Unmetered chat vs metered conversations

MyLiveChat vs Tidio

Tidio and MyLiveChat both start free and both add an AI assistant, but they price the core job differently. Tidio bills by conversation — each plan includes a monthly quota of billable conversations, and heavier months cost more. MyLiveChat does not meter chats: the free plan is one agent with unlimited conversations, and paid plans add seats rather than conversation allowances.

Start free on MyLiveChat Back to full comparison
Where Tidio wins

A broader bot-flow builder and channel add-ons.

Tidio pushes visual chatbot flows, its Lyro AI assistant, and add-on channels harder out of the box, and its free tier includes a generous seat count for very small teams.

Where MyLiveChat wins

Chat volume never changes the bill.

MyLiveChat does not count billable conversations. A busy month costs the same as a quiet one, so a spike in traffic or a viral day never pushes you into a higher usage charge.

Decision rule

Predictable flat cost versus usage-based scaling.

Pick MyLiveChat when you want conversation volume decoupled from price. Pick Tidio when a metered model with rich flow automation and its own AI packaging fits how you plan to scale.

Side-by-side

How the two products separate in practice.

Buying factor MyLiveChat Tidio
Free plan 1 agent, unlimited chats, free forever Free, capped at 50 billable conversations/mo
Conversation metering None — chats are unlimited on every plan Billable-conversation quota per plan
Paid entry price $15/mo Starter $24.17/mo
Mid tier Seat-based, no per-chat charge Growth from $49.17/mo
AI assistant Optional AI on your own content, predictable packs Lyro AI, metered by AI conversation
Knowledge base Built-in public help center Available with help-desk features
Longevity Running since 2003 Founded 2013
Best-fit buyer Team that wants flat, unmetered chat cost Team that wants flow automation and usage-based AI

Source check, July 17, 2026

  • Tidio public pricing shows a Free plan (about 50 billable conversations/month), Starter at $24.17/month, Growth from $49.17/month, and Plus from $300/month, with Lyro AI billed by AI conversation. Tidio's model counts billable conversations per plan.
  • Official source: tidio.com/pricing. Competitor pricing changes over time — confirm current figures on that page before deciding.
  • MyLiveChat figures reflect our own pricing page: 1 agent free forever with unlimited chats, paid plans from $15/month, no per-conversation charge.
Choose MyLiveChat if

You want chat volume out of the pricing equation.

  • You would rather add seats than watch a monthly conversation counter.
  • Traffic is seasonal or spiky and you do not want a busy month to raise the bill.
  • You want live chat, a built-in knowledge base, and optional AI on your own content, on one flat plan.
Choose Tidio if

You want its flow builder and usage-based AI.

  • Visual chatbot flows and the Lyro AI packaging are central to your plan.
  • Your conversation volume is predictable enough that metered pricing stays comfortable.
  • You want the extra seats Tidio's lower tiers include for a very small team.
Run it yourself

How to test a metered model against your own volume.

Metered pricing is not automatically worse; it is worse when your volume is spiky and better when it is genuinely low. The only way to know which you are is to price both models against a real month.

Step one

Price the busy month, not the average one.

  • Pull your highest-traffic month from the last year and estimate conversations at that level.
  • Price a usage-based plan at that number, then at twice it, and see whether the bill is still one you would sign off.
  • Separate the conversations that are worth paying for from the ones that are not — a bot answering “where is my order” may still be billable.
  • Decide in advance who is allowed to approve an overage, because that decision always arrives on a bad day.
Step two

Then test what the automation really does.

  • Build the same three flows in each tool: after-hours capture, order status, and a handoff to a human.
  • Count how many visitor questions the flow answers without a person, over a full week rather than a demo.
  • Track how often the bot hands off cleanly versus dead-ends, which is what visitors actually notice.
  • Compare first response time and abandoned chats with the same staffing on both.
Before you move

What switching actually involves.

The install is a script tag on your template, so the technical part is short. What takes an afternoon is rebuilding flows, and this is a good moment to notice how many of them you actually use. Teams routinely find that three of eleven flows carry all the traffic.

MyLiveChat does not meter conversations, so a flow that answers more questions costs you nothing extra. That changes the design incentive: you can let automation take the whole first line without pricing it per reply.

Export your transcripts before you cancel anything, and write down which automated answers were quietly wrong before you rebuild them somewhere new. A migration is the cheapest time to retire a bad answer.

A step-by-step version of this lives in our guide to moving from another live chat provider.

Decision checklist

Questions to ask before you decide.

Ask about cost

The numbers that decide it.

  • What is the bill in your busiest month, not your average one?
  • Which conversations count as billable, exactly?
  • Does a bot-only conversation cost the same as a human one?
Ask about the work

The questions nobody demos.

  • How many flows would you genuinely maintain?
  • What happens when the limit is reached mid-month?
  • Is anyone accountable for reviewing what the AI answered?

One caution about any comparison page, including this one: pricing and packaging move. The Tidio figures above carry the date they were checked, and anything material to your decision is worth confirming on the vendor’s own pricing page on the day you decide. Our own plans are listed on the pricing page, and if you want a structured way through the shortlist, start with the how to test a change properly.

Verdict

Tidio is a strong pick when a metered, flow-first model fits how you plan to grow and you want its Lyro AI packaging. MyLiveChat is the better fit when you want the website-support job handled on a flat plan where conversation volume never changes the bill — one agent and unlimited chats free forever, then seats when the team grows.

Searching for a Tidio alternative? MyLiveChat covers the same core job — website live chat with optional AI, a built-in knowledge base, and human handoff — with 1 agent free forever, unlimited chats, and flat paid plans from $15/month. Start free and compare on your own site.

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