Pidge vs Crisp

Pidge is built as a drop-in replacement for Crisp. It takes the same $crisp.push calls, the same REST paths and the same webhook signatures, so moving is mostly a change of URL. It also does a lot less than Crisp. Both sides are below.

Crisp's prices and plans as of 16 October 2026, from crisp.chat/en/pricing. Sources are listed at the end. Pidge is in early access: we add websites from the waitlist a few at a time.

The short version

Pidge suits you if

Website chat is what you use Crisp for.
You care what the chat adds to every page load.
You have more than two people answering, or several websites.
You already have code that talks to Crisp and want it to keep working.

Stay on Crisp if

You answer WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger or a shared email inbox in the same place.
You use its knowledge base, chatbot builder, campaigns or Hugo, its AI agent.
You want native apps from the App Store, Google Play, or for Windows and Mac.
You need to start today. Pidge has a waitlist.

Side by side

Pidge and Crisp compared
	Pidge	Crisp
Price	$10 per website per month, everything included. This is the price we plan to launch with.	Free, then Mini $45, Essentials $95 or Plus $295 per workspace per month. VAT not included.
People answering	Unlimited	2 on Free, 4 on Mini, 10 on Essentials, 20 on Plus. Extra seats are $10 each, on Plus only.
Script on every page	4.2 KB, then 23.6 KB more when someone opens the chat	105.5 KB before anyone opens the chat
Requests before the bubble shows	2	9
AdGuard's widget filter	Not blocked. The script loads from your own subdomain.	Blocked: the list has `\|\|client.crisp.chat^$3p`
Translating chats	Included	LiveTranslate, Essentials and up
REST API	The Crisp endpoints bots and CRMs use most (listed below)	The full Crisp API, on every plan
Webhooks	Crisp's format, signed with `X-Crisp-Signature`, retried for about 24 hours	Website hooks on every plan, including Free
Channels	Website chat, plus replies by email when the visitor has left	Website chat. Email, Messenger, Telegram and X from Mini. WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, Viber, Line and phone from Essentials.
Knowledge base	No	Essentials and up
Bots and AI	Your own bot answers through the API and stops when a person replies	Hugo AI agent from Mini, with monthly AI credits. Chatbot builder from Essentials.
Phone and desktop	The inbox installs to your home screen from the browser and sends notifications. No app store app.	Native iOS, Android, Windows and Mac apps on every plan
Branding in the widget	A small "Chat by Pidge" link. It can't be turned off yet.	"We run on Crisp", removable on Plus
Where data is stored	Servers in Norway (EEA, under GDPR)	The Netherlands and Germany. Crisp is a French company.
Can you start today?	No, there's a waitlist	Yes, with a free plan and a 14-day trial of paid plans

What it costs for one website

Crisp charges per workspace and includes a fixed number of seats. Pidge charges per website and doesn't count people. With one website:

Two people, website chat only: Crisp Free costs nothing, though it doesn't keep the full conversation history. Pidge is $10.
Three or four people: Crisp Mini, $45. Pidge, $10.
Five to ten people: Crisp Essentials, $95. Pidge, $10.
Translated chats: on Crisp that's LiveTranslate, Essentials and up, so $95. Pidge includes it at $10.

If two of you answer and you're happy with Crisp Free, there's no money to save by switching.

Where Crisp is better

Crisp has been around for years and does far more than Pidge. Things it has that we don't:

Other channels in the same inbox: email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, SMS and more.
A knowledge base, a status page, email campaigns and a no-code chatbot builder.
Hugo, an AI agent that answers on its own, paid for with AI credits.
Native apps for iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac.
Ready-made plugins for WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop and Adobe Commerce, and integrations with HubSpot, Zapier and others.
Video and audio calls, and co-browsing.
A free plan, and you can sign up today.

Where Pidge is different

It's light on every page

Crisp's chat loads 105.5 KB of compressed code before anyone opens it, over 9 requests. We measured that on doomhosting.com on 14 October 2026. Pidge's loader is 4.2 KB and the bubble shows after 2 requests. The rest, 23.6 KB, downloads when someone clicks the bubble. Our build fails if the loader goes over 5 KB, so that number can't creep up.

Ad blockers don't hide it

AdGuard's widget filter has a rule for client.crisp.chat, so visitors who use it never see a Crisp chat. Pidge loads from a subdomain of your own site, like chat.yoursite.com. We run every request the widget makes through 14 filter lists from uBlock Origin, AdGuard, EasyList, Brave and Peter Lowe. None of them block it. To be fair to Crisp, the same AdGuard list blocks many other chat widgets too.

One price, no seat counting

$10 per website per month covers everyone on your team and every chat. Several websites share one inbox, and each keeps its own widget, colours and domains.

Small things we care about

You see what a visitor is typing before they hit send.
Translation works both ways: they read your reply in their language, you read theirs in yours.
If a visitor leaves before you answer, your reply goes to them by email, and they can answer from their inbox.
A banned visitor stops seeing the chat on all your sites, without being told.

What moving looks like

Most sites can switch in an afternoon. You keep window.$crisp and CRISP_WEBSITE_ID and change where the script comes from:

<!-- before -->
<script src="https://client.crisp.chat/l.js" async></script>

<!-- after -->
<script src="https://chat.yoursite.com/client/l.js" async></script>

# your backend
CRISP_API=https://api.crisp.chat/v1
CRISP_API=https://chat.yoursite.com/v1

$crisp calls that keep working

user:email (signed emails too, with the same HMAC-SHA256 scheme), user:nickname, session:data, session:segments, chat:open, chat:close, chat:show, chat:hide, message:send, message:show, session:reset and $crisp.is(…).

REST API

Same paths under /v1/website/{website_id}/, same Basic auth and the same { error, reason, data } responses. It covers listing conversations, reading and sending messages, the typing indicator, conversation meta, state, blocking and people profiles. If your integration uses an endpoint outside that list, it won't work yet. Tell us which one in the chat on this page.

Webhooks

Same body, same X-Crisp-Signature header, so verifyHook from Crisp's Node library accepts them unchanged. Events include message:send, message:received and the session:set_* updates.

Sources

Crisp plans, prices, seats and the feature table: crisp.chat/en/pricing, checked 16 October 2026.
Hugo AI credits per plan: Hugo pricing and billing explained.
Where Crisp stores data: Crisp EU GDPR compliance status.
Crisp webhooks on every plan: Website Hooks.
AdGuard's widget filter, which has the client.crisp.chat rule: filters.adtidy.org/extension/ublock/filters/22.txt.
Crisp's page weight: measured by us on doomhosting.com, 14 October 2026, Chrome, brotli. File by file on the homepage.

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