Relentify Chatbot vs Tawk.to: Everything Free, Plus More
Tawk.to made a name for itself by doing something radical: offering live chat completely free, forever. No per-agent fees, no conversation limits, no feature restrictions. Their business model relies on optional add-ons—removing that "Powered by Tawk.to" badge (£19/month), hiring human agents (£1/hour), video features—rather than charging for the core software.
It worked. Millions of websites run Tawk.to, and for small businesses that want live chat without a subscription, it's the obvious choice.
Here's the thing: Relentify Chatbot also offers live chat completely free. Same no-strings-attached model. The difference is what comes included for that zero pounds sterling.
Relentify Chatbot takes the free live chat approach and builds on it with AI-powered responses, clean branding (no watermarks), a modern widget design, and knowledge base integration—all still free. For small business owners already drowning in SaaS subscriptions, that's worth paying attention to.
The free model: same price, wildly different features
Both platforms are genuinely free for core live chat. No credit card required. No 14-day trial that becomes a £29/month bill.
| Feature | Relentify Chatbot | Tawk.to |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited agents | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited conversations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chat widget | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visitor monitoring | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited chat history | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ticketing | ✓ | ✓ |
| File sharing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom branding (no watermark) | ✓ | No—£19/month |
| Knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI-powered responses | ✓ | ✗ |
| Canned responses | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pre-chat forms | ✓ | ✓ |
| Proactive chat triggers | ✓ | ✓ |
Here's where it gets interesting: Relentify includes custom branding and AI responses free. Tawk.to charges £19/month if you want to remove their badge, and they don't offer AI at all—they offer human agents at £1/hour instead.
In practice, Tawk.to's "free" tier comes with a visible cost: a watermark on your chat widget telling every visitor you're using their free tool. For a consultant, accountant, or small agency, that badge undermines the perception of professionalism.
Branding and design: the watermark versus the modern widget
When a visitor opens your chat widget, a "Powered by Tawk.to" badge sends a specific signal. It's not the vendor's fault—it's a reasonable business model. But it says "we went with the cheapest option."
Tawk.to's branding-removal tier costs £19/month. For many small businesses, that's where the "free" cost actually starts.
Relentify Chatbot doesn't add a watermark on any plan. Your chat widget is yours from day one. No badge, no asterisks, no reason to upgrade just to look professional.
Tawk.to's widget does the job. It's functional, reliable, and unchanged for years—utilitarian design built to solve a problem, not to match your website.
Relentify's widget is built with modern design: customisable colours, smooth animations, responsive layouts on mobile. It matches your brand instead of looking pasted on top.
| Widget feature | Relentify | Tawk.to |
|---|---|---|
| Colour customisation | Full | Limited |
| Position options | Multiple | Two fixed |
| Custom CSS | Yes | Very limited |
| Animation quality | Smooth | Basic |
| Mobile responsive | Yes | Yes |
| Offline messaging | Yes | Yes |
The biggest difference: AI-powered responses
This is where the comparison stops being close.
Tawk.to is live chat. When no agent is online, visitors leave a message. When agents are online, they type responses. It's straightforward. It's been the standard for 15 years.
Relentify Chatbot includes AI that actually works:
- Answer common questions instantly using your knowledge base (visitors don't wait)
- 24/7 automated support when agents are offline (instead of "we'll get back to you")
- Suggested responses for agents (less typing, faster replies)
- Handle multiple conversations simultaneously without tying up your team
- Learn from your knowledge base and improve over time
For small businesses that can't staff live chat around the clock, this changes the equation. A visitor asking "what are your business hours?" at 11 PM gets an instant answer instead of an offline form.
Tawk.to's workaround is to hire their human agents at £1/hour. If you need 24/7 coverage, that's £500+/month. Relentify's AI handles the same queries for nothing.
| AI feature | Relentify | Tawk.to |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-responses (free) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Knowledge base integration | ✓ | Manual only |
| Agent response suggestions | ✓ | ✗ |
| 24/7 automated support | ✓ | Hired agents only |
| Natural language understanding | ✓ | ✗ |
| Conversation summaries | ✓ | ✗ |
Features that matter: monitoring, tickets, and your knowledge base
Both platforms cover the basics you'd expect from live chat.
Visitor monitoring works identically on both. Real-time data on who's browsing, which page they're on, where they came from. Tawk.to's implementation is solid. Relentify's is comparable.
Ticketing converts chats into follow-up tasks. Tawk.to has a simple system. Relentify adds priority levels, assignment rules, and SLA tracking—useful if your team handles a mix of real-time chat and asynchronous support. When you're comparing to Relentify Helpdesk, the ticketing features here work as a bridge between chat and deeper support workflows.
Knowledge base exists on both platforms. Here's the difference: Relentify's KB feeds directly into the AI. When a visitor asks a question, the AI searches your articles and provides a relevant answer within the chat. Tawk.to's KB is a separate destination visitors can browse, but it doesn't power automated responses.
Reporting covers chat volume, response times, agent performance, and satisfaction ratings on both. Relentify adds AI-specific metrics—how many conversations were resolved by the AI alone, common questions, knowledge gaps.
Integration, scale, and reliability
Tawk.to has a moderate integration ecosystem. Many are webhook-based—functional but not deep.
Relentify Chatbot integrates natively with Relentify's other products (CRM, Helpdesk, accounting) and supports API/webhook connections for external tools. For businesses using the Relentify ecosystem, data flows seamlessly from chat into other business functions.
Both platforms are reliable and built for scale. Tawk.to handles millions of conversations daily. Relentify's cloud infrastructure scales automatically. Uptime is not a differentiator. For reliability comparisons with other platforms, see Relentify vs Olark.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Relentify Chatbot really cost nothing? Yes. The free tier includes AI responses, custom branding, unlimited agents and conversations, knowledge base, ticketing, visitor monitoring, and mobile app. There's no hidden paid tier or feature gate; you get the full feature set free. Relentify makes money from customers who want additional products (accounting, CRM, helpdesk) in the Relentify ecosystem. Chat is just one leg of that table.
Can I import my Tawk.to chat history into Relentify? You can export your Tawk.to conversation logs for your records. Relentify doesn't have automated import yet, but contact support if you have specific data you need migrated. New conversations start fresh in Relentify.
If I switch to Relentify Chatbot, will my customers notice? Yes—the widget looks different, and there's no "Powered by" badge anymore. Customers won't lose chat history (chats before the switch stay in Tawk.to). New conversations go to Relentify. Compare Relentify Chatbot to Tidio if you're also weighing other modern chat platforms.
Can I use Relentify Chatbot and Tawk.to at the same time? You can install both on the same website, but it's redundant—one chat widget per site usually makes sense. Most customers remove Tawk.to after switching.
What if I need features Relentify Chatbot doesn't have? Relentify Chatbot is deliberately focused on what small businesses actually use. If you need video chat, employee scheduling, or human agents working the widget—that's fine, and Tawk.to is designed for those use cases. But for core chat plus AI, Relentify does it better and free.
Does the AI respond in my customer's language? Relentify Chatbot's AI supports multiple languages and responds in the language your knowledge base uses. Localization is built in.
How does Relentify's AI work? Is it using OpenAI? Relentify Chatbot uses trained AI models to power responses based on your knowledge base. The model is fine-tuned to answer questions specific to your business, not generic queries. See our help documentation for technical details.
If I'm using other Relentify products already, does Chatbot integrate with them? Yes. Relentify CRM, Helpdesk, and Accounting all integrate with Chatbot natively. Customer conversations feed into your CRM, chat-to-ticket workflows run automatically, and you have one unified contact database across all products.
Who should choose which?
Relentify Chatbot if:
- You want AI-powered responses included free
- Removing the third-party badge matters (consultant, agency, professional services)
- A modern widget design is important to you
- Your knowledge base should power automated answers
- You're already using or considering other Relentify products (CRM, Helpdesk, Accounting)
Tawk.to if:
- You want a proven platform with years of track record
- You prefer hiring human agents (£1/hour) over AI responses
- You need specific integrations that Tawk.to supports natively
- Your primary need is visitor monitoring plus basic chat
The actual choice
Tawk.to proved that live chat could be free. That was a real shift.
Relentify Chatbot builds on that foundation: same free model, plus AI responses, custom branding, and a widget that doesn't look like a relic from 2015. All still free. See Relentify Chatbot vs LiveChat if you're also comparing to LiveChat's premium features.
If you're currently on Tawk.to and paying £19/month to remove the badge, or watching visitors hit your offline form every time you step away, Relentify solves both problems at zero cost.
Add Relentify Chatbot to your website in under five minutes—free, with no credit card, no trial period, and no "Powered by" watermark on your customers' screens.