Tidio alternative

A Tidio alternative with no AI meter.

Tidio is a capable chat and automation suite, but its Lyro AI is a paid add-on sold in conversation blocks. Go over the quota and the AI stops until you upgrade or the month resets. The Night Reception keeps it simple: a free tier with no per-conversation or per-resolution arithmetic.

See it with your website See the comparison

Free forever for our first 25 signups — chat widget and morning briefings. No credit card.

Side by side

Tidio vs The Night Reception

The real question with Tidio isn't the plan fee — it's what happens to your AI cover when the conversation meter runs out.

	Tidio	The Night Reception
AI pricing model	Human and AI conversations are metered separately. Lyro AI is a separate add-on from $32.50/mo annual ($39 monthly) for 50 AI conversations. Go over the quota and the AI stops until you upgrade or the month resets.	No per-conversation or per-resolution metering. AI answers are part of the free tier.
Someone has to staff it	Yes for human chat. Lyro can answer some conversations automatically, up to your paid quota.	No. The front desk answers on its own from facts you approve.
After-hours coverage	Covered if you staff it, or by Lyro within your metered AI quota.	Answers after hours with nobody on the desk.
Booking	Flows and ecommerce tools for the store (Shopify/WooCommerce, cart abandonment); a person handles the next step.	Visitors can request an appointment straight from the chat, using the booking link you give us.
Morning briefing	—	A short email briefing of every conversation, in your inbox.
Price	Free plan: 50 billable conversations/mo, 10 seats, and 50 one-time Lyro AI conversations. Starter ≈ $24–29/mo; Growth ≈ $49–59/mo. Lyro AI from $32.50/mo annual. Branding removal is a paid add-on on lower plans.	Free forever for the first 25 signups. No per-seat, per-agent, or per-resolution pricing.

Tidio pricing and features checked on tidio.com/pricing, 2026-09-26. A dash means the feature wasn't in that vendor's listed core product when we checked — an add-on or integration may still exist. Check the vendor's current page before you decide; plans move.

Honest fit

Who should switch — and who shouldn't

Switch to The Night Reception if…

You don't want to think in AI conversations. If a quiet month and a busy month should cost the same, metered AI is friction you don't need.
You're not an ecommerce store. A service business's questions are about hours, scope, and booking — not carts and discount codes.
You want the overnight shift covered without watching a quota. The front desk answers, books, and briefs you without a running balance to top up.
You want one short email in the morning. Not a panel to log into and triage.

Stay on Tidio if…

You run an ecommerce store. Tidio's Shopify and WooCommerce integrations and cart-abandonment tools are built for exactly that job, and swapping them out costs you more than you'd save.
You've built Flows you rely on. If your follow-ups and product questions already run on Tidio's automation builder, that's real work worth keeping.
You have a team sharing the inbox. Tidio's 10 free seats are a good fit for a small support crew; The Night Reception is built for a business that doesn't have one.

How to switch

From Tidio to a front desk, in about 10 minutes

See it with your website. Enter your website and try the front desk for yourself. Start here.
Send us your approved facts and booking link. Services, hours, the questions visitors actually ask, and the link you use for appointments. The front desk answers only from these.
Paste one snippet on your site. Add the JavaScript snippet we send you just before the closing </body> tag. On Wix that's Settings > Custom Code; on WordPress it goes in your theme or a header/footer plugin. We walk you through it.
Remove the Tidio snippet when you're ready. Run both for a few days if you like, then delete the old widget. No exports or migrations — it's one line of code.

Questions

Tidio alternative FAQ

How does Tidio charge for AI?

Lyro AI is a separate add-on from $32.50/mo annual ($39 monthly) for 50 AI conversations. Human and AI conversations are metered separately, and if you exceed the AI quota, Lyro stops until you upgrade or the month resets. We checked tidio.com/pricing on 2026-09-26.

What's on Tidio's free plan?

50 billable conversations a month, 10 seats, and 50 one-time (not monthly) Lyro AI conversations. Starter and Growth add more, and Lyro is priced on top.

Do I need to staff The Night Reception?

No. The front desk answers on its own from the facts you approve. If it doesn't know something, it says so and takes a message for you.

Can I keep my Tidio Flows and just add The Night Reception?

They don't share state, so a Flows conversation and a front-desk conversation won't hand off to each other. For a short trial you can run both widgets; long term you'll want to pick the one that does the whole job.

What does the free tier include?

The chat widget on your site and the morning briefings. It's free forever for the first 25 signups. No credit card, no account to create.

Stop doing AI math. Start reading briefings.

Keep your store on the tool built for it — or give a service business a front desk that answers, books, and briefs you, with no conversation meter. See it with your website first — no signup, nothing installed.

See it with your website