In this comprehensive guide, we compare Stonly and Tidio 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 Stonly and Tidio, 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 Stonly if: you value exceptional ease of use - 4.8/5 g2 rating with intuitive visual editor praised in 32 reviews
Choose Tidio if: you value exceptional ease of use: 4.7/5 g2 rating with 253 'ease of use' and 161 'easy setup' mentions
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
About Tidio
Tidio is no-code customer service automation with claude 3-powered ai chatbots. Customer service automation platform with Claude 3-powered Lyro AI achieving 67-90% resolution rates. Founded 2013 by Tytus Gołąs (Poland), serves 300,000+ businesses including Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio. NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform—optimized for SMB/e-commerce no-code chatbot building with exceptional ease of use (4.7/5 G2, 1,600+ reviews). SOC 2 Type II + GDPR certified. Critical gaps: NO programmatic knowledge API, NO LLM model selection (Claude-only), NO cloud storage integrations. $0-$2,999+/month with per-conversation billing ($0.50/Lyro chat). Founded in 2013, headquartered in San Francisco, CA (offices in Szczecin and Warsaw, Poland), the platform has established itself as a reliable solution in the RAG space.
Overall Rating
87/100
Starting Price
$29/mo
Key Differences at a Glance
In terms of user ratings, Stonly in overall satisfaction. From a cost perspective, Tidio offers more competitive entry pricing. The platforms also differ in their primary focus: Knowledge Management versus Customer Support. 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
Stonly
Tidio
CustomGPTRECOMMENDED
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources
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
Website URL crawling: Primary method scanning up to 500 URLs (expandable on Plus plans) with automatic Q&A pair extraction from web content
PDF uploads: Direct file upload support for PDF documents
CSV imports: Maximum 500 entries per file, 10,000 total Q&A limit across all sources
Manual Q&A creation: Admin panel configuration for custom question-answer pairs
Zendesk Help Center: Article import via API (closest to external knowledge integration available)
Automatic weekly re-sync: Website source updates available only on Plus/Premium plans
Continuous Q&A suggestions: System suggests new pairs from unanswered questions and historical conversations requiring manual review before activation
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO Word document (DOCX) support, No NO TXT files, No NO Excel files, No NO YouTube transcript processing, No NO audio/video file support, No NO code file ingestion
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO native cloud storage integrations - Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion connect via Zapier for workflows only (NOT as knowledge sources)
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO programmatic knowledge upload API - all data ingestion requires UI-based management, blocking automation workflows
Scaling constraint: 10,000 Q&A entry limit caps knowledge base size vs unlimited in RAG platforms
Per-conversation billing: Averaging $0.50 per AI conversation limits cost-effective scaling for high-volume use cases
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.
L L M Model Options
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
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No Claude 3 LLM ONLY - NO model selection or routing available
Proprietary implementation: Tidio uses Claude 3 combined with proprietary control mechanisms (not publicly documented architecture)
Fixed processing: Cannot switch between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Gemini, Llama, or custom models based on query complexity or cost optimization
NO BYOLLM: No No bring-your-own-model capabilities for enterprise customization or fine-tuning
Response personalization: Limited to Lyro Guidance instructions (tone, emoji, escalation rules) rather than direct prompt engineering
Competitive gap: Eliminates LLM flexibility entirely vs RAG platforms offering multi-provider model selection (rated 3/10 for model flexibility - major architectural limitation)
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.
Performance & Accuracy
71% self-serve success rate with AI Answers feature (company data)
70-76% support ticket reduction documented in case studies
99.9% uptime claimed but no published SLA details or response time data
Note: No published latency metrics or performance benchmarks
Note: No real-time analytics - Flow reports update every 15 minutes
Hallucination controls: Strong grounding in structured content reduces off-topic responses
Widget lazy loading: Minimizes impact on host website performance
Response time: Real-time chat delivery optimized for sub-second messaging; exact latency benchmarks not publicly disclosed but consistently praised for responsiveness in G2 reviews (4.7/5, 1,600+ reviews)
Accuracy metrics: 79-87% Lyro AI success rate after Claude 3 upgrade (up from 50-70% pre-upgrade); customer case studies report 89-90% automation rates for well-configured implementations (Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio)
Context retrieval: Q&A extraction from URLs/PDFs/CSVs with automatic knowledge base building; strict knowledge base boundaries prevent hallucinations; no configurable similarity thresholds or hybrid search strategies exposed
Scalability: 300,000+ businesses served globally demonstrating SMB/e-commerce market fit; infrastructure supports high-volume deployments but per-conversation pricing model ($0.50/Lyro chat) constrains cost scaling vs unlimited usage platforms
Reliability: SLA guarantees on Premium tier ($2,999+/month) with 50% resolution guarantee and uptime commitments; platform stability consistently praised in reviews with "reliable" as common theme
Benchmarks: No published performance benchmarks comparing retrieval speed, accuracy, or latency against competitors; Claude 3 upgrade validation through customer case studies (89-90% automation rates)
Quality indicators: G2 rating 4.7/5 (1,600+ reviews, 68% five-star ratings); users praise ease of use, Shopify integration, visual Flow Builder, but note analytics depth limitations and per-conversation pricing at scale
Delivers sub-second replies with an optimized pipeline—efficient vector search, smart chunking, and caching.
Independent tests rate median answer accuracy at 5/5—outpacing many alternatives.
Benchmark Results
Always cites sources so users can verify facts on the spot.
Maintains speed and accuracy even for massive knowledge bases with tens of millions of words.
Developer Experience ( A P I & S D Ks)
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
Three API tiers: Widget SDK (tidioChatAPI - free), OpenAPI REST (Plus $749/month), Webhooks (Plus $749/month)
Widget SDK (free): Controls widget open/close, user identification, event tracking via JavaScript tidioChatAPI interface
OpenAPI (REST): Manages contacts, tickets, conversations, operators with 10-120 requests/minute based on plan (Starter/Growth: 10/min, Plus: 60/min, Premium: 120/min)
Webhooks (Plus+): Real-time event notifications for conversations, tickets, customer satisfaction with 10-second response timeouts
Mobile SDKs: iOS and Android with full Lyro AI support and 15-30 minute implementation time, customizable UI styling within apps
Documentation: developers.tidio.com (beta status) with code snippets and interactive testing but limited depth for advanced use cases
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO official SDKs for any programming language (Python, JavaScript, Node.js) - requires direct HTTP calls to REST API
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO programmatic knowledge management endpoints - cannot upload documents, manage Q&A pairs, or configure knowledge base via API
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO Lyro AI querying API - cannot trigger AI responses or access retrieval endpoints programmatically
CRITICAL LIMITATION: No NO RAG-specific APIs for semantic search, embedding management, chunking configuration, or retrieval parameters
Support gap: Tidio explicitly states 'cannot provide direct assistance with API implementations' - developer support severely limited
Ships a well-documented REST API for creating agents, managing projects, ingesting data, and querying chat.
API Documentation
Webhooks: Require Plus subscription ($749/month) for bidirectional data sync via Tray.io with real-time event notifications
Marketing tools: Google Analytics, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign
CRITICAL GAPS: No NO native Slack integration (Zapier notifications only, not bidirectional chat), No NO Microsoft Teams integration, No NO Telegram native support (requires third-party Zapier/Make tools)
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.
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
UI customization: Visual live editor with theme presets, color pickers supporting custom hex codes, logo uploads, position controls (left/right), operating hours display automatically showing availability status
Branding control: Light/dark mode built-in theme switching with automatic user preference detection, custom CSS via JavaScript SDK for advanced styling beyond presets
White-labeling: $20/month addon on Growth tier OR included with Plus ($749+/month); not available on Free/Starter plans; custom branded agent avatars and logos require Plus plans minimum
Custom domain: Not explicitly documented in public materials; likely requires Plus or Premium plan with custom deployment infrastructure (specifics require sales engagement)
Design flexibility: Separate mobile widget settings with device-specific hiding options, mobile responsiveness with mobile-specific configuration separate from web widget
Mobile customization: Responsive widget adapts to mobile devices; mobile-specific branding controls inherit desktop configuration; mobile app functionality limitations noted in user reviews
Domain restrictions: Control which websites can embed widget through trusted domains configuration for security
Role-based access: Admin, Moderator, and Agent roles with configurable permissions on Growth+ plans; agent groups for departmental routing enabling organizational structure
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.
Core Knowledge Base Features
Interactive step-by-step guides with visual flow builder
Agent-level performance: Individual response times, handled conversation counts, workload distribution for team optimization
Real-time monitoring: Live visitor lists, typing preview, conversation takeover capabilities for immediate intervention
Lyro-specific analytics: Resolution rates, unanswered questions tracking, knowledge base gap identification for continuous improvement
Smart Insights: AI-generated recommendations for metric improvement based on conversation pattern analysis
Scheduled reports: Daily/weekly/monthly delivery via email with CSV export for custom analysis in external tools
LIMITATION: Note: Analytics depth falls short of enterprise expectations - users report 'helpful but not as detailed as enterprise tools' with limited funnel and flow-level analytics
LIMITATION: No NO AI performance metrics - no retrieval accuracy dashboards, semantic search performance tracking, hallucination rate monitoring (focuses on operational metrics)
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.
Pricing & Scalability
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
Plus: $749/month - Custom billable (2,000+ conversations), up to 5,000 Lyro conversations, API access, webhooks, white-labeling, Customer Success Manager
Premium: $2,999+/month - Unlimited billable conversations, up to 10,000 Lyro conversations, 50% resolution guarantee, SLAs, unlimited operators
Per-conversation billing: Lyro AI costs approximately $0.50 per conversation (1 conversation = 1 customer interaction with AI reply, auto-closes after 15 minutes inactivity)
10-operator cap: Note: All self-serve plans (Free through Plus) limited to 10 operators - unlimited seats require Premium tier ($2,999+/month)
API access locked: Note: OpenAPI and Webhooks require Plus plan minimum ($749/month) - unavailable on Free/Starter/Growth tiers
White-labeling cost: Note: $20/month addon on Growth tier OR included with Plus ($749+/month)
Annual savings: ~20% discount when paying annually vs monthly billing
Cost scaling concern: Per-conversation model at $0.50/Lyro chat escalates costs at high volume vs unlimited usage in RAG platforms
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.
Security & Privacy
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
SOC 2 Type II: Achieved October 2025 through A-LIGN audit covering Security, Availability, and Confidentiality trust criteria
GDPR Compliant: May 2018 certification with designated Data Protection Officer and full subject rights support (access, rectification, erasure, portability)
AWS infrastructure: All customer data resides on AWS in EEA member countries for European data sovereignty
Encryption: TLS 1.2+ with 256-bit SSL for transit, AES-256 for data at rest, irreversible password hashing (no plaintext storage)
Two-factor authentication: TOTP-based 2FA available on all plans for account security
Role-based access control: Admin, Moderator, and Agent roles with configurable permissions on Growth+ plans
SSO: Single sign-on on Enterprise plans for centralized identity management
30-day audit logs: Available on Business plan for compliance tracking and security monitoring
AI data privacy: Lyro conversations NOT used for training public AI models - Anthropic's Claude processes in-session only without persistent data storage
LIMITATION: No NO HIPAA certification - SOC 2 Type II + GDPR only (Tidio indicates working toward healthcare compliance but no timeline)
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.
Knowledge base: Self-service articles and video tutorials for common setup and troubleshooting scenarios
User satisfaction: 4.7/5 G2 rating (1,600+ reviews) with support quality consistently praised
LIMITATION: No NO public community forums or user groups for peer support and knowledge sharing
LIMITATION: No NO phone support available on any tier (chat and email only)
Developer support gap: Tidio explicitly states 'cannot provide direct assistance with API implementations' - technical support severely limited for custom integrations
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.
No- Code Interface & Usability
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
Visual builder: Drag-and-drop Flow Builder for conversation automation with NLP intent recognition; no programming knowledge required (253 G2 'Ease of Use' mentions)
Setup complexity: 2-minute JavaScript snippet installation for website embedding; consistently praised in reviews for "easy setup" (161 G2 mentions) and rapid deployment
Learning curve: G2 rating 4.7/5 (1,600+ reviews) with "intuitive" interface for non-technical users; designed for business teams without developer resources vs API-centric platforms
Pre-built templates: 40+ pre-built templates for sales, lead generation, support scenarios reducing time-to-deployment; templates include common conversation flows and automation patterns
No-code workflows: Testing simulator validates flows before publishing with built-in emulation preventing production errors; export/import functionality for sharing flows between accounts or backup configurations
User experience: Lyro knowledge setup through simple URL or file upload with AI extracting Q&A pairs automatically - no technical skills required for configuration; HTTP request support (GET, POST, PATCH, PUT, DELETE) within chatbot automation supporting JSON, Text, GraphQL formats with multiple authentication methods
Competitive advantage: SMBs and non-technical teams deploy chatbots in minutes vs hours/days in API-centric platforms (9.5/10 rated differentiator for ease of use)
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.
R A G-as-a- Service Assessment
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
Platform classification: CUSTOMER SERVICE AUTOMATION PLATFORM with AI assistance, NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform
Architecture philosophy: Designed for no-code chatbot building and agent productivity enhancement, not autonomous knowledge retrieval
Target audience: SMBs and e-commerce businesses needing easy chatbot deployment vs developers requiring programmatic RAG control
Missing RAG foundations: NO vector database, NO embedding controls, NO LLM model selection, NO anti-hallucination mechanisms, NO retrieval configuration APIs
Knowledge source gap: Limited to URLs, PDFs, CSVs (max 10,000 Q&A entries) vs 1,400+ formats and unlimited scaling in RAG platforms
API focus: Chat operations (contacts, tickets, conversations) vs RAG operations (semantic search, retrieval, embeddings, chunking)
Use case fit: Excellent for SMB customer service automation and e-commerce support, inappropriate for enterprise-scale document retrieval requiring accuracy controls
Competitive positioning: Different category from CustomGPT - customer service automation vs RAG-as-a-Service (rated 2/10 as RAG platform - fundamentally different architecture)
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
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
vs CustomGPT: Tidio excels in no-code ease of use and e-commerce integration; CustomGPT excels in RAG architecture and programmatic control
vs Intercom/LiveChat/Zendesk: Tidio competes in customer service automation with comparable features, lower pricing, stronger Shopify integration
vs Drift: Both focus on conversational automation - Tidio emphasizes SMB/e-commerce support, Drift emphasizes enterprise sales teams
vs RAG platforms (Vectara, Pinecone Assistant, Ragie): Fundamentally different architecture - Tidio not designed for autonomous retrieval, lacks RAG infrastructure
Market niche: No-code customer service automation for SMBs and e-commerce with exceptional ease of use (4.7/5 G2), NOT a RAG alternative for knowledge retrieval
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
A I Models
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
Fixed Claude 3 implementation: Lyro AI exclusively powered by Anthropic's Claude 3 with proprietary control mechanisms - no model selection available
Model selection rationale: Claude chosen for being "developed with the goal of becoming helpful, honest, and harmless" - explicit decision prioritizing safety over GPT alternatives
Success rate improvement: 79-87% automation rate after Claude 3 upgrade (up from 50-70% with pre-Claude 3 models) demonstrating significant performance gains
Customer automation rates: Case studies report 89-90% automation for well-configured implementations (Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio validation)
CRITICAL LIMITATION: NO model switching: Cannot switch between GPT-3.5, GPT-4, Gemini, Llama, or custom models based on query complexity or cost optimization needs
CRITICAL LIMITATION: NO BYOLLM: No bring-your-own-model capabilities for enterprise customization or fine-tuning on proprietary data
CRITICAL LIMITATION: NO automatic routing: No intelligent model routing, fallback strategies, or load balancing across different LLM providers
Response personalization limits: Customization restricted to Lyro Guidance instructions (tone, emoji, escalation rules) rather than direct prompt engineering or system prompts
Competitive gap: Eliminates LLM flexibility entirely vs RAG platforms offering multi-provider model selection (rated 3/10 for model flexibility - major architectural limitation)
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 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
CRITICAL ARCHITECTURAL GAP: NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform: Lacks vector databases, embedding controls, and configurable retrieval pipelines found in true RAG systems
Q&A extraction system: Automatic Q&A pair generation from URLs/PDFs/CSVs through opaque internal processing - methodology not publicly documented
Knowledge base boundaries: Strict knowledge base boundaries prevent hallucinations - Lyro answers only from provided sources and automatically escalates when uncertain
NO chunking parameters exposed: Chunk size, overlap strategy, and chunking methodology not accessible for optimization or tuning
NO embedding model selection: Cannot choose between OpenAI, Cohere, custom embedding models, or configure embedding dimensions
NO similarity threshold controls: Cannot configure cosine similarity thresholds, retrieval scoring, confidence levels, or top-k results
NO hybrid search: No combination of keyword (BM25) and semantic search strategies or configurable weighting between approaches
NO anti-hallucination mechanisms: No citation attribution, source verification, or granular confidence scoring - responses cannot be traced to specific source documents
NO retrieval APIs: No programmatic access to semantic search, embedding management, or retrieval endpoints - knowledge management UI-only
Competitive positioning: Customer service automation platform with AI assistance, NOT autonomous knowledge retrieval system - fundamentally different architecture from RAG platforms (rated 2/10 as RAG platform)
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 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
SMB customer service automation: Perfect for small-to-medium businesses needing easy chatbot deployment for basic support queries (4.7/5 G2 rating, 1,600+ reviews)
E-commerce support: Deep Shopify/WooCommerce integration for order management, cart recovery, and product recommendations - 60,000+ WordPress installations demonstrate e-commerce fit
Multi-channel support: Unified inbox for website live chat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, WhatsApp Business API, email ticketing (omnichannel deployment)
No-code chatbot building: Visual Flow Builder with 40+ templates enables non-technical teams to deploy chatbots in minutes without developer resources
Lead generation and qualification: Capture visitor information, qualify leads through conversation flows, sync to CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)
NOT ideal for: Enterprise-scale document retrieval requiring accuracy controls, RAG applications needing semantic search and embedding configuration, or knowledge-intensive use cases requiring citation validation
NOT ideal for: Organizations requiring programmatic knowledge management APIs, LLM model flexibility (GPT-4/Gemini switching), or advanced RAG features (hybrid search, reranking, query expansion)
NOT ideal for: High-volume automation (per-conversation pricing at $0.50/chat escalates costs vs unlimited usage platforms), teams needing more than 10 operators (Premium tier required at $2,999+/month)
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)
International Data Transfers: Standard Contractual Clauses for EU compliance and data protection
Data Residency: Options not publicly documented—may limit deployment in certain jurisdictions
SOC 2 Type II certified: Achieved October 2025 through A-LIGN audit covering Security, Availability, and Confidentiality trust criteria - demonstrates enterprise-grade security controls
GDPR Compliant: May 2018 certification with designated Data Protection Officer and full subject rights support (access, rectification, erasure, portability, restriction)
AWS infrastructure: All customer data resides on AWS in EEA member countries for European data sovereignty and GDPR compliance
Encryption standards: TLS 1.2+ with 256-bit SSL for data in transit, AES-256 for data at rest, irreversible password hashing (no plaintext storage)
Two-factor authentication: TOTP-based 2FA available on all plans for account security hardening
Role-based access control: Admin, Moderator, and Agent roles with configurable permissions on Growth+ plans; agent groups for departmental routing
SSO: Single sign-on available on Enterprise plans for centralized identity management and authentication
30-day audit logs: Available on Business plan for compliance tracking, security monitoring, and incident investigation
AI data privacy: Lyro conversations NOT used for training public AI models - Anthropic's Claude processes in-session only without persistent data storage or model training
LIMITATION: NO HIPAA certification: SOC 2 Type II + GDPR only - Tidio indicates working toward healthcare compliance but no timeline or BAA availability
LIMITATION: Limited compliance scope: No ISO 27001, PCI DSS Level 1, or FedRAMP certifications limiting adoption in regulated industries beyond basic GDPR
Encryption: SSL/TLS for data in transit, 256-bit AES encryption for data at rest
SOC 2 Type II certification: Industry-leading security standards with regular third-party audits
Security Certifications
GDPR compliance: Full compliance with European data protection regulations, ensuring data privacy and user rights
Access controls: Role-based access control (RBAC), two-factor authentication (2FA), SSO integration for enterprise security
Data isolation: Customer data stays isolated and private - platform never trains on user data
Domain allowlisting: Ensures chatbot appears only on approved sites for security and brand protection
Secure deployments: ChatGPT Plugin support for private use cases with controlled access
Growth: $59-$349/month - 250-2,000 billable conversations, Lyro separate addon, advanced analytics, Shopify actions, 10 operators, agent groups
Plus: $749/month - Custom billable (2,000+ conversations), up to 5,000 Lyro conversations, API access, webhooks, white-labeling, Customer Success Manager, 10 operators
Premium: $2,999+/month - Unlimited billable conversations, up to 10,000 Lyro conversations, 50% resolution guarantee, SLAs, unlimited operators, dedicated support
Lyro AI pricing: Approximately $0.50 per conversation (1 conversation = 1 customer interaction with AI reply, auto-closes after 15 minutes inactivity) - separate addon on Growth tier
10-operator cap NOTE: All self-serve plans (Free through Plus) limited to 10 operators - unlimited seats require Premium tier ($2,999+/month) blocking team scalability
API access locked: OpenAPI REST endpoints and Webhooks require Plus plan minimum ($749/month) - unavailable on Free/Starter/Growth tiers limiting integration options
White-labeling cost: $20/month addon on Growth tier OR included with Plus ($749+/month) - not available on Free/Starter plans
Annual savings: Approximately 20% discount when paying annually vs monthly billing across all tiers
Cost scaling concern: Per-conversation model at $0.50/Lyro chat escalates costs significantly at high volume vs unlimited usage in RAG platforms - $500/month for 1,000 AI conversations
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
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
Live chat support: Available on all plans with tier-based response times (24/7 on Plus/Premium vs business hours on lower tiers)
Email support: All plans with priority levels based on subscription tier - fastest response on Premium
Customer Success Manager: Dedicated CSM on Plus ($749/month) for onboarding guidance, optimization strategy, and ongoing consultation
SLA guarantees: Premium tier ($2,999+/month) with 50% resolution guarantee and uptime commitments for mission-critical deployments
Knowledge base: Self-service articles and video tutorials for common setup scenarios, troubleshooting guides, and feature configuration
User satisfaction: 4.7/5 G2 rating (1,600+ reviews) with support quality consistently praised; 68% five-star ratings demonstrate high satisfaction
LIMITATION: NO public community forums: No user community, Slack workspace, or Discord server for peer support and knowledge sharing among users
LIMITATION: NO phone support: No phone support available on any tier (chat and email only) limiting support options for urgent issues
Developer support gap: Tidio explicitly states 'cannot provide direct assistance with API implementations' - technical support severely limited for custom integrations requiring code
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
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
NOT a RAG platform: Customer service automation platform, NOT RAG-as-a-Service - lacks vector databases, embedding controls, configurable retrieval pipelines (rated 2/10 as RAG alternative)
Limited knowledge sources: Restricted to URLs, PDFs, CSVs with 10,000 Q&A entry limit vs unlimited documents and 1,400+ formats in RAG platforms
No programmatic knowledge API: Cannot upload documents, manage Q&A pairs, or configure knowledge base via API - all knowledge management requires UI interaction
No Lyro AI querying API: Cannot trigger AI responses or access retrieval endpoints programmatically - API limited to chat operations (contacts, tickets, conversations)
Fixed Claude 3 model: NO model selection, routing, or BYOLLM capabilities - eliminates LLM flexibility entirely (rated 3/10 for model flexibility)
Analytics depth limitations: Users report analytics "helpful but not as detailed as enterprise tools" with limited funnel and flow-level analytics vs specialized platforms
No AI performance metrics: No retrieval accuracy dashboards, semantic search performance tracking, hallucination rate monitoring, or confidence scoring visibility
Per-conversation pricing scaling: $0.50/Lyro chat costs escalate quickly at high volumes (1,000 AI conversations = $500/month) vs unlimited usage competitors
10-operator cap constraint: Self-serve plans limited to 10 operators until Premium tier ($2,999+/month) restricting team scalability for growing businesses
No native Slack/Teams integration: Only Zapier notifications available - no bidirectional chat or native bot deployment in workplace messaging platforms
Knowledge Base accuracy concerns: Opaque Q&A extraction methodology without retrieval parameter controls or hybrid search capabilities limiting accuracy vs specialized RAG platforms
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
Core Agent Features
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
Lyro AI (Claude 3): 79-87% success rates (up from 50-70% pre-Claude 3 upgrade) with strict knowledge base boundaries preventing hallucinations
Lyro Guidance (beta): Tone customization (Neutral/Friendly/Formal), emoji toggles, source link display, custom escalation rules, communication style instructions
Human handoff: Transfer to unassigned queue, keep conversation with rephrasing, or create ticket with email follow-up - preserves full chat history and context
Smart Insights: AI-generated recommendations for improving metrics based on conversation analysis
Live visitor tracking: Real-time monitoring with typing preview and conversation takeover capabilities
45+ language support: Automatic browser-based detection with native multilingual processing (no internal English translation layer)
LIMITATION: No NO anti-hallucination controls beyond knowledge base boundaries - responses cannot be traced to source documents with citations (vs RAG platforms)
LIMITATION: No NO retrieval parameter configuration - users cannot adjust similarity thresholds, implement hybrid search, or configure confidence scoring
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
Additional Considerations
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)
Platform Classification: CUSTOMER SERVICE AUTOMATION PLATFORM with AI assistance, NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform - designed for no-code chatbot building and agent productivity
Target Audience Fit: SMBs and e-commerce businesses needing easy chatbot deployment without developer dependency vs enterprises requiring programmatic RAG control
Primary Strength: Exceptional ease of use (4.7/5 G2, 253 'Ease of Use' mentions) with Visual Flow Builder enabling non-technical teams to deploy chatbots in minutes vs hours/days in API-centric platforms
Claude 3 AI Performance: 79-87% success rates (up from 50-70% pre-Claude 3 upgrade) with customer case studies reporting 89-90% automation for well-configured implementations (Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio)
Multilingual Excellence: 45+ languages with native processing (no internal English translation layer) and automatic browser detection reduces accuracy loss vs translation-based competitors
Shopify Integration Depth: Order management, cart preview/recovery, product catalog access directly from chat interface - 60,000+ WordPress installations validate e-commerce market fit
CRITICAL LIMITATION - NOT a RAG Platform: Missing RAG foundations (NO vector database, NO embedding controls, NO LLM model selection, NO anti-hallucination mechanisms, NO retrieval configuration APIs)
CRITICAL LIMITATION - Knowledge Source Gap: Limited to URLs, PDFs, CSVs with 10,000 Q&A entry limit vs unlimited documents and 1,400+ formats in RAG platforms
CRITICAL LIMITATION - Fixed Claude 3 Model: NO model selection, routing, or BYOLLM capabilities - eliminates LLM flexibility entirely (rated 3/10 for model flexibility)
API Limitations: OpenAPI and Webhooks require Plus plan minimum ($749/month) - unavailable on Free/Starter/Growth tiers limiting integration options
Cost Scaling Concern: Per-conversation model at $0.50/Lyro chat escalates quickly at high volume (1,000 AI conversations = $500/month) vs unlimited usage platforms
10-Operator Cap: All self-serve plans limited to 10 operators until Premium tier ($2,999+/month) restricting team scalability for growing businesses
Use Case Mismatch: Excellent for SMB customer service automation and e-commerce support; inappropriate for enterprise-scale document retrieval requiring accuracy controls
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.
NPS surveys: Available on all plans for measuring customer satisfaction
CSAT and CES surveys: Enterprise only for comprehensive satisfaction and effort measurement
Lyro AI (Claude 3): 79-87% success rates (up from 50-70% pre-Claude 3 upgrade) with strict knowledge base boundaries preventing hallucinations beyond provided sources
Lyro Guidance (beta): Tone customization (Neutral/Friendly/Formal), emoji toggles, source link display, custom escalation rules, communication style instructions for brand voice consistency
Human Handoff Logic: Transfer to unassigned queue, keep conversation with rephrasing, or create ticket with email follow-up - preserves full chat history and context for seamless transitions
Smart Insights: AI-generated recommendations for improving metrics based on conversation pattern analysis - identifies optimization opportunities automatically
Live Visitor Tracking: Real-time monitoring with typing preview and conversation takeover capabilities for immediate human intervention when needed
45+ Language Support: Automatic browser-based detection with native multilingual processing (no internal English translation layer reduces accuracy loss)
Visual Flow Builder: Drag-and-drop interface for conversation flows with intent detection nodes, entity extraction, event triggers, variable management, memory retention
NO Anti-Hallucination Controls: Responses cannot be traced to source documents with citations - no citation attribution, source verification, or granular confidence scoring vs RAG platforms
NO Retrieval Parameter Configuration: Users cannot adjust similarity thresholds, implement hybrid search, configure confidence scoring, or tune retrieval mechanisms
Reduces hallucinations by grounding replies in your data and adding source citations for transparency.
Benchmark Details
Handles multi-turn, context-aware chats with persistent history and solid conversation management.
Speaks 90+ languages, making global rollouts straightforward.
Includes extras like lead capture (email collection) and smooth handoff to a human when needed.
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
Knowledge Base Building: URL crawling (500 URLs expandable on Plus), PDF uploads, CSV imports (max 500 entries/file, 10,000 total Q&A limit), manual Q&A creation, Zendesk Help Center article import
Automatic Weekly Re-Sync: Website source updates available on Plus/Premium plans ensuring knowledge stays current without manual refresh
Continuous Q&A Suggestions: System suggests new pairs from unanswered questions and historical conversations requiring manual review before activation
Behavior Customization: Lyro Guidance enables tone (Neutral/Friendly/Formal), emoji toggles, escalation rules, communication style instructions without coding requirements
Visual Flow Builder: No-code workflow creation with real-time testing simulator, one-click deployment, automatic versioning with rollback capabilities for rapid iteration
HTTP Request Support: GET, POST, PATCH, PUT, DELETE within chatbot automation supporting JSON, Text, GraphQL formats with multiple authentication methods
40+ Pre-Built Templates: Sales, lead generation, support scenarios reduce time-to-deployment with industry-specific conversation flows
Widget Customization: Visual live editor with theme presets, color pickers (custom hex), logo uploads, position controls (left/right), operating hours display
CRITICAL LIMITATION - Opaque Q&A Extraction: Knowledge processing methodology not publicly documented - no transparency into chunking strategies, embedding models, or retrieval mechanisms
CRITICAL LIMITATION - NO Programmatic Knowledge API: Cannot upload documents, manage Q&A pairs, or configure knowledge base via API - all data ingestion requires UI-based management
CRITICAL LIMITATION - 10,000 Q&A Entry Limit: Hard cap on knowledge base size vs unlimited in RAG platforms constrains large-scale deployments
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.
Shopify Deep Integration ( Core Differentiator)
N/A
Order management: View customer order history, track shipments, process refunds directly from chat interface without leaving conversation
Cart preview and recovery: See abandoned carts, send automated recovery messages, provide product recommendations based on browsing
Product catalog access: Search and display products from Shopify store within chat with images, pricing, and direct purchase links
Customer data sync: Automatic synchronization of customer profiles, purchase history, preferences for personalized support
Competitive positioning: Deep Shopify/WooCommerce capabilities vs RAG platforms' generic web integrations position Tidio strongly for e-commerce use cases
No-code automation: Drag-and-drop interface for conversation flow creation without programming knowledge (253 G2 'Ease of Use' mentions)
40+ pre-built templates: Sales, lead generation, support scenarios reduce time-to-deployment for common use cases
Testing simulator: Validate flows before publishing with built-in emulation preventing production errors
Export/import functionality: Share flows between accounts or backup configurations for versioning
HTTP request support: GET, POST, PATCH, PUT, DELETE within chatbot automation supporting JSON, Text, GraphQL formats with multiple authentication methods
Target audience advantage: Non-technical business users can deploy chatbots in minutes vs developer-required platforms (9/10 rated differentiator for SMBs)
User feedback: G2 reviews cite 'Easy Setup' (161 mentions) and 'intuitive' workflow design as primary strengths
N/A
Claude 3 A I Performance ( Differentiator)
N/A
Model selection rationale: Anthropic's Claude chosen for being "developed with the goal of becoming helpful, honest, and harmless" - explicit decision over GPT
Success rate improvement: Jumped from 50-70% to 79-87% after Claude 3 upgrade demonstrating significant model advancement
Customer automation rates: Case studies report 89-90% automation for well-configured implementations (Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio use cases)
Hallucination prevention: Strict knowledge base boundaries - Lyro answers only from provided sources and automatically escalates when uncertain
Privacy advantage: Anthropic processes conversations in-session only without saving data unnecessarily vs competitors using data for training
LIMITATION: No Fixed Claude 3 implementation - NO model switching, NO automatic routing, NO GPT/Gemini/custom model options (7/10 rated as limitation vs flexible RAG platforms)
N/A
Widget Customization & White- Labeling
N/A
Visual customization: Live editor with theme presets, color pickers (custom hex supported), logo uploads, position controls (left/right)
Light/dark modes: Built-in theme switching with automatic user preference detection
Custom CSS: Advanced styling via JavaScript SDK for design control beyond presets
Operating hours display: Show availability status to visitors automatically
Mobile responsiveness: Separate mobile widget settings with device-specific hiding options
Domain restrictions: Control which websites can embed widget through trusted domains configuration
Role-based access: Admin, Moderator, and Agent roles with configurable permissions (Growth+ plans) plus agent groups for departmental routing
White-labeling pricing: Note: $20/month addon on Growth tier OR included with Plus ($749+/month) - not available on Free/Starter
Custom avatars: Branded agent avatars and logos require Plus plans minimum
N/A
R A G Implementation & Accuracy
N/A
CRITICAL ARCHITECTURAL GAP: No NOT a RAG-as-a-Service platform - lacks vector databases, embedding controls, and configurable retrieval pipelines
Knowledge processing: Q&A extraction from URLs/PDFs/CSVs through opaque internal system without transparency into methodology
NO chunking parameters: No Chunk size, overlap, and strategy not exposed for optimization or tuning
NO embedding model selection: No Cannot choose between OpenAI, Cohere, or custom embedding models for vector generation
NO similarity threshold controls: No Cannot configure cosine similarity thresholds, retrieval scoring, or confidence levels
NO hybrid search: No No combination of keyword and semantic search strategies or BM25 integration
NO anti-hallucination mechanisms: No No citation attribution, source verification, or granular confidence scoring - responses cannot be traced to source documents
Hallucination prevention: Relies solely on strict knowledge base boundaries - Lyro answers only from provided sources and escalates when uncertain
Competitive positioning: Customer service automation platform, NOT autonomous knowledge retrieval system - fundamentally different architecture from RAG platforms (rated 2/10 as RAG platform)
N/A
Ease of Use & No- Code Interface ( Core Differentiator)
N/A
User satisfaction: 4.7/5 G2 rating with 1,600+ reviews citing exceptional usability as primary strength
45+ languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, plus 35+ additional languages
Native processing: Lyro processes data sources directly in original language without internal English translation layer (reduces accuracy loss)
Automatic browser detection: Switches widget to visitor locale based on browser settings for seamless user experience
Multiple language packs: Allow department routing to language-specific teams for specialized support
Language limiting: Administrators can restrict which languages Lyro uses and set fallback behaviors for unsupported languages
20+ pre-translated packs: Chat widget language packs with manual translation options for additional coverage
Global reach advantage: Single knowledge base serves multiple languages vs competitors requiring separate configurations per locale (7.5/10 rated differentiator)
N/A
Customer Base & Case Studies
N/A
Scale: 300,000+ businesses served globally demonstrating SMB/e-commerce market fit
Named customers: Pizza Hut (89-90% automation rates), Decathlon, Casio (enterprise validation)
WordPress adoption: 60,000+ plugin installations demonstrate strong small business penetration
User satisfaction: 4.7/5 G2 rating (1,600+ reviews) with 68% five-star ratings
Review themes - Praise: Ease of use (253 mentions), easy setup (161 mentions), Shopify integration, visual Flow Builder, responsive support
Review themes - Criticisms: Analytics depth limitations, per-conversation pricing at scale, API access locked to Plus tier ($749/month), 10-operator cap on self-serve plans
Claude 3 upgrade impact: Success rates jumped from 50-70% to 79-87% with customer case studies reporting 89-90% automation after upgrade
N/A
Company Background
N/A
Founding: 2013 by Tytus Gołąs in Poland (12+ years of platform development and refinement)
After analyzing features, pricing, performance, and user feedback, both Stonly and Tidio are capable platforms that serve different market segments and use cases effectively.
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
When to Choose Tidio
You value exceptional ease of use: 4.7/5 g2 rating with 253 'ease of use' and 161 'easy setup' mentions
Claude 3-powered Lyro AI achieving 79-87% success rates with customer case studies reporting 89-90% automation
300,000+ businesses served including Pizza Hut, Decathlon, Casio demonstrating SMB/e-commerce market fit
Best For: Exceptional ease of use: 4.7/5 G2 rating with 253 'Ease of Use' and 161 'Easy Setup' mentions
Migration & Switching Considerations
Switching between Stonly and Tidio 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
Stonly starts at $249/month, while Tidio begins at $29/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 Stonly and Tidio 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 11, 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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