Smartsupp pairs a low-cost live chat with Mira, an AI assistant built for online stores that can even write your welcome message for you. Darwin is a website chat for booking meetings that writes, tests and replaces its own openings. Here's how they compare.
DarwinAI website chat focused on answering buying questions, booking meetings, and improving chat openings.Best for
Less suited to
Answering product and order questions for an online store.
Best for
Less suited to
Sales teams that need meeting booking in the chat.
| Side by side | Darwin | SSmartsupp |
|---|---|---|
| Self-improvementHow each product improves the openings that start sales conversations. | ||
| Self-improves to book more meetings | Yes Creates tests. Promotes qualifying winners. Tests again. 1 With automation enabled, on eligible pages within your plan. Tests need enough traffic; a lift is not guaranteed. | AI greeting, no tests An AI-customized welcome message is offered; testing or promotion of better openings is not documented. 234 Smartsupp lets the AI customize the greeting based on context, but no measurement or winner selection is described. |
| Writes new openings for each page | Yes Creates opening variants from page context. 1 For pages with automation enabled and sufficient traffic to run an experiment. Every plan includes unlimited optimized pages. | AI or custom greeting The AI can customize the welcome message based on context, or you write one yourself. 24 Triggers include time on page or visiting a section; per-page generation and testing are not described. |
| Tests and keeps better openings | Yes Tests opening variants and can promote a better performer. 1 Requires enough evidence; an experiment may have no winner. | Not documented Automatic promotion of a better opening is not documented. 3 No message-testing workflow appears in the reviewed guides. |
| Starts the next test automatically | Yes The next opening experiment builds from the current winner. 1 Automation must be enabled and the page eligible. This does not guarantee improving results. | Not documented An automatic cycle of generating, testing and replacing openings is not documented. 3 Automatic messages and flows are configured by the operator. |
| OnboardingWhat the product prepares for you before you go live. | ||
| Learns from your website | Yes Darwin discovers the relevant pages on your website and prepares its knowledge base from them. 5 Initial setup selects key pages for speed; more pages can be imported later. | Web scrape Mira downloads basic information from your website such as contact details, FAQs and shipping info. 6 Product feeds and text add more. |
| Drafts your sales settings | Yes Prepares business information and assistant settings from the website. 5 The user can review and refine the generated draft. | Not documented Automatic drafting of business settings from the website is not documented. 67 Behavior is set with personality sliders. |
| Matches chat to your brand | Colors & fonts Extracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design. 5 Brand detection is a draft: available fonts, contrast and source-site access affect the result. | Not documented Colors are chosen manually; automatic brand import is not documented. 8 Gradient and theme are set in chat box settings. |
| Writes your first chat opening | Yes Drafts the first chat opening from the business context. 9 Drafted during assisted setup; approve it, edit it (120-character limit) or ask Darwin for a revision. | AI-generated option The AI can customize the welcome message based on context, or you write a custom one. 24 The generated greeting is not tested against alternatives. |
| Review before going live | Yes The assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation. 9 Calendar connection, testing and website installation remain separate completion steps. | Yes The Playground tests Mira's replies before publishing. 6 Personality and knowledge are adjusted first. |
| PricingUSD before tax, monthly billing. Darwin charges per credit. Smartsupp's plans are tiered by operator count, with Mira AI sold by conversations. | ||
| Lowest monthly platform fee | $0/mo Free has no monthly subscription fee. 10 No card needed to start; credits are charged after the first five free ones. A credit is one booked meeting or qualified request. | $0/mo The Free plan has no monthly fee. 1112 1 agent, 25 conversations a month, 14-day history, Smartsupp branding. |
| Introductory offer | 5 free credits The first five credits are free, once. 10 A credit is one booked meeting or one request that passes your fit rules. Not a monthly allowance; a card is needed once all five are used. | 14-day trial + Free plan A 14-day free trial without a card, plus a Free plan. 711 The trial covers all features with limited Mira AI conversations; after it, Mira AI is a paid add-on on any plan. |
| AI usage charge | $30/credit Free charges $30 per credit after the first five. 10 A confirmed booking or a request that passes the fit rules is one credit. Conversations and leads that fail the fit rules are never charged, and there is no plan fee. | From $20/100 AI chats Mira AI starts at $20 per month for 100 conversations on monthly billing. 11 $16 on annual billing; scales linearly to 5,000 conversations. A conversation is not a booked meeting. |
| Paid plans start at | $299/mo Growth is $299 per month on monthly billing. 10 Includes 10 credits a month. Annual billing is two months free ($2,990 a year); credits and extra-credit charges stay monthly. | $24/mo Solo is $24 per month on monthly billing. 11 1 agent, unlimited conversations; $17 on annual billing. |
| Included on paid plans | 10–25 credits/mo Growth includes 10 credits a month; Agency includes 25, pooled across up to 200 client workspaces. 10 Unused included credits roll over for one month. Growth can also be bought with 35, 60 or 110 credits a month, and Agency with 50, 75, 125, 275 or 525. | Unlimited chats + AI add-on Paid plans include unlimited human conversations; Mira AI is sold separately from 100 conversations. 11 Conversations, not bookings. |
| Additional paid-plan usage | $8–$25/credit Extra credits cost $25 each. Choosing more credits each month lowers the rate: on Growth, $20 at 35 credits, $16 at 60 and $12 at 110; on Agency, $10 at 275 and $8 at 525. 10 Charged automatically each month at the current rate, after the monthly included credits and in addition to the plan fee. | From $20/100 AI chats Mira AI starts at $20 per month for 100 conversations on monthly billing. 11 $16 on annual billing; scales linearly to 5,000 conversations. A conversation is not a booked meeting. |
Your first five meetings or requests are free. After that each is $30, or Growth is $299 a month with 10 included.
Facts checked Oct 5, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026. Plans and integrations can change. Not documented means the reviewed sources don’t establish a capability; it doesn’t prove the feature is missing. Sources and method
Eighty-five seconds on what Darwin does: learns your business from your site, books the meeting inside the chat, and keeps rewriting the opening until more people talk.
It can. Smartsupp's AI Welcome Message gives you two choices, write the greeting yourself or let the AI shape one from context, and you pick when it fires, for instance after a visitor has been on a page for a while. Darwin drafts your first opening too. The difference is what happens next: Darwin keeps writing new openings and testing them against the current one, page by page.
249There's a free plan for one operator and 25 conversations a month, and a free trial that needs no card. The 'Powered by Smartsupp' badge stays on every plan, paid ones included. Paid plans start at $24 a month on monthly billing, and Mira AI is a separate add-on from $20 a month for 100 conversations.
81112Published by Darwin, using the official documentation linked below. This is a comparison of documented capabilities, not a hands-on benchmark. “Not documented” means the reviewed sources do not establish that capability; it does not prove absence. Smartsupp plans are tiered by operator count on monthly billing, with Mira AI sold by conversation volume; a conversation is not a booked meeting. Darwin bills for booked meetings. Setup means preparing a draft, not automatically installing it.
Source access and fact-check dates are recorded separately for each source below.
Darwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Explains automatic launch, automatic promotion and the next test starting from a winning opening.
Fact checked · Review dueCreates opening variants from page context.
Fact checked · Review dueTests opening variants and can promote a better performer.
Fact checked · Review dueThe next opening experiment builds from the current winner.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments the website opening optimization loop.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
AI can customize the welcome message based on context, or you write your own; triggers by time on page or section visited. Published April 30, 2025.
Create the message yourself or let the AI customize it based on context.
Fact checked · Review dueAI-customized or custom welcome message, triggered by time on page or visiting a section.
Fact checked · Review dueCreate the message yourself or let our AI customize it based on context.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
Automatic messages fire on conditions; no A/B testing is described.
Fact checked · Review dueNo A/B testing or winner selection is described.
Fact checked · Review dueMessages are configured with conditions by the operator.
Fact checked · Review dueAutomatic messages send text; no booking step.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
(proposed additional source) Sep 8, 2026: the AI welcome message is generated from the knowledge base and persona and 'may vary slightly'; no measurement or comparison of variants is described.
Fact checked · Review due(proposed additional source) Triggers settings adjust the delay and when, where and to whom the message appears; the AI greeting draws on the knowledge base and persona, and no per-page generation or testing is described.
Fact checked · Review due(proposed additional source) Choose an AI welcome message (generated from the knowledge base and persona) or a custom one of up to 500 characters; no testing of alternatives is described.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Discovers relevant website pages and prepares the knowledge base.
Fact checked · Review duePrepares business information and assistant settings from the website.
Fact checked · Review dueExtracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
Web scrape downloads basic information from your website.
Fact checked · Review dueTone, talkativeness, confidence and emoji sliders set behavior.
Fact checked · Review dueUse the Playground panel to test how Mira AI replies, then publish.
Fact checked · Review dueMira uses product feeds and web scrape for e-commerce.
Fact checked · Review dueWeb scrape, XML product feed, text content and custom responses.
Fact checked · Review dueCapabilities described do not include meeting booking.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
(proposed additional source) The sign-up wizard takes a website URL and selected pages as knowledge (or a short description if no pages load), and the owner picks Mira's name and look. Business settings are not drafted automatically.
Fact checked · Review due(proposed additional source) A 14-day free trial with full access, including Mira AI, starts automatically at sign-up. Afterwards you pick a paid package or switch to the free version.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
Color gradient and theme are selected manually.
Fact checked · Review dueColor gradient, position, general texts, theme and header style.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Darwin prepares the opening from your website and shows it in a card to approve (Looks good), edit (120-character limit) or revise by message; the page no longer says it uses the experiment writer's requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueThe assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Darwin's own pricing page after the move to credits (Free, Growth, Agency): plan fees, credits included, extra-credit prices, add-ons, annual billing and what uses a credit. Read from the live page; the release script checks the page before it records the access time.
Free has no monthly fee; its first 5 credits are free, then each credit is $30.
Fact checked · Review dueThe first 5 credits on Free are free, once; a card is needed after that.
Fact checked · Review dueFree charges $30 a credit after the first five; leads that fail the fit rules are free.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth is $299 a month, or $2,990 a year, with 10 credits a month included.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth includes 10 credits a month and Agency 25, pooled; unused credits roll over one month.
Fact checked · Review dueExtra credits are $25 on Growth and Agency; choosing more credits each month lowers them to $20, $16 or $12 at 35, 60 or 110 on Growth, and to $8 at 525 on Agency.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
Free: 1 agent, 25 conversations a month. Solo $24, Plus $35, Expert $117 per month on monthly billing ($17, $25, $83 annual). Mira AI add-on from $20 per month for 100 conversations ($16 annual), on any plan.
Free forever: 1 agent, 25 conversations per month.
Fact checked · Review dueThe page header says '14-day free trial. No credit card needed.' Each paid plan has 'Start your 14-day trial', Free stays at $0, and the Mira tab offers 10 free conversations plus 25 more after onboarding.
Fact checked · Review dueMira AI $20 per month for 100 conversations monthly, $16 annual.
Fact checked · Review dueSolo $24 monthly, $17 annual.
Fact checked · Review dueUnlimited conversations on paid plans; Mira quota separate.
Fact checked · Review duePaid plans are tiers that include a set number of operators (Free 1, Solo 1, Plus 3, Expert 5+, with extra seats on Expert), plus a Mira AI add-on priced by conversations. Live chat, email, WhatsApp and Messenger share one inbox.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
The Powered by Smartsupp branding stays on every plan, including Free.
Fact checked · Review duePowered by Smartsupp cannot be removed or hidden on any plan.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Describes the visitor-to-meeting flow.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments public booking links, inline contact collection, embed limitations and confirmation-tracking requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Describes the included Darwin product areas.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Documents the conversion-focused reporting workflow.
Fact checked · Review dueSmartsupp · Accessed
(proposed additional source) On handover Mira asks for the visitor's name, email and reason, then notifies the team or replies by email when offline.
Fact checked · Review due
