Crisp alternative

The focused Crisp alternative for small SaaS support

Crisp gives teams chat, inbox, CRM, campaigns, automation, AI, and more. Fernand is more focused. It gives small SaaS teams one calm place for support: shared inbox, live chat, AI agents, custom data, unlimited conversations, unlimited history, and a Notion-like knowledge base.

Try for free for 14 days RBook a demo with a founder

Paste into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or any AI agent

I'm setting up Fernand (https://getfernand.com), a customer support platform for founders and small teams. Help me get my workspace running end-to-end.

Read the docs first so you know how Fernand works:
- Product & help docs: https://help.getfernand.com
- API & developer docs: https://developers.getfernand.com
- OpenAPI spec: https://api.getfernand.com/openapi.json

Start by asking me if I already have a Fernand account. If not, guide me to create one at https://app.getfernand.com/create. Once I have an account, ask me to create an API key under Settings → Integrations → API Keys so you can help me configure and automate things directly.

Then ask me about my business, my current support stack, and what I want to migrate or automate. Walk me through:
1. Connecting my support inbox(es) and any existing tools
2. Inviting my team
3. Setting up the automations and AI features that actually matter for my use case

Once the basics are covered, ask if I want to add the Fernand support widget to my app, my marketing site, or both. Use the setup guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/setting-up-the-support-widget. When installing:
- Ask me for my brand's accent color and set it in the widget config
- Ask me what links I want to surface in the widget (docs, changelog, status page, etc.) and pick the right icon for each one using the icon reference at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/custom-links-icon-reference
- Ask if my app has authenticated users — if yes, follow https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/authenticating-users to pre-identify them so conversations are tied to real accounts from the start

Once the widget is set up, ask if I want to surface more context inside customer conversations using Fernand's custom data feature. Read the full guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data, the endpoint structure at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/structuring-your-endpoint, and the display pattern library (including all subpages) at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data#customizing-your-display. Ask me what data I'd want to see when a customer writes in (account status, plan, recent activity, etc.), then check if I already have an existing endpoint or admin API that exposes this data and could be reused directly — only suggest building a new one if nothing suitable exists. Then write the Liquid template using the right display patterns for each piece of data.

Throughout the setup, as you learn about my business — what it does, who my customers are, what support questions are likely — proactively suggest and help create:
- Smart snippets: pre-written replies for common questions, based on what you know (or can infer from my codebase, product, or docs). Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/smart-snippets/smart-snippets and draft a useful starting set.
- Automation rules: triage, assignment, tagging, or auto-reply rules that make sense for my use case. Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/automation-rules and suggest rules you'd actually configure for a team like mine. If you have access to my code or product, use it — you can infer a lot about the kinds of requests I'll receive.

Be opinionated. If something in the docs is the right default, just do it — don't ask me to choose between five options.

Trusted by hundreds of
modern founders like you

Jack Friksfrom Post Bridge

Thomas Sanlisfrom Uneed

Tal Flanchraychfrom ApplyAll

Daniel Pianettifrom Are.na

Purposely built for small teams

Not a watered-down enterprise tool. Every decision in Fernand is made with small, fast-moving teams in mind.

Simple pricing

$29 per human per month. Predictable, transparent, and built for small teams.

Built for SaaS support

Inbox, live chat, AI agents, customer context, and docs in one calm workspace.

Consolidate all your support channels
into one shared inbox

Everything consolidates into one shared inbox you can access from your desktop or mobile. Collaborate on customer inquiries with your team, no matter what channel they started with.

Email

Add any email you'd like, like help@yourapp.com or sales@yourapp.com and handle customer inquiries from a shared inbox.

Learn more →

Live chat widget

Embed a live chat in your product and respond to customers in real time, right from your inbox.

Learn more →

Knowledge base

Publish a beautiful, SEO-friendly help center your customers can search through before reaching out.

Learn more →

Slack

Receive and reply to Slack messages from your customers directly from Fernand without switching tools.

Learn more →

𝕏 DMs

Receive and reply to direct messages from your customers directly from Fernand without switching tools.

Learn more →

Contact forms

Add headless contact forms to your product or website and funnel all submissions into your shared inbox.

Learn more →

Headless API

Build a fully custom support experience inside your product using our API. Your UI, your flow, Fernand's inbox behind the scenes.

Learn more →

Why teams switch from Crisp

Crisp is broad. That can be useful when you want one tool for customer messaging, CRM, marketing, sales, and support.

But many small SaaS teams do not want their helpdesk to become a mini CRM or campaign platform. They want support to stay fast, clean, and close to the product.

Fernand removes the extra surface area and focuses on the workflow small SaaS teams actually use: answer users, automate repetitive questions, escalate to humans, connect product context, and keep docs updated.

Choose Crisp if…

You want a broader customer messaging platform with CRM, omnichannel marketing, campaigns, and workflow automation.

Choose Fernand if…

You want focused SaaS support with simple pricing, unlimited conversations, AI agents, and no extra CRM weight.

"Fernand is the bedrock of my solo business. It's the reason I'm able to stay solo and move quick while growing my SaaS and providing a human touch to all my thousands of paying customers. For the first time I'm not managing a mess of mailboxes but greeted every morning with a clear path to resolution."
Jack FriksFounder of Post Bridge

No more tab switching

Bring in custom data from your API endpoint

Point Fernand at any HTTP endpoint and it pulls the data that matters most right into the conversation sidebar. Use Liquid templating to control exactly what gets displayed. No extra tooling needed.

See how it works →

Support widget

A support widget that stays focused

Unlike broad customer messaging tools, Fernand's widget is designed around support. Users can search docs, ask AI, start live chat, or submit a form without feeling like they are inside a sales funnel.

Integrates with your entire stack

Native integrations with your payment providers and dev tools. Connect anything else with the API, or orchestrate with n8n, Zapier, or Make.

Crisp is broad.Fernand is focused.

Every detail of Fernand is intentionally designed using proven principles from cognitive psychology and behavioral science to make support feel calmer.

One thing at a time

One task at a time, so you never freeze wondering what to do next.

Ticket flowNormal

Unassigned7

Inbox zero±15 min

"Bonjour" welcome screen

Always know what your support queue looks like at a glance, instead of scanning through it manually.

70% done · 3 remaining

Progress to inbox zero

We communicate your progress transparently, to give you a sense of completion and fulfilment.

⌘

Unlock your new superpowers

Meet your new favourite shortcut. All the actions at the tip
of your fingers to clear your request queue 10x faster.

Press on

to assign

Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Optimized for efficiency. Reply, add a note, close a request and much more.

Loads under 100ms

No spinners, no loading. Everything is synced between all your screens at all times. It's like magic.

Crisp vs Fernand comparison

Built for founders, developers, PMs, and first customer ops hires who still touch support directly.

	Crisp	Fernand
Best for	Broad customer messaging across support, CRM, sales, and marketing	Small SaaS support
Pricing	Flat per workspace with plan-based seats and AI credits	$29 per human per month
Buying process	Self-serve trial, enterprise demo available	Try for free, no mandatory demo
Product scope	Chat, CRM, marketing, campaigns, automation, support	Shared inbox, live chat, AI agents, docs
Conversations	Unlimited conversations on paid plans	Unlimited conversations
History	Unlimited data retention on paid plans	Unlimited history
Emails and domains	Custom email domain on paid plans	Unlimited emails and domains
AI	AI credits and automated conversations by plan	AI agents ride free
API actions	Developer APIs and task automations by plan	AI agents can connect through API for free
Knowledge base	Knowledge base on higher plans	Notion-like knowledge base included
Widget customization	Website chat customization	Color, behavior, position, fully white-labelled
Migration	Self-managed	Free, hands-on migration included
Product philosophy	Complete customer messaging suite	Calm, focused, opinionated support

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before switching from Crisp to Fernand.

Is Fernand a good Crisp alternative?

Yes. Fernand is a good Crisp alternative for SaaS teams that want support without CRM, campaigns, and marketing automation bloat.

Does Fernand include live chat?

Yes. Fernand includes live chat with AI agent and human escalation.

Does Fernand include unlimited conversations?

Yes. Fernand includes unlimited conversations and unlimited history.

Can Fernand AI agents perform actions?

Yes. Fernand AI agents can connect through your API for free and perform actions.

Who should stay on Crisp?

Teams that want customer messaging, CRM, marketing campaigns, and omnichannel workflows in one suite may prefer Crisp.

We'll migrate you from Crisp for free.No demo. No surprise pricing.

Switching tools should not mean losing your history. Past conversations and knowledge base, all carried over for free. We'll manually review your migration and make sure everything is set up right before you go live.

Past conversations

Your full support history imported and searchable from day one, attachments included.

Knowledge base

Your help articles migrated and ready to publish. We set up 301 redirects from your old URLs so you keep every backlink and every rank.

Try for free for 14 days RBook a demo with a founder

Paste into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or any AI agent

I'm setting up Fernand (https://getfernand.com), a customer support platform for founders and small teams. Help me get my workspace running end-to-end.

Read the docs first so you know how Fernand works:
- Product & help docs: https://help.getfernand.com
- API & developer docs: https://developers.getfernand.com
- OpenAPI spec: https://api.getfernand.com/openapi.json

Start by asking me if I already have a Fernand account. If not, guide me to create one at https://app.getfernand.com/create. Once I have an account, ask me to create an API key under Settings → Integrations → API Keys so you can help me configure and automate things directly.

Then ask me about my business, my current support stack, and what I want to migrate or automate. Walk me through:
1. Connecting my support inbox(es) and any existing tools
2. Inviting my team
3. Setting up the automations and AI features that actually matter for my use case

Once the basics are covered, ask if I want to add the Fernand support widget to my app, my marketing site, or both. Use the setup guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/setting-up-the-support-widget. When installing:
- Ask me for my brand's accent color and set it in the widget config
- Ask me what links I want to surface in the widget (docs, changelog, status page, etc.) and pick the right icon for each one using the icon reference at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/custom-links-icon-reference
- Ask if my app has authenticated users — if yes, follow https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/authenticating-users to pre-identify them so conversations are tied to real accounts from the start

Once the widget is set up, ask if I want to surface more context inside customer conversations using Fernand's custom data feature. Read the full guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data, the endpoint structure at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/structuring-your-endpoint, and the display pattern library (including all subpages) at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data#customizing-your-display. Ask me what data I'd want to see when a customer writes in (account status, plan, recent activity, etc.), then check if I already have an existing endpoint or admin API that exposes this data and could be reused directly — only suggest building a new one if nothing suitable exists. Then write the Liquid template using the right display patterns for each piece of data.

Throughout the setup, as you learn about my business — what it does, who my customers are, what support questions are likely — proactively suggest and help create:
- Smart snippets: pre-written replies for common questions, based on what you know (or can infer from my codebase, product, or docs). Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/smart-snippets/smart-snippets and draft a useful starting set.
- Automation rules: triage, assignment, tagging, or auto-reply rules that make sense for my use case. Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/automation-rules and suggest rules you'd actually configure for a team like mine. If you have access to my code or product, use it — you can infer a lot about the kinds of requests I'll receive.

Be opinionated. If something in the docs is the right default, just do it — don't ask me to choose between five options.

The focused Crisp alternative for small SaaS support

Purposely built for small teams

Simple pricing

Built for SaaS support

Consolidate all your support channels into one shared inbox

Email

Live chat widget

Knowledge base

Slack

𝕏 DMs

Contact forms

Headless API

Why teams switch from Crisp

Choose Crisp if…

Choose Fernand if…

Bring in custom data from your API endpoint

A support widget that stays focused

Integrates with your entire stack

Crisp is broad.Fernand is focused.

One thing at a time

"Bonjour" welcome screen

Progress to inbox zero

Unlock your new superpowers

Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Loads under 100ms

Crisp vs Fernand comparison

Frequently asked questions

We'll migrate you from Crisp for free.No demo. No surprise pricing.

Past conversations

Knowledge base

Consolidate all your support channels
into one shared inbox