Smartsupp vs Tidio: Unlimited Chats or AI on Every Channel

The short answer: consider Smartsupp if one to five people answer a busy shop chat and the AI only has to work on your website: its Plus plan gives three operators unlimited conversations for $35 a month, and the Mira AI agent adds 100 conversations for $20. Consider Tidio if the AI must also answer WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger or email, or if six to ten people share a quieter inbox, since its plans include 10 seats and bill by conversation, from $29 for 100 (monthly billing, checked on 26 October 2026 on the Smartsupp pricing page and the Tidio pricing page). People rarely search this pair; it is here because the two are the closest alternatives for a small online shop.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.

Before you open either trial:

1. Work out the human side at your volume. For example, three people answering 700 chats a month pay $35 on Smartsupp Plus and $159 on Tidio's 800-conversation Growth tier, a gap of $159 - $35 = $124 a month. Seven people answering 150 chats pay $117 for Smartsupp Expert plus two extra operators from $24 each, $117 + $48 = $165, and $59 on Tidio's 250 tier (Smartsupp pricing, Tidio pricing).
2. List where your questions arrive today. If a third of them come in on WhatsApp or Instagram, that decides more than price: Mira runs in the website chat widget only, not yet on Messenger, WhatsApp or email (Mira introduction).
3. Fix the count you will judge the AI by. Chats your team closed last month on product and delivery questions. After launch, set each AI's monthly count against that number, then read 20 of its chats.

The two side by side

What separates them

A flat price for people, or a meter on chats

Smartsupp sells seats and lets them talk as much as they like. Tidio sells conversations and lets up to 10 people share them. Neither model is the cheap one; it turns on how many people share the work. A founder and two staff who live in the chat window fill Tidio's meter quickly and barely notice Smartsupp's. A rota of part-timers who each answer a handful of chats would pay Smartsupp for every login and Tidio for nothing extra.

Where the AI can follow the customer

Lyro can be switched on for chosen channels and set to answer always or only when your agents are offline, and it answers emails once per new ticket (Lyro article, Lyro limit article). Mira stays on the site. If your WhatsApp inbox is where the repeat questions pile up, only one of these agents can reach them.

The price of an AI answer

Mira's 100 conversations cost $20 a month, 20 cents each, and an annual plan brings 400 down to $64 (Smartsupp pricing). Lyro's 100 cost $75, 75 cents each (Tidio pricing). Both count a returning visitor again: Mira counts each visitor session it answers, and Lyro opens a new thread after 15 minutes of silence (Lyro limit article). On a website-only job, Smartsupp's AI is the cheaper one by some distance.

The bill at three sizes

Monthly billing in US dollars, before VAT, checked on 26 October 2026 on the Smartsupp and Tidio pricing pages.

The Tidio column assumes the AI conversations are separate from the ones your team answers; if the AI replies first and then hands over, those chats can count on both of Tidio's meters.

One agent job: review what the AI missed

Smartsupp's MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini work with your inbox from plain sentences, signed in with your normal account (MCP article). Each Monday, ask the assistant to go through last week's Mira conversations and list every question it could not answer or where the visitor rated it 1 or 2 stars, grouped by topic. Smartsupp's own article is plain about the limit: the assistant can show where Mira did not know, but it cannot tell whether an answer was correct. So a person reads the list, writes the missing answers and adds them to Mira's custom responses. Tidio's version of the same review sits inside Lyro's Suggestions list, covered in How to use Tidio.

Either agent talks to shoppers, so the greeting has to say it is an AI; the store support use case sets out what Article 50 of the EU AI Act asks.

Run the free test first

Both have a free route that is enough to decide. Tidio's Free plan includes 50 Lyro conversations once and a 7-day trial without a card (Tidio pricing). Smartsupp gives Mira 10 conversations with real visitors at setup, and 25 more once you finish onboarding (Smartsupp pricing). Ask both agents the same 20 product and delivery questions from last month's chats and have the person who owns returns mark each answer.

That onboarding condition is worth noticing. Smartsupp releases the larger batch of free conversations only once you complete its onboarding, so most of the free test runs on an agent you have already set up inside Smartsupp, and set-up work is what a buyer is slowest to throw away.

Choose Smartsupp if your job is

• Answering a high volume of website chats with one to five people, without counting conversations.
• Recommending products from a feed on the website, at a low price per AI conversation.
• Reviewing your chat inbox from Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.

Choose Tidio if your job is

• Putting one AI agent on the website, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and email.
• Giving six to ten occasional agents a seat without paying for each.
• Starting free and adding the AI as a separate meter later.

The plans are set out in the Smartsupp entry and the Tidio entry.

FAQ

Can I add either AI to the help desk I already use?

Yes, in different ways. Tidio sells Lyro on its own to sit on top of Zendesk, Salesforce or another help desk (Tidio pricing). Mira can be bought as a standalone product, and you keep the free version of Smartsupp's live chat beside it (Smartsupp pricing FAQ).

Does a returning shopper count twice?

On both, often. Smartsupp counts each visitor session Mira answers, returning visitors separately, and Tidio starts a new Lyro thread when a visitor writes again after 15 minutes of silence (Smartsupp pricing FAQ, Lyro limit article).

How large a catalogue can each AI handle?

Mira reads a product feed of up to 30,000 products on its standard plan (Smartsupp pricing). Tidio says Lyro pulls your catalogue from the store in real time (Tidio homepage) and publishes no product limit on its pricing page.