Gladly vs Crisp chat: Who wins in 2025?

Gladly - a quick overview

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Founded in San Francisco, California in 2014 by Joseph Ansanelli, Michael Wolfe, and Dirk Kessler, Gladly delivers an AI-powered customer service platform that unifies conversations across voice, email, chat, SMS, and social channels into a single continuous thread. Gladly is designed for B2C brands aiming to elevate customer loyalty and empower support teams with seamless communication tools.

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Serving over 10,000 users at more than 200 companies—including leading retailers and travel brands—Gladly’s standout features include native voice integration, customizable IVR systems, proactive messaging capabilities, robust CRM functions, advanced routing logic like People Match for personalized service continuity, and deep analytics. Recognized as a leader among top contact center solutions by industry analysts and included in multiple expert collections for HR tech innovation.

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The following section will compare Gladly’s features, pros/cons, pricing details, and user reviews against Crisp chat and Ringly.io to help you find the best fit for your business needs.

Gladly's features

• Omnichannel Communication
  Gladly unifies customer interactions across voice, SMS, chat, email, and social media into a single conversation thread. This ensures agents always have full context and customers never need to repeat themselves. Unlike Crisp’s more fragmented approach or Ringly.io’s phone-first focus, Gladly excels at seamless cross-channel continuity—ideal for brands prioritizing holistic engagement.
• Customer-Centric Platform
  Gladly organizes support around the customer rather than tickets or cases. Agents see a complete history of every interaction in one place, enabling personalized service at scale. While Crisp offers ticket-based workflows and Ringly.io centers on call automation, Gladly’s model is better suited for businesses wanting deep relationship-building over transactional support.
• Built-in Voice & IVR System
  Voice is natively integrated with customizable IVR menus—no third-party add-ons needed. This streamlines setup for teams handling high call volumes compared to Crisp (which requires integrations) or Ringly.io (which automates calls but focuses less on complex routing). However, Ringly.io stands out when it comes to AI-driven phone automation and real-time actions during calls.
• AI-Powered Customer Insights & Analytics
  Gladly leverages AI to analyze conversations and provide actionable insights into customer needs and agent performance. Its analytics help optimize service delivery but are primarily designed for multi-channel environments; by contrast, Ringly.io delivers granular analysis specifically focused on phone interactions with mood detection and outcome tracking.
• Knowledge Base Management & Self-Service Tools
  Agents can access an internal knowledge base while customers use public FAQs powered by “Answers.” This supports consistent information sharing across channels—comparable to Crisp’s help desk tools but less dynamic than Ringly.io’s instant knowledge updates from your website content without manual training.
• Proactive Messaging & Campaigns
  Automated outbound messaging via SMS or email allows teams to reach out proactively about order updates or promotions. While this matches some of what Crisp offers through campaigns and triggers in chat/email channels, it doesn’t match the immediacy of Ringly.io's abandoned cart recovery via live AI phone calls that drive higher conversion rates.
• Customizable Automation & Routing
  Gladly provides automated routing based on agent skills or workload plus workflow automations using no-code tools. It suits large teams needing structured escalation paths; however, if you want end-to-end workflow automation triggered directly from business apps—including custom actions mid-call—Ringly.io offers deeper integration flexibility without coding required.
• Liveboards & Real-Time Dashboards
  Managers get live visibility into contact center performance with dashboards showing agent activity and trending topics—a feature also present in Crisp but not as tailored as the real-time call analytics found in solutions like Ringly.io that break down every conversation outcome automatically.

In summary: Gladly shines for brands seeking unified omnichannel support centered around long-term customer relationships—but if your business relies heavily on instant phone-based automation (like e-commerce order checks or cart recovery), solutions like ours deliver faster results with less manual setup required.

Pros

• Easy to use – Users consistently praise Gladly’s intuitive interface and seamless navigation, making it accessible even for beginners.
• Centralized customer view – All customer interactions across channels are merged into a single profile or thread, which helps agents provide more personalized support.
• Strong collaboration tools – Features like conversation summaries and detailed notes make handoffs between team members smooth and efficient.
• Efficient workflow management – Automated responses, streamlined ticket handling, and robust reporting tools help teams save time while maintaining high productivity.
• Excellent onboarding & support – Many reviewers highlight the smooth implementation process as well as responsive customer support during setup or troubleshooting.

Cons

• High cost with inflexible pricing – The minimum seat requirement (10–45 seats) forces small teams to pay much more than they need; there’s no pay-as-you-go option or monthly flexibility. This makes it less appealing for startups or seasonal businesses compared to competitors that offer lower entry points or flexible billing models.
  • Ringly.io offers more flexible pricing options without strict seat minimums—helpful for growing teams.
• Technical glitches & slow loading times – Users report occasional system delays, page refreshes that erase unsaved work, slow load times during peak hours, and general glitches that disrupt workflows.
  • Ringly.io is designed with reliability in mind to minimize these types of interruptions.
• Limited integrations with third-party marketplaces – Some users find it challenging to connect Gladly with certain external platforms needed for their business operations.
  • Ringly.io supports a broader range of integrations out-of-the-box.
• Voice/IVR customization limitations – The IVR system isn’t as customizable as some competitors’, restricting advanced call routing features such as callbacks or complex flows.
  • With Ringly.io you can tailor voice workflows extensively without extra development costs.
• Notification & task management issues – Pending tasks may not always display clearly; notification banners can obscure important information on the screen; chat notifications sometimes don’t alert agents reliably enough during busy periods.

These insights reflect what actual users experience day-to-day—and where alternative solutions like Ringly.io may address some persistent pain points without introducing similar drawbacks.

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Crisp chat - a quick overview

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Crisp was founded in 2015 by Baptiste Jamin and Valerian Saliou in France. It offers a unified customer support platform that includes features like live chat, email, and social media integration, making it a go-to solution for startups and small businesses. Crisp serves over 600,000 users worldwide, providing them with tools to manage customer interactions efficiently across multiple channels.

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Crisp's key features include a lightweight chatbox, chatbot integration, customer profiles, and team management tools. It also supports integrations with CRM systems and e-commerce platforms, enhancing customer loyalty and efficiency. Crisp operates as a fully bootstrapped company, maintaining its independence and focus on innovation.

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In the following section, we'll explore Crisp's features, pros and cons, pricing, and user reviews, comparing them with Gladly and Ringly.io. This comparison will help you understand where each platform excels and which might be the best fit for your business needs.

Crisp chat's features

• Live Chat Widget – Crisp offers a customizable live chat widget for websites, enabling real-time conversations with visitors. This is ideal for businesses wanting instant engagement and support without forcing customers to leave the site. While Gladly also supports live messaging, Crisp’s widget is lightweight and easy to embed. Unlike Ringly.io, which focuses on AI phone agents rather than web-based chats, Crisp’s strength lies in digital-first customer touchpoints.
• Shared Inbox – All customer messages from different channels (chat, email, Messenger) are centralized into one collaborative inbox. This streamlines team workflows and ensures no message slips through the cracks. Gladly provides similar omnichannel capabilities but is more enterprise-focused; Ringly.io automates phone interactions instead of aggregating digital messages.
• Chatbots & Automation – Crisp includes basic chatbot automation to answer FAQs or qualify leads 24/7. These bots can handle simple tasks like greeting visitors or collecting contact info before handing off to humans if needed. Compared to Gladly’s advanced AI routing and Ringly.io’s deep knowledge base integration that powers natural phone conversations using your actual business content, Crisp bots are effective but less sophisticated for complex queries.
• Knowledge Base Integration – You can build a help center within Crisp so customers can self-serve answers directly from chat or search articles online. This reduces repetitive questions for your team—similar in intent to both Gladly and Ringly.io—but unlike Ringly.io’s automatic daily syncing with your website content (keeping answers always current), manual updates are required here.
• Campaigns & Triggers – Send targeted messages based on user behavior (like time on page or exit intent) via proactive chat campaigns in Crisp. Useful for lead capture or nudging users toward conversion at key moments—something not as natively emphasized in Gladly's workflow-centric approach nor as automated as Ringly.io's abandoned cart recovery calls that directly close sales over the phone.
• Multi-channel Messaging – Engage customers across channels including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS (with add-ons), all managed inside one dashboard. While this covers many digital touchpoints like Gladly does at scale, it doesn’t extend into voice automation—the area where Ringly.io stands out by handling both inbound/outbound calls plus SMS follow-ups during live conversations.
• Co-browsing & Video Calls – With built-in co-browsing tools and video call options right from the chat window, agents can guide users visually through issues—a feature not present in most competitors’ standard offerings but valuable when troubleshooting complex problems online.
• Integrations & API Access – Connects with popular CRMs (like HubSpot), e-commerce platforms (Shopify/WooCommerce), and thousands of other tools via Zapier/Make.com integrations—though these automations primarily enhance web/chat workflows rather than full end-to-end business process automation seen with solutions like Ringly.io.

Crisp excels at providing an affordable all-in-one platform for small-to-midsize teams seeking unified digital support across multiple channels—with strong live chat roots and solid self-service options—but lacks advanced voice automation features such as real-time order status checks by phone or AI-driven outbound sales recovery that set solutions like ours apart.

Next, let's look at Crisp chat's pros and cons. We studied dozens of reviews from real Crisp chat users from platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. Then we identified commonalities and summarized the main pros and cons of Crisp chat based on real user feedback for you here:

Pros

• Easy to use and quick to set up – Users consistently praise how intuitive the interface is, making it simple for teams to get started without extensive training or technical expertise.
• All-in-one inbox with multi-channel support – Crisp allows businesses to centralize communication across live chat, email, social media, and more in a single platform. This streamlines workflows and improves response times.
• Excellent customer support team – Many reviewers highlight the responsiveness and helpfulness of Crisp’s support staff as a standout benefit.
• Affordable pricing for SMBs/startups – The platform is generally considered cost-effective compared to competitors like Intercom or Zendesk—especially valuable for small-to-medium businesses.
• Smooth integrations & regular updates – Users appreciate easy integration with other tools (like Zapier/Make), plus frequent feature updates that keep the product modern. Ringly.io also offers seamless integrations but avoids some of the complexity issues noted below.
• Powerful chatbot & automation features with built-in AI capabilities – The AI-driven automation tools help teams provide fast answers around-the-clock while reducing manual workload. Ringly.io similarly leverages advanced automation but focuses on keeping setup straightforward.
• User-friendly analytics dashboard for messaging performance tracking – Provides useful insights into conversation volume, response times, agent activity etc., helping teams optimize their processes.
• Easily translates chats into multiple languages – Live translation is often cited as a valuable feature by global teams serving international customers.

Cons

• Takes time to fully understand advanced features/interface complexity – While basic setup is easy, several users mention that mastering all functionalities (especially automations) can be confusing or require significant effort; documentation helps but isn’t always enough if you want deeper customization.
• Lacks some advanced customization options & SDK functions – Customizing bots or creating complex workflows may require technical skills or additional development work; design flexibility can lag behind top-tier competitors.
• Mobile app notification delays / reliability issues – Some users report delayed notifications on mobile devices, which could impact timely responses in certain cases. This issue appears rare, but still noted by several reviewers. Ringly.io prioritizes reliable cross-device notifications.
• Limited marketing campaign capabilities – Unlike some alternatives, Crisp does not allow sending broadcasts, sequences, or running robust outbound campaigns directly through its platform; this limits its usefulness as an all-in-one marketing tool.
• Occasional lags after new releases – Product performance can temporarily dip following major updates; however, these bugs are usually resolved quickly by their team.
• Pricing increases at scale – While affordable initially, costs can rise sharply if your business grows rapidly (e.g., higher message volumes or larger teams)—something several SaaS companies have flagged as a concern when scaling up usage.
• No user input dashboard for missed questions – There’s no dedicated dashboard showing what questions your bot didn’t understand, making it harder to improve chatbot accuracy over time compared with solutions that offer this insight out-of-the-box.

Pricing - Gladly vs Crisp chat

Note: The pricing information below is accurate at the time of writing and may be subject to change. For the most up-to-date pricing, please visit each company's pricing page.

Gladly pricing

Crisp chat pricing

Contract Length:
No long-term contracts required. All plans can be paid monthly. Annual billing is available and may offer a discount.

Cancellation Fees:
No cancellation fees. You can downgrade or cancel at any time from your dashboard with no penalty; changes take effect immediately.

Refund Policy:
Refunds are available:
- For monthly plans: refund within 7 days of initial payment.
- For yearly plans: refund within 14 days of initial payment.

Feature Highlights by Plan

• Free: Basic live chat widget, team inbox for up to two agents, mobile apps.
• Mini/Pro ($25–$45): More agents and contacts allowed; adds multi-channel messaging (Facebook Messenger/Twitter), triggers/rules for automation; still no chatbot builder.
• Essentials/Unlimited ($95–$106): Unlocks unlimited agents and contacts; includes advanced analytics/reporting tools and full-featured chatbot builder.
• Plus/Premium ($295+): Adds AI-powered omnichannel support features suitable for medium-to-large businesses needing advanced automations and integrations.

Note: Naming conventions vary slightly across sources but the feature progression remains consistent.

Ringly.io pricing

Ringly.io has simple, usage-based pricing with no hidden fees or long-term commitments. Test drive it risk-free for 14 days, then scale up or down on month-to-month terms—or book a demo for fully tailored enterprise support.

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Online customer reviews: Gladly vs Crisp chat

What users are saying about Gladly:

Total reviews and average rating: - G2: 1,033 reviews, 4.7/5 stars. - Capterra: 123 reviews, 4.9/5 stars. - TrustRadius: 11 ratings, 8.7/10.

"All-in-one support tool" – Luke S., Customer Support Manager (G2) Gladly helped us cut costs and increase efficiency... Since implementing Gladly we have increased our overall customer satisfaction... leveraging their Shopify integration...

"IVR not as customizable" – Luke S., Customer Support Manager (G2) The only thing I could mention here is that their IVR for Voice is not as customizable as other companies allow which limits our ability to do things like Call Backs...

What users are saying about Crisp chat:

Total reviews and average rating: - G2: Number of reviews not specified; positive sentiment highlighted in expert summaries. - Capterra: Number of reviews not specified; expert summary notes "41 reviews". - Note: No single platform lists a total review count or precise average rating for Crisp across all major sites in the search results. However, expert summaries cite strong user sentiment and highlight over "256 summarized Crisp reviews" from multiple sources with generally positive feedback. - GetApp / Trustpilot / Product Hunt / Others: No direct review counts or ratings found in search results.

If you need exact numbers per platform for Crisp chat, be aware that these were unavailable in the provided sources—users should verify on each site directly.

"Reliable and scalable" – Tuan B., SaaS Business Owner (G2) The platform is incredibly intuitive, easy to set up... unified inbox has helped our support team respond faster... If you're a startup or growing SaaS company looking for a cost-effective alternative to Intercom or Zendesk, Crisp is worth considering...

"Advanced features less customizable than competitors" – Tuan B., SaaS Business Owner (G2) Some advanced features (like analytics) could be more customizable...

What users are saying about Ringly.io:

Ringly.io is known for its simplicity, and a focus on e-commerce, with features like abandoned cart recovery and order status lookups. It has a 4.8 star rating from 12 reviews on Product Hunt and other platforms.

"it stands out significantly ahead" - Bertrand, Director. We are at the initial stage of testing and have made only a few calls so far. Consequently, I have rated the product with four stars for now. However, I must express that the product has shown significant promise. When compared to competitors, it stands out significantly ahead.

"This is such a great product" - Jim Miranda, Founder. This is such a great product. I have been with you for less than a week and already closed 3 deals with it."

"It really sounds like a human" - Laix, Founder. Tried Ringly.io today and the quality of the phone calls surprises me! It really sounds like a human, and it reacts really fast. Will need to deploy it in action to see the full capabilities.

"How to automate customer service? -> Ringly.io" - Sidra Husnain, Founder.

Gladly vs Crisp chat: Which is best for you?

Who Gladly is best for…

• Large or fast-growing B2C brands – If you need a powerful, all-in-one platform that unifies phone, chat, email, SMS, and social messages, Gladly is made for bigger teams serving lots of customers across different channels.
• Businesses focused on building long-term customer relationships – With its customer-centered approach (not tickets!), Gladly is great for companies that want every agent to see a full customer history for truly personal support.
• Teams needing strong analytics and built-in voice features – If you handle lots of calls and want advanced analytics, native IVR, and workflow automations, Gladly covers these out of the box—though it’s best for those who can commit to higher seat minimums.
• Organizations with bigger budgets – Gladly’s pricing starts higher with strict seat minimums and annual contracts, making it better suited to established companies rather than small startups.

Who Crisp chat is best for…

• Startups and small-to-midsize businesses – Crisp’s easy setup, low entry price, and flexibility make it ideal for smaller teams who want live chat, email, and social messaging all in one place—without a huge price tag.
• Teams just getting started with live chat or automation – If your team is new to customer support tools and wants something user-friendly with a friendly automation/bot builder, Crisp is a solid choice.
• Businesses focused on web-based conversations – Crisp shines for digital support: website chat, help centers, campaign triggers, and co-browsing are where it’s strongest (not voice or phone automation).
• Companies who want to grow slowly and keep costs flexible – With monthly billing, no contracts, and easy add-ons, Crisp lets you start on a free plan and grow as you need—although costs can rise as you scale and add users.

Who Ringly.io is best for…

• Any business that wants to automate calls and recover more sales – From small retailers to large e-commerce brands, Ringly.io’s AI phone agents handle order lookups, recover abandoned carts, and solve customer issues on autopilot—no big team required.
• Teams looking for simplicity and the easiest setup – Ringly.io’s plug-and-play approach means there’s almost no learning curve. Your AI agent learns from your actual website with zero manual training.
• Businesses who value flexibility and fair, usage-based pricing – With no seat minimums, no contracts, and a generous free trial, it’s perfect for everyone from startups to enterprises who want to pay only for what they use and scale up or down freely.
• Companies needing phone-first support or automated voice actions in real time – If you want to automate calls (inbound or outbound), check orders, or close sales by voice, Ringly.io does what chat-first tools can’t—plus integrates easily with your other workflows and apps.

Bottom line: While Gladly is great for big, multi-channel support teams and Crisp fits smaller digital-first businesses, Ringly.io brings powerful, AI-driven voice automation to organizations of any size. It bridges the gap between digital and phone support—making it the overall best choice for companies looking to boost sales, automate support, and delight customers (without the stress of complex setups or pricey contracts). Try it free and see the difference for yourself!

Why Ringly.io is a Better Choice

Highly Rated: 4.8/5

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Founded in 2024 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by Maurizio Isendoorn and Ruben Boonzaaijer, Ringly.io is revolutionizing e-commerce customer service with AI phone agents. Designed for online businesses, Ringly handles customer calls on autopilot—solving support issues, recovering abandoned carts, and even boosting sales—at just 20% of the cost of human agents.‍

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With 2,300+ customers, Ringly.io is the go-to solution for e-commerce stores looking to scale without scaling their support team. With award-winning technology (BubbleCon 2024's "Most Innovative App"), Ringly.io transforms your phone system into a revenue-driving powerhouse—without the headaches of traditional call centers.‍

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Features that make Ringly.io the #1 alternative to Gladly and Crisp chat:

No-code setup, instant results – Ringly.io is ready to go in minutes. Just add your website, docs, or text—no engineering required—and your AI phone agent instantly understands your business. It even updates automatically as your website changes.‍‍‍

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AI-powered sales & support – Ringly.io does both inbound and outbound calls. Recover 35%+ of abandoned carts with automated follow-up calls, provide real-time order tracking from Shopify, and convert more customers with personalized AI-driven conversations—not just reactive support.‍‍

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Advanced analytics for smarter decisions – Ringly.io gives you real-time call data, customer intent tracking, and performance reports—helping you optimize support and sales strategies.‍‍‍

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Scalable pricing without enterprise contracts – Ringly.io offers transparent, scalable pricing—pay for what you use, no locked-in contracts.‍

Final Thoughts: Gladly vs Crisp Chat vs Ringly.io

Choosing the right customer support platform is a big decision, but it all comes down to what your business values most—streamlined voice automation, true omnichannel continuity, or flexible live chat tools. Each solution we’ve explored brings something unique to the table, but your business goals and support strategy should guide your choice.

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• Gladly: Best for large, established brands who want a unified customer view across every channel (phone, chat, email, SMS, and social), and who can invest in higher seat minimums for advanced voice and analytics features.
• Crisp chat: Ideal for small and mid-sized teams that need a simple, affordable, digital-first solution—especially those just starting out or focusing on website chat, email, and campaign triggers rather than complex phone workflows.
• Ringly.io: The top pick for businesses of all sizes looking to automate phone support, recover more sales, and offer lightning-fast order lookups—without complex setups, high costs, or rigid contracts. If you want real voice automation that learns instantly and scales as you grow, Ringly.io stands apart.

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To sum up:

• Go with Gladly if you’re a larger enterprise needing deep customer insights, omnichannel continuity, and can commit to annual contracts.
• Go with Crisp chat if you want a proven, budget-friendly all-in-one inbox with excellent live chat and bot features—perfect for growing startups and digital-first brands.
• Go with Ringly.io if you want the fastest way to automate your voice support, boost sales, and keep customers happy—without any complex onboarding or commitments. It’s built for e-commerce but flexible for any industry.

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While Gladly and Crisp are both powerful in their way, Ringly.io subtly delivers more flexibility, speed, and automation for teams that want true phone agent AI, pay-as-you-go pricing, and results from day one—no learning curve required.

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Ready to see the difference? Ringly.io is here for you—easy setup, instant impact, real human-like calls. Try it for free and experience next-level support and sales automation, whatever your business size.

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