# Volty vs Tidio. > Volty vs Tidio: an AI helpdesk builder on one monthly plan against live chat with Lyro and Flows as add-ons. Compare channels, setup, WhatsApp and pricing. Tidio is live chat for online stores, with its AI agent, Lyro, and its Flows sold as add-ons. Volty is an AI helpdesk builder whose AI agent, automations and every integration come on one monthly plan. Start your free trial · Talk to Volty Updated Nov 3, 2026 Serving customers globally across 10+ markets What you're really deciding ## Why teams choose Volty over Tidio Tidio and Volty both answer customers with an AI agent and hand over to a person when one is needed. Tidio suits a small online store that wants live chat on its website, a free plan to start on, and AI and automation added as volume grows. Volty suits a business whose customers write in on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat: Volty interviews your team, configures itself, answers customers and writes the automations your team asks for. - 01 More for what you payMore included on the measures you are billed by. Price - 02 Build beyond the helpdeskPlan, build and test automations and mini apps with Claude Code. Customize - 03 Connect any systemAny system with an open API, with no other tool to manage. Integrations - 04 An AI that works like your teamOur own agentic harness, which learns from your team. AI 01 · Price ## More for what you pay than Tidio Tools like Volty and Tidio are priced on a few measures: how many people you talk to, how much the AI does, how often it reaches your other systems, and what each plan unlocks. On each one, Volty includes more or charges less. Prices change, so each company's current figures are on its own pricing page. Measure · Volty AI agent · Volty: Included in every plan, with 20,000 AI credits a month on Plus. · Tidio: Lyro is an add-on priced by the conversations it handles. The plans include a one-off allowance that does not renew. Automations · Volty: Automation runs are not metered separately. · Tidio: Flows are an add-on priced by the unique visitors they reach each month. AI that acts · Volty: An AI agent that looks up orders and books slots in your systems on every plan. · Tidio: The number of Lyro Actions depends on the plan, and rises with the Lyro add-on and the Plus plan. Integrations · Volty: Every integration on every plan. · Tidio: Webhooks and the OpenAPI need the Plus plan. 02 · Customize ## Build what your business needs, not only a helpdesk A helpdesk answers messages. Your business also runs reminders, follow-ups, reports, bookings and the odd spreadsheet nobody owns. In Volty you describe the job in chat, or hand it to Claude Code, and it becomes an automation or a mini app that runs on your conversations, your contacts and the systems you connect. - Automations · Code that runs on a schedule, when something happens in Volty, when another system calls a webhook, or when an email arrives. Each one runs in a sandbox and picks up where it stopped if anything fails. - Mini apps · Dashboards and internal tools your team opens inside Volty: a lead board, a report on where this month's customers came from, a front desk view. They read and update your Tables. - Tables and Drive · Price lists, schedules and records live in Tables your automations and Volty itself read from. Handbooks and files in Drive become what Volty knows. ### No more drag and drop Most messaging tools build automations in a visual builder: you place each trigger, condition and step on a canvas or in a form, connect them by hand, and change them the same way. With Volty you describe what you want, and Claude Code plans, builds and tests it with you. Tidio Flows is a visual editor where each flow starts from a trigger, such as Visitor opens a specific page or Visitor Says, followed by actions such as Send a chat message, Ask a question, Decision (Buttons), API call and Assign to an agent, and conditions with Yes and No outcomes. Activate saves a flow and turns it on. Flows are priced by the unique visitors they reach each month, and on Free they stop at 100 until the month resets. With Volty you describe the job to Claude Code. It plans the steps with you, writes the automation, tests it against your real data and hands it to an admin to approve. - 01 · Plan · Claude Code reads what Volty can do, asks what it needs to know and lays out the steps before it writes anything. - 02 · Build · It writes the automation or mini app as code and files it in Volty with one command. - 03 · Test · A dry run against your real data shows exactly what would happen, and Claude Code fixes anything that fails. - 04 · Approve · An admin reads what it does, what it can touch and what it costs, then approves it in Volty. ### Why Claude Code works so well with Volty Every feature in Volty is written once and reaches you four ways at the same time: the screen your team clicks, the volty command line, the API, and the AI inside Volty. There is no second, smaller API for developers. So anything your team can do in Volty, Claude Code or any other coding agent can do too, under the same rules and the same approvals. - The volty command line reads Volty's live list of operations, so a coding agent always sees what exists today, never an outdated reference. - One command installs the Volty skill for Claude Code, which teaches it to build, test and read back what Volty did. - Keys for coding agents can be read-only, limited to some features, and expire within 14 days. - Before anything goes live it is tested: automations run a dry run, mini apps check every data route, and a real conversation can be replayed against the change. - Anything a coding agent writes waits for an admin, on a page that answers four questions: what it does, what changed, what it can touch and what it costs. 03 · Integrations ## Connect any system with an open API, with no other tool to manage Volty reaches your other systems directly, so it can look up an order, book a slot or update a record in the middle of a conversation. Every connection lives inside Volty, so there is no Zapier or Make account to set up, keep in sync and troubleshoot when a step fails. HubSpot, Google Calendar, Shopify, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, Plato, any MCP server and any API ### Ready-made connectors Hundreds of apps connect in a few clicks, among them Google Calendar and Google Drive, HubSpot, Notion, Slack and Shopify. ### Any MCP server Paste the address of any system that offers an MCP server, sign in, and its tools appear in Volty. ### Anything with an API For a system with no connector, Volty writes the connection itself as code. An admin approves it once, and Volty can call it in the middle of a conversation. - One place to manage every connection: no second automation tool, no second login, no second bill. - API keys go into a secure card, are encrypted, and are never typed into a chat. - Each tool has its own switch. Tools that change data start off until an admin turns them on. Tidio integrates with Shopify, WordPress, Zapier, Zendesk and others. Zapier sends data one way, out of Tidio, and webhooks and the OpenAPI need the Plus plan. Zapier is another system, with an account, a plan and settings of its own for your team to manage. Volty Ready-made connectors, any MCP server, and a connection Volty writes for anything else with an API, all inside Volty. There is no second automation tool to sign up for, connect and keep working. 04 · AI ## An AI that works like a person on your team Most helpdesks add an AI agent to software built for people clicking buttons. Volty was built the other way round. We wrote our own agentic harness, the engine that decides what the AI reads, what it may do, when it must ask a person and what it keeps from each conversation, and built the helpdesk around it. ### What happens when a customer writes in - 1 · Waits for the whole message · Customers send three short messages in a row. Volty waits a few seconds and answers all three at once, and folds in anything that arrives while it is writing. - 2 · Reads everything they sent · Voice notes are transcribed. Photos, PDFs, documents and short videos are read. - 3 · Checks what it knows · Your instructions, the lessons your team taught it, your knowledge files and what it remembers about this customer. - 4 · Acts in your systems · Looks up the order, books the slot, updates the record, using only the tools you switched on. - 5 · Asks before anything big · Spending money, messaging many people or anything that cannot be undone waits for a person. Volty carries on from the same point once someone approves. - 6 · Replies like a person texting · Short, answer first, in your customer's language, with buttons when there are only a few choices. ### It learns on its own #### Learns from every correction When a teammate replies instead of Volty, Volty compares the two and keeps the lesson: a fact about the business, a rule for every customer or a note about one. Each lesson shows who taught it, and anyone can undo it. #### Keeps its promises When Volty tells a customer it will get back to them, it schedules the follow-up and returns at that time. A promise with nothing scheduled behind it is flagged. #### Steps back for your team When a teammate replies, Volty waits, then picks up whatever the customer sent in the meantime. Replies sent from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone count too. #### Reviews its own day Each night Volty reads the day's replies from your team, merges rules that say the same thing, retires ones that no longer apply and suggests one change to its instructions for an admin to approve. #### Remembers each customer Volty keeps what it learns about each customer and a short recap of every closed case, so a returning customer never has to start over. Lyro answers only from data you provide: website pages, question and answer pairs and, for online stores, a product catalog from Shopify or WooCommerce. Lyro Actions call other systems through their APIs, and Lyro can connect to MCP servers. Lyro is priced by the conversations it handles. Volty An agentic harness we built for this job: it waits, reads everything, acts only with the tools you allow, asks before anything big, and learns from every correction your team makes. See how it works in more depth on the AI agent page. ## More ways Volty is different ### It comes back when it said it would When Volty tells a customer it will get back to them, it records a follow-up and returns at the time it set. ## Side by side Channels Volty WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat, in one inbox Live chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, on every plan including Free. Setting it up Volty Volty interviews your team, drafts its own instructions and tests itself before it talks to a single customer. An admin adds website pages and question and answer pairs for Lyro, tests its answers in the Playground, sets the handoff and channels, then activates it. Reaching your systems Volty Volty connects to hundreds of business apps through ready-made connectors, to any MCP server, and to any other system with an API through a connection Volty writes. Tools that change data start Off until an admin turns them on. Integrations such as Shopify, WordPress, Zapier and Zendesk. Lyro Actions and the API call step in Flows reach other systems, and webhooks need the Plus plan. Building automations Volty Describe a workflow in chat, and Volty builds the automation for it. An admin approves each automation before it runs. You build each flow from triggers, actions and conditions in the Flows editor. Flows are priced by the unique visitors they reach each month. When a person is needed Volty WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat land in one shared inbox. Volty escalates the conversations that need someone from your team, and when a teammate replies, Volty steps back. Your number can stay in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, so your team can reply from there too. Lyro transfers the conversation to your team and shows the visitor a Talk to a person option, or creates a ticket. A number on the WhatsApp Business app is removed from the app before it connects to Tidio. Messaging customers first Volty Volty follows up with an approved template once the window has closed, and sends broadcasts. WhatsApp templates need Growth or above, and go only to customers already in a WhatsApp conversation once the 24-hour window has closed. Tidio cannot start a WhatsApp conversation with a new contact. What it costs Volty A monthly plan after a free 7-day trial, with active contacts, AI credits and every integration included. Plan prices are on the Volty pricing page. Meta bills you for its messages separately. Priced by billable conversations, after a free 7-day trial. As of November 2026, a Free plan, then Starter from US$29 and Growth from US$59 a month, billed monthly. Lyro is an add-on from US$39 a month for 50 conversations, and Flows an add-on priced by visitors reached. | Feature | Volty · Volty | Tidio | | --- | --- | --- | | Channels | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat, in one inbox | Live chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, on every plan including Free. | | Setting it up | Volty interviews your team, drafts its own instructions and tests itself before it talks to a single customer. | An admin adds website pages and question and answer pairs for Lyro, tests its answers in the Playground, sets the handoff and channels, then activates it. | | Reaching your systems | Volty connects to hundreds of business apps through ready-made connectors, to any MCP server, and to any other system with an API through a connection Volty writes. Tools that change data start Off until an admin turns them on. | Integrations such as Shopify, WordPress, Zapier and Zendesk. Lyro Actions and the API call step in Flows reach other systems, and webhooks need the Plus plan. | | Building automations | Describe a workflow in chat, and Volty builds the automation for it. An admin approves each automation before it runs. | You build each flow from triggers, actions and conditions in the Flows editor. Flows are priced by the unique visitors they reach each month. | | When a person is needed | WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat land in one shared inbox. Volty escalates the conversations that need someone from your team, and when a teammate replies, Volty steps back. Your number can stay in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, so your team can reply from there too. | Lyro transfers the conversation to your team and shows the visitor a Talk to a person option, or creates a ticket. A number on the WhatsApp Business app is removed from the app before it connects to Tidio. | | Messaging customers first | Volty follows up with an approved template once the window has closed, and sends broadcasts. | WhatsApp templates need Growth or above, and go only to customers already in a WhatsApp conversation once the 24-hour window has closed. Tidio cannot start a WhatsApp conversation with a new contact. | | What it costs | A monthly plan after a free 7-day trial, with active contacts, AI credits and every integration included. Plan prices are on the Volty pricing page. Meta bills you for its messages separately. | Priced by billable conversations, after a free 7-day trial. As of November 2026, a Free plan, then Starter from US$29 and Growth from US$59 a month, billed monthly. Lyro is an add-on from US$39 a month for 50 conversations, and Flows an add-on priced by visitors reached. | ## The honest take Choose Tidio when You run a small online store, often on Shopify, most of your conversations are live chat on your website, and you want a free plan to start on, adding AI and automation as add-ons as your volume grows. Volty Choose Volty when Your customers write in on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat, you want the AI agent and automations on one plan rather than as add-ons, and you want Volty to follow up with customers on WhatsApp. Bottom line Tidio is live chat for online stores, with AI and automation you add as you grow. Volty is an AI helpdesk builder whose AI agent configures itself, answers on every channel and follows up, on one monthly plan. ## Customer stories - 3×the daily inquiry volume, from 100 to 300 Happy Fish - 60%faster quote turnaround, 3 days to 1 Yat Guan - +60%more chat traffic absorbed, without new headcount Yong Kang TCM Clinic - 5 secmedian reply, down from 9 hours Cake Inspiration - 70%of inquiries handled without a human Prologue Clinic ## Start your free trial Talk to Volty · Start your free trial Sign up for our 7-day trial. No credit card needed. Not convinced? Hear more from our CEO and Volty The Leonard and Volty Show · October 8, 2026 Meta now charges for WhatsApp replies The Leonard and Volty Show · October 1, 2026 Too busy to hire? The Leonard and Volty Show · September 21, 2026 From $500 chatbot jobs to agentic AI The Leonard and Volty Show · September 10, 2026 Your AI is a new employee The Leonard and Volty Show · September 4, 2026 Trust in the AI world The Leonard and Volty Show · August 29, 2026 Does the AI model matter? The Leonard and Volty Show · August 19, 2026 What are AI agents? Meta now charges for WhatsApp replies. Here's what it means for your business, October 8, 2026 ## Links - [AI agent](https://voltade.com/product/ai-agent) - [3×the daily inquiry volume, from 100 to 300Happy Fish](https://voltade.com/case-studies/happy-fish) - [60%faster quote turnaround, 3 days to 1Yat Guan](https://voltade.com/case-studies/yat-guan) - [+60%more chat traffic absorbed, without new headcountYong Kang TCM Clinic](https://voltade.com/case-studies/yong-kang-tcm) - [5 secmedian reply, down from 9 hoursCake Inspiration](https://voltade.com/case-studies/cake-inspiration) - [70%of inquiries handled without a humanPrologue Clinic](https://voltade.com/case-studies/prologue-clinic)