Hiver
tawk.to
| Feature | Hiver | tawk.to |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $19/mo | Free / from $19/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | small-teams, gmail-users, support-teams, startups | startups, small-businesses, freelancers, budget-conscious-teams |
| Founded | 2011 | 2013 |
| Shared Inboxes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Assignment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Collision Detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sla Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Live Chat | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ticketing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Chat | ✗ | ✓ |
| Screen Sharing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Chat Pages | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Hiver Pros
- Works inside Gmail
- Easy adoption
- Shared inboxes
- Good for email teams
✗ Hiver Cons
- Gmail-only
- Limited outside email
- Fewer features than full helpdesks
✓ tawk.to Pros
- 100% free
- No agent limits
- Feature-rich for free
- Good mobile app
✗ tawk.to Cons
- Branding on free plan
- Interface could be cleaner
- Limited integrations
The Verdict
Hiver is built for small teams and gmail users, with a focus on shared-inboxes and email-assignment. tawk.to targets startups and small businesses and leads with live-chat and ticketing.
Both tools come in at similar price points ($19/mo for Hiver, $19/mo for tawk.to), so pricing won't make the decision for you.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.