Crisp

Crisp is a customer-support workspace for teams that want website chat, shared conversations, help content and automation under one roof. It suits growing support teams that can work within its seat and profile caps; the free tier is useful for a small team, but AI and scale require paid plans.

Overview

Crisp brings conversations from multiple channels into a collaborative inbox, with tools for live chat, self-service and customer-facing automation. It also targets inbound sales and marketing teams, so it can serve teams handling more than support tickets. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Nantes, France, Crisp says it is bootstrapped and has more than 600,000 users.

Key features

Shared inbox and chat

The shared inbox gives agents one place to handle inbound conversations across channels. Website chat, a chatbot, live-agent chat and visitor tracking cover common customer-contact needs; the widget also works in web apps and native iOS, Android and React apps. That breadth is useful for teams supporting customers across web and app touchpoints, though the included agent seats vary sharply by plan.

Help center, AI and workflows

Teams can create and maintain help articles in Crisp’s help center, giving customers a self-service route alongside live support. AI can be trained on website content, PDFs, help articles, conversations and private snippets. No-code workflows support internal automation and customer-facing AI agents. These tools make the paid tiers more compelling for teams aiming to automate repeat interactions, but the free plan includes no AI credits.

Integrations and API

Crisp’s directory includes 2,000 integrations spanning CRM, CMS, marketing, messaging and teamwork, with examples including Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Slack, WhatsApp and Jira. Its REST API provides access to and control over data such as conversations and contacts, making it relevant to teams that need to connect support operations with other systems.

Security and hosting

Crisp says it does not sell customer data, uses encrypted backups and limits data access by need to know. Public network channels use TLS with forward secrecy and HSTS. Messaging servers are hosted in the Netherlands and plugin servers in Germany, with replicated architecture and databases. These are useful safeguards for teams weighing customer-data handling, though they do not replace assessing a company’s own compliance requirements.

Pricing

Crisp is freemium. Every new account gets a 14-day trial of all features without a card, so teams can evaluate paid capabilities before committing.

• Free: free, billed Forever. It includes 2 seats, unlimited conversations and 100 customer profiles, but no AI credits. It is a reasonable starting point for a very small team with modest contact records; the profile cap and lack of AI constrain expansion.
• Mini: $45 a month, billed per month, per workspace. It raises capacity to 4 seats and 5,000 customer profiles, includes $ 5 in AI credits and around 90 automated conversations. This is the entry paid tier for a small team that wants automation, but its quota and seat count leave little room for a larger operation.
• Essentials: $95 a month, billed per month, per workspace. It includes 10 seats, 50,000 customer profiles, $ 25 in AI credits and around 450 automated conversations. The higher allowance better fits a growing support team, at more than double Mini’s monthly price.
• Plus: $295 a month, billed per month, per workspace. It includes 20+ seats, 200,000 customer profiles, $ 75 in AI credits and around 1,350 automated conversations. This is for larger teams with heavier contact and automation needs; its price is a substantial step up from Essentials.
• Enterprise: custom pricing, with dedicated onboarding, a personalized SLA, enhanced rate limits, custom features and team training. It is aimed at organizations needing tailored terms and support rather than a published fixed tier.

The lower plans trade capacity and AI usage for lower monthly cost, while the free plan keeps conversations unlimited but caps seats and profiles. Paid prices are per workspace, so teams should consider how many workspaces they need as well as their agent count.

Platforms

Crisp supports Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, web and API. Desktop apps are available for macOS and Windows, while the chat widget supports websites, web apps and native iOS, Android and React apps.

Who it's for

Crisp is best suited to customer-support teams that want shared multichannel handling plus a help center and automation, or inbound sales and marketing teams that also need customer conversations in one workspace. Its free plan can serve a small team that does not need AI; teams requiring more than two seats, more than 100 profiles or AI credits need to budget for a paid tier. It is less suitable for organizations seeking generous AI allowances at the lowest tier or a published enterprise price.

Pros and cons

• Pro: One collaborative inbox spans channels, with live chat, a chatbot and visitor tracking for teams handling customer conversations in several contexts.
• Pro: AI training sources include website content, PDFs, conversations and private snippets, giving teams multiple ways to shape automated responses.
• Pro: The 14-day all-feature trial requires no card, reducing commitment before a plan decision.
• Con: Free includes only 2 seats and 100 profiles, and no AI credits, which limits its usefulness as a team or contact base grows.
• Con: Mini includes around 90 automated conversations and $ 5 in AI credits, so automation-heavy teams may need a higher-priced plan.
• Con: Plus costs $295 a month per workspace, a large commitment for teams that need its 20+ seats and higher quotas.

Alternatives

For teams comparing adjacent messaging and support categories, see SMS Chatbot Software, Social Media Customer Service Software and Live chat software.

• Jack The Butler is a free, open-source option for teams that can self-host; it has no per-message or per-room fees, though hosting and AI API usage may cost extra.
• Smstools is a fit for teams focused on SMS messaging, with a U.S. message price of €0.03 per message and no subscription.
• AthenaText is another freemium option for teams seeking an API or web product; its Free plan has 0 credits and no AI replies or voice calls.
• Clickatell SMS API suits teams seeking pay-as-you-go outgoing messaging, with message prices that vary by destination and type.
• ConvoCore offers a free tier with 500 monthly credits, an estimated 182 messages and a web widget, for teams whose needs fit those limits.
• Gupshup is an alternative for messaging via API or web, with a standard 0.001 USD per-message fee and WhatsApp fees billed at actuals.
• Sarufi is another freemium API and web option, with a Developer plan allowance of 1,000 messages per month.
• Aircall is an alternative for teams seeking a phone-focused platform.

Verdict

Choose Crisp if your support team wants a shared multichannel inbox with help-center, AI and workflow tools, and its seat and profile limits match your scale. The no-card trial and free plan make it easy to start, but teams should look elsewhere if they need more capacity without a substantial paid-plan step-up or cannot justify per-workspace pricing.