Crisp vs Kayako
Crisp is all-in-one business messaging platform with live chat, chatbot, help desk, and CRM, while Kayako is help desk platform with journey-based customer support and multichannel inbox. The biggest difference up front: Crisp is free, while Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo. Crisp is built for startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk, whereas Kayako targets support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking.
At a glance
|
Crisp
|
Kayako
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk | Support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking |
| Starting price | Free | $15/agent/mo |
| Free tier | ✓ | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Free tier available | ✓ | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| CRM | ✓ | — |
| Chatbot | ✓ | — |
| Collaborators | — | ✓ |
| Help Desk | ✓ | — |
| Journey Tracking | — | ✓ |
| Live Chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared Inbox | ✓ | ✓ |
Crisp
Strengths
- Generous free tier for basic live chat
- Much cheaper than Intercom
- All-in-one: chat, bot, help desk, CRM
- Clean, modern interface
Weaknesses
- Less powerful AI than Intercom's Fin
- Fewer integrations
- Reporting less detailed than enterprise tools
- Some features less polished
Kayako
Strengths
- Includes Journey Tracking as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
- Includes Live Chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
- Pricing starts at $15/agent/mo, which includes the full customer support feature set
- Established product with 25+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem
Weaknesses
- Starts at $15/agent/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users
- Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
- Ticket volume can quickly overwhelm small teams without triage automation
- Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish
The bottom line
Pricing: Crisp is completely free, which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.
Feature gaps: Crisp offers CRM, Chatbot and Help Desk that Kayako lacks. Kayako brings Collaborators and Journey Tracking that Crisp does not have. Both share Live Chat and Shared Inbox.
Team fit: Crisp is geared toward small teams teams, while Kayako is aimed at mid-size teams teams. Pick the one that matches where your team is today and where it is headed — migrating tools later is always painful.
Where each tool shines: Crisp's biggest strengths are: generous free tier for basic live chat. much cheaper than intercom. Kayako's biggest strengths are: includes journey tracking as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows. includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows.
Watch out for: With Crisp, users commonly note that less powerful ai than intercom's fin. With Kayako, the main complaint is that starts at $15/agent/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users.
Choose Crisp if...
- Your profile matches its sweet spot: startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk
- Budget is a hard constraint — Crisp is free, Kayako is not
- You specifically need CRM and Chatbot
- You care about much cheaper than intercom
- Your team size fits the small teams profile Crisp is designed for
Choose Kayako if...
- You need a tool built for support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking
- You specifically need Collaborators and Journey Tracking
- You care about includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
- Your team size fits the mid-size teams profile Kayako is designed for
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