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Live Chat Software Cost Calculator

Two pricing models, two very different bills. See what your conversation volume costs on a per-seat platform versus a per-conversation one.

Enter your numbers

Platform and model

Agents who answer chats

Only people who actually take conversations, not everyone with a login.

Resolved conversations per month

Chats that reach a resolution. Matters enormously on usage-based pricing.

Monthly add-ons

Proactive message credits, extra integrations, analytics.

One-off setup

Bot flows, integration work, migration from another chat tool.

Year 1 total cost

Seats, conversation fees, add-ons and setup for twelve months.

Monthly seat cost

The fixed half - what you pay regardless of volume.

Monthly conversation fees

The variable half. Zero on seat-based platforms.

Conversation fees as share of the bill

How much of your bill is driven by volume rather than team size.

Cost per conversation

Compare this against the value of a conversation before deciding the model suits you.

3-year cost

Two more years at the same run rate, before any growth in volume.

Estimates only. Vendor pricing and contract terms vary - always confirm figures on a written quote. Results update as you type and nothing is sent to a server.

Live chat is sold on two models. Seat-based pricing charges for the agents you have; usage-based pricing charges for the conversations you handle, and the best-known products charge for both.

That mixed model is cheap when you are small and expensive as soon as volume grows, because the conversation fee scales with success. This calculator separates the seat cost from the usage cost so you can see which half of the bill is actually driving it.

How to use this calculator

Put in the number of agents who genuinely take conversations. Chat platforms charge for seats even when traffic is quiet, so unused seats are pure cost on the seat-based half.
Enter resolved conversations per month, not visitors or chats started. Usage-based pricing counts the conversations the platform can claim credit for resolving.
Look at the split between seat cost and conversation cost. If the conversation half dominates, your bill will grow with your traffic and the seat-based alternative deserves a serious look.
Compare cost per conversation across the two models at your volume. The ranking flips as volume rises, and it is worth knowing where your own crossover point sits.
Add setup before comparing anything. Bot flows and integrations are a real one-off cost and they are not portable between platforms.

Want pure seat pricing with no volume meter?

LiveChat charges per agent with unlimited conversations, so the bill is predictable however much traffic grows. Worth pricing if the conversation fee above is large.

See LiveChat pricing

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Or chat plus a support desk on one bill?

Tidio bundles live chat with ticketing and a free entry tier, which suits small teams that want chat and email support in one place.

See Tidio pricing

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Frequently asked questions

Why does Intercom charge both a seat fee and a per-conversation fee?

It is a hybrid model: the seat fee covers access to the platform and the conversation fee prices the outcome. It makes entry cheap for small teams and makes the bill scale with support volume, which is why it becomes expensive precisely when chat is working well.

Are per-conversation fees avoidable?

Partly. Deflecting a conversation with a help article or a bot flow means it never becomes a billed resolution, so self-service work directly reduces the usage charge. That is the one lever that affects a usage-based bill without changing the tool.

Should I care about live chat at all if support volume is low?

Chat is a conversion tool as much as a support tool - it is most valuable on pages where a visitor is about to decide. If your volume is low and concentrated on pricing and checkout pages, a seat-based tool that only staffs those moments is usually the better model.

What is a reasonable cost per conversation?

On seat-based platforms at realistic staffing levels it typically lands between $1 and $4 per conversation. Above that, either your chat volume is too low to justify dedicated agents or you are on a usage-priced platform where the volume has outgrown the model.

Next steps

If conversation fees are the larger half of your bill, you are paying for volume rather than team size - and that is the moment to price a seat-based alternative on the same numbers.