Dante AI alternatives that let you take over a chat

Four things on Dante AI’s plans send founders looking elsewhere. Nobody on your team can step into a chat until Advanced, at $120 a month. The questions your agent couldn’t answer, which Dante calls knowledge gaps, wait for Advanced too. Taking the Dante mark off Starter costs $50 a month more. And when the credits run out, your visitors read “This AI agent is offline at the moment. Please contact the site owner directly for help.”

This page sets eight alternatives beside it. For each you get the free plan, the first paid plan, the plan where a person can take over a chat, and the price of taking its badge off your site. We read every price on the vendor’s own pages on 23 September 2026, and each one links to where we read it.

We make Deacon, so it’s listed first. It’s an AI customer support agent for founders who do their own support. It answers your customers from your own docs in seconds, and it tells you what they’re stuck on and what they’d like you to build. You can take over any chat on its free plan, which needs no card and never ends.

Dante AI and eight alternatives at a glance

Dante AI sits in the last row, so you can read each tool against the plan you’re on now.

What Dante AI keeps for its Advanced plan

Dante AI gives a lot away. Its free plan costs nothing, needs no card and never expires, with 100 credits a month, 1 seat and 150,000 characters of knowledge, on three light models that cost one credit a turn. It can also give your agent a voice. Here’s where its plans pinch, from its pricing page, its plan comparison and its help centre.

A person can take over a chat only from Advanced, at $120 a month or $100 billed yearly. Dante calls this the Inbox, and its help centre says human handover “is not sold as an add-on”. The leads visitors leave are kept from Advanced too.

Starter’s reports are basic. Top questions and knowledge gaps start on Advanced, and so does re-reading your website each week. Pro re-reads it daily and is the only plan with API access.

The meter counts turns, one visitor message and one reply. A turn costs 1 to 25 credits depending on the model you choose, and the default model costs 1. So Starter’s 2,000 credits at $40 a month is 2,000 turns on the default model and 80 on the heaviest, by our arithmetic. Testing your agent in Dante’s sandbox spends credits too, after five free messages.

Free carries Dante’s branding. On Starter, taking it off is an add-on that the plan comparison lists without a price, and the help centre puts it at $50 a month, which makes Starter $90. Advanced includes it.

Once you have too few credits for your chosen model, your widget answers on the cheapest one-credit model instead. At zero it stops answering and shows the “offline at the moment” message until the next reset or a top-up. Top-ups cost $20 for 1,000 credits on the paid plans, and topping up automatically is off until you switch it on. Dante’s terms also say paid fees are non-refundable, except where the law requires.

Deacon

Deacon is an AI customer support agent for founders who handle support themselves. Setting it up takes one script tag and your help content, whether that’s pages on your site, files or text you paste in. It then answers your customers in seconds, at any hour, in whatever language they write in.

Its answers come from your content, often with a link to the page they came from. If your content has nothing on a question, Deacon says so rather than guess, and asks for the visitor’s email. You get an email when they leave one or ask for a person.

Stepping in works on every plan, the free one included. Type a reply in the conversation and Deacon stops answering in it. If the visitor still has the chat open, your reply appears there under your first name and your company’s. If they’ve gone, it goes to the address they left in that conversation. Press Hand back to Deacon when you’re done, and it answers their next question. Your replies never count towards your plan’s answers.

The questions your docs didn’t cover are kept in Conversations, each with an Answer this button. Your answer joins what Deacon knows, so it can answer the next visitor who asks the same thing, and each answer you write means it needs you a little less. Dante keeps its knowledge gaps for Advanced, while Deacon lists yours on every plan, each with a box for your answer.

The other half is what you learn. Deacon keeps every conversation, and you can search them by what visitors asked. Topics gather similar questions from different people, count them and label most groups, as a how-to, a bug report or a feature ask, for example. Analytics › Widget shows how many people wrote in, the share answered and the languages they wrote in, and the same script runs your website analytics, with visitors, sources, goals and funnels.

Nothing is held back for a higher plan. The plans change four numbers, the answers, the knowledge, the pages from your website and the seats. Free has 50 answers a month and 1 seat and holds about 67 pages of docs. It needs no card, has no end date, and an account that goes quiet isn’t deleted. Starter costs $50 a month, or $40 a month on yearly billing, for 1,000 answers a month and 3 seats. Growth costs $150 a month, or $120 a month on yearly billing, for 4,000 answers a month and 10 seats.

Every plan answers with the same model, so the number on your plan is the number of replies you get, and chats in the Playground are never counted. No plan bills you past its answers or moves you up on its own. If a month’s answers run out, visitors get a short reply saying Deacon can’t look into it right now and are asked for their email, unless they already left it in that conversation. There’s no “powered by” line to pay to remove.

Chatling

Chatling works most like Dante, with credits priced by model and knowledge counted in characters. The difference is that a person can take over on every plan, the free one included. Its docs say your team can “jump in and take over any conversation at any time”, and the action that lets the AI hand a chat over comes with every agent, switched off until you turn it on.

Free gives you 200 AI credits a month, 1 seat and 500,000 characters of knowledge. Starter is $25 a month, or $21 billed yearly, for 1,750 credits and 2 seats.

The meter moves with the model, as Dante’s does, and Chatling’s free models take more credits a reply. A reply costs from 0.5 credits to 25, and the free plan’s three models cost 2.5 to 5, so its 200 credits come to 40 to 80 replies. At zero, visitors see an “Insufficient AI credits” error until you buy more or upgrade. Removing “Powered by Chatling” is a $35 a month add-on, or included on Scale at $295 a month. There’s more in Chatling alternatives.

Tidio

Tidio is live chat first, and its free plan is a shared inbox for up to 10 people, so anyone on your team can answer a chat without paying. Its AI agent, Lyro, is sold separately, and by default it hands a chat to your team when someone is online. Out of hours it can take the visitor’s email and open a ticket.

Free gives you 50 conversations with your team a month, and 50 Lyro conversations once, which never renew. Starter is $29 a month, or $24.17 billed yearly, for 100 conversations with your team. Lyro starts at $39 a month for 50 AI conversations, or $32.50 billed yearly.

The limit to watch is the team one. A conversation counts once someone on your team replies in it, and when a month’s run out, Tidio says “you will no longer be able to respond to incoming messages, nor see their details” until you upgrade or the quota resets. A new project on monthly billing moves up to the next package at 95% of its quota, unless you switch that off. The Tidio branding stays on Free and Starter, and removing it is a $20 a month add-on from Growth, which starts at $59 a month. There’s more in Tidio alternatives.

Crisp

Crisp is a shared inbox with a chat widget, and its AI agent is called Hugo. The free plan gives you the widget and the inbox for 2 seats, so you can chat with visitors yourself, but it has no AI credits, so Hugo doesn’t answer on it.

Mini is $45 a month per workspace, with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits, which Crisp puts at around 90 automated conversations. Essentials is $95 a month, with 10 seats and $25 of credits.

What suits someone leaving Dante is what happens when the credits run out. By default Hugo stops answering and new conversations go to your team in the inbox, rather than to an error message. Hugo can also hand a chat over when it can’t answer with confidence. Routing and assignment start on Essentials, and taking the “We run on Crisp” watermark off needs Plus, at $295 a month. There’s more in Crisp alternatives.

Botpress

Botpress is a platform for building your own AI agent, and its helpdesk, Botpress Desk, is on every plan, the free one included. That’s where a person picks up the chats the agent passes on.

Free gives you 25 conversations and 3 seats, with no top-ups. Plus is $189 a month, or $150 billed yearly, for 250 conversations and $25 of AI usage, and it takes the Botpress branding off the webchat.

You build the agent yourself, which takes time before it answers anyone. A conversation is any exchange with at least two messages from the visitor in the month. At 95% of Plus’s 250, Botpress adds a pack of 100 conversations for $65, and you can’t switch that off. Routing and assignment start on Team, at $750 a month billed yearly. There’s more in Botpress alternatives.

tawk.to

tawk.to gives its live chat away, with ticketing and a knowledge base, and no limit on how many people answer chats. Its AI is an add-on called AI Assist, priced per website rather than per seat.

The Hobby tier of AI Assist is free, with 100 message credits a month. Growth is $29 a month, or $290 a year, for 1,000 credits, and each message the AI sends uses one.

The catch is the handover. tawk.to’s billing guide lists “Escalations to human agents” from Growth, so on Hobby the AI can’t pass a chat to your team. Past its credits, AI Assist keeps answering in the conversations it’s already in but joins no new ones until the month resets or, on a paid plan, you buy more at $30 for 1,000. Removing the “Powered by tawk.to” line is $29 a month. There’s more on tools like it in customer support tools.

SiteGPT

SiteGPT has no free plan, and its 7-day trial asks for a card, which is charged on the trial’s last day unless you cancel. Starter is $59 a month, or $39 billed yearly, for 1 chatbot, 1,000 pages and 1 member.

A person can join a chat through its human support feature. A visitor hands the conversation to your team, and your reply appears in the widget in real time. Its docs name no plan for it, though taking over from SiteGPT’s iOS app starts on Growth.

Starter’s 4,000 messages a month are counted on GPT-4.1 mini. On GPT-4.1 the same plan gives 400, and a message is the visitor’s question and the reply together. A paid plan keeps answering past its quota, and SiteGPT doesn’t publish what the extra costs. Removing SiteGPT’s branding is an add-on on every plan, at $59 a month, or $39 billed yearly. There’s more in SiteGPT alternatives.

Chatbase

Chatbase works much like Dante, with message credits priced by model, and it reaches further. WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram start on Hobby, and phone calls on Standard.

Free gives you 50 message credits a month and 1 member, and Chatbase deletes a free agent after 14 days without use. Hobby is $40 a month, or $32 billed yearly, for 700 credits.

Taking over a chat runs through the Chatbase Helpdesk, which its plan table lists from Standard, at $150 a month or $120 billed yearly. A reply costs 1 to 6 credits by model, and an action can double that. At zero, visitors read “This AI Agent is currently unavailable. If you are the owner, please check your account.” Removing “Powered By Chatbase” is a $99 a month add-on. There’s more in Chatbase alternatives.

Which Dante AI alternative fits you

Start from the thing that sent you looking.

If you like how Dante works and only need a human in the loop, Chatling is the closest match, with live chat on its free plan. If your team already answers chats and wants AI in front of an inbox, Tidio and Crisp are built for that, and tawk.to gives the live chat itself away. All three are among the eight tools in live chat software for a small business website. If you want to build your own agent and reach WhatsApp, Botpress gives you the most room. If your agent needs to answer the phone, Dante can, with a number of its own from Advanced, and Chatbase takes phone calls from Standard.

If you’re the one answering support, Deacon fits best. It answers the questions your docs cover in seconds, says so when they don’t, and lets you step into any chat on any plan. Its Topics show what customers are stuck on and what they want next. You can start on the free plan without a card.

Questions about Dante AI and its alternatives

Is Dante AI free?

Yes, within limits. Dante AI’s free plan costs nothing, needs no card and doesn’t expire. It gives you one agent on one website, 100 message credits a month that reset on the 1st, 1 seat and 150,000 characters of knowledge. It runs on three light models, carries Dante’s branding and keeps no leads, and a person can’t take over a chat on it.

Is there a free Dante AI alternative?

Several have a free plan. On Deacon’s, you get 50 answers a month, every feature including taking over chats, and no card to enter. Chatling gives you 200 AI credits a month with live chat, Tidio 50 conversations a month and 50 Lyro AI conversations once, Botpress 25 conversations, and tawk.to free live chat with 100 AI credits a month. Crisp’s free plan has the inbox but no AI credits, and SiteGPT offers a trial rather than a free plan. Free AI chatbots for a website goes through the free plans in more depth, with the catches in their small print.

How does Dante AI compare with Chatbase?

Both sell credits priced by model, and both can put your agent on the phone. Dante’s free plan has 100 message credits a month and never expires, while Chatbase’s has 50 and deletes an agent left unused for 14 days. At $40 a month, Dante’s Starter has 2,000 credits and Chatbase’s Hobby 700. A person takes over a chat from Dante’s Advanced at $120 a month, or through Chatbase’s Helpdesk from Standard at $150. Taking the badge off is a $50 a month add-on on Dante’s Starter and $99 a month on Chatbase.

Can I move my Dante AI content to Deacon?

Not directly, since there’s no import from Dante, but adding it again is quick. When you sign up with your website’s address, Deacon picks your home page and up to four main pages itself, with nothing for you to tick. Or add single pages by their links. Files go in as PDF, Word (.docx), Markdown, text, CSV or HTML, up to 10 MB each, and anything else can be pasted in as text. Add Q&A takes your question and answer pairs.

Does Deacon answer the phone or WhatsApp?

No. Deacon works in one place, a chat widget on your website, and your replies go out from its dashboard. There’s no voice agent, phone number or WhatsApp channel. If you need those, Dante AI gives your agent a voice and a number of its own from Advanced, Chatbase takes phone calls from Standard, and Tidio and Botpress list WhatsApp.