When comparing communication platforms for home service businesses, Hatch and Chiirp often emerge as top contenders. While both offer automation, the differences in AI, scalability, integrations, usability, support, and ROI set them apart.
Chiirp is geared more toward small businesses with basic automation needs, while Hatch provides a robust, customizable AI solution tailored for companies looking to scale efficiently.
This article will break down those six components in more detail.
Chiirp offers AI, but the bots are not robust. They can handle a few easy questions before needing to be passed to a human rep. There is also limited customization and prompting, which leads to frequent hallucinations.
Hatch AI constitutes AI CSRs that handle complete conversations with your contacts—all the way to booking. They are fully customizable with a persona, a business profile to reference, custom scripting, and rules to ensure accuracy and brand alignment. As you build your bot and make refinements, you can converse with them yourself to make sure they’re behaving as intended.
Below is a real example of a conversation between a bot and a customer for Point Loma Electric and Plumbing. The bot is able to answer off-script questions due to having a business profile to reference.
What our customers say
“We’ve worked through a few kinks, but now the bot is doing a great job, and we're watching it learn and get smarter as it interacts with our customers." - Chelsea Muniz, Point Loma Electric and Plumbing.
Read the Point Loma Electric and Plumbing success story here.
Chiirp is primarily an SMB platform. It has a lower price point, but it isn’t set up to scale alongside the businesses it helps to grow.
Hatch, on the other hand, is designed for scaling.
With Hatch, you can program your AI CSRs to handle lead qualification and other level one interactions so you can process leads efficiently.
What our customers say:
"I chose Hatch because I needed to make sure that we were able to deliver the kind of service that was expected of us without necessarily having to expand a ton of office-based positions." -Dennis Garza, Apple Aire
Read the Apple Aire success story here.
Both Hatch and Chiirp integrate with ServiceTitan and have the same API access and automation capabilities (i.e. campaigns that trigger based on behaviors and events). However, with Chiirp, you have to build your audiences in ServiceTitan and import them into Chiirp; whereas with Hatch, you can build the audience in Hatch and contacts will automatically enroll into audiences and campaigns when they meet the criteria.
Aside from ServiceTitan, Chirp has native integrations with three CRMs: Jobber, HousecallPro, and ServiceMonster. They do not have native lead source integrations. These rely on Zapier workarounds which can delay speed to lead outreach and require ongoing maintenance.
By contrast, Hatch has over 37 integrations with both lead sources and CRMs. Native integrations include ServiceTitan, Angi, ThumbTack, Yelp, Google LSA, HomeBuddy, HomeYou, and more.
Hatch integrates directly with lead sources so you can be the first to new leads.
What our customers say:
“We have created many custom campaigns across the customer journey, and the messaging is tailored to their individual journey.” - G2 review
As an SMB-focused platform, Chiirp has simplicity in areas that Hatch may lack, but it is commonly noted as lacking in usability and intuitive design. Chiirp users find it hard to keep things organized, causing conversations to get lost which leads to revenue slippage.
Hatch offers a clean interface with workspaces that enable you to separate out different initiatives (for example, you may have a dedicated workspace each for speed to lead, sales follow-up, nurture, and memberships; or you may separate out your HVAC vs plumbing initiatives. Within each workspace there is a sales board with cards and columns. All correspondence for a particular contact is contained in one card, and you can drag and drop cards into different columns in accordance with your pipeline.
Hatch's Trello-style interface is easy to customize to your pipeline and stay organized.
What our customers say:
Read the full Rescue Air success story here.
Hatch is not without a learning curve—especially the AI configuration component of things, but it offers built-in tools and guidance on top of dedicated support.
This is another difference between the two platforms. Hatch offers a dedicated onboarding manager, dedicated account manager, and ongoing support via email, in-app chat, and regular video calls. Many customers who switch to Hatch note that this level of support is not available with Chiirp.
What our customers say:
Company price points are made to keep organizations afloat, but they also usually reflect the scope of features and capabilities.
Chiirp is an affordable communication platform that scales nicely for local or small businesses. As such, it offers an affordable set of services, anywhere from $350 to $650 per month.
While the costs are low upfront, this does not take into account the longer-term time costs of manual implementation and contact management, or the resulting additional costs of missed opportunities and employee burnout. This, combined with its limited scalability make it difficult for businesses looking to grow and get a positive ROI on Chiirp. As a result, it’s more viable for single location or local businesses that do not use advanced or personalized communication strategies.
Hatch is more expensive than Chiirp, but this is a reflection of our platform encompassing all of the features we’ve covered above, which are essential for not only achieving a positive ROI on the platform, but also on your other sales, marketing, and customer service spend (think about your lead aggregators, CRM, and payroll). More importantly, Hatch is designed to increase your revenue with lower overhead costs, allowing you to maximize profitability. This makes Hatch more viable for medium, large, or multi-location businesses with advanced communication needs who are looking to scale and stay competitive in the market.
All that being said, if you’re a small business with the future sight to scale, building with Hatch may still be a good fit for your business.
What our customers say:
Ultimately, the choice between Hatch and Chiirp comes down to the specific needs of your business. If you’re a small operation seeking basic automation, Chiirp might fit the bill. However, for companies focused on scaling and maximizing efficiency, Hatch offers advanced AI, seamless integrations, and comprehensive support. Hatch empowers growing teams to manage high lead volumes and complex workflows with confidence. Carefully consider your business size and long-term goals to choose the platform that aligns with your growth strategy.
If you found these Hatch features and business benefits to be in alignment with your business needs, you can book a demo here.