The Crisp alternative with an MCP server on every plan
Crisp and miniDesk share one principle: a fixed cost per workspace outperforms per-seat billing. Where they diverge is what that cost covers. miniDesk bundles AI on the free tier, an MCP server and a REST API on every tier, and zero AI credits to track.
- Free plan, no card
- AI on every plan
- One flat price per workspace
TL;DR
Crisp is the nearest competitor on this site and the comparison to read carefully. Both bill flat, per workspace. The gap is that Crisp's AI pulls from a credit pool that depletes with every conversation Hugo processes, at Crisp's own ballpark of $0.05 to $0.10 apiece. Mini bundles $5 of those credits, which Crisp estimates at roughly ninety conversations, and its MCP server plus public knowledge base both kick in at Essentials, $95 a month. Ours is bundled in the plan on every tier including the free one. Crisp is the stronger pick if you want its CRM, its campaigns, or the lengthy roster of channels it connects to.
The nearest rival on this site, and we will not pretend otherwise
Crisp bills flat, is built by a compact European team, is EU-hosted with a data processing agreement on every plan, and at low AI volumes it produces the lowest bill on this page after ours. Three things set them apart. Their AI credits deplete with every conversation Hugo touches, so the AI is metered even though the plan is flat, and Crisp's help centre labels the $0.05 to $0.10 per conversation an estimate rather than a fixed rate. Their tier is constrained by that volume and not solely by seat count: their own AI calculator caps Essentials at 1,000 AI conversations monthly and recommends Plus at $295 above that, so the flat plan shifts beneath you as AI volume climbs. And their MCP server is listed from Essentials at $95, while ours is available on the free tier. If none of those bother you, Crisp is a solid product worth buying.
The full comparison
Arranged in four groups, following the sequence a buyer follows. Capabilities come before costs, because cheaper than what is the first question a pricing comparison must settle.
Channels
Live chat widget on your site
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Shared email inbox
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Web form, separate from the chat widget
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
AI
AI that answers customers on its own
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Answers drawn from your own documents
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Agent-assist copilot in the inbox
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included, on a higher planhigher plan
Developer
REST API
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
MCP server, published and supported
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included, on a higher planhigher plan
What the price covers
The AI costs nothing beyond the plan price
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included, then billed by usebilled by use
A free plan with the AI on it
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Not available
Unlimited free conversations
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Adding a teammate costs nothing
- miniDesk
- Included
- Crisp
- Included
Checked against each vendor's own published documentation, September 2026.
What you actually pay at scale
Three actual teams, both sides priced from published pages on the identical day. Crisp is costed the way Crisp's own AI calculator costs it: the cheapest tier that satisfies both your seats and your AI volume, plus $0.05 for every conversation beyond what that tier bundles. Drag the sliders to plug in your own figures.
Your numbers
miniDesk Starter, one flat price per workspace, sized by the 375 AI conversations you set above. Crisp is priced on the cheapest tier that fits these seats and has an AI agent answering customers, at their month-to-month rate wherever they publish one, because we sell no annual plan to hold an annual rate against. Crisp is cheaper on a yearly commitment, so this is the dearer of their two rates and the only one comparable to ours.
Three real teams
Startup
5 seats, 375 AI conversations a month
- miniDesk Starter, all in
- $39
- Crisp
- ~$95
- +145%
Growing team
8 seats, 2,250 AI conversations a month
- miniDesk Growth, all in
- $99
- Crisp
- ~$333
- +235%
Large support team
25 seats, 12,000 AI conversations a month
- miniDesk Scale, all in
- $349
- Crisp
- ~$870
- +150%
Each vendor's own list prices, September 2026, in USD, on the cheapest plan that fits the seats and includes an AI agent. Monthly rates where published, so no annual discount. Volumes count the conversations the AI handles. Crisp is $0.05 a conversation, from their own calculator, which caps Essentials at 1,000 before quoting Plus. Check their pricing pages before you decide.
Which one should you actually buy?
You want the AI functioning before you spend a cent
miniDesk's free tier handles 75 conversations monthly with AI sourced from your own documents. Crisp's free tier bundles zero AI credits, so Hugo begins at Mini, $45 a month, and Mini's $5 in credits covers roughly ninety conversations by Crisp's own estimate.
Pick miniDesk
An AI client should be able to operate your inbox
miniDesk bundles an MCP server on every plan, so Claude or Cursor can triage, draft, and resolve in natural language. Crisp ships one as well, and their pricing table lists it from Essentials at $95, one tier above where their AI agent begins. Below that you receive the REST API, rated at 10,000 requests daily on a self-serve token, plus the glue code to accompany it.
Pick miniDesk
You need WhatsApp, Messenger, and Telegram in a single inbox
Crisp connects to a lengthy roster of messaging channels and we do not. We accept email, live chat, web forms, and the API. If your customers contact you via a social channel, Crisp is the product that already supports it.
Pick Crisp
You want a CRM and outbound campaigns alongside the inbox
Crisp bundles contact management and campaigns into the same fixed cost. We are a support inbox with AI and an API, and we have no plans to add a CRM. If you want a single tool for support plus lifecycle messaging, Crisp delivers more for the spend.
Pick Crisp
Questions, answered honestly
Other comparisons we have written
One price. All of customer support.
Start free, no card. When you upgrade, every feature is included, rather than a starting point with a list of add-ons to buy.