tawk.toHelpshifttawk.to vs Helpshift

tawk.to vs Helpshift: free live chat or in-app support

A free live chat against an in-app support for games and apps: one prints a price and one quotes. What decides between tawk.to and Helpshift, and a third option for small teams.

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 Helpshift if you ship a mobile game or app and want support inside it with device data attached. For five people it is $58 or more a month on tawk.to, and a quote on Helpshift, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. tawk.to and Helpshift both include website chat in the price; only Helpshift has email and WhatsApp. Neither tawk.to nor Helpshift includes Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between tawk.to and Helpshift for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glancetawk.totawk.toHelpshiftHelpshift
Built aroundFree chat for unlimited agents · paid add-ons per featureIn-app support for games · SDK first
Entry plan$0 · unlimited agentsQuote · priced by interaction volume
Chat in the price$0 · $29/mo to remove brandingQuote · in-app and web
AI agentAI Assist from $29/mo · small free tierIn the quote · AI agents by volume
Copilot for agentsIn AI AssistIn the quote
Free planYes · the core product is freeNone · request pricing

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. Helpshift raises a ticket where tawk.to keeps a conversation.

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    As an issue raised inside the game or app through the SDK, with device and player data attached. tawk.to has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  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; Helpshift prints no figure to set beside it.

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    There is no seat price; the quote is built from interaction volume, solutions and regions. No figure for five people here; tawk.to prints $58.

  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. Helpshift meters AI (in the quote) above the seats as well.

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    AI agents are part of the modular quote, priced by the volume they handle. tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    tawk.totawk.to

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

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    In-app, web, email, WhatsApp and Discord; no Instagram or Telegram. email and WhatsApp are 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. Helpshift is an in-app support for games and apps instead.

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    Player engagement, trust and safety, community, and outsourced human support. 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. Helpshift is a sales cycle, then an SDK integration by your developers.

    HelpshiftHelpshift

    A sales cycle, then an SDK integration by your developers. tawk.to is minutes.

Sources: tawk.to pricing · Helpshift 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 Helpshift agent dashboard: an in-app issue with the player's device and session data
HelpshiftHelpshift. The Helpshift agent dashboard: an in-app issue with the player's device and session data

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

tawk.to, Helpshift 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.toHelpshiftHelpshiftSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Free chat; add-ons per feature.
Quote by interaction volume
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Unlimited agents.
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The product.
In-app and web
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Ticketing by email on the free plan.
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Messaging channels in beta.
Included
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Messaging channels in beta.
Not offered
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Beta.
Discord instead
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Not offered.
Discord as a customer channel
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.
AI agents in the quote
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Add-on subscription.
By volume, quoted
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to agents.
Hands to an agent
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Basic email tickets.
Issues with states
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Triggers.
Automations and bots
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Basic reporting.
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Desktop apps.
Browser only
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 a free plan to start on; Helpshift offers no trial.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Helpshift does not ship.

Pick Helpshift if

  • You ship a mobile game or app and want support inside it with device data attached.
  • Discord and WhatsApp are where players write.
  • You need email and WhatsApp in the price, which tawk.to does not include outright.
  • You need a ticket queue, which tawk.to does not have.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $58 or more a month on tawk.to, and a quote on Helpshift for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats and Helpshift meters AI (in the quote) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram, which neither tawk.to nor Helpshift 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. Helpshift quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $13 less than tawk.to and against a quote on Helpshift 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; Helpshift is an in-app support for games and apps built around in-app support for games. Only tawk.to has a free plan (the core product is free); Helpshift offers no trial. tawk.to and Helpshift both include website chat in the price; only Helpshift has email and WhatsApp. Neither tawk.to nor Helpshift includes Instagram and Telegram outright. tawk.to (AI Assist from $29/mo) and Helpshift (in the quote) both meter AI above the seats. Helpshift has tickets and tawk.to does not, and only tawk.to ships desktop apps. tawk.to is minutes; Helpshift is a sales cycle, then an SDK integration by your developers.

What each price leaves out

tawk.to: AI Assist from $29 a month, with a small free tier. Helpshift: AI agents are part of the modular quote. Beside tawk.to's AI Assist from $29/mo and Helpshift's in the quote, 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
    HelpshiftHelpshiftSee 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
    HelpshiftHelpshift · None; request pricing
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

tawk.to vs Helpshift: the questions people ask

tawk.to is a free live chat built around free chat for unlimited agents; Helpshift is an in-app support for games and apps built around in-app support for games. Helpshift has tickets and tawk.to does not, and only tawk.to ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: tawk.to $0 (unlimited agents); Helpshift Quote (priced by interaction volume).
  • Chat in the price: tawk.to $0 ($29/mo to remove branding); Helpshift Quote (in-app and web).
  • Sellio: Instagram and Telegram, which neither tawk.to nor Helpshift has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the tawk.to and Helpshift rows is on the shared inbox page.

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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