tawk.to3CXtawk.to vs 3CX

tawk.to vs 3CX: $58 against $0 a month

A free live chat against a business phone system with live chat: 3CX is $58 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick tawk.to if budget is zero and you can live with the tawk.to branding or pay $29 to remove it. Pick 3CX if phone is your main channel and you want chat and WhatsApp to ring the same agents. For five people, 3CX is $58 a month cheaper than tawk.to ($58 or more a month on tawk.to against $0 on 3CX), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, which only 3CX's figure comes under. tawk.to and 3CX both include website chat in the price; only 3CX has WhatsApp. Neither tawk.to nor 3CX includes email, Instagram and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what tawk.to and 3CX sell here at one price.

At a glancetawk.totawk.to3CX3CX
Built aroundFree chat for unlimited agents · paid add-ons per featurePhone calls · a PBX with a chat widget
Entry plan$0 · unlimited agents$0 · SMB Free: up to 10 users
Chat in the price$0 · $29/mo to remove branding$0 · live chat on the free tier
AI agentAI Assist from $29/mo · small free tierNone for chat · call transcription launching
Copilot for agentsIn AI AssistNone
Free planYes · the core product is freeYes · up to 10 users, 3CX-hosted

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    tawk.totawk.to

    As a chat in the free dashboard; tickets are emails converted into a simple queue. 3CX has no ticket queue either.

    3CX3CX

    As a call, or as a chat that rings the same agent queue; there is no ticket behind it. tawk.to has no ticket queue either.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    tawk.totawk.to

    Seats are free and unlimited. The money goes on add-ons: branding removal, AI Assist, video, hired agents. $58 for five people, against $0 on 3CX.

    3CX3CX

    The licence is per system per year, sized by simultaneous calls, not per agent; the free tier covers ten users. $0 for five people, against $58 on tawk.to.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    tawk.totawk.to

    AI Assist from $29 a month with a small free tier; it drafts and answers from your knowledge base. 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat) instead.

    3CX3CX

    No AI agent for chat. Call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    tawk.totawk.to

    Website chat and email tickets; no native WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. 3CX adds WhatsApp, which tawk.to lacks.

    3CX3CX

    Voice, live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and SMS through the phone system; no email queue. WhatsApp is here and not on tawk.to.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    tawk.totawk.to

    A knowledge base, a CRM, and human agents for hire at $1 an hour. 3CX is a business phone system with live chat instead.

    3CX3CX

    The phone system itself: extensions, call queues, IVR, recordings and video meetings. tawk.to is a free live chat instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    tawk.totawk.to

    Minutes: paste the widget and start chatting. 3CX is a day for the phone system.

    3CX3CX

    A day for the phone system; minutes for the chat widget once the PBX is up. tawk.to is minutes.

Sources: tawk.to pricing · 3CX pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The tawk.to dashboard: the visitor list, the chat and the ticket queue
tawk.totawk.to. The tawk.to dashboard: the visitor list, the chat and the ticket queue
The 3CX web client: the call queue with a live chat conversation in the same panel
3CX3CX. The 3CX web client: the call queue with a live chat conversation in the same panel

Pricing references: tawk.to pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); 3CX pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

tawk.to, 3CX and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

Featuretawk.totawk.to3CX3CXSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Free chat; add-ons per feature.
Per system per year, by simultaneous calls
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Unlimited agents.
Up to 10 users, hosted by 3CX
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The product.
Widget rings the agent queue
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Ticketing by email on the free plan.
No email queue
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Messaging channels in beta.
Through the phone system
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Messaging channels in beta.
Messenger only
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Beta.
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Not offered.
Internal 3CX chat only
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Assist from $29/mo, trained on the knowledge base.
None for chat
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Add-on subscription.
No AI agent to bill
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to agents.
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Basic email tickets.
Calls and chats, no ticket queue
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Triggers.
Call flows, not support automations
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Basic reporting.
Call reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Desktop apps.
Windows and macOS apps
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick tawk.to if

  • Budget is zero and you can live with the tawk.to branding or pay $29 to remove it.
  • You want to hire human chat agents by the hour.
  • You want an AI agent at all; 3CX has none for chat.
  • Time to the first reply is minutes here and a day for the phone system on 3CX.

Pick 3CX if

  • Phone is your main channel and you want chat and WhatsApp to ring the same agents.
  • You want a free tier for a small team that already needs a PBX.
  • Five people cost $58 a month less than on tawk.to ($0 against $58), before AI.
  • You need WhatsApp in the price, which tawk.to does not include outright.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on tawk.to or 3CX who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $58 or more a month on tawk.to against $0 on 3CX for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats, 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat); Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and tickets raised from a chat, which neither tawk.to nor 3CX includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

tawk.to: $58+ a month for five ($0 for chat, $29 to remove branding, $29+ for AI Assist); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. 3CX: $0 a month for five (five users on the free tier); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $13 less than tawk.to and more than 3CX's $0 for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included.

Where the two agree, and where they split

tawk.to is a free live chat built around free chat for unlimited agents; 3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls. Both have a free plan: tawk.to's is the core product is free, 3CX's is up to 10 users, 3CX-hosted. tawk.to and 3CX both include website chat in the price; only 3CX has WhatsApp. Neither tawk.to nor 3CX includes email, Instagram and Telegram outright. tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats; 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat). Neither tawk.to nor 3CX has a ticket queue, and both ship desktop apps. tawk.to is minutes; 3CX is a day for the phone system.

What each price leaves out

tawk.to: AI Assist from $29 a month, with a small free tier. 3CX: No AI agent for chat; call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. Beside tawk.to's AI Assist from $29/mo and 3CX's none for chat, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    tawk.totawk.toSee vendorNot quoted
    3CX3CXSee vendorNot quoted
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    tawk.totawk.to · Not applicable; the core is free
    3CX3CX · Free tier, no trial clock
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

tawk.to vs 3CX: the questions people ask

tawk.to is a free live chat built around free chat for unlimited agents; 3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls. Neither tawk.to nor 3CX has a ticket queue, and both ship desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: tawk.to $0 (unlimited agents); 3CX $0 (SMB Free: up to 10 users).
  • Chat in the price: tawk.to $0 ($29/mo to remove branding); 3CX $0 (live chat on the free tier).
  • Sellio's inbox: email, Instagram and Telegram, which neither tawk.to nor 3CX has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside tawk.to and 3CX on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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