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 into one place and gives your team one interface to work from.
TGLiveChat is doing one thing: website live chat routed to Telegram. Not trying to replace your email or manage your Instagram DMs. The goal is simpler — 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 | Yes (Pro+, included) | 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 |
Where Crisp genuinely wins
Crisp does a lot of things TGLiveChat doesn't. Here's where they're the better choice:
- +Multi-channel inbox. Crisp consolidates email, live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, and Telegram into one inbox. If your customers reach you through multiple channels and you want one place to manage all of it, Crisp does this really well. TGLiveChat is website chat only.
- +Visual chatbot flow builder. Crisp has a drag-and-drop chatbot builder for creating custom automated flows — qualify leads, route chats based on answers, trigger actions. TGLiveChat's AI Agent handles FAQs and knowledge base questions automatically, but doesn't have a visual flow builder. If you need complex conditional branching, Crisp is stronger here.
- +Co-browsing and video calls. On the Unlimited plan, Crisp agents can see a visitor's screen or jump on a video call. For complex technical support or demos, this is a genuinely different capability. TGLiveChat doesn't offer this.
- +Email campaigns and sequences. Crisp's Unlimited plan includes email marketing — send targeted sequences, onboarding emails, and behavioral triggers. TGLiveChat doesn't touch email at all.
- +CRM with contact management. Crisp tracks contacts, stores conversation history, and lets you build customer profiles over time. TGLiveChat shows you basic visitor info — page, country, referrer — but doesn't maintain a contact database.
- +4 seats on the Pro plan. Crisp Pro at $25/mo includes 4 seats. If you have 3-4 support people, the per-seat economics work out reasonably well at this tier.
Where TGLiveChat wins
- +Replies from Telegram. This is the core difference. When a visitor messages your site, you get a Telegram notification — same as a text from a friend. You reply from Telegram. Crisp requires you to be in their dashboard or app. In practice, Telegram notifications are harder to miss and faster to act on.
- +10x lighter widget. TGLiveChat loads about 10KB of JavaScript. Crisp loads around 100KB+. If you run Lighthouse audits or care about Core Web Vitals, that's a meaningful difference — especially on mobile and slower connections.
- +White-label for 8x less. TGLiveChat removes branding at $12/mo (Pro plan, includes everything). Crisp's white-label requires their Unlimited plan at $95/mo. If white-label is a requirement for your client work or brand, TGLiveChat is dramatically cheaper for that specific feature.
- +12 widget themes. Crisp lets you pick colors. TGLiveChat has 12 distinct themes — Glass, Terminal, Synthwave, Arcade, Void, and others — that actually change the look and feel of the widget. If your brand has a strong personality, you can match it without custom CSS.
- +Lifetime deal at $149. Crisp is subscription-only. TGLiveChat offers a one-time payment option. Pay once, use it forever. For anyone who expects to run a website for more than a couple years, the math on the lifetime deal is pretty straightforward.
- +Shadow DOM isolation. TGLiveChat's widget CSS is completely sandboxed from your page. No style conflicts, no unexpected rendering issues. Crisp's widget can occasionally clash with page styles on certain sites.
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 gives you 4 seats and multi-channel support. If you need those things, $25/mo is actually fair. If you just need website chat 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
- +Want a distinctive widget design, not just a color picker
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
- +Want a single platform to replace multiple tools
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 at a reasonable price.
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. The widget is 10x lighter, the white-label is 8x cheaper, and replies happen in Telegram — which you're probably already checking 50 times a day.
You know what you need. If it's a full messaging platform, Crisp is a solid pick. If it's "just put my website chats in Telegram," that's TGLiveChat.
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 TGLiveChat, 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.
How does white-label pricing compare?
This is a big difference. TGLiveChat removes branding at $12/mo as part of the Pro plan — you get unlimited chats, white-label, and all other Pro features included. Crisp's white-label option requires their Unlimited plan at $95/mo. If white-label matters to you, TGLiveChat is about 8x cheaper for that specific feature.
Does Crisp's widget affect page speed more than TGLiveChat?
Yes. Crisp loads around 100KB+ of JavaScript. TGLiveChat loads about 10KB. Crisp is significantly lighter than Intercom but still 10x heavier than TGLiveChat. If you're optimizing for Core Web Vitals or running paid traffic to landing pages, widget weight is worth paying attention to.
What if I need email campaigns and live chat in one tool?
Then Crisp is probably the right answer. Their Unlimited plan includes email campaigns, sequences, and in-app messaging alongside live chat. TGLiveChat doesn't do email campaigns at all — it's focused entirely on website live chat routed 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.