How do Tidio and Kawl Now compare?
Both put an assistant in the corner of your website. In Tidio’s chat widget, Lyro, Flows and your team answer in writing. Kawl Now’s widget is a voice button: visitors talk to an AI agent and hear its answers. We checked Tidio’s official pages on 8 October 2026.
| Consideration | Kawl Now | Tidio |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | SaaS teams answering support and sales questions on their website. | Ecommerce, especially Shopify stores, with a page for SaaS teams too. |
| On your website | A voice button. Visitors type a topic, allow the microphone and talk. | A chat widget with Lyro, Flows and live chat. |
| Voice | An AI agent answers every call in the browser. | Live video calls that your agent starts with an online visitor, with the camera on or off. |
| Other channels | None. No phone number, email or messaging apps. | Email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox. |
| Knowledge | FAQs and notes you write, plus selected GitHub .md, .mdx or .txt files, each approved before use. | Website content, FAQ pages, Q&As, CSV and PDF files, and Zendesk articles. |
| Reaching a person | Human handover is an early release: verify a UK or US team phone number and turn it on for each agent, and whoever answers hears a private briefing first. Customer routing is still being tested. | Lyro hands the chat to an agent, or creates a ticket if nobody is online. |
| Languages | Greets callers in English, with no language setting. | Tidio’s FAQ says Lyro answers in 45+ languages; its information page says 12. |
| Free start | First 50 conversations per workspace, once, with no card. | A Free plan with no time limit, including 50 Lyro conversations once per account. |
| Paid plans | None yet. Paid calls aren’t available. | Starter $29 and Growth from $59 a month, billed monthly. Plus from $300 a month plus usage. Premium on request. |
Can Tidio answer customers by voice?
Tidio’s voice option is a call with a person. Its help centre says an agent can start a video call with a visitor who is online, from a conversation in the Tidio panel, and can switch the camera off to make it a voice call. Visitors can’t start the call themselves, and calls work in the widget on your website but not on Tidio’s Chat Page. Its pricing page lists live video calls on every plan, including Free.
Lyro, Tidio’s AI agent, replies in the chat widget and in the channels connected to Tidio, such as email and WhatsApp. The Lyro pages we checked describe written answers, product recommendations and handovers to your team, not spoken answers. If you want AI to answer customers who speak, that is the gap Kawl Now fills.
Which suits a SaaS product better?
Tidio’s own pages lead with online stores: native Shopify actions, product recommendations with add to cart, and order status checks inside the conversation. Its SaaS page describes Lyro guiding new users through setup, answering product questions, qualifying leads and booking demos, and Lyro Smart Actions can reach your own systems through APIs and MCP servers.
Kawl Now is built around SaaS questions only. The support agent answers from FAQs and the docs you keep in GitHub, so a feature change reaches callers once the re-synced file is approved. The sales agent has its own notes and never sees support sources, so buying questions get sales answers. Neither agent can look up an account or take actions in your product.
How does each one keep answers accurate?
Tidio says Lyro answers only from the content you give it, never from the open web, and shows the source of each answer so your team can check it. You can test Lyro in a built-in testing environment before it goes live, and set handoff rules for topics, keywords or VIP customers.
Kawl Now puts an approval step between new content and your callers. Every source starts unapproved, whether it’s added in the dashboard, over MCP or through the REST API, and each GitHub re-sync needs approval again. Each agent searches only its own approved sources and is told to say it doesn’t know when they don’t cover a question. Approval controls what the agent uses but doesn’t guarantee every answer, so test real questions and read the transcripts.
When is Tidio the better choice?
Tidio covers far more of customer service. Choose it if you need:
- Typed chat on your website, with your team able to reply live.
- One inbox for chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, with ticketing.
- Shopify order lookups, product recommendations and add to cart in the chat.
- Lyro actions that check data or book meetings through your APIs.
- Answers in many languages.
- Video calls with a visitor, started by your team from the Tidio panel.
When does Kawl Now make more sense?
Kawl Now suits a SaaS team that wants customers to talk through a question instead of typing it, with an AI answering straight away. It gives you:
- Separate support and sales agents, each with its own greeting, voice, instructions and approved knowledge.
- Support answers from FAQs and selected GitHub docs, approved before callers hear them.
- Live captions and mute during the call, and a text transcript afterwards, with no audio recorded.
- A REST API and MCP server, so a coding agent can update knowledge and settings. New sources always start unapproved, and approving them is a separate step you can keep for a person.
What do Tidio and Kawl Now cost?
As listed on 8 October 2026, Tidio’s plans count billable conversations, the ones your team replies to, and count Lyro’s conversations separately. Billed monthly, Starter costs $29 and Growth starts at $59 a month, with two months free on annual billing. After the 50 free Lyro conversations, a Lyro plan starts at $32.50 a month billed annually, and Tidio quotes Lyro conversations from $0.5 each.
Kawl Now’s first 50 conversations per workspace are free, shared by support, sales and your own tests, and the allowance doesn’t renew. Calls last up to 10 minutes. Paid calls aren’t available yet, so no card is required and calls pause when the 50 are used. If you need more volume today, Tidio’s paid plans offer it.
Common questions
Does Tidio have an AI voice agent?
Tidio’s pages describe Lyro, its AI agent, answering in the chat widget and messaging channels, not on calls. Its live video calls connect a visitor with a person on your team, who starts the call from the Tidio panel and can turn the camera off for a voice-only call.
How much does Tidio cost?
As listed on 8 October 2026, Tidio has a Free plan with no time limit, Starter at $29 a month and Growth from $59 a month billed monthly, Plus from $300 a month plus usage, and Premium on request. Every account gets 50 Lyro AI conversations once, and paid plans have a 7-day free trial.
Can I use Tidio and Kawl Now on the same website?
Yes. Each installs with its own script, so visitors can type to Tidio or talk to Kawl Now. The Kawl Now button always sits at the bottom right, so if Tidio’s widget is there too, move Tidio to the bottom left in its appearance settings. Voice conversations stay in the Kawl Now dashboard and REST API, not your Tidio inbox, and Kawl Now can’t pass a caller to your Tidio agents. Human handover is an early release: it rings your team’s verified UK or US phone, and whoever answers hears a private briefing before the caller joins. Customer routing is still being tested, so keep the chat visible for anything that needs a person.
Is there a free Tidio alternative with voice?
Kawl Now gives each workspace its first 50 conversations free, a one-time allowance shared by support, sales and test calls, with no card. Tidio’s Free plan includes 50 Lyro conversations once per account, and its voice option is a call with your team rather than an AI.