In this comprehensive guide, we compare Crisp and Stonly across various parameters including features, pricing, performance, and customer support to help you make the best decision for your business needs.
Overview
When choosing between Crisp and Stonly, understanding their unique strengths and architectural differences is crucial for making an informed decision. Both platforms serve the RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) space but cater to different use cases and organizational needs.
Quick Decision Guide
Choose Crisp if: you value omnichannel messaging with native whatsapp, messenger, instagram, telegram, twitter/x, sms, line, slack integrations
Choose Stonly if: you value exceptional ease of use - 4.8/5 g2 rating with intuitive visual editor praised in 32 reviews
About Crisp
Crisp is omnichannel customer messaging platform with ai assistance. Customer messaging platform with AI features serving 600,000+ businesses. Founded 2015 (France) by Baptiste Jamin and Valerian Saliou, bootstrapped with $1.4M revenue (2024). NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform—designed for unified customer communication with AI assistance. Proprietary Mirage AI model + third-party LLM support (GPT-4o, Claude, Llama). Critical gaps: NO programmatic knowledge querying API, NO vector/embedding infrastructure, NO bot management API, NO cloud storage integrations, NO SOC 2 certification (claims compliance without audit). €0-€295/month ($0-$316) with 50 AI uses/month on Essentials, unlimited on Plus. Founded in 2015, headquartered in Paris, France, the platform has established itself as a reliable solution in the RAG space.
Overall Rating
87/100
Starting Price
$45/mo
About Stonly
Stonly is interactive knowledge base platform with enterprise ai-powered answers. Stonly is a customer support knowledge management platform with embedded AI capabilities focused on interactive step-by-step guides and help desk agent assistance. Its AI Answers feature (Enterprise-only add-on) achieves 71% self-serve success rates, but it's fundamentally a knowledge base platform with AI features—not a pure RAG-as-a-Service solution. Founded in 2017, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, the platform has established itself as a reliable solution in the RAG space.
Overall Rating
96/100
Starting Price
$249/mo
Key Differences at a Glance
In terms of user ratings, Stonly in overall satisfaction. From a cost perspective, Crisp starts at a lower price point. The platforms also differ in their primary focus: Customer Support versus Knowledge Management. These differences make each platform better suited for specific use cases and organizational requirements.
⚠️ What This Comparison Covers
We'll analyze features, pricing, performance benchmarks, security compliance, integration capabilities, and real-world use cases to help you determine which platform best fits your organization's needs. All data is independently verified from official documentation and third-party review platforms.
Detailed Feature Comparison
Crisp
Stonly
CustomGPTRECOMMENDED
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources
Five primary data source types: Answer snippets (Q&A pairs up to 1,000 characters), automatic website crawling by domain, native Knowledge Base articles, past conversation history from human agents, file uploads via Data Importer
Supported file formats: PDF, Word (DOC/DOCX), plain text (TXT), CSV through Data Importer feature
Website crawling: Entire domain processing with sitemap support, manual refresh requests required for updates (NO automatic sync for web content)
Knowledge Base sync: Articles automatically sync to AI training when updated (only source type with automatic retraining)
Conversation history training: Past human agent conversations used for AI learning with explicit training triggers required
Training permissions: Only workspace owners can launch AI training sessions (team bottleneck for larger organizations)
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO YouTube transcript support - cannot ingest video content for knowledge base
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO native cloud storage integrations - Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, OneDrive all absent without third-party workarounds
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO documented volume limits or scaling capabilities - significant gap vs enterprise RAG platforms handling millions of documents
LIMITATION: No NO API endpoint to trigger retraining programmatically, No NO webhook notification when training completes, No NO scheduled retraining automation
PDF uploads confirmed
Public website crawling: Pages not requiring authentication
Zendesk help center content indexing
Proprietary interactive guide format as primary content model
Note: No Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, or SharePoint integrations for data ingestion
Note: No YouTube transcript extraction (videos can be embedded but not processed)
Note: No direct Word document (.docx) or HTML file imports confirmed
Note: No automatic content syncing from external sources - updates are manual through Stonly's visual editor
Content limits by tier: Basic (5 guides, 400 views/mo), Small Business (unlimited guides, 4K views/mo), Enterprise (custom)
Content versioning: Side-by-side comparison and instant restore on Business and Enterprise plans
Lets you ingest more than 1,400 file formats—PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML, and many more—via simple drag-and-drop or API.
Crawls entire sites through sitemaps and URLs, automatically indexing public help-desk articles, FAQs, and docs.
Turns multimedia into text on the fly: YouTube videos, podcasts, and other media are auto-transcribed with built-in OCR and speech-to-text.
View Transcription Guide
Connects to Google Drive, SharePoint, Notion, Confluence, HubSpot, and more through API connectors or Zapier.
See Zapier Connectors
Supports both manual uploads and auto-sync retraining, so your knowledge base always stays up to date.
Integrations & Channels
Omnichannel messaging: Website chat, email, WhatsApp Business API (Official Business Solution Provider), Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, Telegram, Twitter/X DM, SMS (via Twilio), Line, Slack
Zapier integration: Triggers (new contacts, messages, conversations, segment updates, status changes), Actions (state changes, contact creation, conversation search) - functional but basic depth vs dedicated automation platforms
Website embedding: JavaScript snippet for native chat widget, NPM packages for React/Vue/Angular (crisp-sdk-web), mobile SDKs (iOS Swift, Android Java), React Native support
REST API: Comprehensive conversation management, CRM operations, helpdesk CRUD with programmatic access on all paid plans
Webhooks: Website Hooks (simple setup, limited events) + Plugin Hooks (50+ event namespaces, signed payloads, retry on failure)
RTM API: WebSocket connectivity via Socket.IO for real-time event streaming
Third-party LLMs: ChatGPT/GPT-4o, Claude AI, Llama, Dialogflow integration through chatbot builder
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO Microsoft Teams native integration documented (Slack available, Teams absent)
LIMITATION: Note: Limited iframe embedding - restricted to plugin UI contexts rather than general-purpose chatbox deployment
Deep help desk integrations: Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk, ServiceNow
Zendesk features: Update tickets from guides, preserve guide progress in tickets, launch Zendesk Chat from widget
Zapier integration: Webhook triggers for form submissions and guide completions
Analytics integrations: Segment, Google Analytics
Embedding options: JavaScript widget, iframe, API deployment
Note: No native Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Microsoft Teams integrations (confirmed by multiple user reviews)
Note: No omnichannel messaging support
Website embedding: All plans support JS widget and iframe embedding
Embeds easily—a lightweight script or iframe drops the chat widget into any website or mobile app.
Offers ready-made hooks for Slack, Zendesk, Confluence, YouTube, Sharepoint, 100+ more.
Explore API Integrations
Connects with 5,000+ apps via Zapier and webhooks to automate your workflows.
Supports secure deployments with domain allowlisting and a ChatGPT Plugin for private use cases.
Hosted CustomGPT.ai offers hosted MCP Server with support for Claude Web, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, Windsurf, Trae, etc.
Read more here.
WhatsApp Official Business Solution Provider: Official partnership status demonstrates platform validation and enterprise-grade integration quality
Unified inbox advantage: All channels (website, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter/X, SMS, Line, Slack) managed in single dashboard
Channel-agnostic chatbot deployment: Single bot builder deploys across web, mobile, social media, messaging apps without reconfiguration
SMS via Twilio: Text message support for broader reach beyond digital-native channels
Social media coverage: Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, Twitter/X DM, Telegram for comprehensive social presence
Competitive positioning: 600,000+ businesses use omnichannel capabilities vs competitors' narrower messaging focus (9/10 rated differentiator for customer communication)
Use case fit: Businesses needing unified customer communication across multiple touchpoints with consistent AI assistance
N/A
N/A
Magic Reply A I Features ( Core Differentiator)
AI-suggested responses: One-click suggested responses agents can send based on conversation context and training data
Conversation summarization: Automatic summaries for shift handoffs enabling context continuity between agent teams
MagicTranscribe: Speech-to-text transcription for voice message processing and accessibility
Live translation: Real-time multilingual support with automatic language detection from browser settings, phone prefixes, account preferences
Topic categorization: Automatic conversation categorization before opening for routing efficiency and analytics
Configurable confidence thresholds: Adjustable across all 4 AI search actions (MagicReply, Search Helpdesk, Search Webpages, Search Answer) to reduce hallucinations
Uncertainty admission: AI explicitly states when it cannot find relevant information rather than fabricating responses (hallucination prevention)
Competitive advantage: Agent productivity features vs autonomous chatbot platforms - designed for human-AI collaboration rather than full automation (8/10 rated differentiator)
N/A
N/A
Core Chatbot Features
Chatbot builder 4 AI actions: MagicReply (generated responses from training data), Search Helpdesk (AI) (knowledge base articles), Search Webpages (AI) (crawled content), Search Answer (AI) (Q&A snippets)
Confidence threshold system: Each AI action supports configurable thresholds to balance accuracy vs. coverage and reduce hallucinations
Multi-lingual support: Automatic language detection from browser settings, phone number prefixes, account preferences with chatbot block translation across locales
Conversational Workflow Builder: Tailor-made workflow builder empowering companies to customize chatbot behavior and responses to align with unique customer service strategy
Event-Driven Conversation Flow: Each scenario starts with Event (starts flow), Actions (send message, update user info), Conditions (if-then checks for personalization), Exits (forward/end conversation)
Chatbot personality: Custom prompts define tone and behavior, bot name customization, composition animations for human-like feel, brand voice alignment - personalities should never change, moods remain even and predictable
System Prompt Control: Advanced options allow shaping personality via instructions like "You are a very patient instructor" to guide MagicReply behavior
Human handoff capabilities: Seamless bot-to-agent transitions, 2-minute "Awaiting Operator" timeout detection, operator assignment/mentions within flows, routing rules, full conversation context
Co-browsing (MagicBrowse): Live assistance capability for complex support scenarios enabling screen sharing and guided troubleshooting
LIMITATION: No NO programmatic personality management - tone/behavior settings dashboard-only, cannot modify per-user or via API (global configuration only)
Pattern matching wildcards: Flexible message detection with wildcard support for conversational variety
November 2024 update: Bot builder improvements including merging action blocks and enhanced multilingual testing capabilities
Template functionality: Import/export flows for sharing and backup, example scenarios available but NO industry-specific templates (e-commerce, SaaS support, lead qualification) out of box
Non-technical user accessibility: SME teams can upload Q&A snippets, manage articles via WYSIWYG editor, trigger web crawls, build flows without coding (genuinely serves teams without developer dependencies)
LIMITATION: Note: Pre-built templates limited - users must build flows manually vs competitors with extensive template libraries (7/10 rated - functional but requires customization effort)
N/A
N/A
Widget Customization & White- Labeling
UI customization: Colors, branding, positioning, custom triggers per page, proactive messages with personalization tokens
A/B testing: Placement and copy testing for optimization of engagement and conversion rates
White-labeling (Plus €295/month): Remove "We run on Crisp" watermark, custom email domains, custom Knowledge Base domains
LIMITATION: Note: Advanced CSS customization capabilities unclear in documentation - platform favors preset options over deep styling control (vs competitors with full CSS access)
LIMITATION: Domain restrictions for widget deployment not explicitly documented - likely exist but transparency gap for security configuration
N/A
N/A
L L M Model Options
Proprietary Mirage AI model: Retrained November 2024 with 10x more data as foundation, leverages leading open-source LLMs
Third-party integrations: ChatGPT/GPT-4o, Claude AI, Llama, Dialogflow through chatbot builder
Mirage reranking model: Proprietary optimization mentioned but technical details undisclosed
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No Model selection and routing happen exclusively in dashboard - NO API endpoint to switch between models programmatically
LIMITATION: No NO automatic model routing based on query complexity or cost vs. performance optimization (vs intelligent routing in RAG platforms)
LIMITATION: No NO exposed configuration for developers - cannot programmatically adjust AI behavior, model selection, or fine-tune responses via API
LIMITATION: No NO documented proprietary optimizations beyond confidence threshold settings and "10x more training data" claim for Mirage (transparency gap)
Note: Undisclosed proprietary LLM - Stonly does not disclose the specific model powering AI Answers
Note: No model selection - users cannot choose between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Claude, or other models
Note: No temperature controls, fine-tuning, or model routing
AI Profiles: Up to 20 per team for tone and behavior customization
Custom Instructions: Up to 100 per team defining boundaries and style
Guided AI Answers: Define specific questions that trigger predetermined answers, bypassing AI generation for sensitive scenarios
Automatic fallback: When AI confidence is low, system falls back to ML-powered search rather than forcing an answer
Knowledge-grounded approach: AI responses anchored in Stonly guides, external websites, and selected PDFs to reduce hallucinations
Taps into top models—OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 series, GPT-4 series, and even Anthropic’s Claude for enterprise needs (4.5 opus and sonnet, etc ).
Automatically balances cost and performance by picking the right model for each request.
Model Selection Details
Uses proprietary prompt engineering and retrieval tweaks to return high-quality, citation-backed answers.
Handles all model management behind the scenes—no extra API keys or fine-tuning steps for you.
Developer Experience ( A P I & S D Ks)
REST API capabilities: Comprehensive conversation management (create/get/delete/send messages with 8+ message types including text, files, audio, carousels), People/CRM CRUD with bulk CSV import and custom data fields, Helpdesk API with full CRUD for localized articles and multi-locale support (ISO 639-1 codes)
Official SDKs (5 languages): Node.js (crisp-api on npm - actively maintained, designated "baseline"), Go (go-crisp-api - actively maintained), PHP/Python/Ruby (lag behind with 2023 API revisions)
Mobile SDKs: iOS (Swift), Android (Java), React Native for native app integration
Authentication: Basic Auth with token identifier/key pairs, user tokens and plugin tokens with granular scopes
Rate limiting: Multi-level (per-IP and per-user identifier), HTTP 429 or 420 on limit hits, plugin tokens exempt from per-minute limits but use daily quotas, specific limits undisclosed by design
Webhook support: Website Hooks (simple setup, limited events) + Plugin Hooks (50+ event namespaces, signed payloads, retry on failure)
RTM API: WebSocket connectivity via Socket.IO for real-time event streaming
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO API to create or manage bots programmatically - chatbots configured exclusively via dashboard's no-code builder (API documentation explicitly states this)
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO vector store endpoints, NO embedding generation API, NO semantic search API, NO context retrieval endpoint, NO prompt template management API
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO AI usage metrics exposure via API - all analytics dashboard-only without programmatic access
LIMITATION: No Cannot trigger AI responses or query knowledge base via API - workflows can send messages with automated: true flag but cannot invoke AI processing programmatically
LIMITATION: Enterprise scaling documentation minimal - no SLA guarantees in public docs, no specified throughput limits, user reports mention rate limiting under heavy API usage
REST API: Supports user provisioning, content management, widget control
Mobile SDKs (Enterprise only): iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter
Note: No Python SDK or server-side Node.js SDK
Note: No GraphQL API or OpenAPI/Swagger specification
Note: Rate limits not publicly documented
Note: No API Explorer, sandbox environment, or Postman collections
Note: REST API versioning strategy unclear
Widget API: Programmatic control including opening specific content, listening for events, user identification
CSP whitelisting: Instructions documented for Content Security Policy compliance
Widget versioning documented
Ships a well-documented REST API for creating agents, managing projects, ingesting data, and querying chat.
API Documentation
Backs you up with cookbooks, code samples, and step-by-step guides for every skill level.
R E S T A P I Comprehensiveness ( Differentiator)
Conversation management depth: Full CRUD operations with message type variety (text, files, audio, carousels, picker, field, carousel, note, event), compose/typing indicators, state transition management, list/pagination support
People/CRM capabilities: Full CRUD operations, bulk CSV import, custom data fields, segment filtering for targeted communication
Helpdesk API strength: Full CRUD for localized articles, category and section taxonomy management, multi-locale support using ISO 639-1 codes, external helpdesk import via URL crawling
Official SDK ecosystem: Node.js (baseline), Go (actively maintained), PHP/Python/Ruby (2023 revisions), iOS/Android/React Native mobile SDKs
Competitive positioning: API depth for messaging/CRM operations vs RAG platforms (8/10 rated for customer messaging API, 2/10 for RAG API - fundamentally different focus)
CRITICAL ARCHITECTURAL GAP: No NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform - lacks vector databases, embedding controls, and configurable retrieval pipelines
AI Hub training sources: Knowledge base articles, crawled web content, conversation history, Q&A snippets processed through opaque system
Confidence scoring: Adjustable thresholds across 4 AI search actions with fallback branches when AI cannot find relevant information
Hallucination prevention: Relies on confidence threshold system and AI's trained behavior to admit uncertainty (no citation attribution or source verification)
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO RAG-specific technical details documented - chunking strategies, embedding model specifications, vector database architecture, retrieval algorithm details undisclosed
LIMITATION: No NO reranking methodology documentation beyond mention of "Mirage reranking model" (transparency gap vs RAG platforms)
LIMITATION: No NO benchmark results for accuracy in public documentation - no quantitative validation of RAG performance claims
LIMITATION: No NO mechanism for developers to inject context, provide examples, or fine-tune retrieval behavior programmatically
Competitive positioning: Customer messaging platform with practical AI assistance vs purpose-built RAG infrastructure (rated 2/10 as RAG platform - fundamentally different architecture)
N/A
N/A
Security & Privacy
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No SOC 2 certification notably absent - Crisp claims compliance with SOC 2 principles but has NOT completed formal audit (enterprise procurement blocker)
GDPR Compliant: Full compliance as French company (Crisp IM SAS) with Data Processing Agreements available and EU data storage
EU data residency: Messaging data stored in Netherlands, plugin data stored in Germany for European privacy requirements
Encryption: All public network channels encrypted, real-time chat encrypted in transit
Infrastructure security: Hardware token generators, aggressive firewalls, network isolation, VPN-only administrator access, bug bounty program for security researchers
Two-factor authentication: Available for user accounts with identity verification support
Workspace-level data isolation: Customer separation but not tenant-isolated in enterprise sense
Privacy features: Deferred session initialization until user interaction for minimal data collection
Uptime SLA: Historically exceeds 99.99% (>99.9945% reported for 2019) with public status page for transparency
LIMITATION: No NO HIPAA certification, No NO ISO 27001 certification - limits adoption in regulated industries (healthcare, financial services)
Yes SOC 2 Type 2
Yes GDPR compliant
Yes HIPAA compliant
Yes ISO 27001
Yes PCI compliant
Yes CSA Star Level 1
Trust Center: trust.stonly.com with security documentation, subprocessor lists, controls information
Note: No explicit documentation on customer data usage for AI model training
International data transfers: Standard Contractual Clauses for EU compliance
Protects data in transit with SSL/TLS and at rest with 256-bit AES encryption.
Holds SOC 2 Type II certification and complies with GDPR, so your data stays isolated and private.
Security Certifications
Offers fine-grained access controls—RBAC, two-factor auth, and SSO integration—so only the right people get in.
Observability & Monitoring
Analytics dashboard: Response time metrics, customer satisfaction scores, bot handoff rates, day-by-day support performance tracking
Advanced analytics (Plus plan): Enhanced metrics and reporting capabilities for deeper performance insights
Conversation logs: AI-user exchange review with ability to refine responses and identify knowledge gaps
Real-time monitoring: Conversation flow visibility for operators with queue status tracking
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO analytics API - all metrics dashboard-only, cannot programmatically pull performance data or export usage statistics
LIMITATION: No People Statistics endpoint provides only basic counts - no comprehensive analytics API for integration with external observability systems
LIMITATION: No Proactive alerting capabilities not documented - unclear support for monitoring platform integrations (DataDog, PagerDuty, etc.)
LIMITATION: No NO integration with external monitoring platforms appears in integration list (self-contained analytics only)
Flow reports: Update every 15 minutes (not real-time)
Data export: Integration with Segment, Zapier, Google Analytics
Note: No real-time visitor tracking
Note: No predictive analytics
Note: Basic compared to dedicated product analytics tools
Note: No heatmaps or A/B testing capabilities
Agent performance tracking: Relies on external help desk platform integration rather than native dashboards
Comes with a real-time analytics dashboard tracking query volumes, token usage, and indexing status.
Lets you export logs and metrics via API to plug into third-party monitoring or BI tools.
Analytics API
Provides detailed insights for troubleshooting and ongoing optimization.
E U Data Residency & G D P R Compliance ( Differentiator)
French company advantage: Crisp IM SAS headquartered in France ensures native GDPR understanding and compliance culture
Geographic data isolation: Messaging data in Netherlands, plugin data in Germany within EU boundaries
Data Processing Agreements: Available for enterprise customers requiring formal privacy commitments
GDPR subject rights: Full support for access, rectification, erasure, portability requests built into platform
Privacy by design: Deferred session initialization until user interaction minimizes unnecessary data collection
Competitive positioning: EU businesses requiring data sovereignty and GDPR compliance favor EU-based vendors over US alternatives (8.5/10 rated differentiator for European market)
600,000+ business validation: Large customer base demonstrates trust in privacy and security practices
N/A
N/A
Pricing & Scalability
Free plan: €0/month ($0) - 2 seats, basic chat only, NO AI chatbot functionality
Mini plan: €45/month (~$48) - 4 seats, NO AI chatbot (messaging-only tier)
Essentials plan: €95/month (~$102) - 10 seats, AI chatbot with 50 uses/month limit (major constraint for automation)
Plus plan: €295/month (~$316) - 20+ seats, unlimited AI resolutions, white-labeling, advanced analytics, custom domains
Alternative pricing model: $95/month base + $45/month AI add-on + $0.10 per AI action (escalates costs at high volume)
Extra seats (Plus): €10/agent/month for additional team members
14-day free trials: All paid plans include trial period for evaluation
Per-workspace model: No per-conversation fees on base usage benefits predictable budgeting (vs per-message pricing competitors)
CONCERN: Note: AI usage caps on Essentials (50 uses/month at €95) create barriers for teams needing significant automation - unlimited requires €295 Plus tier
Basic (Free): 5 guides, 400 views/month, 1 seat, single language
Small Business ($249/mo, $199/mo annual): Unlimited guides, 4,000 views/month, 5 seats, 3 knowledge bases, CSS customization, Zapier, NPS surveys
Enterprise (Custom, ~$39K/year avg): Custom views, unlimited seats, AI Answers add-on, Mobile SDKs, SAML SSO, white-label, auto-translation, CSAT/CES surveys
Note: AI Answers, Mobile SDK, SAML SSO, white-labeling all Enterprise-gated
Average enterprise contract: ~$39,000 annually according to Vendr procurement data
Runs on straightforward subscriptions: Standard (~$99/mo), Premium (~$449/mo), and customizable Enterprise plans.
Gives generous limits—Standard covers up to 60 million words per bot, Premium up to 300 million—all at flat monthly rates.
View Pricing
Handles scaling for you: the managed cloud infra auto-scales with demand, keeping things fast and available.
Support & Ecosystem
Developer Hub: Comprehensive documentation at docs.crisp.chat with REST API references, RTM API guides, webhook setup, SDK installation guides, Postman collections
Chappe documentation builder: 228 GitHub stars - powers docs site demonstrating technical investment in documentation infrastructure
Chat-based support: Generally praised for responsiveness with direct chat access to support team
Enhanced support (Plus): Higher tier plans receive prioritized assistance and faster response times
Bootstrapped team: 14-20 employees handle global customer base of 600,000+ businesses
Code examples: Available in official SDKs but real-world cookbook content sparse vs comprehensive tutorial libraries
LIMITATION: No NO public forum for developer knowledge sharing and community troubleshooting
LIMITATION: No Minimal GitHub community engagement - most repositories show single-digit external contributors indicating limited open-source collaboration
LIMITATION: No NO dedicated account management details specified for Enterprise customers (unclear what personalized support includes)
LIMITATION: Developer community engagement happens primarily through marketplace plugin development rather than open collaboration on core platform
Quick onboarding: Users report creating guides in under 30 minutes
Supplies rich docs, tutorials, cookbooks, and FAQs to get you started fast.
Developer Docs
Offers quick email and in-app chat support—Premium and Enterprise plans add dedicated managers and faster SLAs.
Enterprise Solutions
Benefits from an active user community plus integrations through Zapier and GitHub resources.
R A G-as-a- Service Assessment
Platform classification: CUSTOMER MESSAGING PLATFORM with AI features layered on top, NOT a dedicated RAG-as-a-Service solution
Architecture philosophy: Designed for unified customer communication with AI assistance, not custom AI application building
Target audience: SMBs wanting affordable customer messaging with AI-powered agent productivity vs developers requiring RAG infrastructure control
Missing RAG foundations: NO vector store endpoints, NO embedding APIs, NO semantic search endpoints, NO programmatic knowledge querying, NO bot management API
Use case fit: Excellent for businesses wanting to USE AI-powered customer support; does NOT serve developers wanting to BUILD custom RAG applications
Competitive positioning: Mature customer messaging platform (600,000+ businesses) competing with Intercom/Zendesk vs RAG platforms like Vectara/Pinecone Assistant (rated 2/10 as RAG platform - fundamentally different category)
Strengths alignment: Omnichannel messaging, EU data residency, affordable SMB pricing, visual no-code builders, MagicReply agent productivity
Critical gaps for RAG: NO programmatic knowledge querying, NO vector/embedding infrastructure, NO bot management API, NO cloud storage ingestion, NO model selection API, NO analytics API
Note: NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform - fundamentally a knowledge base tool with embedded AI
Data source flexibility: Limited (PDF, public web, Zendesk only) vs comprehensive RAG platforms
LLM model options: None (undisclosed proprietary model, no user selection)
API-first architecture: Weak (widget-focused, limited SDKs, no server-side SDKs)
Performance benchmarks: Not published
Self-service AI pricing: Not available (Enterprise-gated, ~$39K/year)
Help desk integration depth: Excellent (best-in-class Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshdesk)
Hallucination controls: Strong (grounded in structured content)
Best for: Customer support ticket deflection, not flexible RAG backends
Not ideal for: Developers seeking pure RAG API, multi-tenant SaaS RAG backends, use cases needing model selection/fine-tuning
Core Architecture: Serverless RAG infrastructure with automatic embedding generation, vector search optimization, and LLM orchestration fully managed behind API endpoints
API-First Design: Comprehensive REST API with well-documented endpoints for creating agents, managing projects, ingesting data (1,400+ formats), and querying chat
API Documentation
Developer Experience: Open-source Python SDK (customgpt-client), Postman collections, OpenAI API endpoint compatibility, and extensive cookbooks for rapid integration
No-Code Alternative: Wizard-style web dashboard enables non-developers to upload content, brand widgets, and deploy chatbots without touching code
Hybrid Target Market: Serves both developer teams wanting robust APIs AND business users seeking no-code RAG deployment - unique positioning vs pure API platforms (Cohere) or pure no-code tools (Jotform)
RAG Technology Leadership: Industry-leading answer accuracy (median 5/5 benchmarked), 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription, proprietary anti-hallucination mechanisms, and citation-backed responses
Benchmark Details
Deployment Flexibility: Cloud-hosted SaaS with auto-scaling, API integrations, embedded chat widgets, ChatGPT Plugin support, and hosted MCP Server for Claude/Cursor/ChatGPT
Enterprise Readiness: SOC 2 Type II + GDPR compliance, full white-labeling, domain allowlisting, RBAC with 2FA/SSO, and flat-rate pricing without per-query charges
Use Case Fit: Ideal for organizations needing both rapid no-code deployment AND robust API capabilities, teams handling diverse content types (1,400+ formats, multimedia transcription), and businesses requiring production-ready RAG without building ML infrastructure from scratch
Competitive Positioning: Bridges the gap between developer-first platforms (Cohere, Deepset) requiring heavy coding and no-code chatbot builders (Jotform, Kommunicate) lacking API depth - offers best of both worlds
Competitive Positioning
vs CustomGPT: Crisp excels in omnichannel customer messaging with AI assistance; CustomGPT excels in RAG-as-a-Service infrastructure with programmatic control
vs Intercom/Zendesk: Crisp competes directly in customer messaging space with comparable features, lower pricing (€295 vs $500+/month), EU data residency advantage
vs LiveChat/Drift: Similar customer communication focus with Crisp differentiating on proprietary Mirage AI model and WhatsApp Official Business Solution Provider status
vs RAG platforms (Vectara, Pinecone Assistant, Ragie): Fundamentally different category - Crisp not designed for RAG development, lacks vector databases and programmatic knowledge retrieval entirely
Market niche: Mature customer messaging platform for SMBs wanting affordable omnichannel communication with AI assistance, NOT a RAG alternative for knowledge retrieval applications
Unique strength: Interactive guide format for structured support content
vs CustomGPT: Not comparable - different product categories (knowledge base vs RAG-as-a-Service)
vs Zendesk: Lighter-weight alternative focused on self-service guides vs full customer service platform
vs traditional chatbots: Interactive guides provide structured paths vs free-form conversation
Target audience: Support teams using Zendesk/Salesforce, not developers building RAG applications
70-76% ticket reduction documented in case studies
71% self-serve success rate with AI Answers
Enterprise compliance suitable for regulated industries
Market position: Leading all-in-one RAG platform balancing enterprise-grade accuracy with developer-friendly APIs and no-code usability for rapid deployment
Target customers: Mid-market to enterprise organizations needing production-ready AI assistants, development teams wanting robust APIs without building RAG infrastructure, and businesses requiring 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription (YouTube, podcasts)
Key competitors: OpenAI Assistants API, Botsonic, Chatbase.co, Azure AI, and custom RAG implementations using LangChain
Competitive advantages: Industry-leading answer accuracy (median 5/5 benchmarked), 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription, SOC 2 Type II + GDPR compliance, full white-labeling included, OpenAI API endpoint compatibility, hosted MCP Server support (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT), generous data limits (60M words Standard, 300M Premium), and flat monthly pricing without per-query charges
Pricing advantage: Transparent flat-rate pricing at $99/month (Standard) and $449/month (Premium) with generous included limits; no hidden costs for API access, branding removal, or basic features; best value for teams needing both no-code dashboard and developer APIs in one platform
Use case fit: Ideal for businesses needing both rapid no-code deployment and robust API capabilities, organizations handling diverse content types (1,400+ formats, multimedia transcription), teams requiring white-label chatbots with source citations for customer-facing or internal knowledge projects, and companies wanting all-in-one RAG without managing ML infrastructure
Customer Base & Case Studies
Scale: 600,000+ businesses served globally demonstrating mature product-market fit for customer messaging segment
Bootstrapped success: $1.4M revenue in 2024 as bootstrapped company (no external funding) validates sustainable business model
Geographic distribution: Global customer base with strong European presence due to EU data residency and GDPR compliance
Target market: SMBs seeking affordable Intercom alternatives with unified customer communication across channels
Use case validation: Customer support teams, e-commerce businesses, SaaS companies using omnichannel messaging with AI assistance
WhatsApp validation: Official Business Solution Provider status demonstrates platform quality and enterprise-grade integration capabilities
Uptime track record: >99.9945% reported uptime in 2019 demonstrates operational reliability at scale
N/A
N/A
Company Background
Founding: 2015 by Baptiste Jamin and Valerian Saliou in France (10 years of platform development)
Legal entity: Crisp IM SAS, French company headquartered in France
Funding status: Bootstrapped with $1.4M revenue in 2024 (no external venture capital)
Team size: 14-20 employees handling global customer base of 600,000+ businesses
Customer base: 600,000+ businesses globally with strong SMB focus and European presence
Product evolution: Proprietary Mirage AI model retrained November 2024 with 10x more data demonstrates ongoing platform investment
Market positioning: Affordable Intercom alternative for SMBs with EU data residency and comprehensive omnichannel messaging
Geographic focus: Global SaaS distribution with EU data storage (Netherlands, Germany) for GDPR compliance
N/A
N/A
A I Models
Proprietary Mirage AI: Custom-built model retrained November 2024 with 10x more training data, leverages leading open-source LLMs as foundation
Third-party integrations: ChatGPT/GPT-4o, Claude AI, Llama, Dialogflow accessible through chatbot builder
LIMITATION: Model selection dashboard-only - no API endpoint for programmatic switching between models
LIMITATION: No automatic model routing based on query complexity or cost optimization
LIMITATION: No exposed configuration for developers to adjust AI behavior or fine-tune responses via API
Undisclosed Proprietary LLM: Stonly does not publicly disclose the specific model powering AI Answers feature
No Model Selection: Users cannot choose between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, or other LLM providers
No Temperature Controls: No user-facing controls for adjusting response creativity, randomness, or formatting
No Fine-Tuning or Model Routing: Cannot customize model behavior beyond predefined AI Profiles and Custom Instructions
AI Profiles (Up to 20): Define tone, boundaries, and behavior for different use cases or audiences
Custom Instructions (Up to 100): Set specific rules and style guidelines for AI response generation
Guided AI Answers: Predefined responses for specific questions bypassing AI generation for sensitive scenarios
Automatic Fallback: Low-confidence scenarios trigger fallback to ML-powered search rather than forcing unreliable AI answer
Knowledge-Grounded Approach: AI responses anchored in Stonly guides, external websites, and PDFs to reduce hallucinations
Primary models: GPT-5.1 and 4 series from OpenAI, and Anthropic's Claude 4.5 (opus and sonnet) for enterprise needs
Automatic model selection: Balances cost and performance by automatically selecting the appropriate model for each request
Model Selection Details
Proprietary optimizations: Custom prompt engineering and retrieval enhancements for high-quality, citation-backed answers
Managed infrastructure: All model management handled behind the scenes - no API keys or fine-tuning required from users
Anti-hallucination technology: Advanced mechanisms ensure chatbot only answers based on provided content, improving trust and factual accuracy
R A G Capabilities
AI Hub training sources: Knowledge base articles, crawled website content, conversation history, Q&A snippets processed through proprietary system
Confidence scoring system: Adjustable thresholds across 4 AI search actions (MagicReply, Search Helpdesk, Search Webpages, Search Answer) to reduce hallucinations
Hallucination prevention: AI explicitly states when it cannot find relevant information rather than fabricating responses
CRITICAL LIMITATION: NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform - lacks vector databases, embedding controls, and configurable retrieval pipelines
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No RAG technical details documented - chunking strategies, embedding model specifications, vector database architecture undisclosed
LIMITATION: No reranking methodology documentation beyond mention of "Mirage reranking model"
LIMITATION: No benchmark results for accuracy published - no quantitative validation of RAG performance claims
LIMITATION: No mechanism for developers to inject context, provide examples, or fine-tune retrieval behavior programmatically
AI Answers (Enterprise Add-On): Generative AI responses grounded in Stonly guides, external websites, and selected PDFs
Knowledge-Grounding: Responses anchored to structured content (interactive guides, decision trees, checklists) reducing hallucinations vs generic chatbots
Confidence-Based Fallback: Automatic switch to ML-powered search when AI confidence is low preventing unreliable answers
Multi-Source Ingestion: PDF uploads, public website crawling, Zendesk help center content indexing
Interactive Guide Format: Proprietary content model combining structured workflows with AI-generated answers
Limited Data Sources: No Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, SharePoint, or YouTube transcript extraction
Manual Content Updates: Updates through Stonly's visual editor—no automatic syncing from external sources
71% Self-Serve Success Rate: Documented effectiveness of AI Answers in reducing support escalations
Hallucination Controls: Strong grounding in structured content vs open-ended conversational AI
Core architecture: GPT-4 combined with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, outperforming OpenAI in RAG benchmarks
RAG Performance
Anti-hallucination technology: Advanced mechanisms reduce hallucinations and ensure responses are grounded in provided content
Benchmark Details
Automatic citations: Each response includes clickable citations pointing to original source documents for transparency and verification
Optimized pipeline: Efficient vector search, smart chunking, and caching for sub-second reply times
Scalability: Maintains speed and accuracy for massive knowledge bases with tens of millions of words
Context-aware conversations: Multi-turn conversations with persistent history and comprehensive conversation management
Source verification: Always cites sources so users can verify facts on the spot
Use Cases
Customer support automation: Unified inbox across website, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter/X, SMS for omnichannel support
Agent productivity: MagicReply AI-suggested responses, conversation summarization, automatic categorization, live translation for international teams
Lead capture and qualification: Proactive chat triggers, visitor tracking, CRM integration with custom data fields
E-commerce support: Product inquiries, order tracking, multi-language customer service across social media and messaging apps
SaaS onboarding: Help desk integration, contextual chat based on page visited, seamless bot-to-human handoff
SMB communication hub: 600,000+ businesses use Crisp as affordable Intercom alternative with EU data residency
NOT suitable for: Custom RAG application development, programmatic knowledge retrieval, developer-facing AI APIs
Customer Support Ticket Deflection: 70-76% ticket reduction through interactive self-service guides and AI Answers
Help Desk Integration: Deep Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk, ServiceNow integration for unified support workflows
Interactive Onboarding: Step-by-step guides, decision trees, and checklists for product onboarding and user education
Knowledge Base Enhancement: Augment traditional help centers with interactive guides and AI-powered search
Agent Assistance: Provide support agents with guided workflows and AI answers during live interactions
Multi-Language Support: Auto-translation on Enterprise plan for global support teams and multilingual customers
Complex Troubleshooting: Decision tree logic guides users through multi-step troubleshooting processes
Compliance & Training: Structured guides ensuring consistent information delivery for regulated industries
Customer support automation: AI assistants handling common queries, reducing support ticket volume, providing 24/7 instant responses with source citations
Internal knowledge management: Employee self-service for HR policies, technical documentation, onboarding materials, company procedures across 1,400+ file formats
Sales enablement: Product information chatbots, lead qualification, customer education with white-labeled widgets on websites and apps
Documentation assistance: Technical docs, help centers, FAQs with automatic website crawling and sitemap indexing
Educational platforms: Course materials, research assistance, student support with multimedia content (YouTube transcriptions, podcasts)
Healthcare information: Patient education, medical knowledge bases (SOC 2 Type II compliant for sensitive data)
Two-factor authentication: Available for user accounts with identity verification support
Uptime SLA: Historically exceeds 99.99% (>99.9945% reported for 2019) with public status page
CRITICAL LIMITATION: SOC 2 certification absent - claims compliance with principles but has NOT completed formal audit (enterprise procurement blocker)
LIMITATION: No HIPAA certification, no ISO 27001 certification - limits adoption in regulated industries (healthcare, financial services)
LIMITATION: Workspace-level data isolation but not tenant-isolated in enterprise sense
SOC 2 Type 2: Service Organization Control certification for security, availability, and confidentiality
GDPR Compliant: European data protection regulation compliance with data processing agreements
HIPAA Compliant: Healthcare data protection requirements for medical organizations and patient information
ISO 27001: International information security management system standard
PCI Compliant: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for handling payment information
CSA Star Level 1: Cloud Security Alliance STAR self-assessment certification
Trust Center: Public trust.stonly.com with security documentation, subprocessor lists, and controls information
SAML 2.0 SSO (Enterprise): Single sign-on integration with enterprise identity providers
IP Allowlisting (Enterprise): Restrict access to specific IP ranges for enhanced security
Advanced RBAC (Enterprise): Role-based access control with granular permissions and activity tracking
Alternative pricing model: $95/month base + $45/month AI add-on + $0.10 per AI action (escalates costs at high volume)
Extra seats (Plus): €10/agent/month for additional team members
14-day free trials: All paid plans include trial period for evaluation
White-labeling cost: Included in Plus plan at €295/month - removes "We run on Crisp" watermark, custom email domains, custom Knowledge Base domains
CONCERN: AI usage caps on Essentials (50 uses/month at €95) create barriers for teams needing significant automation - unlimited requires €295 Plus tier
Automatic Tier Upgrades: Exceeding limits for 2 consecutive months triggers automatic upgrade and billing adjustment
Enterprise-Gated Features: AI Answers, Mobile SDKs, SAML SSO, white-labeling all require Enterprise plan
Average Enterprise Contract: ~$39,000 annually according to Vendr procurement data
Standard Plan: $99/month or $89/month annual - 10 custom chatbots, 5,000 items per chatbot, 60 million words per bot, basic helpdesk support, standard security
View Pricing
Premium Plan: $499/month or $449/month annual - 100 custom chatbots, 20,000 items per chatbot, 300 million words per bot, advanced support, enhanced security, additional customization
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing - Comprehensive AI solutions, highest security and compliance, dedicated account managers, custom SSO, token authentication, priority support with faster SLAs
Enterprise Solutions
7-Day Free Trial: Full access to Standard features without charges - available to all users
Annual billing discount: Save 10% by paying upfront annually ($89/mo Standard, $449/mo Premium)
Flat monthly rates: No per-query charges, no hidden costs for API access or white-labeling (included in all plans)
Managed infrastructure: Auto-scaling cloud infrastructure included - no additional hosting or scaling fees
Support & Documentation
Developer Hub: Comprehensive documentation at docs.crisp.chat with REST API references, RTM API guides, webhook setup, SDK installation guides, Postman collections
Chappe documentation builder: 228 GitHub stars - powers docs site demonstrating technical investment in documentation infrastructure
Chat-based support: Generally praised for responsiveness with direct chat access to support team
Enhanced support (Plus): Higher tier plans receive prioritized assistance and faster response times
Code examples: Available in official SDKs (Node.js, Go, PHP, Python, Ruby, iOS, Android, React Native) but real-world cookbook content sparse
LIMITATION: No public forum for developer knowledge sharing and community troubleshooting
LIMITATION: Minimal GitHub community engagement - most repositories show single-digit external contributors
LIMITATION: No dedicated account management details specified for Enterprise customers
4.8/5 G2 Rating: 132 reviews with consistently high satisfaction scores
Ease of Use Praised: "Ease of use" mentioned 32 times in G2 reviews indicating intuitive platform
Help Center Documentation: Comprehensive guides and tutorials for platform features
Email and Chat Support: Standard support channels for all paid plans
Dedicated Support (Enterprise): Priority support with dedicated account team and faster response times
Pre-Built Templates: Common support scenario templates accelerating guide creation
Quick Onboarding: Users report creating guides in under 30 minutes with small learning curve
REST API Documentation: API reference for user provisioning, content management, and widget control
Mobile SDKs (Enterprise): iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter for native app integration
Limited Developer Resources: No Python/Node.js SDKs, GraphQL, OpenAPI specs, or API Explorer/sandbox
Documentation hub: Rich docs, tutorials, cookbooks, FAQs, API references for rapid onboarding
Developer Docs
Email and in-app support: Quick support via email and in-app chat for all users
Premium support: Premium and Enterprise plans include dedicated account managers and faster SLAs
Code samples: Cookbooks, step-by-step guides, and examples for every skill level
API Documentation
Real-Time Knowledge Updates: Always available manual retraining across all plans - but automatic syncing only for Knowledge Base articles (not website crawls or docs)
Automatic Syncing: Limited to Knowledge Base articles - website crawls require manual refresh requests (NO automatic sync for web content)
Bot Personality Customization: Customize chatbot's personality and responses to cater to different user segments or scenarios enhancing engagement
Consistent Personality Traits: Bot should always communicate and respond in same tone, dialect, and manner - personalities should never change, moods remain even and predictable
System Prompt Customization: Advanced options allow giving instructions to MagicReply to shape personality (e.g., "You are a very patient instructor")
Custom Workflow Automation: Design automated workflows catering to business needs where user interactions dynamically managed based on specific conditions
Keyword-Based Routing: Automatically escalating chats to supervisor based on keyword detection or routing inquiries to appropriate department
Confidence Threshold Control: Each AI action supports configurable thresholds to balance accuracy vs coverage and reduce hallucinations
LIMITATION: No programmatic personality management - tone/behavior settings dashboard-only, cannot modify per-user or via API (global configuration only)
LIMITATION: Training permissions bottleneck - only workspace owners can launch AI training sessions (team bottleneck for larger organizations)
CSS and HTML customization: Change layout and look of knowledge base with custom code capabilities
Intuitive customization tools: Easy-to-use tools that don't require code for basic customization
Layout customization: Decide how content is structured and presented with flexible options
Design controls: Manage visual components like colors, logo, or cover image for brand alignment
Personalized content: Use customer data to show personalized content from knowledge base for targeted experiences
Data-driven personalization: Customers see what they need right away when first accessing knowledge base
Analytics insights: Guide usage analytics provide insight into customer behavior for continuous improvement
Highly flexible platform: Users appreciate ability to use Stonly for knowledge bases and guided tours with target properties based on specific user needs
Rich media support: Add images, GIFs, videos, and annotations to bring knowledge base content to life
Third-party scripts: Install scripts from other tools like Google Analytics for extended functionality
Lets you add, remove, or tweak content on the fly—automatic re-indexing keeps everything current.
Shapes agent behavior through system prompts and sample Q&A, ensuring a consistent voice and focus.
Learn How to Update Sources
Supports multiple agents per account, so different teams can have their own bots.
Balances hands-on control with smart defaults—no deep ML expertise required to get tailored behavior.
Additional Considerations
Steep Learning Curve: Users frequently report steep learning curve for AI chatbot builder with complex workflows requiring significant time and technical understanding to implement effectively
Not Intuitive Without Technical Background: Getting AI chatbot and automated workflows running way more complex and time-consuming than expected - not intuitive unless you have technical background
Limited AI on Essentials Plan: AI heavily limited on Essentials plan (just 50 uses/month) - far too low for any real support automation in 2025, requires €295/month Plus plan for unlimited AI
Reliability Concerns: Several reviews mention significant bugs with worrying concern being occasional failure to deliver agent replies to customers severely impacting trust and support quality
Fewer Integrations: Fewer integrations compared to Zendesk or Intercom with analytics less comprehensive than enterprise solutions
Limited Advanced Features: Lacks advanced reporting, complex workflow automation, and sophisticated user management needed for larger fast-growing teams
Pricing Transparency Issues: Users frequently express frustration with unclear or confusing pricing - core AI and automation features only available in higher-tier plans with additional costs or limitations on "AI-powered resolutions" not immediately apparent
Scaling Cost Challenges: High-traffic teams quickly outgrow lower tiers which cap features like maximum seats, automation triggers, and integrations with many key advanced features locked behind higher-priced plans
AI as Add-On: Crisp started as communication platform first with AI features feeling like added layer on top rather than solution built around AI from beginning
Best For: Small businesses needing one central place for all customer chats just starting to explore very basic automation with strongest capabilities being shared inbox and live chat tools
NOT Ideal For: Teams wanting to seriously use AI to automate support where weak spots (limited AI uses, complex setup, reliability issues) become hard to ignore
Limited UI customization: Limited ability to customize user interface and workflows to match specific brand requirements is primary user concern
Basic collaboration tools: Without real-time editing or advanced team management features can hinder team productivity when multiple people need to work together
No offline access: Guides unavailable without internet connectivity reducing usability in areas with unreliable internet
Performance degradation: Can degrade with very large or complex guides causing slower responsiveness indicating scalability concerns
Restricted language options: Limit efficient creation of multilingual content which may be barrier for global organizations
Mixed media support missing: Users find missing features wishing for mixed media support and enhanced reporting tools
Step ordering difficulties: Users report limitations in feature usability and difficulties with step ordering though support offers helpful workarounds
Requires coding knowledge: Unlike most competitors, doesn't advertise as no-code platform - need coding knowledge to track events, target users, stream data, and style content
Image workflow limitations: Inability to use images in base offering limits utility in some workflows with some advanced features requiring extra costs
View-based pricing: Charges additional fees based on guide views - customers exceeding 4,000 guide views/month pay extra $250-500 monthly depending on volume
Integration reliability: Users find lack of integrations limits ability to fully connect Stonly with other tools - Stonly/Zendesk integration isn't as reliable as desired (stops working every few weeks)
Slashes engineering overhead with an all-in-one RAG platform—no in-house ML team required.
Gets you to value quickly: launch a functional AI assistant in minutes.
Stays current with ongoing GPT and retrieval improvements, so you’re always on the latest tech.
Balances top-tier accuracy with ease of use, perfect for customer-facing or internal knowledge projects.
Limitations & Considerations
Platform classification: CUSTOMER MESSAGING PLATFORM with AI features, NOT a dedicated RAG-as-a-Service solution
AI usage constraints: 50 AI uses/month on Essentials (€95) creates automation barriers - unlimited requires €295 Plus tier
Manual retraining required: Website crawls need manual refresh requests (NO automatic sync for web content), only Knowledge Base articles auto-sync
Training permissions bottleneck: Only workspace owners can launch AI training sessions (team bottleneck for larger organizations)
No cloud storage integrations: Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, OneDrive all absent without third-party workarounds
No YouTube transcript support: Cannot ingest video content for knowledge base
No programmatic bot management: Chatbots configured exclusively via dashboard's no-code builder, no API for bot creation or management
Missing RAG APIs: No vector store endpoints, no embedding generation API, no semantic search API, no context retrieval endpoint
Analytics dashboard-only: No analytics API for programmatic access to performance data or usage statistics
Certification gaps: SOC 2 absent (claims compliance without formal audit), no HIPAA, no ISO 27001 - limits regulated industry adoption
Template library limited: Users must build flows manually vs competitors with extensive template libraries
Use case fit: Excellent for businesses wanting to USE AI-powered customer support; does NOT serve developers wanting to BUILD custom RAG applications
NOT a RAG-as-a-Service Platform: Fundamentally a knowledge base tool with embedded AI—not a flexible RAG backend
AI Answers Enterprise-Gated: Core AI capabilities require expensive Enterprise plan (~$39K/year)—not available on $249/month Small Business tier
Undisclosed AI Model: No transparency on LLM provider—users cannot select or customize models
Limited Data Source Flexibility: PDF, public web, Zendesk only—missing Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion, SharePoint, YouTube
No Automatic Content Syncing: Manual updates through visual editor—no real-time integration with external knowledge sources
Missing Consumer Messaging: No Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft Teams native integrations (confirmed by user reviews)
No Omnichannel Messaging: Primarily website embedding and help desk integration—limited multi-channel support
Cannot Edit on Mobile: Guide creation and editing restricted to desktop—mobile limitation for on-the-go teams
No Real-Time Analytics: Flow reports update every 15 minutes—not true real-time monitoring
Limited Developer API: No Python/Node.js SDKs, GraphQL, Swagger specs, or API sandbox for testing
Overage Pricing Escalation: View limits can trigger expensive automatic upgrades after 2 consecutive months
Not Ideal For: Developers seeking pure RAG API, multi-tenant SaaS RAG backends, use cases needing model selection/fine-tuning, or flexible data source integration
Managed service approach: Less control over underlying RAG pipeline configuration compared to build-your-own solutions like LangChain
Vendor lock-in: Proprietary platform - migration to alternative RAG solutions requires rebuilding knowledge bases
Model selection: Limited to OpenAI (GPT-5.1 and 4 series) and Anthropic (Claude, opus and sonnet 4.5) - no support for other LLM providers (Cohere, AI21, open-source models)
Pricing at scale: Flat-rate pricing may become expensive for very high-volume use cases (millions of queries/month) compared to pay-per-use models
Customization limits: While highly configurable, some advanced RAG techniques (custom reranking, hybrid search strategies) may not be exposed
Language support: Supports 90+ languages but performance may vary for less common languages or specialized domains
Real-time data: Knowledge bases require re-indexing for updates - not ideal for real-time data requirements (stock prices, live inventory)
Enterprise features: Some advanced features (custom SSO, token authentication) only available on Enterprise plan with custom pricing
Customization & Branding
UI customization: Colors, branding, positioning, custom triggers per page, proactive messages with personalization tokens
Widget white-labeling (Plus €295/month): Remove "We run on Crisp" watermark, custom email domains, custom Knowledge Base domains
Chatbot personality: Custom prompts define tone and behavior, bot name customization, composition animations for human-like feel, brand voice alignment
A/B testing: Placement and copy testing for optimization of engagement and conversion rates
Multi-lingual support: Automatic language detection from browser settings, phone number prefixes, account preferences with chatbot block translation across locales
Domain allowlisting: Control where widget appears for security and brand protection
LIMITATION: Advanced CSS customization capabilities unclear - platform favors preset options over deep styling control (vs competitors with full CSS access)
LIMITATION: Domain restrictions for widget deployment not explicitly documented - transparency gap for security configuration
LIMITATION: Programmatic personality management absent - tone/behavior settings dashboard-only, cannot modify per-user or via API (global configuration only)
Visual editor: Intuitive no-code interface for creating guides, decision trees, checklists, forms
CSS customization: Available on all paid plans
White-labeling: Enterprise plan only - complete branding removal
Pre-built templates: Common support scenarios covered
Role-based access control: Advanced permissions on Enterprise plan
Learning curve: Described as "small" - users can create guides in under 30 minutes
Note: No formal content approval workflows documented
Note: Cannot edit guides on mobile devices
Note: Angular framework compatibility issues reported - "Stonly onboarding will work randomly" with dynamic code
Fully white-labels the widget—colors, logos, icons, CSS, everything can match your brand.
White-label Options
Provides a no-code dashboard to set welcome messages, bot names, and visual themes.
Lets you shape the AI’s persona and tone using pre-prompts and system instructions.
Uses domain allowlisting to ensure the chatbot appears only on approved sites.
Wizard-style setup: Guided configuration for data sources, AI training, widget embedding
LIMITATION: Pre-built templates limited - no industry-specific templates (e-commerce, SaaS support, lead qualification) out of box (7/10 rated - functional but requires customization effort)
LIMITATION: Setting up automated workflows can take time for users unfamiliar with automation tools
LIMITATION: While no-code, lacks advanced AI-powered features found in dedicated chatbot platforms like Intercom or Drift
4.8/5 ease of use rating on G2
"Ease of use" mentioned 32 times in G2 reviews
Visual drag-and-drop editor requires no coding
Small learning curve - non-technical teams productive quickly
Guide creation in under 30 minutes reported by users
Pre-built templates for common scenarios
Intuitive interface for support teams
Note: Some navigation confusion reported in admin interface
Note: Cannot edit on mobile devices
Offers a wizard-style web dashboard so non-devs can upload content, brand the widget, and monitor performance.
Supports drag-and-drop uploads, visual theme editing, and in-browser chatbot testing.
User Experience Review
Uses role-based access so business users and devs can collaborate smoothly.
Note: Available only as paid Enterprise add-on - not included in Small Business plan
Generative AI responses grounded in Stonly guides, external websites, and selected PDFs
20 AI Profiles per team: Define tone, boundaries, and behavior
100 Custom Instructions per team: Detailed response rules
Guided AI Answers: Predefined responses for specific questions
Confidence-based fallback: Automatically switches to ML-powered search when AI confidence is low
71% self-serve success rate achieved with AI Answers
Hallucination reduction: Knowledge-grounding approach vs generic chatbots
N/A
Core Agent Features
N/A
Conversational AI Bot: Delivers confident answers backed by verified structured knowledge unlike generic LLMs that can hallucinate or invent answers
Knowledge-grounded responses: Provides answers backed by verified structured knowledge from guides you create preventing fabricated information
AI Agent Assist: Automatically summarizes tickets, suggests right path to resolution, and generates responses for support agents
Three core automation functions: Automatically analyzes and summarizes support ticket content, recommends most relevant Stonly guide/knowledge path to resolve issues, drafts complete responses for agents to review/edit/send
Process automation: Define processes to be followed and link them to different back-office tools to resolve customer requests before they reach support
Personalized knowledge: AI-powered solutions and process automation allow creation of guides, walkthroughs, checklists, knowledge bases adapting to each customer's needs
71% self-serve success rate: With AI Answers feature documented in company data
Hallucination reduction: Knowledge-grounding approach vs generic chatbots reduces off-topic responses
Custom AI Agents: Build autonomous agents powered by GPT-4 and Claude that can perform tasks independently and make real-time decisions based on business knowledge
Decision-Support Capabilities: AI agents analyze proprietary data to provide insights, recommendations, and actionable responses specific to your business domain
Multi-Agent Systems: Deploy multiple specialized AI agents that can collaborate and optimize workflows in areas like customer support, sales, and internal knowledge management
Memory & Context Management: Agents maintain conversation history and persistent context for coherent multi-turn interactions
View Agent Documentation
Tool Integration: Agents can trigger actions, integrate with external APIs via webhooks, and connect to 5,000+ apps through Zapier for automated workflows
Hyper-Accurate Responses: Leverages advanced RAG technology and retrieval mechanisms to deliver context-aware, citation-backed responses grounded in your knowledge base
Continuous Learning: Agents improve over time through automatic re-indexing of knowledge sources and integration of new data without manual retraining
After analyzing features, pricing, performance, and user feedback, both Crisp and Stonly are capable platforms that serve different market segments and use cases effectively.
When to Choose Crisp
You value omnichannel messaging with native whatsapp, messenger, instagram, telegram, twitter/x, sms, line, slack integrations
600,000+ businesses served demonstrating mature product-market fit
Proprietary Mirage AI model plus third-party LLM support (GPT-4o, Claude, Llama, Dialogflow)
Best For: Omnichannel messaging with native WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter/X, SMS, Line, Slack integrations
When to Choose Stonly
You value exceptional ease of use - 4.8/5 g2 rating with intuitive visual editor praised in 32 reviews
Deep help desk integrations - bidirectional Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshdesk, ServiceNow connections
Strong compliance - SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI, CSA Star Level 1
Best For: Exceptional ease of use - 4.8/5 G2 rating with intuitive visual editor praised in 32 reviews
Migration & Switching Considerations
Switching between Crisp and Stonly requires careful planning. Consider data export capabilities, API compatibility, and integration complexity. Both platforms offer migration support, but expect 2-4 weeks for complete transition including testing and team training.
Pricing Comparison Summary
Crisp starts at $45/month, while Stonly begins at $249/month. Total cost of ownership should factor in implementation time, training requirements, API usage fees, and ongoing support. Enterprise deployments typically see annual costs ranging from $10,000 to $500,000+ depending on scale and requirements.
Our Recommendation Process
Start with a free trial - Both platforms offer trial periods to test with your actual data
Define success metrics - Response accuracy, latency, user satisfaction, cost per query
Test with real use cases - Don't rely on generic demos; use your production data
Evaluate total cost - Factor in implementation time, training, and ongoing maintenance
Check vendor stability - Review roadmap transparency, update frequency, and support quality
For most organizations, the decision between Crisp and Stonly comes down to specific requirements rather than overall superiority. Evaluate both platforms with your actual data during trial periods, focusing on accuracy, latency, ease of integration, and total cost of ownership.
📚 Next Steps
Ready to make your decision? We recommend starting with a hands-on evaluation of both platforms using your specific use case and data.
• Review: Check the detailed feature comparison table above
• Test: Sign up for free trials and test with real queries
• Calculate: Estimate your monthly costs based on expected usage
• Decide: Choose the platform that best aligns with your requirements
Last updated: December 12, 2025 | This comparison is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the latest platform capabilities, pricing, and user feedback.
The most accurate RAG-as-a-Service API. Deliver production-ready reliable RAG applications faster. Benchmarked #1 in accuracy and hallucinations for fully managed RAG-as-a-Service API.
DevRel at CustomGPT.ai. Passionate about AI and its applications. Here to help you navigate the world of AI tools and make informed decisions for your business.
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