Echo Support compared with Crisp, Tidio, Intercom, Zendesk, Chatbase and ChatDirect
Echo Support costs $19 CAD a month for the first paid plan, billed per workspace rather than per agent, and it is one of only two products here that price in Canadian dollars. What it stores is hosted in Canada, in Beauharnois; the text of conversations handled by the AI goes to OpenRouter, in the United States. The company behind it was incorporated in 2026. Every price below was read on the vendor’s own pricing page on 23 September 2026.
Facts verified on . Every statement on this page points to something we publish or run; where something does not exist yet, this page says so.
The comparison
| Product | First paid tier | Billing unit | Free plan | Where the data sits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Echo Support | $19 CAD | per workspace, 3 users included | Yes, permanent (no AI) | Beauharnois, Quebec (what we store); OpenRouter, United States (text handled by the AI) |
| ChatDirect | 34 $ CAD | per month | No — 14-day trial | Canada (its own claim) |
| Tidio | 24.17 $ (currency not stated) | per billable conversation quota | Yes, permanent | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Intercom | 29 $ (currency not stated) | per seat — plus $0.99 per AI resolution | No — 14-day trial | Not verified to date |
| Crisp | 45 $ (currency not stated) | per workspace, 4 seats | Yes, permanent (2 seats) | Not verified to date |
| Chatbase | 40 $ (currency not stated) | per message credits | Yes | Not verified to date |
| Zendesk | 19 $ (currency not stated), annual | per agent — AI only from 55 $/agent | No — 14-day trial | Not verified to date |
Sources, read on 2026-09-23: ChatDirect · Tidio · Intercom · Crisp · Chatbase · Zendesk
“Not verified to date”: we do not show a fact about a competitor until we can link it to a public page that establishes it.
Read the “billing unit” column first. Comparing “19 $” with “19 $ per agent” or “$0.99 per AI resolution” means nothing. A five-person team pays Echo once; on a per-seat product it pays five times.
On currency: five of these six show “$” with no currency code and no selector on their pricing page. We reproduce what they display rather than assume US dollars — assuming would flatter us by roughly a third.
Where Echo genuinely differs
- The applications, database and files run on a server in Canada, in Beauharnois; the text of conversations handled by the AI, however, goes to OpenRouter, in the United States, and other providers receive part of the data.
- Prices in Canadian dollars, taxes stated.
- Billing per workspace, not per agent. Adding a colleague does not change the bill, up to the plan’s user cap.
- No overage billing, ever. On the free plan, at the cap, the widget opens no new conversation until the 1st of the next month. On the paid plans, conversations have no monthly cap: at the cap of AI-handled conversations, the assistant hands over to your team.
- We document the full chain — including what leaves the country: which providers, what they receive and where they are. That is what the Law 25 and data page is for.
Where Echo is not the right answer
This is the part a comparison page usually leaves out.
- If you need an API, webhooks, SSO or audit logs: none of them is open on any Echo plan today.
- If you need phone, social channels or a full ticketing suite: we do not do that.
- If you need an uptime commitment: we do not offer one, and nothing on our side measures availability.
- If “100 % in Canada” has to be literally true for every provider: we do not claim it — our AI provider is in the United States and we say so.
- If you want customer references: we have none to show yet. Echo is a 2026 company.
The free plans are not the same thing
Echo’s free plan is permanent and takes 25 conversations a month — but no AI: they reach you and you answer them. Tidio and Crisp also have permanent free plans; Chatbase has a free plan; ChatDirect, Intercom and Zendesk offer a trial, not a free plan.
Checking for yourself
Every source is linked above. If a price has changed since 23 September 2026, this page is wrong and we want to know: contact@echo-group.ca. Our own plans are on the pricing page, and what we can and cannot do is on the facts page.