Chatvia vs Tidio: skip the add-on
Tidio sells its AI, Lyro, as an add-on billed per AI conversation on top of your plan. Chatvia is the free, self-hosted agent platform I built, and it charges nothing per chat. I compare the two for a small business or shop and say where Tidio still wins.
The short answer
Pick Chatvia if you want an AI agent that answers as many chats as you get, keeps your data on your own server, and runs on any model you like.
Pick Tidio if you run a small online shop, want ready-made shop flows, and would rather someone else ran it all.
What Tidio is
Tidio is hosted live chat for small businesses and online shops. It has a chat widget, an inbox, flows, and Lyro, its AI agent. Everything runs on Tidio's cloud.
There is a free plan, and paid plans start at about $29 a month. Lyro is an add-on, from about $39 a month for 50 AI conversations.
What Chatvia is
Chatvia is a free, self-hosted platform for AI chat agents. One command installs it on your own server. 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. Without a key you get one workspace with unlimited agents, teams and replies. Every feature works except the API, voice, Live Chat, capabilities and forms, and four Enterprise security features.
What one AI chat costs
Work out what Lyro costs per chat. At about $39 for 50 conversations, each AI chat costs close to $0.80. As your shop grows, you buy bigger packs, and the AI bill grows with them. The better the AI does its job, the more you pay. I think that is backwards.
With Chatvia, the software is free and there are no packs. 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, so fifty AI chats cost a few cents with your own AI key. If you run an open-weight model on your own hardware, the AI cost can be zero.
If you want a cap, set it yourself, with a monthly message limit for a workspace or a single chatter.
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
Tidio keeps your chats, contacts and content on its own servers.
Chatvia runs on a server you choose: your cloud account, your data center, or a machine in your office. Your chats and documents stay there, unless you send them to an AI provider you picked. Each person can download a copy of the data held about them, and deleting an account removes all of its data.
The model and the knowledge
Tidio picks the model behind Lyro.
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.
The agent learns from your files, your website, refreshed on a schedule, and Q&A pairs for questions that need an exact answer. Hybrid search and a reranker find the best passages, and answers show their sources.
Channels
Tidio covers a widget, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email.
Chatvia covers a chat widget, a hosted chat page, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram too. Then it adds Slack, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, voice chats, a command bar and a REST API. The same agent can help customers on your site and your staff in Slack or Teams.
To be fair: Tidio is stronger on email. Chatvia is stronger inside your team's own tools.
Tools and guardrails
Tidio connects to shops and other systems with flows and integrations. Its safety settings are basic.
Chatvia agents can use 24 ready-made connectors, like HubSpot, Salesforce, Notion and Zendesk, or any MCP server. For each tool you decide: it runs, it waits for a person's OK, or it never runs. Every call is logged.
Guardrails are on from the start. They catch prompt injection, mask personal data like card numbers and IBANs, keep the agent on topic, and stop abusive language. For a shop that handles orders and payments, I would not run an agent without them.
Handing a chat to a person
Both can do this. In Chatvia, your team takes over a widget chat live from the dashboard. Agents can also show a form mid-chat, and every answer is stored as a lead.
When Tidio is the better choice
Tidio makes sense if you run a small online shop and want ready-made shop flows, or if you need email in the same inbox as chat. It also makes sense if you never want to run a server, or if your AI chat volume is small enough that the packs stay cheap.
My verdict
Tidio is easy live chat, and its AI is a paid extra you top up by the pack. Chatvia gives you an AI agent with no per-chat fee, guardrails from the first day, and more channels, all on your own server. Your AI bill follows what the model really costs, not how many chats you get.
| Chatvia | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on your own server | Yes | No |
| Source code | Yes | No |
| Price of the software | Free | Free plan, paid from about $29 a month |
| AI answers | You pay your AI provider at cost | Lyro add-on, from about $39 for 50 AI chats |
| Choice of AI model | Any, including local models | Chosen by Tidio |
| Guardrails | Prompt injection, personal data, topics and abuse | Basic |
| Hand a chat to a person | Yes | Yes |
Install Chatvia takes a few minutes, and the first agent not much longer.
Prices are from Tidio's pages and public reviews in October 2026. They change often, so check them before you choose.