Compare · Crisp
OpenAgent vs Crisp: per-seat workspace chat vs flat per-site pricing
Crisp is the small-team chat product that grew up. The Pro tier starts at $25/seat and feels Slack-adjacent in how it works. The interesting question is whether you want to pay per seat or per site.
Javad PK· CEO & Product Strategy5 min read
TL;DR
Crisp is a well-built product. Their UX is tight, their multi-channel story (chat, email, Messenger, WhatsApp) is mature, and the developer story is solid. If you have a small team that wants a Slack-flavoured support workspace, it's a fine pick.
The two structural differences with OpenAgent are per-seat pricing and capped AI usage. Both bite at scale.
Pricing
| What you pay for | Crisp | OpenAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Pro / paid platform fee | From $25/seat/month | from $3/site/month (billed annually), $5 billed monthly |
| AI add-on | Usage-capped on the Unlimited tier; per-response after | None; you pay your LLM at list price |
| Unlimited seats | No (every seat bills) | Yes |
| Multi-channel (email, Messenger, etc.) | Yes | Chat-first; integrations on request |
A 4-seat team on Crisp Pro is ~$100/month. On OpenAgent the same team is $3/month billed annually, with the AI on whichever LLM is cheapest for the queue.
Feature parity
| Feature | Crisp | OpenAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Live chat | Yes | Yes |
| AI agent with RAG | Yes, capped on cheaper tiers | Yes, uncapped |
| BYO LLM | No | Yes |
| Citations on AI answers | Limited | Yes, every answer |
| Slack / Google Chat alerts | Slack only | Slack + Google Chat |
| Multi-channel (Messenger, WhatsApp, email) | Yes | Chat + email (more on request) |
| White-label / custom domain | Paid add-on | Business tier |
| Dedicated infrastructure + data-region choice | No | Yes, Business tier |
When Crisp is the right call
- You actually use the multi-channel surface. If you take support tickets through Messenger and WhatsApp alongside chat, Crisp's integrations are more mature than ours today.
- You're a 2-3 person team that won't grow. Per-seat pricing is fine when the seat count stays low.
When OpenAgent is the right call
- You expect to hire more support people. Per-seat pricing punishes growth. We don't.
- You want unmetered AI on your own LLM. Capped AI usage means “turn off the bot during your busiest week,” which is the opposite of what you want.
- You want a chat product, not a workspace. Crisp's Slack-flavoured UI is great for some teams and feels like overkill for others.
Try it on your own LLM keys from $3/mo.
$36 per site per year billed annually, or $5 per site per month billed monthly. No card on file, just paste your model key and your widget is live.