Flat seat-based pricing. No per-resolution fees, no branding paywalls, no enterprise-only features. Start free forever, add seats when you grow.
Free
One site, 500 AI messages per month. Full feature set - the only difference is the "Powered by Dchat" link.
Dchat-managed AI
Dchat manages the AI key. Fastest path from signup to live support. final AI cost depends on usage.
Customer-managed AI
Bring your own OpenAI key. Pay the provider directly. Same platform, cleaner governance story.
Human seat
Add teammates who take over when AI hits its limit. Same inbox, full transcript, no repeat-yourself.
Official vendor pricing reviewed in April 2026. This is the useful part of the comparison: how each product charges, not just the lowest number on the page.
Dchat stays seat based. Managed AI is $29 per AI seat, customer-managed AI is $15 per AI seat, and human seats are $15. No per-resolution fee layer on top.
Intercom's cost shape is seat plus AI usage. That is fine when resolution pricing maps cleanly to value, but it is less predictable than Dchat's flat seat story.
Freshchat starts lower on seat price for broader service coverage, but Freddy AI becomes usage priced after the first 500 sessions trial allocation, at $49 per 100 sessions.
Crisp is priced as a workspace product rather than a pure AI seat product. That can look cheaper early, but the AI story is bundled into a broader inbox and app suite.
Tidio separates platform pricing from Lyro AI conversation quotas. The entry point is accessible, but AI economics stay tied to conversation buckets.
Gorgias prices by billable tickets rather than seats. That can be attractive for large teams, but the cost model tracks conversation volume instead of operator count.
Official references reviewed: Intercom pricing, Freshchat pricing, Crisp pricing, Tidio pricing, and Gorgias pricing pages. Vendor packaging changes often.
Most competitors charge in one of four ways: by seat, by ticket, by AI outcome, or by AI conversation/session pack. The shape matters as much as the entry point.
Seats are easy to forecast. If you bring your own key, the AI provider bill stays separate and visible.
Intercom, Freshchat, Tidio, and others often combine plan pricing with AI usage pricing. That is where many teams lose predictability.
Workspace products, ecommerce help desks, and CRM-led suites can start lower, but they may solve a broader or different problem than website-first AI support.
Every plan - including the free one - ships the full Dchat feature set. Seats and AI volume are the only things that scale with price.
No credit card. No sales call. The free tier is the same platform the paid tiers get - just with a "Powered by Dchat" footer and a 500 msg/month AI cap.