Is tawk.to really free?

The software is, with unlimited agents, and it has been for years (why free?). The business earns on the extras: $29 a month to remove its branding, $29 for AI Assist, and hired agents at $1 an hour.

So why pay for Human Reply?

For where the answering happens and whose name is on it. The chats come to your team's Telegram group, so nobody has to sit in a dashboard; the bubble carries your logo and your words and nobody else's; and every reply is written by your own team. If that is worth $10 a month to you, that is the trade.

Does tawk.to work with Telegram?

Not as a place your team answers from. Human Reply is built the other way round: visitors write on your site, and your team answers in Telegram.

Can we try Human Reply first?

Yes: seven days free, and the card is taken at sign-up so the trial turns into the plan by itself. Cancel from the dashboard before it ends and nothing is charged.

How many people can answer?

Everyone in your Telegram group, at the same price — the same idea as tawk.to's unlimited agents, in a place your team already keeps open.

Do we lose the history if we leave?

Not the part that matters. Every conversation is also a topic in your own Telegram group, with the photos and files in it, and that group is yours whether or not you keep paying us.

Compare

Human Reply vs tawk.to

Updated 26 September 2026

tawk.to gives the software away: unlimited agents, no seat count, free for as long as you like. It makes its money on the extras — $29 a month to take its name off your widget, and agents for hire at $1 an hour. Human Reply is not free, and this page is about what the $10 a month buys: your website's chats in your team's Telegram group, with nobody else's name on them.

Get started

7-day free trial · Starting $10 a month

The short answer

tawk.to

Choose tawk.to if the budget is the deciding factor. The software costs nothing, the agents are unlimited, and you can run it that way for as long as you like.

Answered in: tawk.to's own dashboard and apps
Price: Free; $29 a month to remove its branding
Trial: No trial needed — it's free

Human Reply

Choose Human Reply if your team already lives in Telegram, several people should be able to answer without paying per person, and you want something simple — nothing new for the team to learn.

Answered in: Your team's Telegram group
Price: From $10 a month per site, billed yearly
Trial: 7 days

A chat from the Casa Lira site as a topic in the team's Telegram group: the lead card for Lena, claimed by Giselle, Won and Lost under it, and the replies below

Where your team answers

tawk.to's team answers in tawk.to's dashboard. Human Reply's team answers in the Telegram group it already has.

tawk.to

Your team signs in to tawk.to on the web, the desktop app or the phone apps, and watches the dashboard for chats. Unlimited agents, which is genuinely generous. It is also one more place everyone has to remember to open, and the visitor sees "Powered by tawk.to" on the widget until you pay $29 a month to take it off.

Human Reply

No extra app and no add-ons: your team answers where it already is. Each chat opens as its own topic in your group, with the lead card at the top: the page and the item they were looking at, where they came from, how many times they've visited. Claim, Won and Lost sit on the card. Whoever is free replies from their phone, and the reply shows on your site.

Whose name is on your site

Free software is paid for somewhere. On tawk.to it is paid for on your widget, and by the hour if you want their agents.

tawk.to

The widget carries "Powered by tawk.to" until you buy the white-label add-on at $29 a month — more than twice what Human Reply costs altogether. The other way the business earns is people: trained agents answering as your business at $1 an hour, and assistants from $7.

Human Reply

$10 a month for the site, and nothing on the bubble but your logo, your team name, your colour and your words. Nobody else's name and nobody else's staff: every reply comes from your own team, in your own Telegram group.

What you keep

Both keep your conversations. Only one of them also leaves the record in a place you own.

tawk.to

The chats and the files live in tawk.to, and your team reads them there.

Human Reply

Unlimited conversations and no storage bill, and every chat is also a topic in your own Telegram group, with the photos and documents in it — so the record is with your team whatever happens to us. Files go up to 20 MB each, both ways.

Side by side

tawk.to wins on price and can't be beaten there. The rest of the table is where the two differ.

Compared	tawk.to	Human Reply
The product
What it is	Free live chat, with add-ons and agents for hire	Live chat for your website, answered from Telegram
Where the team answers	tawk.to's own dashboard, desktop and phone apps	Your team's Telegram group, from the phone; each chat is its own topic
Replies written by AI	AI Assist, $29 a month¹	None; a person writes every reply
Replies written by people you hire	Trained agents answering as your business, $1 an hour²	None; your own team answers
Price
Price	Free, for as many agents as you like²	$12 a month per site, or $10 a month billed yearly ($120)
Their name on your widget	"Powered by tawk.to" until you pay $29 a month to remove it¹	Never. The bubble carries your logo, name, colour and words
Other add-ons	AI Assist $29 a month; further add-ons from $49 and $59¹	None. One plan, everything in it
Conversations
Chat history	Kept in tawk.to	Kept for as long as the account exists, and every chat is also a topic in your own group
Files	Sent and received in the chat	Any file type, up to 20 MB each, both ways; they live in your group too
Visitor context	Who is on the site now, and the pages they are on	A lead card at the top of the topic: the page and item, where they came from, visit count, language, device, the message, and a link to an earlier chat
When nobody answers	The chat waits in the dashboard, or goes to email	The bubble shows the away note your team wrote and asks where the reply should go: WhatsApp, Telegram, email, Instagram or Messenger, whichever you switched on
Channels
Telegram	Not a place your team answers from	Where the team answers every chat from your site, at no extra cost
Reports and setup
Reports	Chat reports in the dashboard	Dashboard: conversations, first reply, answered in time, thumbs up, by page and by person
Getting started	Sign up, paste the widget code, invite the team to the dashboard	Five guided steps, about ten minutes, then the bubble goes on your site

Sources, checked 26 September 2026:

When tawk.to is the better choice

tawk.to is the better choice when the price has to be nothing.

The budget is zero, and it has to stay there.
You have many agents and no money per seat: tawk.to doesn't charge for either.
You don't mind another name on your widget, or you are happy to pay $29 a month to remove it.
You want someone else to answer for you, and $1 an hour for a hired agent is the deal you want.
Your team doesn't use Telegram, or your policy keeps customer conversations out of a messenger.

When Human Reply is the better choice

Human Reply costs money, and this is what the money is for: the chats where your team already is, with nobody else's name on them.

Nothing new to open: the chats arrive in Telegram, where your team already is.
No other company's name on your site, at any price.
Everyone in the group answers, and nobody pays per person.
The lead card: the page, the item, where they came from and what they asked, before you reply.
A person on your own team writes every reply.

Questions

Is tawk.to really free?: The software is, with unlimited agents, and it has been for years (why free?). The business earns on the extras: $29 a month to remove its branding, $29 for AI Assist, and hired agents at $1 an hour.
So why pay for Human Reply?: For where the answering happens and whose name is on it. The chats come to your team's Telegram group, so nobody has to sit in a dashboard; the bubble carries your logo and your words and nobody else's; and every reply is written by your own team. If that is worth $10 a month to you, that is the trade.
Does tawk.to work with Telegram?: Not as a place your team answers from. Human Reply is built the other way round: visitors write on your site, and your team answers in Telegram.

Can we try Human Reply first?: Yes: seven days free, and the card is taken at sign-up so the trial turns into the plan by itself. Cancel from the dashboard before it ends and nothing is charged.
How many people can answer?: Everyone in your Telegram group, at the same price — the same idea as tawk.to's unlimited agents, in a place your team already keeps open.
Do we lose the history if we leave?: Not the part that matters. Every conversation is also a topic in your own Telegram group, with the photos and files in it, and that group is yours whether or not you keep paying us.

Try Human Reply free

Set it up in about ten minutes, then answer the first chat from your phone.

Get started

7-day free trial · Starting $10 a month

tawk.to is a trademark of tawk.to inc. Human Reply is not affiliated with tawk.to, Framer or Telegram.