Dante AI alternatives for handing chats to a person

Dante AI’s pricing page said on 20 September 2026 that every plan answers on your website. The plan you pick decides whether the agent also hands off to a person and keeps the leads, it says. A handoff is a chat passed from the AI to a person, and a lead is the contact details a visitor leaves. Both start on Advanced, the third of four plans.

Handoff and leads start on Advanced

On Free and Starter there is no human in the loop, because nobody can join a conversation the agent is having. To do that yourself you need Advanced. On monthly billing that is $80 a month more than Starter, by our subtraction. Deacon, which is ours, lets you do it on its free plan.

Free and Starter carry Dante’s branding

The free plan does not expire, takes no card and resets to 100 credits on the first of each month. Dante’s cards call a credit a message. A credit is one answer on a light model, and heavier models cost more. Voice conversations spend credits by the minute.

The free plan carries Dante’s branding and uses the smaller AI models, the FAQ on Dante’s home page says. That page also says 100% white labeled. Removing the branding is an add-on on Starter in Dante’s plan comparison, with no price we could find, and is included from Advanced.

Top questions and weekly re-reads also start on Advanced

Starter gets basic reports. Top questions and knowledge gaps start on Advanced, the plan comparison says, and so does automatic updating of the knowledge from your website. Knowledge gaps are the questions the agent could not answer. The updating runs weekly on Advanced and daily on Pro, and API access is on Pro only.

More credits need a paid plan, and fees are not refunded

Extra credits are $20 for each 1,000 a month, on any paid plan. Free cannot top up at all. A per-minute rate limit and a monthly credit ceiling come with Starter and above, which stop one runaway visitor spending your month. We found nothing on Dante’s pages about what the chat does at zero credits.

Dante’s terms say automatic top-up is optional and off by default, and that paid subscription fees are non-refundable except where the law requires. Cancelling is a button in your billing settings, the home page says, and you keep the plan until the paid period ends.

Where a handoff comes sooner

A handoff comes without a paid plan on Chatling, Tidio and Deacon. Chatling’s pricing page ticks live chat on every plan. Tidio’s free plan is a live chat inbox with 10 seats, Tidio’s pricing page says.

On Crisp a handoff starts on the first paid plan, Mini at $45 a month, inside a shared inbox, Crisp’s pricing page says. Chatbase treats a handoff as an AI Action. Free has none and Hobby, at $40 a month, has five. Chatbase’s pricing page lists its helpdesk from Standard at $150, and we found no page saying which plan a handoff needs.

Deacon

When Deacon cannot answer, it says so, asks for the visitor’s email address and marks the conversation for you. You can also join any conversation yourself. Typing a reply in the dashboard hands the chat to you, and a visitor whose chat is still open sees it there. One who has left gets your reply by email, if they gave an address.

That works the same on every plan, and the free one has 50 answers a month on one seat. What the paid plans cost is on Deacon’s pricing page.

Deacon has no team inbox with routing or a rota, no voice agent and no phone number. Dante’s channel table ticks a voice agent on every plan, though its Starter card lists the phone as something Starter adds. A phone number of your own starts on Advanced.