Tidio pricing (2026): Starter vs Lyro vs Flows — and who should pay

People search 'Tidio pricing' because they remember a free live-chat bubble, or because finance asked why a Shopify widget now invoices Starter, Lyro, and Flows as three products. Those are different tickets. If you do not name whether you needed a human inbox this month, an FAQ agent that refreshes, or a no-code conversion path, you will treat Lyro as a cheaper Fin — or stay on Free until a billable conversation pauses mid-launch.

This is a cost page, not a lab. Plan names, billable-conversation language, and add-on stickers were checked against tidio.com/pricing and Tidio's own plan FAQ on 19 September 2026. The public page leads with yearly-looking per-month rates and a '2 months free' banner; the conversation slider moves. We do not invent a Plus quote, a resolution-rate bake-off, or a partner URL. The full review is /tools/tidio. The chatbot ranking is the scored website-bubble desk. The customer-service ranking is the ticket version. The small-business ranking is where a ten-person shop actually starts.

Tidio cost in 2026, at a glance

• Tidio sells three products you can buy alone or bundle: Customer Service, Lyro AI Agent, and Flows. Do not bury Lyro inside a 'Starter is $25' slide.
• A billable conversation is a thread a human agent replied to — or started. Visitor messages you ignore do not count. Lyro replies and Flows replies do not count as agent replies.
• Every new account starts with a small Lyro taste (Tidio's FAQ: 50 Lyro conversations). That pack does not refresh on Free. You need a Lyro plan for the monthly reset.
• Self-serve plans cap agents (Tidio's FAQ: up to 10). Plus is how you buy more seats and a different widget per site.
• The 7-day trial is the full product, no card. It drops to Free unless you pick a paid row. Cancel it if you were only window-shopping.

Stay on Free if the bubble is still a test

Free is a real product after the trial: live chat with limits, a Flows cap Tidio's own FAQ still puts at 100 unique visitors a month, a Lyro taste that will not refresh. Stay here while you prove someone will sit the bubble and the FAQ is not three 2019 shipping paragraphs.

Leave Free the week a human reply is the launch, not a surprise — or the week Lyro's 50 conversations are the weekend, not a demo. Do not leave Free because a deck said 'AI customer service platform' and showed Intercom Fin. If you already live in Intercom or Zendesk, you are usually not a Tidio customer. The support-stack guide already says so.

Buy Customer Service when a human still has to be somewhere

Starter is the honest 2026 Tidio inbox. Operating hours, live chat, tickets, a conversation pack a shop will actually pay. The public lead row we saw was about $24.17 a month at 100 billable conversations. The next published band was about $49.17 from 250. Size the slider from last month's actual human replies, not from a keynote.

Buy it when a Shopify or marketing-site visitor still needs a person this month, and you will staff the hours. That is why Tidio still sits on the chatbot ranking (7.8) as the SMB website chatbot — and on the small-business ranking as a widget a founder will actually install. Skip Starter if legal will not let a human speak from a shared inbox. Skip it if Intercom or Zendesk is already the record and you are not performing a migration for sport. Skip it if the homepage bubble is supposed to book a meeting. That is Drift.

• Best for: ecommerce and small SaaS sites that need a bubble this month and will cover it
• Skip if: you already live in Intercom or Zendesk, or the job was a booked demo
• Honest watch-out: a prettier inbox will not invent coverage hours. Tidio without a human is a contact form with extra steps.

Buy Lyro when the FAQ is already a product — and you will read the misses

Lyro is a second invoice. Tidio's pricing page starts the standalone row around $32.50. You are buying a monthly pack of Lyro conversations that draw from pages and FAQs you still believe. It is not Fin. Fin is $0.99 per resolved Intercom conversation. Mixing them up is how this page exists.

Buy Lyro when the same ten pre-sales or shipping questions already have an owner, and you will sample the misses for a week before you widen it. Skip it if the knowledge base is a graveyard. Skip it if you needed a resolution meter on a help desk you already run — Intercom Fin pricing is that bill. Skip it as 'our Ada.' A prettier Lyro will not invent policy.

• Best for: small teams whose FAQ is short, dated, and actually true
• Skip if: you needed Intercom resolutions, Zendesk macros, or a CX automation department
• Honest watch-out: 50 leftover trial conversations are a taste. They are not a support program.

Buy Flows when the path is a salesperson, not an FAQ

Flows are scripted conversion paths: a pop, a qualifier, a discount, a handoff. The public add-on we saw was about $24.17. Free already lets you build them and then caps unique visitors. Paid Flows is capacity plus the marketing job. It is not Lyro with extra menus.

Buy Flows when a visitor should take a path you can name — add to cart, book, grab a code — and you will maintain the diagram. Skip it if the leak was an unanswered question. Skip it if the bubble is supposed to book a B2B meeting with routing. That is still Drift, and the chatbot ranking says so.

Tidio vs Fin vs Drift vs Zendesk, as a bill

Intercom Fin is $0.99 per outcome plus a seat bill (Essential commonly $29 per seat per month billed annually). That is a resolution agent on a help center you treat as a product. Tidio is a widget a shop pays in the mid-twenties and a Lyro pack in the thirties. Buying Fin because a Shopify FAQ felt lonely is how you fund unused Messenger. Buying Tidio because a support org needed resolutions is how you fund unused Lyro. Intercom Fin pricing is the $0.99 conversation.

Drift books. Zendesk AI is a Suite add-on quote on the desk you will not leave. Ada is a CX-automation program. None of those is a $24 inbox. The customer-service ranking is the scored ticket four-way. The chatbot ranking is the bubble version. A sane AI support stack is the ladder if you were about to buy all four.

What we are not pricing

• A resolution-rate or CSAT lab. We did not run 400-chat bake-offs or invent a review count.
• A Plus / enterprise conversation pack as a 'typical' mid-market invoice. Anyone who publishes one invented it.
• Per-message SMS or social-channel overages as if they were Starter.
• A fake Impact or PartnerStack URL. Until a real partner link is set, the CTA goes to tidio.com.
• The old 'unlimited conversations for $19' blog as if it were the 2026 invoice. Billable conversations are the meter.

Most 'what does Tidio cost' tickets are a Starter-inbox ticket, a Lyro-pack ticket, or a Fin-is-the-wrong-desk ticket. The pricing page is doing too much work if you have not named the bubble.— Aiacent pricing, 2026

Verdict

Proving the widget and not staffing it: Free, then leave when a human reply is the launch. Shopify-class site, hours you will cover, a conversation pack you can name: Customer Service at the slider band you actually send, annual if the habit is already real. FAQ you still believe, misses you will read: add Lyro. A path that should convert: add Flows. Already on Intercom and the leak is resolutions: Fin, then Intercom Fin pricing. Already on Zendesk: Zendesk AI. Homepage should book a B2B meeting: Drift. Then read the chatbot ranking if you want the score next to Drift and Fin, the customer-service ranking if the fight is tickets, and the small-business ranking if the next seat is ChatGPT, not another bubble.