Customer Support · head to head
Cresta vs Smartsupp

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

Smartsupp
Live Chat
Live chat with advanced visitor tracking and co-browsing
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only Smartsupp has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Smartsupp free tier limited to 25 conversations per month and 14-day history
- They diverge on capability: Cresta covers Real-time agent assist, Smartsupp covers Live chat messaging.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cresta and Smartsupp actually diverge.
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 Cresta
- Real-time agent assist
- Autonomous AI Agent
- Conversation intelligence
- Automated quality management
- Behavioural coaching
- Knowledge surfacing
- Multilingual deployment
- Supervisor dashboards
Only in Smartsupp
- Live chat messaging
- Co-browsing
- Visitor tracking
- Heatmaps
- Shopify
- Zapier
- Slack
- API
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cresta
- A 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent Genesys deploymentnot Smartsupp
- An insurance contact centre replacing manual QA sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidencenot Smartsupp
- A retail support operation deploying autonomous voice agents on high-volume order status calls while keeping humans on complex claimsnot Smartsupp
- A contact centre director who needs to prove which specific agent behaviours drive outcome differences, rather than relying on post-call survey scoresnot Smartsupp
Smartsupp
- Small teams wanting a bundled live chat and low-volume AI agent starting under $20/monthnot Cresta
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Cresta
- Cresta depends on the CCaaS platforms it integrates with, and NICE, Genesys and Five9 are all shipping native real-time assist and auto-QA of their own, so at renewal you may be paying twice for capability your platform vendor will bundle at a discount.
- Pricing is not published and contracts are seat-based and annual at enterprise scale, which in practice means six-figure commitments and a procurement cycle measured in months rather than weeks.
- Real-time guidance only pays back where conversation outcomes are measurable and repeatable, so support teams handling long, varied, low-volume cases rarely recover the licence cost.
- Deploying real-time assist requires agents to accept on-screen prompting mid-call, and contact centres with strong union representation or experienced tenured agents frequently see adoption resistance that no amount of model quality fixes.
- Automated quality scoring changes what agents are measured on, and organisations that switch from human QA without rewriting their evaluation rubric and appeals process create industrial-relations problems that surface months after go-live.
Smartsupp
- Free tier limited to 25 conversations per month and 14-day history
- Annual billing required for best pricing (up to 30% savings)
- Operator limits scale with plan tier
Pricing, plan by plan
Cresta
On request- Cresta$undefined/year
- AI Agent
- Agent Assist
- Conversation Intelligence
Smartsupp
Free- FreeFree
- 1 operator
- 25 conversations per month
- 14-day conversation history
- Solo$17/month
- 1 operator
- Unlimited conversations
- All channels including email
- Plus$25/month
- 3 operators
- Unlimited conversations
- Automation workflows
- Expert$83/month
- 5+ operators
- Unlimited conversations
- Premium support
Which should you pick?
Choose Cresta if
- You need real-time agent assist.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want autonomous ai agent.
Choose Smartsupp if
- You need live chat messaging.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Mobile app, IOS, Android.
- You also want co-browsing.
Questions people ask
- Is Cresta or Smartsupp better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cresta starts at On request and Smartsupp at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cresta or Smartsupp?
- Smartsupp has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cresta and Free for Smartsupp.
- Does Cresta or Smartsupp run on more platforms?
- Cresta runs on Web, API. Smartsupp runs on Web, Mobile app, IOS, Android.
- Can I use Smartsupp for free?
- Yes. Smartsupp has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cresta starts at On request.
- What is Cresta best used for?
- Cresta is most often used for a 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent genesys deployment, an insurance contact centre replacing manual qa sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidence, a retail support operation deploying autonomous voice agents on high-volume order status calls while keeping humans on complex claims, a contact centre director who needs to prove which specific agent behaviours drive outcome differences, rather than relying on post-call survey scores. Of those, a 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent genesys deployment and an insurance contact centre replacing manual qa sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidence are not what Smartsupp is typically brought in for.
- What can Cresta do that Smartsupp cannot?
- Cresta covers Real-time agent assist, Autonomous AI Agent, Conversation intelligence, Automated quality management. Smartsupp covers Live chat messaging, Co-browsing, Visitor tracking, Heatmaps.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Smartsupp: How much does Smartsupp cost?
Smartsupp offers a free plan for up to 25 conversations monthly. Paid plans start at $17/month for Solo (annual: $204/year), $25/month for Plus, and $83/month for Expert. Enterprise plans start at $280/month with custom features and annual billing offers up to 30% savings.
SourceCresta: 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.
Smartsupp: What is included in Smartsupp's free tier?
Smartsupp's free tier includes 1 operator, up to 25 conversations per month, 14-day conversation history, and basic channel support. All paid plans offer unlimited conversations and advanced features including AI-powered reply assists.
SourceCresta: 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.
Smartsupp: What payment options and currencies does Smartsupp support?
Smartsupp accepts monthly or annual billing with annual subscriptions providing up to 30% savings. The platform supports multiple currencies including CZK, EUR, USD, and PLN. A 14-day free trial is available for paid plans with no credit card required initially.
SourceCresta: 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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