pricing pages.
What do merchants say about them?
Tidio
Recent merchant sentiment is strongly positive, with most visible reviews emphasizing faster support workflows, easy setup, and useful AI/chat automation. The app is also credited with helping conversions, lead capture, and reducing routine customer questions. The main visible caveat is a missing export capability, with a few reviews too early in usage to be definitive.
＋Support efficiency — Merchants often say the app helps them respond faster, manage support more smoothly, and handle customer conversations across their store.
＋Easy setup and use — Several reviews describe setup, configuration, and everyday use as simple or straightforward.
＋AI assistance quality — Merchants praise the AI for learning store information, answering product questions accurately, handling multiple languages, and supporting sales conversations.
＋Conversion and lead impact — Some reviewers connect the app with better conversion, sales assistance, lead capture, or reduced repetitive pre-sale questions.
－Limited export options — One reviewer objects that customer questions and agent answers cannot be exported from the app.
－Early-use uncertainty — A couple of recent users are positive but note they have not used the app long enough to fully judge it.
Watch out: Merchants needing full export of customer chat questions and answers should verify that workflow before relying on the app.
Synthesized from the 18 most recent App Store
reviews (2026-07-16); themes paraphrased.
tawk.to
Sentiment is sharply mixed: older reviews are often positive about the app being free, capable, and useful for direct customer chats, while recent reviews skew negative. The main friction points are support responsiveness, uninstall or configuration problems, and widget behavior that merchants feel is difficult to control.
＋Feature-rich chat — Merchants often value the live chat capabilities, customization options, visitor context, media sharing, notifications, scheduling, and mobile access.
＋Free or strong value — Several reviewers highlight that the app delivers useful chat functionality without requiring a paid plan.
＋Customer communication — Positive reviews say the app helps merchants engage shoppers while they are actively browsing or ready to buy.
＋Helpful support — Some merchants report prompt or hands-on support, including guidance through setup and questions.
－Poor or delayed support — Multiple negative reviews say support is hard to reach, slow to respond, or routed through AI or scheduled meetings instead of immediate human help.
－Installation or removal issues — Several merchants report widgets or code remaining after uninstalling, configuration not applying, or the app no longer opening correctly.
－Widget behavior and controls — Reviewers mention intrusive default sounds, automatic popups, misplaced buttons, limited icon customization, and settings that are hard to manage.
Watch out: The most common caveat is that setup, removal, and support follow-up may be frustrating when something goes wrong.
Synthesized from the 20 most recent App Store
reviews (2026-07-16); themes paraphrased.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Tidio or tawk.to?
Both start at free (verified 2026-08-29).
Does Tidio or tawk.to have a free plan?
Both offer free tiers.
Which is rated higher on the Shopify App Store?
Tidio rates higher at 4.8 ★, vs 3.6 ★ — though both counts matter: Tidio has 1,247 reviews and tawk.to has 55.
How we compare: pricing and plans are collected automatically
from vendor pages on a schedule and shown with verification dates; ratings come
from the Shopify App Store; merchant sentiment is synthesized from the most
recent App Store reviews (paraphrased, never quoted). We currently have no
affiliate relationship with either vendor. Found an error?
The data snapshot behind this page is dated — check the vendor's page for
same-day changes.
Tidio
tawk.to