What are live chat software tools, and which are the best ones?

This page reviews the top live chat website software solutions for 2024. If you’re a website owner, support manager, or business leader looking to boost customer communication and satisfaction, you’re in the right place.

We’ve curated a list of 20 top-rated live chat website software options to help you improve real-time engagement with your website visitors. Whether you’re a small business owner or run a large support team, this guide will help you choose the live chat website software that best fits your needs.

Live chat software is a real-time messaging platform designed for businesses to communicate with customers directly on websites, apps, and social media. Examples include LiveChat, Tidio, HubSpot, Zendesk, Tawk.to, and Intercom.

This roundup focuses on web-based solutions for businesses seeking to improve communication with website visitors and provides a curated list of 20 solutions.

We’ll review the benefits, features, types, and then present detailed comparisons of 20 leading live chat software picks. After the reviews, you’ll find guidance on how to evaluate and select the right solution for your business.

What is Live Chat?

Live chat software is a real-time messaging platform designed for businesses to communicate with customers directly on websites, apps, and social media. It has quickly become a must-have for any business looking to deliver exceptional customer service online.

By adding a live chat widget to your website, you give visitors an easy and immediate way to connect with your support agents, ask questions, and get real-time assistance. The best live chat software not only streamlines communication but also helps boost customer satisfaction by resolving issues on the spot.

With so many chat software options available, it’s important to choose a solution that fits your business needs and enhances the overall customer experience.

Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, integrating a live chat widget can make a significant difference in how you engage with your customers and support their journey on your website.

Examples of top live chat website software include LiveChat, Tidio, HubSpot, Zendesk, Tawk.to, and Intercom.

Next, let’s explore the key benefits of using live chat software for your business.

Benefits of Live Chat

Live chat software enhances customer satisfaction by providing immediate assistance to inquiries and improving overall support experiences. Here are the main benefits:

• Boosts Customer Satisfaction: Customers receive instant answers, reducing frustration and increasing loyalty.
• Improves Support Efficiency: Agents can handle multiple chats at once, leading to faster resolution times.
• Proactive Engagement: Businesses can reach out to website visitors in real time, guiding them through the buying process.
• Personalized Recommendations: Live chat enables tailored suggestions that can drive sales and conversions.
• Convenience: Customers can get help without waiting on hold or sending emails.
• Insightful Analytics: Gather valuable data from customer interactions to identify trends and improve service.
• Builds Trust: Real-time support helps establish credibility and reliability with your audience.

By leveraging these benefits, businesses can significantly improve communication with website visitors and create a more satisfying customer experience.

Next, let’s break down the essential features to look for in live chat website software.

Features of Live Chat Software

When choosing live chat website software, consider the following key features that enhance both customer and agent experiences:

Customization

• Customizable chat widgets to match your website’s branding
• Proactive chat invitations to engage visitors at the right moment

Integrations

• Integration with CRM, help desk, and marketing tools
• Multi-channel support (e.g., Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, mobile apps)

Analytics

• Real-time visitor tracking
• Message sneak peek to anticipate customer needs
• Chat ratings and feedback collection

User Experience

• User-friendly interface for both agents and customers
• Multi-language support for global reach
• File sharing and video chat capabilities
• Chat limits and agent routing

Plans and Accessibility

• Free versions or forever free plans for startups and small businesses
• Mobile apps for on-the-go support

Next, let’s look at the various types of live chat solutions available on the market.

Types of Live Chat Software

Live chat software comes in several forms to suit different business needs and technical requirements:

• Customer Support-Focused: Designed for handling support inquiries and ticketing.
• Sales & Marketing Automation: Focused on lead generation and conversion.
• On-Premise Solutions: Hosted on your own servers for greater control.
• Cloud-Based Solutions: Offer flexibility, scalability, and easy updates.
• Omnichannel Support: Integrate with multiple channels (web, social media, apps) for seamless communication.
• Customizable Workflows: Tailor chat widgets and processes to your brand and customer journey.

When selecting a live chat solution, consider how it integrates with your existing systems and whether it can scale with your business.

Now, let’s dive into our detailed reviews of the 20 best live chat website software picks for 2024.

Our Top 20 picks for live chat software for your website

Many free live chat tools offer limited features or trials, and these limitations can vary by vendor.

JivoChat live chat software

JivoChat is a versatile messaging platform that enables communication with customers through various channels, including live chat, social media, and mobile apps. It offers unlimited chats and websites on all pricing plans, even the free plan. Higher-tier plans provide advanced analytics and proactive messaging.

• Pricing: Starts at $13 per agent/month
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile, social media
• Languages: 25+
• Key features: Unlimited chats, proactive triggers, widget customization, integrations

Freshchat

Freshchat is suitable for both enterprises and small businesses, offering robust integration support and AI-powered chatbots for 24/7 assistance. It supports over 33 languages and provides comprehensive analytics and team collaboration features.

• Pricing: Starts at $14/month, up to $69/month
• Free plan: Yes (unlimited contacts, 10,000 MUV)
• Channels: Web, mobile, social, bots
• Key features: AI bots, ticketing, collaboration, analytics

Zendesk LiveChat

Zendesk LiveChat is part of the Zendesk suite, providing a unified agent workspace and rich customer experience features like typing indicators, emojis, and forms. It supports automation and customizable workflows.

In the live chat, you have a rich set of options to express information, including typing indicators, emojis, GIFs, forms, carousels, and more! Zendesk’s ticket management features streamline support workflows and automate task handling.

• Pricing: Sales plan from $19/month, Service plan from $49/month
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, mobile, social, bots
• Key features: Unified workspace, automation, ticket management, integrations

Pure Chat

PureChat is ideal for small and mid-sized businesses, offering unlimited chats, customizable widgets, and native Android/iOS apps. It features a powerful dashboard and admin tools.

• Pricing: Starts at $39/month, Pro at $79/month
• Free plan: 30-day Pro trial
• Channels: Web, mobile
• Key features: Unlimited chats, mobile apps, chat transcripts, admin roles

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk’s live chat widget is embeddable anywhere and supports secure customer data management. It can convert unresolved chats into tickets and offers instant translation for multilingual support.

Zoho Desk allows secure access and management of customer data, ensuring privacy and compliance. You can create dedicated chat widgets for each brand of yours, along with their own knowledge bases and communities.

• Pricing: Free for 3 agents, paid from $15/agent/month
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile
• Key features: Ticketing, brand-specific widgets, knowledge base integration, translation

LiveChat

LiveChat is a comprehensive solution with multi-channel and in-app support, online surveys, and over 170 integrations. It provides detailed analytics and automatic ticket generation.

LiveChat provides detailed analytics to help businesses track key metrics and monitor team performance.

• Pricing: Starts at $16/agent/month
• Free plan: 2-week trial
• Channels: Web, mobile, integrations
• Key features: Analytics, surveys, ticketing, integrations

ClickDesk

ClickDesk is a hosted live chat solution with video conferencing, unlimited chat sessions, and robust admin features. It offers a free plan for up to 10 agents.

• Pricing: Free for 10 agents, paid from $15 to $40/month
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, video, chat apps
• Key features: Video chat, admin roles, reporting, integrations

LiveAgent

LiveAgent features a highly customizable live chat widget, multi-language support, and a message sneak peek feature. It supports extensive integrations and collaborative support.

• Pricing: Varies by plan
• Free plan: Yes (limited)
• Channels: Web, mobile, integrations
• Key features: Customization, sneak peek, collaboration, ticketing

SmartSupp

SmartSupp offers a rich toolset for live chat, multi-channel support, and analytics. It has a free plan with essential features and affordable paid plans.

• Pricing: Free plan, paid from $10/agent/month, Pro at $19
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile, integrations
• Key features: Multi-channel, analytics, customization

Intercom

Intercom is known for advanced automation, lead generation, and user analytics. It offers proactive chat triggers and multilingual support.

• Pricing: Starts at $59/month, special startup offer at $65
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, mobile, bots
• Key features: Automation, analytics, proactive triggers, multilingual

Acquire

Acquire provides advanced features for multichannel and personalized customer interaction, combining AI chatbots with live agents. It supports file uploads, screen sharing, and video chat.

• Pricing: Starts at $90/user/month
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, mobile, video, bots
• Key features: AI bots, unified workspace, file sharing, video chat

Olark

Olark is suitable for businesses with unpredictable chat volume, offering unlimited chats at a flat rate. It features integrations, automation, and chat transcripts.

• Pricing: $16/agent/month
• Free plan: 2-week trial
• Channels: Web, integrations
• Key features: Unlimited chats, automation, integrations, transcripts

Tidio

Tidio is tailored for eCommerce, with affordable plans and a robust free tier. It offers real-time metrics, mobile apps, and canned responses.

Tidio’s pricing structure is highly welcoming for small businesses as they have a free plan and the other plans are affordable too. Tidio is recognized as one of the top free live chat tools for small businesses.

• Pricing: Free plan, paid plans available
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile, integrations
• Key features: Automation, integrations, mobile apps, canned responses

Tidio – Grow your sales effortlessly

A live chat software that caters to all the needs of its users.

Lyro AI Agent: $1 for 2 months (use code BFCM50). Handles 67% of customer questions automatically. Deadline: December 5th.

Try Tidio for FREE

Tidio Review

Chatra

Chatra is user-friendly and supports both live and automated chat agents. It offers message sneak peek, proactive conversations, and unlimited chat sessions.

• Pricing: Free plan, paid from $15/agent/month
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile, bots
• Key features: Sneak peek, proactive chat, unlimited sessions

Tawk.to

Tawk.to is a free, fast, and reliable live chat application with support for over 25 languages. It offers advanced features like credit card masking and IP restrictions.

• Pricing: Free, branding removal at $9
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, mobile, integrations
• Key features: Unlimited agents/chats, customization, advanced security

ProProfs Chat

ProProfs Chat is easy to use and offers a forever free plan with all premium features. It supports proactive chats, sneak peek, and wide integration.

• Pricing: Free plan, paid from $19.99/user/month
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, integrations
• Key features: Proactive chat, sneak peek, integrations

HappyFox Chat

Happyfox Chat is simple, fast, and affordable for businesses of all sizes. It supports private agent channels and multilingual support.

• Pricing: Starts at $29/month
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, integrations
• Key features: Private channels, fast setup, multilingual

Bold360

Bold 360 is an AI-driven live chat software that combines chatbots with human agents. It offers high customization and instant translation.

• Pricing: Custom quotes
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, mobile, bots
• Key features: AI bots, customization, translation, ticket management

Comm100

Comm100 supports a wide range of messaging channels and offers live chat, omnichannel, and automation platforms. It provides robust data management and reporting.

• Pricing: Live chat at $29/agent/month, Omnichannel at $49/agent/month
• Free plan: No
• Channels: Web, mobile, social, bots
• Key features: Omnichannel, automation, reporting, proactive triggers

Botstar

Botstar offers live chat, AI chatbots, analytics, and integrations. The beginner plan is free, with Pro and Enterprise options for more features.

• Pricing: Free beginner plan, Pro at $15/month, Enterprise custom
• Free plan: Yes
• Channels: Web, chat apps, bots
• Key features: AI bots, analytics, customization, canned responses

Evaluating Live Chat Software

Selecting the best live chat website software for your business involves more than just comparing price tags. Consider these key evaluation criteria:

• Customization: Can the chat widget be tailored to your brand and workflow?
• User Experience: Is the interface intuitive for both agents and customers?
• Advanced Features: Look for AI-powered chatbots, proactive messaging, and multi-chat handling.
• Scalability: Can the software handle your current and future chat volume?
• Integrations: Does it work with your existing CRM, help desk, or marketing tools?
• Analytics: Are real-time visitor tracking and reporting available?
• Pricing: Are there free plans or scalable pricing options?
• Support: Is there comprehensive documentation and responsive customer support?

By carefully evaluating these aspects, you can choose a live chat solution that not only meets your current needs but also supports your business as it grows.

Next, let’s wrap up with a summary and final recommendations.

Conclusion

Those were our top 20 picks for the best live chat tools that you can use for improving the customer user experience of your website. There are tools that are expensive but provide great features and some that are available for low cost but cover all essential necessities.

Based on your budget and your needs, pick the perfect tool and get the benefits of a live chat! By the way, if you are using WordPress and have not yet switched to a managed hosting platform, we recommend you switch now!

Managed WordPress Hosting platforms provide a range of benefits that bring down a lot of hassle from you. Kinsta is the best-managed WordPress hosting platform that gives the best value for the price you pay for it!

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