Tidio is a popular pick for small businesses and online stores that want live chat with an AI agent on top. Darwin is built for teams that want their website chat to book meetings, and to keep improving at it. Here's how they compare.
DarwinAI website chat focused on answering buying questions, booking meetings, and improving chat openings.Best for
Less suited to
Running an online store's support desk.
TidioCustomer-service chat and the Lyro AI agent for small businesses and online stores.Best for
Less suited to
A chat that tests and improves its own openings.
| Side by side | Darwin | Tidio |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Manual message splits Operator-edited flows with manual message splits; an autonomous opening loop is not documented. 2345 A Randomize flow action can show visitors different welcome messages and flows show usage statistics; comparing variants or picking a winner is not 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. | Manual setup Flow messages are written by the operator in the visual editor. 6 Triggers and conditions decide when a flow fires. |
| 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. 46 A Randomize flow action can show visitors different welcome messages; picking or promoting a winner is not described. |
| 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. 6 Flows are activated and edited manually. |
| 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. 7 Initial setup selects key pages for speed; more pages can be imported later. | URL scraper Lyro learns from website URLs pasted as data sources. 3 The operator chooses the pages; Lyro then answers from that content. |
| Drafts your sales settings | Yes Prepares business information and assistant settings from the website. 7 The user can review and refine the generated draft. | Not documented Automatic drafting of business settings from the website is not documented. 8 The operator writes Guidance instructions and edits flows. |
| Matches chat to your brand | Colors & fonts Extracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design. 7 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. 9 Themes and custom colors are picked in Appearance settings. |
| Writes your first chat opening | Yes Drafts the first chat opening from the business context. 10 Drafted during assisted setup; approve it, edit it (120-character limit) or ask Darwin for a revision. | Manual setup The first flow is created during registration and edited by the operator. 6 Registration offers a first flow; its messages are adjusted in the editor. |
| Review before going live | Yes The assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation. 10 Calendar connection, testing and website installation remain separate completion steps. | Yes Playground testing and widget preview before going live. 89 Lyro is activated after testing; the widget preview shows appearance changes. |
| PricingUSD, before tax, monthly billing. Darwin bills per booked meeting or qualified request. Tidio bills for conversations, with Lyro AI sold as its own quota. | ||
| Lowest monthly platform fee | $0/mo Free has no monthly subscription fee. 11 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 Tidio's Free plan has no monthly fee. 12 50 billable conversations, 100 Flows visitors and 50 lifetime Lyro conversations; Tidio branding shown. |
| Introductory offer | 5 free credits The first five credits are free, once. 11 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. | 7 day trial A 7-day free trial covers paid features without a card. 12 The account returns to the Free plan afterwards; 50 Lyro conversations are free once. |
| AI usage charge | $30/credit Free charges $30 per credit after the first five. 11 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 $39/50 AI chats Lyro's quota starts at $39 per month for 50 conversations on monthly billing. 12 $32.50 per month on annual billing. A Lyro conversation is not a booked meeting. |
| Paid plans start at | $299/mo Growth is $299 per month on monthly billing. 11 Includes 10 credits a month. Annual billing is two months free ($2,990 a year); credits and extra-credit charges stay monthly. | $29/mo Starter is $29 per month on monthly billing. 12 Includes 100 billable conversations and 50 one-off Lyro conversations; $24.17 per month 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. 11 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. | 100+ conversations Starter includes 100 billable conversations; Growth starts at 250. 12 Human-answered 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. 11 Charged automatically each month at the current rate, after the monthly included credits and in addition to the plan fee. | From $39/50 AI chats Lyro's quota starts at $39 per month for 50 conversations on monthly billing. 12 $32.50 per month on annual billing. A Lyro 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.
Sort of. Lyro can hand a visitor a Calendly link using the Book a call Action template, but you need a Calendly token and a Plus, Premium or eligible Lyro AI Agent plan. Darwin offers a time through whichever scheduler you've connected. With either tool, check what the provider counts as a completed booking.
31317Only by hand. A Randomize action in Flows can show visitors different welcome messages, but picking a winner isn't described. Your first flow is written during signup and edited by you in the flow editor. Darwin writes opening variants per page, tests them, keeps the better one and starts the next test.
12345Published 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. Tidio prices are for monthly billing and count billable or Lyro conversations; a conversation is not a booked meeting. 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 dueTidio · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. The first flow is created at registration and edited node by node in the visual editor.
The operator edits each node of the first flow in the visual editor and re-activates it (updated July 1, 2026).
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Website URLs as data sources, Playground testing, Guidance for tone, scheduler and lead generator, activation.
Lyro is tested in the Playground and refined by editing, deleting or adding responses and by writing Guidance; no opening tests.
Fact checked · Review dueCopy website URLs into Lyro's data sources and the AI learns the content of the pages.
Fact checked · Review dueA scheduler lets Lyro collect customer information to help book meetings or calls.
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
The Randomize action randomizes the flow experience, for example to send different welcome messages to visitors; comparing variants or picking a winner is not described.
Fact checked · Review dueThe Randomize action 'allows you to randomize the flow's flow experience', for example to send different welcome messages to visitors; no winner selection or promotion is described.
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
Each flow has a Show Statistics pop-up with usage statistics; per-branch comparison is not described.
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
The first flow is created at registration and edited node by node in the visual editor.
Messages are adjusted per node in the flow editor.
Fact checked · Review dueThe first-flow guide describes editing, pausing and deleting flows; no testing or winner selection.
Fact checked · Review dueFlows are edited and re-activated by the operator.
Fact checked · Review dueThe first flow is set up at registration and edited node by node.
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 dueTidio · Accessed
Website URLs as data sources, Playground testing, Guidance for tone, scheduler and lead generator, activation.
Guidance instructions and conversation settings are written by the operator.
Fact checked · Review dueThe Playground tests Lyro's responses before activation.
Fact checked · Review dueWebsite URLs and Q&A uploads are Lyro data sources.
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
Background, action and text colors, brand logo (Plus), header and message text, position and preview.
Colors are selected from themes or a color picker.
Fact checked · Review dueA live preview shows the widget while configuring it.
Fact checked · Review dueGeneral settings cover background, action and text colors; Brand Logo (replacing Tidio branding) is Plus only; Content covers header and message text; position is bottom-left or bottom-right; no font setting.
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 dueTidio · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Monthly billing: Starter $29, Growth from $59, Plus from $300 plus usage; Lyro AI Agent from $39 for 50 conversations; Flows from $29. Free plan with 50 billable conversations and 50 lifetime Lyro conversations; 7-day trial; No Tidio branding add-on $20 per month.
Free plan at $0 per month with 50 billable conversations.
Fact checked · Review due7-day free trial, no credit card, downgrade to Free afterwards.
Fact checked · Review dueLyro AI Agent starts at $39 per month for 50 conversations on monthly billing.
Fact checked · Review dueStarter $29 per month on monthly billing, $24.17 on annual.
Fact checked · Review dueStarter 100 billable conversations; Growth from 250.
Fact checked · Review dueStill positions 'Lyro AI Agent + Tidio Help Desk' with Flows and ticketing; the comparison table ticks 'Native Shopify actions' on Growth, Plus and Premium only (not Free or Starter).
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 dueTidio · Accessed
Monthly billing: Starter $29, Growth from $59, Plus from $300 plus usage; Lyro AI Agent from $39 for 50 conversations; Flows from $29. Free plan with 50 billable conversations and 50 lifetime Lyro conversations; 7-day trial; No Tidio branding add-on $20 per month.
Lists FAQ upload, FAQ scraper, website scraper and Zendesk import.
Fact checked · Review dueLists live chat, ticketing, email management and Shopify actions.
Fact checked · Review duePlan table: No Tidio branding is unavailable on Free and Starter, an add-on on Growth (20 USD/mo. monthly, 16.67 USD/mo. billed annually) and included on Plus and Premium; Custom branding is Plus and Premium.
Fact checked · Review dueTidio · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Book a call (Calendly) template: Lyro provides a scheduling link through the Calendly API. Templates for Plus, Premium and selected Lyro AI Agent subscribers.
Book a call (Calendly) template provides the visitor a scheduling link via the Calendly API.
Fact checked · Review due
