Their plan is flat. Their AI is a dollar balance you spend down. Arbyn charges $99, flat.
Crisp's plan price is fixed, and at $45 it is genuinely low. The AI is not fixed: every plan carries a dollar balance of credits that the Hugo agent draws down per AI-handled conversation, so the AI half of the bill moves with how much your customers actually use it. Arbyn is $99 a month with unlimited AI conversations, and a $0 plan underneath it that includes 150 every calendar month.
The real bill
What you’d actually pay.
Three real scenarios at three real volumes, using Crisp's published 2026 pricing and the automation rate their own team recommends. Arbyn is $99 flat at every one.
Crisp's rates: $45 Mini includes $5 of AI credits, which Crisp translates into around 90 automated conversations. Their estimate, which they call only an estimate, is $0.05 to $0.10 per AI-handled conversation, so the remaining 410 add $20.50 to $41. Our arithmetic, their numbers. Their feature matrix does not clearly say which plan unlocks the AI Agent, so we price from the published credit balances, which understates Crisp if the agent starts higher up.
This is the crossover, and it is volume, not features. On their published rates and our arithmetic, Crisp lands between $91 and $136 depending on where their own cost estimate falls. Arbyn is $99 either way, and $99 is where it stops. From here their line only moves in one direction.
We took the cheapest Crisp configuration at this volume, which is still Mini plus pay-as-you-go: $95 Essentials buys only $25 of credits and $295 Plus only $75, so the plan step costs more than the credits it adds. Peak season is exactly when an AI meter runs hardest. Arbyn's November invoice is $99, the same as July's.
Verified July 2026. The plan prices ($45, $95 and $295 a month per workspace, on the monthly toggle), the AI credits each plan includes ($5, $25 and $75), Crisp's own translation of those balances into around 90, 450 and 1,350 automated conversations a month, the seats (2, 4, 10 and 20), the $10 additional seat on Mini and Essentials, the customer-profile caps and the Free plan's "No AI credits included" are all quoted from Crisp's pricing page. The definition of a billed Hugo conversation, the $0.05 to $0.10 average that Crisp itself calls "only an estimate", the pay-as-you-go switch that is off by default, and the credit reset on the 4th of the month are from their Hugo billing document (help.crisp.chat). Crisp publishes no annual dollar price and no fixed overage rate, so this page prints neither. Every rate here is theirs. The arithmetic is ours: it assumes every conversation is AI-handled, pay-as-you-go turned on, seats inside the plan allowance, and the cheapest Crisp plan at each volume. Crisp's feature matrix does not clearly state which plan unlocks the AI Agent, so we price only from the published per-plan credit balances, which understates Crisp if the agent starts higher up. Verified against crisp.chat/pricing.
Pricing model decoded
Flat plans. A dollar meter for the AI.
Crisp's plan price is honest and flat, and their pricing page is easier to read than most in this category. The part that is not flat is the AI. Every plan carries a dollar balance of credits, and the Hugo agent spends that balance down per AI-handled conversation. The Free plan carries none at all, so the cheapest plan that funds the agent is $45. Above Plus there is an Enterprise tier at "Unique pricing", which is a quote, so we print no number for it.
The free plan funds no AI at all. Crisp's Free plan is $0 forever with 2 seats and, in their own words, "No AI credits included", capped at 100 customer profiles. As a human helpdesk it is genuinely free. As an AI agent it does not start, so the cheapest Crisp plan that funds Hugo is $45 a month. Arbyn's $0 Starter plan includes 150 AI conversations every calendar month, with every feature turned on.
The AI is a dollar balance, not an allowance. Mini carries $5 of AI credits, Essentials $25 and Plus $75, and Crisp translates those into around 90, 450 and 1,350 automated conversations a month. Their help center is clear about the unit: "A Hugo conversation is not billed per message. It covers the exchange Hugo handles with a customer, from the first AI-handled message until the conversation is resolved, routed, or escalated." What one costs is their estimate, and they label it as one: "On average, a full Hugo-handled conversation costs around $0.05 to $0.10 USD, but this remains only an estimate." We are not going to turn that into a rate card, because they have not.
Even the top published plan meters the AI. Plus is $295 a month and still includes only $75 of credits, around 1,350 conversations by Crisp's own estimate. There is no unlimited-AI plan on their page at any price, and the step up buys less AI than it costs: $50 more than Mini buys $20 more credits. Arbyn's $99 is unlimited AI conversations, and it is the ceiling rather than the entry.
The credits reset on the 4th, not the 1st. "Credits reset every billing cycle, currently on the 4th of the month." To their credit, pay-as-you-go is off by default: run the balance out and their help center says Hugo "stops answering automatically" and new conversations go to your team until credits reset or you enable more usage. That is a real spend control and a real support gap, and they are the same switch. Arbyn's Agent plan has no balance to run out, and the Starter cap resets on the 1st, midnight UTC.
One documented Shopify write action. Crisp's Shopify integration page says you can "view customers' order history straight in your inbox" and "even activate advanced features, such as refunds, straight from Crisp", and their Hugo doc says the agent can "perform real actions through your integrations, such as checking account details, tracking orders, or issuing refunds". Beyond refunds, nothing is published about cancelling an order, creating a discount code, sending a gift card, reshipping or starting a return, so anything past order lookups and refunds is something you would wire yourself through their MCP servers. Arbyn performs cancel, refund, discount with the code already on the checkout, gift card, reship and return as real Shopify mutations the moment you approve them. Arbyn does not edit orders or line items.
Side by side
Feature for feature. Honestly.
Where Crisp and Arbyn actually differ. Not marketing checkboxes, just real features that work today, as of 2026.
| Capability | Arbyn$99 flat | Crisp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat $99/mo | Flat plan per workspace, plus a dollar balance of AI credits drawn down per AI conversation |
| Cost predictability | Fully flat | The plan is flat. The AI is metered in dollars |
| Unlimited conversations | Yes | No conversation cap published. Customer profiles are capped at 100, 5,000, 50,000 and 200,000 |
| Unlimited AI resolutions | Yes | No. Every paid plan meters AI out of a dollar balance, including $295 Plus |
| Email + chat + IG + FB | Email + chat, IG/FB soon | Yes, plus WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, Viber, Line, X and phone. 12 channels, broader than Arbyn today |
| Acts inside Shopify | Yes, in-thread | Order history in the inbox, and refunds documented from Crisp. Nothing published on cancels, discount codes, gift cards, reships or returns |
| Replies in your voice | Voice Fingerprint | No store voice model published |
| Free plan | Yes, 150/mo | Yes, $0 forever, 2 seats, and "No AI credits included" |
| Setup time | In minutes | Not published |
The honest part
Where Crisp actually wins.
A page that only says “we win” is a sales pitch, not a comparison. So here are three things Crisp genuinely does better than Arbyn today, no hedging. Take them seriously if they matter to your store. Most Shopify store owners weigh them against a flat $99 a month (or $0 to start) and an agent that can act on the order, and switch anyway.
Where Crisp is genuinely ahead, stated plainly.
Crisp is a wide, mature support platform and its pricing page is unusually clear about what it meters. A shared inbox, a knowledge base, CRM customer profiles, campaign sequences across email, SMS, chat and WhatsApp, and twelve live channels. It runs on WooCommerce and Stripe as well as Shopify, so it is not Shopify-only the way Arbyn is, and a technical team can extend the agent with custom MCP servers, which means their action set is not fixed the way ours is. Crisp also offers a custom-quote Enterprise tier with dedicated onboarding and a personalized SLA, and we have no equivalent. On the Shopify App Store they hold 4.1 out of 5 across 34 reviews. Arbyn is narrower on purpose: one agent, on Shopify, doing support and sales.
The disagreement is the meter, and it is not the plan price. Crisp's plan price is flat and low. What is not flat is the AI: each plan carries a dollar balance of credits, and the Hugo agent draws that balance down per AI-handled conversation. So the more work the AI does, the more the AI costs, and the two published escape routes are to top the balance up or to let Hugo stop answering. Arbyn has no balance. $99 a month, unlimited AI conversations, and a $0 Starter plan that includes 150 every calendar month while Crisp's Free plan includes, in their words, "No AI credits included".
Stay with Crisp if you need WhatsApp or Instagram today, if your AI volume is genuinely small, or if you want one inbox spanning Shopify, WooCommerce and Stripe. Switch to Arbyn when the AI is doing real work every day and you want one flat $99 that does not move with usage, and when you want the agent to cancel, refund, discount, send a gift card, reship and start returns as real Shopify actions the moment you approve them.
- 01They are cheaper than us at low AI volume, plainly. Mini is $45 a month and Essentials is $95, both under Arbyn Agent's $99. At 500 conversations a month our own arithmetic on their rates puts Crisp at $66 to $86. If your AI volume is small and your team fits the seat allowance, you pay less on Crisp.
- 02Twelve live channels today, including WhatsApp Business, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, SMS, Viber, Line, X and phone. Arbyn is support email and on-site live chat, with SMS in beta and the social channels still coming. If you need WhatsApp or Instagram this week, Crisp has it and we do not.
- 03Their AI cannot silently run up a bill. Pay-as-you-go is off by default, and their help center says that when the credits run out Hugo "stops answering automatically" and new conversations go to your team until credits reset or you enable more. That is a real spend control, and we will say so.
Where Arbyn wins
Three reasons store owners actually switch.
$99 is the whole bill
Arbyn Agent is $99 a month, flat, with unlimited AI conversations. There is no dollar balance to top up, no pay-as-you-go switch to leave on or off, and no month where the AI doing more work costs you more money. Below that, Arbyn Starter is $0 with 150 AI conversations every calendar month and full features.
Crisp's help center: "Credits reset every billing cycle, currently on the 4th of the month." Arbyn's free cap resets on the 1st, and the Agent plan has no cap to reset.
Arbyn does the Shopify work
Arbyn updates a shipping address on its own. It cancels an order, issues a refund, applies a discount so the checkout already has the code on it, sends a gift card, reships and starts a return: you approve with one click, and then Arbyn performs the real Shopify mutation and confirms it to the customer. That approval is a deliberate money control, not a missing feature. Arbyn does not edit orders or line items.
Crisp's Shopify page documents order history in the inbox and refunds "straight from Crisp". Past that, cancels, discount codes, gift cards, reships and returns are not published, so you would wire them yourself through their MCP servers.
It also sells
Product quizzes, a bundle builder, discount offers, in-chat upsells, abandoned-cart recovery inside the chat, and revenue attribution on every order it sources. All live, on the same $99, and on the $0 plan too.
Crisp Campaigns is proactive outreach and retention across email, SMS, chat and WhatsApp. It publishes no product quiz, no bundle builder, no in-chat upsell and no revenue attribution.
Arbyn vs Crisp: common questions
Not at every volume, and we will not pretend otherwise: below a certain volume Crisp genuinely costs less than Arbyn, and this page shows you exactly where that line falls rather than hiding it. What Arbyn gives you instead is a bill that does not move: $99/mo flat for unlimited AI conversations and resolutions, with no per-ticket, per-resolution or per-seat fees, plus a free plan with 150 AI conversations a month. Crisp is priced flat plan fee, plus a dollar balance of ai credits, so their bill climbs with your store while ours stays put. If you are small and staying small, they may well be the cheaper choice. If you are growing, the flat line wins.
Done comparing?
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