Quick answer
Yes — Chatlet is a one-time-purchase alternative to Crisp. It costs $129 once, while Crisp runs $95/mo (Plus) — about $1,140 per year, every year. Self-hosted live chat — real-time widget, agent dashboard, canned replies, offline messages. It is for people who want the job done on their own hardware without a renewal date — not for teams that live inside Crisp's ecosystem.
The verdict
Switch to Chatlet if you are an individual or small team paying Crisp $95/mo (Plus) for work your own machine can do. Chatlet pays for itself in under 6 weeks vs Crisp's team plan — then live chat is free for as long as you run a website.
Stay with Crisp if your workflow depends on its integrations, you need enterprise features (SSO, admin controls, SLAs), or your team is large enough that per-seat collaboration tooling is worth the bill. Chatlet does not try to replicate those.
Head to head
| Chatlet | Crisp | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $129 once | $95/month Plus plan ($1,140/yr) |
| Cost over 3 years | $129 | ~$3,420 |
| Agents | Unlimited | Per-plan limits |
| Sites | Unlimited | Per-plan limits |
| Remove branding | There is none | Paid |
| Canned responses | Included | Paid tier |
| Your data | Your server, one SQLite file | Their cloud |
| Source code | MIT, yours | Closed |
| 5-year cost | $129 | $5,700 |
Where Crisp still wins
- Ecosystem and integrations. Established tools accumulate years of third-party integrations, templates and add-ons. If your workflow is wired into Crisp's ecosystem, switching means rebuilding that plumbing — a real cost.
- Team and enterprise features. Shared workspaces, granular permissions, SSO, audit logs and a vendor to call when something breaks — that is what the higher subscription tiers actually buy, and a pay-once app does not come with it.
- Familiarity and hiring. Crisp is the name people already know. Onboarding a team onto a tool nobody has used before takes time the subscription never charges for.
Where Chatlet wins
- Price, permanently. $129 once versus $1,140/yr for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- One-line embed. A single script tag. Shadow-DOM widget (~9 KB of dependency-free JS), so your site's CSS can't break it.
- Real-time over WebSockets. Automatic reconnect, an outgoing message queue, and a transparent HTTP-polling fallback when corporate firewalls block WS.
- Agent dashboard. Live-updating inbox with open/closed states and unread badges, typing indicators both ways, sound + browser notifications.
The math
Chatlet pays for itself in under 6 weeks vs Crisp's team plan — then live chat is free for as long as you run a website.
- After 1 year: Chatlet has cost you $129 total — Crisp has cost $1,140.
- After 3 years: Chatlet is still $129 — the subscription is at $3,420.
- After 5 years: Chatlet is still $129 — the subscription is at $5,700.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/live-chat-mvp. $129 buys the packaged version, 1-click setup and updates.
Does it have chatbots or AI answers?
No — Chatlet is human-to-human live chat done properly: real-time delivery, typing indicators, canned responses, offline messages. Intercom's Fin-style AI agents and workflow bots are genuinely beyond its scope; if you need those, Intercom earns its (considerable) price.
Do I need a server?
For visitors on the public internet, yes — the widget needs a public address, so budget a $5 VPS. Desktop mode runs the same server locally and doubles as your agent console.
Is there a mobile app for agents?
Not yet — honestly. The dashboard is responsive and works in a phone browser, with sound and browser notifications, but there's no native iOS/Android agent app like Crisp's.
Try Chatlet — $129, one time
Or get Chatlet plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.