Customize the Crisp chat button with an animated character

Swap the plain Crisp bubble for a character in your brand colors. Opens your Crisp chatbox.

Can you change the Crisp chat icon?

Partly. Crisp lets you pick a color theme (custom colors on paid plans), move the chatbox to the left, and hide it on mobile. There's no native option to change the button's icon or to animate it; Crisp's own guide suggests replacing the button with a custom one.

What Crisp lets you change

Choose a color theme (custom colors on paid plans)
Move the chatbox from right to left
Hide the chatbox on mobile devices
Hide it and open the chat from your own button ($crisp chat:hide and chat:open)

What it doesn't

Change the button's icon natively
Animate the button or use a character
Use custom colors on the free plan (presets only)

Source: Crisp Help: customize the chatbox, checked 2026-10-18. More tools compared in how to customize your website's chat button.

Add an animated character to Crisp, step by step

Create a free Chatmello account and enter your website address.
Pick a character (or upload your own mascot), your brand colors, a personality and a greeting.
Publish, then paste your snippet before </body> on every page, next to your Crisp code. It looks like this:
```
<script src="https://www.chatmello.com/chatmello.js" data-site="YOUR-SITE-ID" async></script>
```
Open your website. Your pet finds Crisp on the page by itself and takes over its button. The dashboard shows "Found Crisp on your site".

Keep your Crisp code (client.crisp.chat with your CRISP_WEBSITE_ID) on the page.

How the pet works with Crisp

Chatmello hides the Crisp button while the pet is showing and brings it back if the pet can't work.
Clicking the pet opens the Crisp chatbox.
Crisp's unread message count shows on the pet while the chat is closed.

What stays the same

Your Crisp account, inbox, team and routing
Your bots, automations and office hours
The Crisp chat window your visitors see
If Crisp fails to load or open, the pet steps aside and the normal Crisp button comes back

Performance and accessibility

The Chatmello script is about 12 KB (gzipped), loads after your page and downloads only the character you use.
No cookies, and it never records what visitors type.
The pet is a real button with a label, works with the keyboard, and keeps still for visitors who ask for reduced motion.

Troubleshooting

The Crisp bubble still shows: Check that the Crisp code loads on the same pages as Chatmello, then hard-refresh. If Crisp takes more than about 15 seconds to start, the pet steps aside and leaves Crisp's bubble.
I turned on "Hide chatbox on mobile" in Crisp: Then Crisp can't be opened on phones, by the pet or anything else. Turn on "Hide on phones" in Chatmello's settings too, so the pet isn't shown there.
The pet doesn't appear: Check the website address in your Chatmello settings and that your design is published.

What visitors get

A friendly character instead of a plain bubble
A greeting bubble with your message
The Crisp chat opens when they click the pet
Unread messages shown on the pet while the chat is closed

Questions

Do I need a paid Crisp plan?

No. Chatmello works with Crisp's free plan; it opens the chat through Crisp's JavaScript API.

Can I change the Crisp chat icon without Chatmello?

Not natively. Crisp's own guide says to hide its button and build a custom one.

Does Chatmello change my Crisp inbox or chatbots?

No. Only the button is replaced; conversations, MagicReply and bots work as before.

Will Crisp's unread count still show?

Yes, on the pet while the chat is closed.

Does it work with Crisp on WordPress or Shopify?

Yes. Add Chatmello's one line next to your Crisp code; the install guides show where for each platform.

Can I show the pet on some pages only?

Yes. In Chatmello's settings, show it only on pages you list, or everywhere except some. On other pages, Crisp's normal button shows.

Will it slow down my website?

No. The script is about 12 KB, loads in the background, and only fetches the files your pet needs.

Is there a free plan?

Yes: one website, every character and every chat tool, free forever.

Give Crisp a face

Free for one website. Pick a character, choose your colors, paste one line of code.

Create your pet free