What is tawk.to?
tawk.to is a free customer messaging platform, running since 2013. One inbox collects messages from the website widget, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, SMS and email. The company earns from optional paid add-ons, not from seats.
Where tawk.to shines
The core product really is free: no cap on agents, no cap on conversations. Ticketing, a knowledge base, a CRM and mobile apps cost nothing too. If you answer every chat yourself, in one language, that price is hard to beat.
How Askly is different
Askly answers every customer in their own language, on chat, phone and social. Localization is built in and works from day one. No local hires, whichever market you open next.
tawk.to’s AI Assist can reply in multiple languages. For the rest, tawk.to suggests a separate widget for each language. Each new widget starts in English, and choosing one automatically by language requires JavaScript.
Changing a tawk.to widget’s language does not translate your knowledge base. Askly runs on one central knowledge base for every language and channel. Fix an answer once and it improves everywhere.
Askly has three modes, and you can switch any time. The AI answers alone, or hands over mid-chat to your team with full context. In Fully Human mode your team writes in one language and Askly translates both ways, live.
Askly counts only answers: conversations the AI finished without a human reply. Handovers to your team do not count. tawk.to spends a credit on every AI message, including reply suggestions for your agents.
Askly keeps written conversations in the EEA, in Frankfurt and the Netherlands. tawk.to’s sub-processor list names US data hosting, and OpenAI in the US for AI Assist. When a customer asks where their data lives, your answer is short.
Pricing: what you actually pay
Take a typical SME: five support people and about 500 conversations a month. tawk.to’s software costs them nothing, and there are no per-seat fees. tawk.to’s own founder writes that round-the-clock staffing, not software, is the real cost.
The free AI Assist tier gives 100 message credits a month. This team needs Growth: $29 a month for 1,000 credits. At 500 conversations, that averages two AI messages per chat.
Beyond that, extra credits cost $30 per 1,000, or the Business plan costs $99 a month. Removing the “Powered by tawk.to” badge adds $39 a month, or $348 a year. Every add-on is priced per property, tawk.to’s word for a website or brand.
For a person answering at night, tawk.to offers hired agents from $1 an hour. Round-the-clock cover costs $728 a month per property. Those agents answer in English only, up to two chats at a time by default.
With monthly billing, AI plus badge removal comes to $68 to $138 a month. Annual billing brings that to about $53 to $112. On sticker price alone, tawk.to is cheaper.
Askly’s price does not depend on chat length or team size. AI Support Agent Starter costs €195 a month with 6-month billing, excluding VAT. It covers up to 500 answers monthly, unlimited users and every language your customers write in.
An answer is a conversation the AI finished without a human reply. Handovers do not count, and even 500 AI-finished chats fit within Starter. Starter fits this team.
Choose Flex at €359 a month when volume grows or you run several domains. Flex covers up to 1,000 answers a month and up to 5 domains, with priority support. Setup by Askly is optional, a one-time €1,500.
Results that speak for themselves
BusTruckParts, an auto parts seller, serves buyers from more than 100 countries in their own language.
At Wagenküll Castle & Resort, the AI answers 91% of repeating questions.
At private healthcare provider Confido, the AI resolves 72% of patient questions.
Summary: which one should you choose?
Choose tawk.to if you want free chat and answer every chat yourself, in one language.
Choose Askly if your customers write in several languages. Askly answers each of them in their own language, with no local hires.
Choose Askly if you want a bill you can plan. Only conversations the AI finished count, not every message.
Choose Askly if your team answers in one language while customers use theirs. Askly translates both ways, live, and you can switch modes any time.
Choose Askly if chat data must stay in the EEA. Written conversations live in Frankfurt and the Netherlands.
