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While many live chat tools offer chatbots nowadays, Tidio stands out in a number of ways. For one thing, its chatbots are included in all pricing tiers, including its free plan. In our experience from testing various live chat software, chatbots and automated conversations are usually charged as an add-on (or as a completely different product altogether).
For another, Tidio’s chatbots feature is extremely easy to use. With around 40 templates, and a workflow editor that lets you play around with any combination of triggers and actions, Tidio aims to help customers get the information they need quicker, without the involvement of chat agents.
Not bad for a company that’s only been around since 2013 (in fact, its team of 100+ is around the same size as LiveChat’s, which had a decade’s head start). In that time, Tidio has amassed around 23,000 paying customers. It has also caught the attention of investors, raising $25 million in its most recent funding round.
Tidio promises small-to-medium businesses a simple and effective way to communicate with customers - so how well does it deliver? Find out in our Tidio review.
Screenshots
Tidio Pricing
| $0 |
Free For up to 3 chat operators. You can have chatbot conversations with up to 100 visitors per month. Unlimited live chats and multilingual widgets included. |
| $19 |
Communicator Pricing per agent (up to 40 can be added). Includes all the free features, plus live typing, viewed page, live visitors list and the ability to set permissions. |
| $49 |
Chatbots For up to 3 chat operators. Unlimited chatbots and conversations. Access to chatbot templates, chatbot editor and Zapier integration. |
Pricing for monthly plans shown. Discounts available for yearly subscription.
Pros / Cons of Tidio
Easy to use
A clear interface and modern design help to make Tidio one of the most user-friendly live chat tools we’ve tried. Chat agents can even simulate conversations to test out what the user experience is like on the visitors’ end.
Chatbots galore
Tidio’s 40 ready-made chatbot templates span three key categories (increasing sales, generating leads, and solving problems), helping agents automate repetitive tasks/conversations. Some are even AI-powered.
Free plan
With such sophisticated chatbot functionality, you’d think Tidio would cost an arm and a leg – but the chatbots are actually included in the free plan, which also comes with a generous amount of inclusions.
Slightly confusing pricing structure
Recent changes to the pricing plans make them inconsistent in structure. The free plan allows for chatbot-powered conversations with up to 100 unique visitors, rather than an easier-to-digest limit of simply 100 conversations. And the lower-priced Communicator plan is charged per operator, meaning that it actually works out to be more expensive than the Chatbots plan, which includes 3 operators.
Few integrations
While the integrations they do have are impressive (especially their Shopify one – we speak about that more below), the range is limited to just a handful of CRMs, email marketing and analytics tools. You can request additional integrations, though.
Light in customer service & support features
There’s currently no helpdesk or ticketing feature (although this seems to be in the works). The lack of advanced routing, voice calls and co-browsing features also make it less suited to customer service functions.
Rating Details
| criterion | rating | comments |
|---|---|---|
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Ease of use |
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We found the dashboard to be well-organized and intuitive to use. The overall design feels a lot more modern than most live chat tools we’ve tested (e.g. Olark, Pure Chat). |
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Setup |
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Setup is an easy 4-step process, requiring you to paste some Javascript code on your site. Some direct, no-code integrations are also available (e.g. with WordPress and Wix). |
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Themes and Style Options |
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A good amount of options to customize your chat widget, including colors, text, positioning and agent photo. While you can’t switch to a different theme/template, we didn’t really feel the need to as the design of the widget looks great. However, it would be nice to have different options for the chat button icon, although you can add it as a sidebar if you prefer. |
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Chat client |
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Upon clicking the chat button, visitors can be directed straight to the chat window, a pre-chat survey, or an offline message inviting them to leave their email address. Visitors can send files, use emoji, and rate conversations. |
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Chat agent console |
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The interface is clean and modern, with a search bar to help you quickly find contacts/conversations. We like that you can easily jump from chatting to contacts to sending them an email, all from the same window. You can also access chatbots, Facebook Messenger and Instagram chats from this area. In addition, there’s a detailed, CRM-like view into the contact’s profile, with the ability to add contact fields, tags, and notes. |
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Automatic messaging |
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Automated messages can be sent using Tidio’s “chatbots”. These can be set up from a list of around 20 different triggers (visitor returning to site, form abandoned etc). You can use the workflow editor to add conditions and set up subsequent actions (e.g. send a chat message, ask contact to choose from a list of options). This makes it a lot more advanced than the automatic messaging features we’ve seen in other tools. While the editor can be overwhelming, the good news is that you get around 40 templates to help you get started. |
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Offline mode |
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When agents are offline, visitors can leave their email address and send messages, which get sent as an email notification to the agent after 5 minutes. Tidio’s justification for the time delay makes sense, but the disadvantage is that you can’t respond straight away and catch the visitor while they’re still likely to be online. You can also set working hours so that agents’ statuses are automatically set to ‘offline’ at a scheduled time. |
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Shortcuts / canned messages |
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Easy enough to add and use. However, you can’t add your own keyboard shortcuts – you can only use them to filter responses. Not the most convenient option for busy chat agents. |
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Tracking & live analytics |
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Aside from showing you the number of visitors currently on your site, you’ll also be able to see individuals’ details (email address, location, browser etc). But what we really liked was the ability to be able to view their visit path, i.e. the pages they have browsed on your site (not available on the Free plan). |
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Multiple languages |
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You can add widgets in multiple languages, even on the Free plan. Around 20 pre-translated languages are available, but you can add your own translations for pretty much any language you wish. Tidio recognizes the visitor’s browser’s default language and displays the chat in that language. The user dashboard is available in 7 languages. |
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Ticketing system |
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Not offered; however, you can integrate with Zendesk and other ticketing applications. If you want an integrated ticketing system, LiveChat would be a better choice. |
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Integrations and add-ons |
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You can integrate directly with communication channels like email, Facebook Messenger and Instagram so that all your conversations happen in Tidio. There’s also a handy integration with Shopify that lets your chatbot answer questions about product availability, order status or shipping zones. A handful of other integrations with key CRM, email marketing and helpdesk tools are also available. Interestingly, Tidio offers its own email marketing tool, which is included in all plans. |
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Team Management |
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There are 3 pre-defined roles you can assign to operators (Admin, Moderator and Chat Agent), but you can also set custom permissions per operator. While you can reassign conversations that have been assigned to you, it seems to be missing advanced assignment/routing functionality. We’ve found that Userlike does better in this regard. |
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Mobile support / apps |
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Android and iOS apps are available, as is a desktop app for both Windows and Mac. |
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Voice/video calls |
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Not available. |
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Cobrowsing |
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Not available. |
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Ban users |
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It’s possible to ban users based on IP address. |
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Log creation |
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Live conversations all appear in the Conversations tab. However, when you mark a chat as ‘Resolved’, it disappears from this tab. If you need to access chat history, there are 2 ways to do this: by doing a search in the Conversations tab, or by going into the Contacts tab (which can be a little confusing at first). |
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Support |
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24/5 live chat support is available, although bear in mind that as they’re based in Poland, they work in the local timezone (UTC+1). However, when we tested out the live chat during these hours, they were offline (and didn’t respond for a couple of hours). The Help Center is comprehensive although we did find a few articles to be out of date. |
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Overall rating |
4.2/5 |
Tidio’s live chat software feels modern and well-designed. We liked its intuitiveness, and the completeness of its chatbots/automations feature. But the lack of agent routing functions and helpdesk features might be an issue for larger teams, especially support-focused ones. |
A more detailed look at Tidio’s features
How do Tidio’s chatbots compare?
What Tidio calls “chatbots” are actually automated conversations, which can be triggered based on an event (e.g. if a user visits the site for the first time, or abandons a form). In that regard, they are similar to what other tools call “triggered messages”.
The main difference, however, is that Tidio’s workflow editor takes these triggered messages even further. While most tools only allow you to add one step to the process (e.g. one greeting or announcement), Tidio lets you add multiple steps. It lets you define exactly what should happen when a visitor meets that condition, and even what happens when they “branch off” the desired path.
For example, let’s say you have an online store. Someone who visits your ‘Contact’ is likely to have a question they want to ask. You can create a chatbot that proactively asks the visitor to choose from a number of popular topics:
Depending on the option they choose, you can then lead them down a path with pre-defined responses, to hopefully answer their question (without the need for any manual intervention).
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- A chatbot for frequently asked questions
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- The chatbot’s responses
There are also options to use Tidio’s AI to detect the topic of a user’s question. This also allows you to take them down a conversation flow that you’ve designed.
One of Tidio’s AI-powered chatbots
But, there are other solutions that take chatbots even further. These aim to simulate real, human conversations, with chatbots that can provide dynamic, intelligent responses. Tidio’s chatbots don’t provide this level of interaction, but solutions like Userlike and LiveChat’s ChatBot do, albeit at a much higher cost.
So, if you’re after AI-powered chatbots that really allow for human-like, two-way conversations, you’ll probably find Tidio’s range to be on the light side (here are a few good alternatives). For most small to mid-sized businesses however, we think Tidio’s chatbots do a great job of automating repetitive conversations.
Tidio Review: Conclusion
Dare we say it – Tidio makes live chat fun. We were really impressed by how modern everything looks, and by the clever features. The integrations with Shopify, Facebook and Instagram are also useful for online stores that sell across multiple channels.
Those who are familiar with email automation software will really get a kick out of Tidio’s workflow-based chatbot editor, which lets you send automated messages. It takes some getting used to, but we did find the templates to be a nice touch, especially for beginners.
Overall, Tidio feels like it’s better built for marketing and sales-related functions, rather than customer service. That’s reflected in the type of chatbots offered (26 lead-related chatbots vs 14 support related-related ones). So while Tidio offers some excellent tools to help small businesses generate leads, larger teams who field a lot of support requests may struggle with the lack of helpdesk functionality, voice/video calling, and advanced team management features.
A wider range of integrations wouldn’t go amiss, either – particularly with key tools such as WhatsApp, Salesforce, and Apple Messages (which are all offered by what we feel is its strongest competitor, LiveChat).
In fact, for a similar price point ($19/user/month), Livechat offers a lot more in the way of ticketing, routing and team management features, as well as personal support.
But, if automating communications is your priority, then Tidio is a small business tool that provides excellent value for money. And the free plan is simply the cherry on top.
> Try Tidio for free (and get an exclusive 20% lifetime discount)
About Inka Wibowo
Hi! My name is Inka Wibowo. I started using website builders and content management systems over 10 years ago, when I managed websites for clients in my first marketing role. Since then, I've worked on hundreds of web and digital projects. Now, at Tooltester, I'm happy to be able to use my experience to help users like you find the right website builder for your needs.
