Comparison
TGLiveChat vs Crisp: Telegram vs Dashboard
Crisp is a seriously good product. Multi-channel inbox, clean design, reasonable pricing. If you're comparing it to TGLiveChat, you're probably wondering if you need all those channels or if Telegram is enough. Here's an honest take.
TGLiveChat
Website live chat that routes everything to Telegram. You reply from your phone or desktop Telegram. No new dashboard to learn, no new app to install. One widget, one Telegram group, that's the whole thing.
Crisp
A full customer messaging platform. Live chat, shared inbox for email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and SMS. Has a knowledge base, chatbot builder, CRM, campaigns, and co-browsing. Clean design and reasonably priced compared to Intercom.
These solve different problems
Crisp is trying to be your unified customer messaging platform. All your channels in one inbox. Email, chat, social, messaging apps. If you're juggling customer conversations across five different platforms, Crisp consolidates them.
TGLiveChat is doing one thing: website live chat routed to Telegram. We're not trying to replace your email or manage your Instagram DMs. We're making sure that when someone lands on your site and has a question, you see it instantly and reply from Telegram.
That's not a weakness, it's a choice. Crisp gives you more channels but requires you to learn and maintain their dashboard. TGLiveChat gives you one channel but you never leave Telegram. Different tradeoffs for different situations.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | TGLiveChat | Crisp |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (100 chats/mo) | Yes (2 seats, limited) |
| Paid plan starting price | $12/mo (Pro) | $25/mo (Pro, 4 seats) |
| Per-seat pricing | No | Yes (on higher plans) |
| Reply from | Telegram app | Crisp dashboard/app |
| Channels supported | Website live chat + Telegram | Website, Email, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS |
| Widget size | ~10KB gzipped | ~100KB+ |
| Setup time | 2 minutes | 5-15 minutes |
| AI chatbot | Not yet | Yes (paid add-on) |
| Knowledge base | No | Yes (Unlimited plan) |
| CRM | Basic visitor info | Yes (contact management) |
| Email campaigns | No | Yes (Unlimited plan) |
| Co-browsing | No | Yes (Unlimited plan) |
| Video calls | No | Yes (Unlimited plan) |
| White-label | Yes (Pro plan, $12/mo) | Yes (Unlimited plan, $95/mo) |
| Working hours | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-chat forms | Yes | Yes |
| Canned responses | Yes (/r in Telegram) | Yes |
| Chat history | Yes | Yes (30 days on free) |
| Telegram integration | Native (core product) | Yes (as a channel) |
| Shadow DOM isolation | Yes | No |
| Themes | 12 built-in themes | Color customization |
| Lifetime deal | Yes ($149) | No |
Pricing comparison
Crisp is cheaper than Intercom but still adds up. Here's how the numbers look side by side.
TGLiveChat
Crisp
Crisp is 3x more per year on the Pro plan. But they give you 4 seats and multi-channel support. If you need those things, $25/mo is actually pretty fair. If you just need website chat routed to Telegram, it's overkill.
Honest take: who should pick what?
Pick TGLiveChat if you...
- +Use Telegram daily and want support chats there
- +Only need website live chat (not email, WhatsApp, etc.)
- +Want the lightest possible widget for page speed
- +Prefer paying $12/mo or $149 once vs ongoing monthly fees
- +Don't want to learn another dashboard
- +Want white-label without paying $95/mo
Pick Crisp if you...
- +Need to manage email, WhatsApp, Messenger in one inbox
- +Want a chatbot builder and knowledge base
- +Need co-browsing or video calls with visitors
- +Have a small team (4 seats included on Pro)
- +Want a proper CRM with contact management
- +Need marketing campaigns and automated messaging
Bottom line
Crisp is a great product. Genuinely. Their design is clean, their pricing is fair compared to Intercom or Zendesk, and the multi-channel inbox works well. If you need a customer messaging platform that handles email, WhatsApp, and Messenger alongside live chat, Crisp is one of the best options out there.
But a lot of people don't need all that. They have a website, they want a chat bubble, and they want to reply from their phone. That's it. For that specific use case, TGLiveChat is simpler, cheaper, and faster to set up.
You know what you need. If it's a full messaging platform, go Crisp. If it's "just put my website chats in Telegram," that's us. No hard feelings either way.
Common questions
Crisp has a Telegram integration though, right?
It does. You can connect Telegram as a channel in Crisp so people who message your Telegram bot show up in the Crisp inbox. But that's different from what TGLiveChat does. With us, your WEBSITE visitors' messages go to Telegram. With Crisp, your Telegram users' messages go to Crisp. Opposite directions.
Is Crisp worth $25/mo?
Honestly, yes, if you need multi-channel support. If you want to manage live chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram from one inbox, Crisp does that well. It's a clean product with good design. If you only need website live chat though, $25/mo is steep when TGLiveChat does it for free.
What about Crisp's free plan?
Crisp's free plan gives you 2 seats and basic live chat. It's fine for trying it out, but chat history is limited to 30 days and you miss out on most features. TGLiveChat's free plan is also limited (100 chats/mo) but you get the full Telegram experience.
Can I switch from Crisp to TGLiveChat?
Yep. Remove Crisp's script tag, add TGLiveChat's. Takes about 2 minutes. You can't import your Crisp chat history, but all new conversations will flow through Telegram.
Want to keep it simple?
Free plan, no credit card, works in 2 minutes. Your website chats show up in Telegram. That's the whole pitch.