Chatvia vs Crisp: no plan sets the cap#

Crisp is a well-made shared inbox with an AI agent, but on most plans the AI is limited. Chatvia is the free, self-hosted agent platform I built, and no plan decides how much AI you may use. This post compares the two and says when Crisp is the right call.

The short answer#

If the AI agent is the main thing, pick Chatvia. It answers most chats from your own knowledge, on your own server, with no plan deciding how much AI you may use.

If what you need is a shared inbox where people answer chat, email and social messages, with a little AI on top, pick Crisp.

What Crisp is#

Crisp is a hosted shared inbox. Your team answers website chat, email and messages from apps like Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram in one place. It also has an AI agent, plugins and integrations. Everything runs on Crisp's servers.

Crisp has a free plan. Paid plans start at about $45 a month, priced per workspace, not per seat. I think that is fair pricing. The catch is AI: how much you can use depends on your plan, and it is only unlimited on the top plan.

What Chatvia is#

Chatvia is a free, self-hosted platform for AI chat agents. You install it on your own server with one command. Your agents answer from your files, websites and Q&A, and they work on your website, in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and more.

You get the full source code. There are no plans and no seats.

Who sets the cap#

In Crisp, AI is part of the plan. On the lower plans you get a set amount. If your agent gets busy, the way to get more is a bigger plan.

In Chatvia, the software is free and there is no AI cap. You pay your AI provider for what the model uses, at their price, with nothing added on top. A typical answer from a fast model costs a fraction of a cent. If you run an open-weight model on your own hardware, the AI cost can be zero.

If you do want a cap, set it yourself: a monthly message limit for a workspace or for a single chatter. The limit is your choice, not your plan's.

Chatvia has no limits on agents, teams or replies, with or without a key. A Pro license key adds more workspaces, the API, capabilities and forms and hides the "Powered by Chatvia" line for $199 a year.

Your data#

Crisp keeps your chats, contacts and files on its own servers. For teams with strict data rules, that alone can rule it out.

Chatvia runs on a server you choose: your cloud account, your data center, or a machine in your office. Your chats and documents never leave it, unless you send them to an AI provider you picked.

Models#

Crisp picks the model behind its AI.

Chatvia lets you choose any model: OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, or your own server with Ollama or vLLM. Each agent can use a different model, and you can switch at any time.

Tools and guardrails#

Crisp connects to other apps through plugins and integrations. Its AI safety settings are basic.

Chatvia agents can use 24 ready-made connectors, like GitHub, HubSpot, Salesforce and Notion, or any MCP server. They can also call your own HTTP endpoints as custom functions. For each tool you decide: it runs, it waits for a person's OK, or it never runs. Every call is logged with its input and result.

Guardrails are on from the start. They catch prompt injection, mask personal data like card numbers, keep the agent on topic, and stop abusive language. A monitor mode shows what they would do before they block anything.

Is the AI any good?#

An inbox does not have to answer that question. An agent platform does. So Chatvia gives you ways to check its work:

• Evaluations. Test questions scored by an AI judge, exact matches, patterns or tool calls. You can generate them from your knowledge.
• Analytics. Messages, visitors, channels and trends, with every chat sorted by topic, mood and tone.
• Chat logs. Read each chat with the sources the agent used. Fix a weak answer there and it becomes a Q&A pair.

Channels and handoff#

Crisp covers web chat, email, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram and more.

Chatvia covers a chat widget, a hosted chat page, voice chats, Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and a REST API.

Crisp is stronger on email. Chatvia is stronger inside your team's own tools, like Slack and Teams.

Both can hand a chat to a person. Crisp does it inside an inbox made for people who answer chats all day. In Chatvia, your team takes over a widget chat live from the dashboard.

When Crisp is the better choice#

Pick Crisp if you mainly need a shared inbox where people answer chat and email, if AI is a small helper and not the main way you answer, or if you never want to run a server. For a support team that lives in its inbox, Crisp is the better product.

My verdict#

Crisp is a good inbox with some AI. Chatvia is a full AI agent: it answers from your knowledge, uses tools with your OK, stays inside guardrails, and hands over to a person when needed. You keep your data, you pick the model, and no plan limits how much your agent may answer.

Curious? Install Chatvia on a server of yours. The first agent takes a few minutes.

Prices are from Crisp's pages and public reviews in October 2026. They change often, so check them before you choose.