Trengo alternatives: where to go, and how to move your channels
Eight destinations, one per reason for leaving, and a six-step exit plan.
The short answer: respond.io if WhatsApp is your main channel, Missive for a small team that lives in email, Crisp if you want a much lower flat team price, Zendesk or Freshdesk if support has grown into a real ticketing operation, Front for an email-first shared inbox, Gorgias for a Shopify store, and Wati if WhatsApp is all you still use. One thing to know before you pick: a Trengo cancellation only takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for. Plan your exit before the renewal date, not after it. We compared all eight destinations and checked their pricing in 2026.
Some links are affiliate links. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams leave Trengo, and what keeps them stuck
Trengo does what it promises: WhatsApp, email, live chat, Instagram, Facebook and voice in one shared inbox. Its reviews are split between happy teams and a loud unhappy minority. When teams do leave, the reason is almost always the same: how the invoice is put together. Six reasons, all checked in 2026.
Every conversation counts against a quota
Trengo doesn't just charge for seats. Each plan includes a conversation allowance: Boost comes with 6,000 a year on annual billing or 500 a month on monthly billing, Pro with 18,000 a year or 1,500 a month. Past that, you buy bundles: €15 per 100 conversations on annual, €18 on monthly. A store handling 900 conversations in a busy month on monthly Boost goes 400 over, which is about €72 extra that month.
An entry price built for ten people
Boost, the first plan, costs €299 a month billed annually (€349 monthly) and includes 10 users. For a team of ten, that math works. For three people answering WhatsApp, you're paying for seven empty seats. Pro is €499 a month annually (€599 monthly) for 20 users. Extra users cost €25 on Boost and €40 on Pro, annual billing.
AI, voice and broadcast cost extra
AI replies are billed per conversation: €0.25 on annual, €0.30 on monthly. Voice and bulk messaging (broadcast) are add-ons on both Boost and Pro. On WhatsApp, Trengo covers 1,000 service messages per number per month; beyond that, Meta's rates apply. Add it all up before you compare: the sticker price is only part of the bill.
Price increases that sting
On Trustpilot, the one-star reviews are mostly about money. One customer writes: "First we paid 79 euros, 1 year later we pay 223 euros for the same functions." Others discover the per-conversation bundles or features removed from their plan. These are customer accounts, not an official rate card, but they come up often enough that you should check what your plan becomes at renewal.
Support that some customers call slow
Trengo scores 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot, yet roughly one review in three is a one-star: opinions are polarized. The negative ones describe replies that take days, plus slowdowns and disconnections in the app. If your team never hits these, the bill is your only real reason to go. If it does, the hidden cost is customers left waiting.
Leaving takes planning
You can cancel any time, but the cancellation, like a downgrade, only kicks in at the end of the paid period. Upgrades apply immediately. On annual billing, missing the renewal date locks you in for another year, and one reviewer describes a renewal charge they didn't see coming. Add that Trengo's exports are reports, not a full move of your history, and it's clear why the exit needs a plan.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Trengo alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually only one row applies. Each card links to the full profile below.
Priced on users and monthly active contacts, not conversations.
You're a small team that lives in emailMissivePer-user pricing from $14, 30-day trial with no card.
You want a much lower flat team priceCrispOne price per workspace: 10 seats for $95 a month.
Support has outgrown a shared inboxZendesk or FreshdeskZendesk for large teams, Freshdesk to pay less per agent.
You sell on ShopifyGorgiasBuilt for online stores, but billed per ticket, much like Trengo's quota.
You only use WhatsApp nowWatiWhatsApp-only, from $59 a month billed annually.
Trengo alternatives, tool by tool
For each tool: why move there, who it's for, who it isn't for, its main limit, how to migrate from Trengo, and what it costs. Prices are the ones listed in 2026, before tax. Trengo prices its plans in euros; the US tools below price in dollars, so factor in the exchange rate when you compare.
respond.io: the closest match for WhatsApp-heavy teams
WhatsApp firstWhy move to respond.io. It's the tool that feels most like Trengo when your customer relationships run through messaging: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and email in one inbox, with automated workflows. The difference is the bill. respond.io charges for users and monthly active contacts, not conversations. A customer who messages you five times in a month is still one active contact.
Who it's for. Sales and support teams of 5 to 10 people where WhatsApp carries most of the volume.
Who it isn't for. Teams where email is still the main channel: an email-first shared inbox will feel better.
The catch. No free plan. Plans start at 1,000 monthly active contacts, so the bill grows with your audience.
How to migrate. Reconnect your WhatsApp Business number in respond.io (the transfer goes through Meta), import contacts by CSV, then rebuild your workflows from screenshots of your Trengo rules. Use the 7-day trial, no card needed, to wire up a sandbox before cutover day.
- Price
- Starter $79/mo annual ($99 monthly), 5 users
- Next tiers
- Growth $159, Advanced $279 annual
- Billing
- users plus active contacts
- Trial
- 7 days, no card
Missive: a lightweight shared inbox for small teams
Small teamsWhy move to Missive. Missive starts from email and adds what a normal inbox lacks: assignment, internal comments on a message, drafts written together, SMS. Pricing is per user with no conversation quota, so a team of three pays a fraction of Trengo's Boost plan.
Who it's for. Agencies, firms and small teams of 2 to 10 who mostly answer by email.
Who it isn't for. Teams whose business runs on WhatsApp: Missive handles it through an integration and doesn't spell out which plans include it.
The catch. Starter caps at 5 users. Listed prices are for annual billing (20% off); the monthly rate isn't shown.
How to migrate. Connect your email accounts directly. Your mail history comes with them, since it lives with your email provider, not in Trengo. Internal notes and labels you added in Trengo don't come back. The 30-day trial, no card needed, gives you time to run both tools side by side.
- Price
- $14, $24 or $36 per user/mo, annual
- Starter
- 5 users max
- Best for
- small email and SMS teams
- Trial
- 30 days, no card
Crisp: a flat team price at a fraction of the cost
Cheapest per teamWhy move to Crisp. Crisp charges per workspace, not per agent or per conversation. Essentials is $95 a month for 10 seats, with WhatsApp among its channels. For the same team size, that's roughly a third of Trengo Boost.
Who it's for. Small businesses and online stores with 2 to 10 people, answering mostly through site chat and messaging apps.
Who it isn't for. Teams of 11 or more: the bill jumps from $95 to $295 (Plus, 20 seats), and reporting stays basic.
The catch. The free plan holds just 2 seats and 100 customer profiles. Extra seats cost $10 a month each. Our Crisp review scores it 4.2 out of 5.
How to migrate. Swap Trengo's chat snippet on your site for Crisp's, reconnect your email inboxes and WhatsApp number, then import contacts. The 14-day trial is enough to move one channel at a time, starting with site chat.
- Price
- Mini $45, Essentials $95, Plus $295 per month
- Free
- 2 seats, 100 profiles
- Hack'celeration score
- 4.2 out of 5
- Trial
- 14 days
Zendesk: when support becomes a department
Large teamsWhy move to Zendesk. If you're leaving Trengo because support has grown up (queues, skills-based routing, a help center, per-team reporting), Zendesk is the market standard. The pricing logic changes too: per agent, with no conversation quota.
Who it's for. Support teams of 10 agents or more handling high volume across several channels.
Who it isn't for. A small team that just wants fast WhatsApp replies: setup is heavy, and the bill climbs once you add social channels.
The catch. Support Team at $19 per agent covers email only. Chat, social and a help center need Suite Team at $55; advanced routing needs Suite Professional at $115. Our Zendesk review scores it 3.6 out of 5, mostly because of price.
How to migrate. Zendesk imports history through its API or migration partners. Start simple: contacts and open conversations first, then history only if you really need it.
- Price
- $19 to $115 per agent/mo, annual
- Omnichannel
- from Suite Team at $55
- Hack'celeration score
- 3.6 out of 5
- Migration
- API or partner
Freshdesk: proper ticketing for less per agent
Affordable help deskWhy move to Freshdesk. Freshdesk gives you real ticketing (priorities, SLAs, a knowledge base) for less than Zendesk: $19 per agent on Growth. A team of five pays about $95 a month, far below Trengo Boost.
Who it's for. Support teams of 3 to 20 agents working mostly by email and web forms who want tidy tickets.
Who it isn't for. WhatsApp- and Instagram-first teams: Freshdesk thinks in tickets, not instant conversations.
The catch. Prices assume annual billing (20% off). The Copilot AI assistant adds $29 per agent per month. For the other side of the story, our switch from Freshdesk guide covers why some teams leave it.
How to migrate. Set up your email addresses as channels, turn Trengo labels into ticket categories, then import contacts. Use the 14-day trial to move one channel first.
- Price
- Growth $19, Pro $55, Enterprise $89 per agent/mo
- AI
- Copilot $29 per agent
- Best for
- email ticketing
- Trial
- 14 days
Front: the email-first shared inbox
Email firstWhy move to Front. Front turns shared addresses like support@ into a team workspace, with assignment, comments and rules. Pricing is per seat, no conversation quota.
Who it's for. Customer, ops and sales teams handling a lot of email together.
Who it isn't for. Teams where WhatsApp drives most of the volume, or fast-growing teams: Starter stops at 10 seats, and advanced features need Professional at $65 per seat.
The catch. Six people on Professional already cost more than Trengo Boost. Our switch from Front guide covers what teams dislike about it.
How to migrate. Connect your email accounts and the history comes back from your mail provider. Then rebuild assignment rules one by one from your Trengo screenshots. The 14-day trial covers an email cutover.
- Price
- Starter $25, Professional $65, Enterprise $105 per seat/mo
- Starter
- 10 seats max
- Best for
- email-heavy teams
- Trial
- 14 days
Gorgias: customer service for Shopify stores
EcommerceWhy move to Gorgias. Gorgias shows Shopify orders next to every message, so agents refund, edit or track an order without switching tabs. For a store, that's the biggest time saver on this list.
Who it's for. Shopify brands whose ticket volume follows the seasons.
Who it isn't for. Anyone leaving Trengo because of volume-based billing. Gorgias bills per ticket, the same idea: Basic includes 300 tickets a month, Pro 2,000.
The catch. The AI agent costs $0.90 per interaction, and peak season pushes the bill up. Our switch from Gorgias guide shows the same complaints you hear about Trengo.
How to migrate. Connect your Shopify store first, then email and social accounts. The 7-day trial is short: write your saved replies before you start it.
- Price
- Basic $50/mo annual ($60 monthly), 300 tickets
- Next tiers
- Pro $300, Advanced $750 annual
- Billing
- per ticket
- Trial
- 7 days
Wati: WhatsApp only, for less
WhatsApp onlyWhy move to Wati. If your team only uses WhatsApp inside Trengo, you're paying for channels nobody opens. Wati focuses on WhatsApp: shared inbox, no-code chatbot, broadcast campaigns.
Who it's for. Small sales or service teams that work only on WhatsApp.
Who it isn't for. Any team that also answers email or site chat.
The catch. WhatsApp messages are billed on top of the subscription. Our Wati review scores it 3.7 out of 5 and breaks those fees down, and our Wati alternatives page compares other WhatsApp tools.
How to migrate. Move your WhatsApp Business number to Wati, then recreate your message templates: each one goes back through Meta approval, so allow a few days.
- Price
- Growth $59, Pro $119, Business $279 per month, annual
- Extra
- WhatsApp message fees
- Hack'celeration score
- 3.7 out of 5
- Best for
- WhatsApp-only teams
The 8 alternatives side by side
Our default picks: respond.io if WhatsApp dominates, Crisp to cut the bill hardest, Missive for a small email team. For a sense of scale, take a five-person team handling 800 conversations a month. On Trengo, Boost is €299 a month billed annually with 6,000 conversations a year, about 500 a month. At 800 a month you use 9,600 a year and buy 36 extra bundles of 100, or €540 a year on top. Crisp Essentials is $95 a month; five Missive Productive seats are $120; respond.io Starter is $79 plus active contacts beyond 1,000.
| Entry price | What you actually pay for | |
|---|---|---|
| TrengoWhere you're starting | Boost €299/mo annual, 10 users | Conversation quota, €15 per extra 100; AI €0.25 per conversation |
| respond.ioWhatsApp first | Starter $79/mo annual, 5 users | Users and monthly active contacts |
| MissiveSmall teams | $14 per user/mo annual | Per user; Starter capped at 5 people |
| CrispFlat team price | Free (2 seats), Essentials $95/mo | Per workspace; $10 per extra seat |
| ZendeskLarge teams | Support Team $19 per agent | Per agent; omnichannel from $55 |
| FreshdeskAffordable ticketing | Growth $19 per agent | Per agent; Copilot $29 extra |
| FrontEmail first | Starter $25 per seat | Per seat; Starter capped at 10 seats |
| GorgiasShopify | Basic $50/mo annual, 300 tickets | Per ticket, like Trengo; AI $0.90 per interaction |
| WatiWhatsApp only | Growth $59/mo annual | Subscription plus WhatsApp message fees |
Entry prices before tax, annual billing unless noted, subject to change. Redo the math with your real team size and peak volume.
Switching from Trengo in six steps
Order matters. The goal: customers notice nothing, no message lands in a dead inbox, and you don't pay for a month you don't use.
Find the end of your billing period
FirstOpen Trengo billing and note when your paid period ends. Cancellation takes effect on that date, not the day you request it, and so does a downgrade. Work your whole plan backward from there.
On annual billing with less than six weeks to go, cancel now: you keep access until the end and avoid an automatic renewal for another year.
- Time
- ten minutes
- Cost of forgetting
- another year
Inventory everything that runs
Week 1List your channels (WhatsApp numbers, email addresses, site chat, Instagram and Facebook pages, phone lines), assignment rules, saved replies, labels, automated flows and integrations. Screenshot every rule and every flow: they won't move on their own.
A simple sheet with one row per item and its equivalent in the new tool becomes your cutover checklist.
- Time
- half a day
- Output
- item-by-item sheet
Get out what you need to keep
Week 1Trengo's exports are CSV reports: good for your numbers, not for moving conversations. Taking the full history means going through the API or hiring a migration service, and budgeting time on a large account.
Ask the honest question: do you need all of it? Contacts, open conversations and saved replies are often enough. Your email history stays with your mail provider anyway.
- Keep
- contacts, saved replies, reports
- Decide
- full history or not
Move your WhatsApp number
SensitiveYour WhatsApp Business number belongs to your Meta account, not to Trengo. To keep it, transfer it to the new platform's provider following Meta's process. This is the trickiest step: do it on a quiet day and warn the team about a possible short gap.
Message templates (the ones you send outside the 24-hour window) usually need to be recreated and approved again. Draft them in advance.
- Prerequisite
- Meta Business admin access
- Risk
- short gap in service
Cut over the other channels one at a time
Week 2Start with the lowest-risk channel: site chat (swap a snippet), then email (change forwarding), then social, then phone. After each one, send yourself a real message from outside and check where it lands.
Rebuild assignment rules and saved replies before opening each channel, or the first messages arrive in an inbox with no rules.
- Order
- chat, email, social, phone
- Check
- one real message per channel
Run both tools until the period ends
Until the endWhile your Trengo period runs, keep it open for reading: customers will still reply to old threads, and the team will need history. Check daily that no channel still lands there.
The day before it ends, pull a last report export and recheck integrations (store, CRM, automation tools) that might still point at Trengo.
- Length
- until the period ends
- Last move
- report export
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a Trengo exit go wrong
The same mistakes show up in customer stories and in what migration services report. None is really technical: they're oversights, and each one costs more than the time it would have taken to avoid it.
Cancelling after the renewal date
On annual billing, a cancellation made the day after renewal takes effect a year later. Set a reminder six weeks before the period ends, even if you haven't decided yet.
Comparing prices that measure different things
Trengo counts users and conversations, respond.io active contacts, Crisp workspaces, Zendesk and Freshdesk agents, Gorgias tickets. Run the numbers on your real setup: headcount, conversations in your busiest month, channels used. Our ranking of help desk software for small businesses helps frame it.
Forgetting the WhatsApp number
Switching platforms without transferring the number cuts you off from everyone who messages you on it. Confirm you have admin access to the Meta Business account before you start, not on cutover day.
Leaving an integration pointed at Trengo
A site form, a store, a CRM or an automation scenario can keep creating conversations in Trengo. Walk through your inventory, integration by integration, on cutover day.
Recreating the same costs elsewhere
Moving to a tool billed per ticket or per AI resolution brings back the same unpredictable bill. If that's why you're leaving, favor per-seat or per-team pricing. For WhatsApp-centered teams, our WhatsApp CRM ranking has more options.
Opening every channel on the same day
A big-bang cutover multiplies failure points and swamps the team. One channel at a time, with a check message after each, costs two extra days and saves a week of lost messages.
- Billing period end date noted, cancellation filed in time
- Inventory of channels, rules, saved replies and integrations
- Screenshots of every rule and automated flow
- Contacts and reports exported out of Trengo
- Meta Business admin access confirmed
- WhatsApp templates drafted and submitted in the new tool
- Channels moved one by one, a real message sent after each
- Integrations (store, CRM, automations) repointed
Trengo alternatives: common questions
Is there a free Trengo alternative?
For a two-person team, yes: Crisp's free plan covers 2 seats and 100 customer profiles. Beyond that, nothing in this list is free, but Crisp Essentials ($95 a month for 10 seats) and Missive (from $14 per user) cost far less than Trengo Boost.
How much does Trengo cost in 2026?
Boost is €299 a month billed annually (€349 monthly) with 10 users, Pro is €499 (€599 monthly) with 20 users, and Enterprise is quote-based. On top: conversations beyond the quota (€15 per 100 on annual), AI at €0.25 per conversation, and voice and broadcast add-ons.
Trengo vs respond.io: which should I pick?
respond.io if WhatsApp drives most of your volume and you have five people or fewer: Starter is $79 a month billed annually and doesn't count conversations. Trengo keeps the edge for teams of eight to ten that also handle a lot of email in the same inbox.
How does Trengo's per-conversation pricing work?
Each plan includes a conversation allowance: 6,000 a year on Boost annual, 18,000 on Pro annual, or 500 and 1,500 a month on monthly billing. Extra conversations come in bundles of 100 at €15 (annual) or €18 (monthly). AI replies are charged separately per conversation.
How do I cancel Trengo?
From billing settings or by contacting Trengo. The cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for, so on annual billing, file it at least six weeks before renewal.
Can I export my Trengo conversations?
Not in one click. The built-in exports are CSV reports, useful for metrics. Full history means using the API or a migration service. Email threads stay in your mailbox regardless.
Do I keep my WhatsApp number when I leave Trengo?
Yes, if you transfer it. The number sits in your Meta Business account, not in Trengo, and the new platform walks you through the move. Have admin access ready and plan to resubmit your templates. Our WhatsApp chatbots for customer support ranking helps with what comes next.
Does Trengo have a free trial?
Yes, 7 days with no credit card and no setup fee. That's short: if you're weighing Trengo against another platform, run both trials in the same week on the same channels.
Get the next migration guide in your inbox
One tool to leave, one destination, one migration plan. Nothing else.
