/vs/tawk-to
spookat
vs tawk.to.
Tawk.to is a free live chat with a full helpdesk, paid for through add-ons per site. Spookat is a chat widget that loads nothing until the click and lands every chat in Slack or Discord. Here's the honest version.
the short version.
- 01
Loads nothing until the click. Tawk.to pulls about 220 kb gzipped and sets cookies on page load.
- 02
Your team answers in Slack or Discord threads. Tawk.to only sends notifications there through third-party tools.
- 03
Hiding the logo is part of cool guy. On Tawk.to it's a $29/month add-on per site.
side by side.
| what | spookat | Tawk.to |
|---|---|---|
| cheapest paid plan | $4.99 a site a month, $9.99 after early access | Chat is free. Paid add-ons are per site, from $29/month. source for Tawk.to, cheapest paid plan (opens in a new tab) |
| your team | Unlimited and free. We charge per site. | Unlimited agents, free. source for Tawk.to, your team (opens in a new tab) |
| their AI | No bot of ours to sell you. No per-answer fees. | AI Assist add-on billed per message: $29/month for 1,000, then $30 per 1,000 more. source for Tawk.to, their AI (opens in a new tab) |
| your own AI agent | Webhooks, a reply API and MCP on cool guy ($14.99 in early access). | Webhooks only notify. API access is by request form; we found no documented way for your bot to reply in a chat. source for Tawk.to, your own AI agent (opens in a new tab) |
| remove their logo | On cool guy ($14.99 in early access). | Paid add-on, from $29/month per site. source for Tawk.to, remove their logo (opens in a new tab) |
| answer from Slack | A thread per chat, reply in the thread. Every plan. | No native integration. Third-party tools post notifications. source for Tawk.to, answer from Slack (opens in a new tab) |
| answer from Discord | A forum post per chat, reply in it. Every plan. | Notifications through Make. No replies from Discord. source for Tawk.to, answer from Discord (opens in a new tab) |
| before anyone clicks | One launcher script under 4 kb gzipped. 0 requests to our API. | 13 requests and about 220 kb gzipped of scripts on page load. measured for Tawk.to, before anyone clicks (opens in a new tab) |
| cookies | None. | Yes, on page load (a visitor ID kept 6 months), plus localStorage. source for Tawk.to, cookies (opens in a new tab) |
| visitor IPs | Never stored. | Collected, with geolocation, per their privacy policy. source for Tawk.to, visitor IPs (opens in a new tab) |
| free plan | No. 14 days free, no card. | Yes, with their branding. source for Tawk.to, free plan (opens in a new tab) |
Tawk.to's side comes from their public pages, checked 2026-09-26. "measured" means we loaded their widget on a test page ourselves and counted what arrived before any click. Prices change: spot something outdated and we'll fix it.
where tawk.to wins.
- The core product is free, with unlimited agents, chats and sites.
- Ticketing, a knowledge base and a contacts view on the free plan.
- WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, SMS and email in the same inbox.
- Video and voice calls with screen sharing, and staffed agents for hire.
pick tawk.to if
you want a free all-in-one helpdesk and don't mind the weight, the cookies or the logo.
pick spookat if
your team lives in Slack or Discord, and your Lighthouse score and your visitors' privacy matter.