Best Live Chat Software: Our Comparison Chart

Live chat is a powerful way to communicate with your website visitors. Next to phone support it is the only customer service channel that is able to solve issues instantly. However, among the hundreds of live chat providers, it's not always easy to find the best one for your site. We are here to help you with that!

On this page, you will find our detailed comparison of various live chat tools. We try to focus on the requirements of small and medium-sized companies here.

If you are not sure whether live chat support is right for your business, check out this article.

Provider Rating Pricing (monthly) Comments
zendesk
-Zendesk Chat (Zopim) Review
 		 4.5 Free: $0
Basic: $14
Advanced: $29
Professional: $59
(Price per agent)		 + great range of features
+ affordable pricing
+ intelligent automatic triggers
+ great live stats
– Designs could be improved 
live chat inc
-LiveChat Review
-Free Trial		 4.3 Starter: $16
Team: $33
Business: $50
Enterprise: $149
(Price per seat)
View full pricing		 + beautiful user interfaces
+ feature-rich
+ integrated ticketing system
+ prices per seat (concurrent user)
– Multilingual support
olark
-Olark Review
-Free Trial		 4 Free: $0
Premium: $15
(Price per agent)
View full pricing		 + automation features
+ usability
+ seasonal templates
– web client is very basic
snapengage
-SnapEngage Review
-Free Trial		 3.5 Business: $49
Plus: $109
Premier: $319
(each tier includes multiple agent licences)		 + very easy-to-use
+ call back feature (US and Canada only)
– no live analytics
– high entry-level pricing
userlike
-Userlike Review
-Free Trial		 3.5 Free: €0
Team: €29
Corporate: €99
Business: €299
(Price per Agent)		 + you can set goals (e.g. sales) for your agents
+ respects EU privacy laws
+ chatbot feature
– setup is no always very intuitive
– limited intelligent triggers
helponclick
-HelpOnClick Review
-Free Trial		 3.5 Basic: $19
Pro: $29
Deluxe: $49
Corporate: $99
(Price per agent)		 + supports multiple websites
+ features of the web interface
– idle mode
– not very intuitive
clickdesk
-ClickDesk Review		 3 Free: $0
Lite: $9.99
Pro: $14.99
(Price per agent)		 + innovative features such as helpdesk
+ good customization
+ affordable
– no live analytics or web client
– idle mode
– negative customer feedback
live2support-Live2Chat Review
-Free Trial		 2 Bronze: $7.92
Silver: $14.92
Gold: $31.67		 + range of features
– outdated look of the interface
– technical issues
– slow

Prices are shown in monthly expenses for one-year contracts (unless stated otherwise).

Additional interesting live chat support tools

Provider Comment
Smartsupp The only live chat tool that adds video recordings of your visitors. This will help you analyze their behavior. A free plan is available too.
Tidio  Young live chat software with a focus on automations (abandoned carts, auto replies etc.) and smart integrations. Starting at $15 per month for three agents. 
Pure Chat Features a powerful free plan. The PRO plan ($99 per month) removes their branding and adds analytics features.
HeyBubble Comes with analytics and mobile support. The entry-level plan is $15 per month (per agent)
LiveAgent Multilingual helpdesk solution that includes live chat. Starts at $29 (includes three agent seats).
Viv ocha Enables you to use audio and video in your chats. Solo plan starts at $19 per month.
Website Alive Texas-based provider offering support for all kinds of mobile devices. Pricing starts at $29.95.

Check out this blog post for a list of 15 of the best live chat tools.

How to Find the Best Live Chat Software for Your Needs?

Thanks to free trials, it’s pretty risk-free to choose a live chat tool these days. Here are a few tips to make your evaluation even more efficient:

Free Trial or Free Plan: we only list providers that do offer a free trial. Some of them even have permanently free plans that you can use until your operation grows. For small businesses, they can even be sufficient. Be aware though that there is also an older generation of ‘enterprise’-type software, where you first need to talk to a sales rep before you can trial the product. I would advise against that unless you are prepared to pay dearly.

Support: due to the nature of their business, the companies all offer live chat support. Do give it a try to see how fast they respond to your questions and whether the quality of the answers is any good.

Compare prices: most live chat tools charge you a price per agent. Be aware though, that some companies charge per seat (e.g. LiveChat). This is advantageous if you have a support team that works in shifts around the clock as you can then share one seat between them. Yet other providers include multiple agents in their pricing tiers (e.g. SnapEngage).

Features you will typically need are: a solid live chat application that is mobile-friendly and has a solid web console for your support agents. It should be possible to turn the live chat widget into a contact form when no one’s around. Also highly recommendable is a solid analytics and statistics module that will inform you about your visitors country and their visit history. Advanced features include automatic triggers and greetings that will initiate chats based on rules (e.g. on the checkout page).
 

Let me know if you have any further question!

Your Opinion

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Questions, Feedback?

Please let us know if you need help in finding the right live chat software for your business. We'd be pleased to assist you!
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robert
Our reviewer:
Robert Brandl