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Chatra vs Cresta

Chatra logo

Chatra

Live Chat

Live chat and CRM software for customer engagement

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Cresta logo

Cresta

Customer Support

Real-time AI coaching and autonomous agents that sit on top of an existing contact centre platform

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Chatra has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Chatra free plan is capped at 5 chats per month and one agent seat; Cresta cresta depends on the CCaaS platforms it integrates with, and NICE, Genesys and Five9 are all shipping native real-time assist and auto-QA of their own, so at renewal you may be paying twice for capability your platform vendor will bundle at a discount.
  • They diverge on capability: Chatra covers Live chat messaging, Cresta covers Real-time agent assist.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chatra and Cresta actually diverge.

Attributes where Chatra and Cresta differ
AttributeChatraCresta
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Mobile app, IOS, AndroidWeb, API
CategoryLive ChatCustomer Support
Founded2010Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Chatra

  • Live chat messaging
  • CRM functionality
  • Visitor tracking
  • Chat history
  • Shopify
  • Zapier
  • Slack
  • API

Only in Cresta

  • Real-time agent assist
  • Autonomous AI Agent
  • Conversation intelligence
  • Automated quality management
  • Behavioural coaching
  • Knowledge surfacing
  • Multilingual deployment
  • Supervisor dashboards

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Chatra

  • Small teams starting on live chat with a hard free-tier chat limit before needing to upgradenot Cresta

Cresta

  • A 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent Genesys deploymentnot Chatra
  • An insurance contact centre replacing manual QA sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidencenot Chatra
  • A retail support operation deploying autonomous voice agents on high-volume order status calls while keeping humans on complex claimsnot Chatra
  • A contact centre director who needs to prove which specific agent behaviours drive outcome differences, rather than relying on post-call survey scoresnot Chatra

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Chatra

  • Free plan is capped at 5 chats per month and one agent seat
  • Essential and Pro tiers are billed per agent seat at $31/month and $41/month (or $25/month and $33/month if billed yearly), so cost rises directly with headcount

Cresta

  • Cresta depends on the CCaaS platforms it integrates with, and NICE, Genesys and Five9 are all shipping native real-time assist and auto-QA of their own, so at renewal you may be paying twice for capability your platform vendor will bundle at a discount.
  • Pricing is not published and contracts are seat-based and annual at enterprise scale, which in practice means six-figure commitments and a procurement cycle measured in months rather than weeks.
  • Real-time guidance only pays back where conversation outcomes are measurable and repeatable, so support teams handling long, varied, low-volume cases rarely recover the licence cost.
  • Deploying real-time assist requires agents to accept on-screen prompting mid-call, and contact centres with strong union representation or experienced tenured agents frequently see adoption resistance that no amount of model quality fixes.
  • Automated quality scoring changes what agents are measured on, and organisations that switch from human QA without rewriting their evaluation rubric and appeals process create industrial-relations problems that surface months after go-live.

Pricing, plan by plan

Chatra

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Live chat
    • Basic CRM
    • 1 agent
  • Starter$15/month
    • Unlimited agents
    • Advanced CRM
  • Business$49/month
    • Priority support
    • Custom branding

Cresta

On request
  • Cresta$undefined/year
    • AI Agent
    • Agent Assist
    • Conversation Intelligence

Which should you pick?

Choose Chatra if

  • You need live chat messaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile app, IOS, Android.
  • You also want crm functionality.
Chatra review

Choose Cresta if

  • You need real-time agent assist.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want autonomous ai agent.
Cresta review

Questions people ask

Is Chatra or Cresta better?
Neither clearly leads. Chatra starts at Free and Cresta at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chatra or Cresta?
Chatra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chatra and On request for Cresta.
Does Chatra or Cresta run on more platforms?
Chatra runs on Web, Mobile app, IOS, Android. Cresta runs on Web, API.
Can I use Chatra for free?
Yes. Chatra has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cresta starts at On request.
What is Chatra best used for?
Chatra is most often used for small teams starting on live chat with a hard free-tier chat limit before needing to upgrade. Of those, small teams starting on live chat with a hard free-tier chat limit before needing to upgrade is not what Cresta is typically brought in for.
What can Chatra do that Cresta cannot?
Chatra covers Live chat messaging, CRM functionality, Visitor tracking, Chat history. Cresta covers Real-time agent assist, Autonomous AI Agent, Conversation intelligence, Automated quality management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chatra: Is Chatra's free plan available indefinitely?

Yes. Chatra's free plan is available free for as long as you want with no time limitation. No credit card is required to start.

Source
Cresta: Does Cresta replace my contact centre platform?

No. It is designed to sit on top of NICE, Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect and similar platforms, which is why it is chosen where a full CCaaS migration is not feasible.

Chatra: How quickly can I start using Chatra's free plan?

The free plan can be started in 3 minutes according to the website.

Source
Cresta: What does it cost?

Cresta does not publish pricing. Contracts are seat-based and annual, and at the enterprise scale it sells into they are typically six figures per year.

Cresta: Is it viable for a contact centre under 100 seats?

Rarely. The commercial model, implementation effort and required outcome measurement all assume several hundred seats or more.

Cresta: Who owns Cresta?

It is an independent venture-backed company, having raised roughly 282 million USD in total including a 125 million USD Series D in November 2024 co-led by World Innovation Lab and the Qatar Investment Authority.

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