InnReply vs Tidio for a small inn: an honest comparison
If you're looking at a chat box for your inn's website, Tidio will come up early. It's a well-known, well-established chat tool used by many thousands of businesses. InnReply is a much newer and much smaller tool built only for small inns and B&Bs. I make InnReply, so read this with that in mind. I've tried to be fair, and where Tidio is the better fit, I say so.
Tidio's plans and prices below are taken from its public pricing page on October 27, 2026. They change, so check tidio.com/pricing before you decide.
What each one is built for
Tidio is a general customer service platform. It gives you live chat on your website, a shared inbox for chat, email and social media messages, automated "Flows" you design yourself, and an AI agent called Lyro that answers questions from the support content you give it. It has plugins for popular platforms such as WordPress and Shopify, and apps so you or your staff can reply from a phone. It's used by online shops and all sorts of service businesses.
InnReply does one job: it answers guests' questions on a small inn's website, using what's already written on that website. You tell it your web address and it reads your FAQ, policies and room pages. When a guest asks about dates, it shows which rooms are free and opens your own booking page with the dates filled in. When it isn't sure, it asks for the guest's email and sends you the question, and you reply from your email or your dashboard. There's no live chat inbox to watch.
Side by side
| InnReply | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|
| Made for | Small inns and B&Bs only | Businesses of all kinds |
| Where answers come from | Reads your own website automatically | Lyro uses the support content and FAQs you add |
| Room dates | Shows which rooms are free and opens your booking page with the dates filled in, with many booking systems | Not built in for inn bookings |
| Talking to guests live | No. Questions it can't answer come to your email | Yes. Live chat with a shared team inbox and mobile apps |
| Other channels | Website chat only | Website chat, email and social media messages in one inbox |
| Free plan | 1 location, up to 40 chats a month, every feature | Free plan with a limited number of conversations a month; every account starts with 50 Lyro AI conversations in total |
| Paid plans | $8 a month for up to 2 locations and up to 1,000 chats a month, 7-day trial | Customer service plans from about $24 a month (billed yearly); the Lyro AI agent is priced separately, from $32.50 a month |
| Track record | New in 2026, no reviews yet | Years on the market, lots of reviews |
Where Tidio is the better choice
- You want to chat with guests yourself, in real time. If you or your staff like to answer live from a phone, Tidio's inbox and apps are built for that. InnReply deliberately isn't.
- You want one inbox for everything. If guests message you on Facebook and Instagram as well as your website, Tidio can pull those together.
- You also sell things online. A gift shop, gift cards or packages on Shopify fit Tidio's shop features well.
- You want a company with a long track record. That's a fair reason. We're new, and we'd rather you know it.
Where InnReply may fit better
- You don't want to set anything up. InnReply reads the website you already have. You don't write answers or build flows.
- Most of your questions are about dates. Seeing which rooms are free and landing on your booking page with the dates already in is the part that's built specifically for inns.
- You'd rather answer by email than watch a chat. Questions it can't answer arrive in your inbox, and you hit reply.
- You want a simple, small bill. The Free plan covers a quiet inn; the paid plan is $8 a month. If a month's chats run out, guests are asked to email you instead, and you're never charged extra by surprise.
Things to check with any chat tool
Whichever you try, ask it the questions your guests really ask, especially awkward ones like pets, late arrivals and accessibility. Check that it doesn't invent answers, and that questions it can't answer actually reach you. Read what counts as a billable "conversation", and what happens when you go over. Both tools offer a free way to try them, so the honest answer is: try both on your own site for a week and see which one your guests get more out of.
Want to see it on a real-looking inn site? Ask the sample inn's chat anything, then try it on your own site. The Free plan covers 1 location and up to 40 chats a month, no card needed.
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