In today’s fast-paced business environment, providing excellent customer support is essential to keep your customers happy and loyal. One of the most efficient and effective ways to do this is through a live chat solution. However, with so many options available, choosing the right one for your business can take time and effort. In this blog, we will compare the top customer live chat solutions and highlight their key features, pros and cons, to help you make an informed decision. Whether you are a small business owner or managing a large enterprise, this guide will help you find the best live chat solution to meet your needs.
- 1. Intercom
- 2. LiveChat
- 3. Zendesk Chat
- 4. Tawk.to
- 5. Freshchat
- 6. Olark
- 7. LiveAgent
- 8. Drift
- 9. Acquire.io
- 10. Crisp
- 11. Pure Chat
- 12. SmartSupp
- 13. Userlike
- 14. LivePerson
- 15. HubSpot Service Hub
- 16. Tidio
- 17. Help Scout
- 18. Chaport
- 19. Chatlio
- 20. Rocket Chat
- 21. Shopify Inbox
- 22. JivoSite chat
- 23. Chaty Premio
- 24. Getbutton.io
- 25. Crisp Chat
- 26. Zoho SalesIQ
1. Intercom
Intercom is a customer communication platform that offers live chat as one of its features. It allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time through various channels, including live chat, email, and messaging. Intercom aims to be an all-in-one solution for customer communication and support, and it integrates with various other business tools to help businesses streamline their workflows. In addition, to live chat, Intercom offers features such as lead generation, customer engagement, and knowledge management.
Pros: Intercom offers a comprehensive suite of customer communication tools, including live chat and messaging features. It also integrates with a variety of other business tools.
Cons: Intercom can be expensive for small businesses and its learning curve can be steep.
2. LiveChat
LiveChat: A popular live chat solution for businesses. It provides real-time communication between companies and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. LiveChat offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. Besides live chat, LiveChat offers features such as reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: LiveChat is a popular and user-friendly live chat solution that offers a variety of features and customization options. It also integrates with many other business tools.
Cons: Some users may find that LiveChat’s pricing is higher than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
3. Zendesk Chat
Zendesk Chat is a live chat software solution offered by Zendesk. It provides businesses with a way to communicate with their customers in real-time, helping to improve customer engagement and support. Zendesk Chat provides features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. Zendesk Chat is part of the Zendesk customer service platform, which offers a range of other features, including ticketing, knowledge management, and reporting and analytics.
Pros: Zendesk Chat integrates seamlessly with the Zendesk support platform, making it a good choice for businesses already using Zendesk. It also offers a variety of customization options.
Cons: Zendesk Chat may not be as feature-rich as some live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may not be as robust as some users need.
4. Tawk.to
A (mostly) free, cloud-based live chat solution that offers features like multi-language support and reporting. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, helping to improve customer engagement and support. Tawk.to offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and affordable, making it a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses, in addition to live chat, Tawk.to offers features such as reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing companies to have comprehensive customer service solutions.
Pros: Tawk.to is a free live chat solution offering basic features and integrations with other business tools. As a result, it’s a good choice for businesses on a tight budget.
Cons: Tawk.to may offer fewer features than paid live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
5. Freshchat
A modern live chat solution by Freshworks. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. Freshchat offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. Freshchat offers features such as reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: Freshchat is a modern live chat solution that offers features like conversational bots and collaboration tools. It also integrates with a variety of other business tools.
Cons: Freshchat may not be as well known as some live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may not be as robust as some users need.
6. Olark
Olark is a live chat software solution for businesses. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. Olark offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. In addition to live chat, Olark offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: Olark is a live chat solution that offers custom branding and automation options. It also integrates with e-commerce platforms.
Cons: Olark may provide fewer features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
7. LiveAgent
A multi-channel customer service platform with live chat and a help desk system. It provides businesses with a comprehensive customer communication and support solution, including live chat, ticketing, and knowledge management. In addition, LiveAgent offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. Besides live chat, LiveAgent offers reporting and analytics, email and social media management, and automation, allowing businesses to streamline their customer service workflows.
Pros: LiveAgent is a multi-channel customer service platform with live chat and a help desk system. It’s a good choice for businesses that need a comprehensive customer service solution.
Cons: LiveAgent may be more expensive than other live chat solutions, and its learning curve can be steep.
8. Drift
A conversational marketing platform that includes live chat and conversational bots. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. Drift Live chat offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. In addition to live chat, Drift offers reporting and analytics, conversational marketing, and lead generation, allowing companies to have a comprehensive customer engagement solution.
Pros: Drift is a conversational marketing platform that includes live chat and conversational bots. It’s a good choice for businesses using chat for marketing and sales.
Cons: Drift may offer fewer customer support features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
9. Acquire.io
A cloud-based live chat solution that offers features like real-time visitor monitoring, chat routing, and integrations with other business tools. It allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time through various channels, including live chat, voice, and email. Acquire.io aims to be an all-in-one solution for customer communication and support, and it integrates with a variety of other business tools to help businesses streamline their workflows. Additionally to live chat, Acquire.io offers features such as reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management.
Pros: Acquire.io is a cloud-based live chat solution that offers real-time visitor monitoring and integrations with other business tools. It’s a good choice for businesses that want a live chat solution that is easy to set up and use. Cons: Acquire.io may offer fewer features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
10. Crisp
A live chat solution that offers features like chatbots, real-time monitoring, and integrations with other business tools. Crisp is a customer communication platform that includes live chat as one of its features. It allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time through various channels, including live chat, voice, and email. Crisp aims to be an all-in-one solution for customer communication and support, and it integrates with various other business tools to help businesses streamline their workflows. In addition to live chat, Crisp offers features such as reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management.
Pros: Crisp is a live chat solution that offers features like chatbots and integrations with other business tools. It’s a good choice for businesses that want a live chat solution that is easy to set up and use. Cons: Crisp may offer fewer features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
11. Pure Chat
A live chat solution that offers real-time monitoring, chat routing, and integrations with website builders and CRMs. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. PureChat offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and affordable, making it a good choice for small and medium-sized businesses. In addition to live chat, PureChat offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management features, allowing companies a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: Pure Chat is a live chat solution that offers real-time visitor monitoring and integrations with website builders and CRMs. It’s a good choice for businesses that want a live chat solution that is easy to set up and use.
Cons: Pure Chat may offer fewer features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited. Some users may also find that the platform’s user interface could improve.
12. SmartSupp
A live chat solution that offers features like screen sharing, real-time visitor monitoring, and integrations with Google Analytics. SmartSupp is a live chat software solution for businesses. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. SmartSupp offers chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. SmartSupp offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: SmartSupp offers a range of features, including visitor tracking and chatbots. It also integrates with a variety of other business tools.
Cons: Some users may find that SmartSupp’s user interface could be more user-friendly than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
13. Userlike
A live chat solution that offers features like custom branding, chatbots, and integrations with e-commerce platforms. It provides real-time communication between businesses and their customers, allowing for improved customer engagement and support. Userlike offers features such as chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. Userlike offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer service solution.
Pros: Userlike offers a range of live chat and customer service features, including chatbots and integrations with other business tools.
Cons: Userlike may not be as well known as other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
14. LivePerson
A conversational commerce platform that includes live chat and AI-powered chatbots. LivePerson is a customer engagement platform that provides businesses with various communication channels, including live chat, to engage with their customers in real-time. It offers chatbots, real-time visitor tracking, and integrations with other business tools. The platform is designed to be scalable and customizable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes. LivePerson offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management, allowing businesses to have a comprehensive customer engagement solution. It also allows businesses to provide personalized and conversational customer experiences, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Pros: LivePerson is a comprehensive customer engagement platform that includes live chat, messaging, and conversational AI. It integrates with a variety of other business tools.
Cons: LivePerson can be expensive for small businesses and its learning curve can be steep.
15. HubSpot Service Hub
A customer service platform that includes live chat, a help desk system, and integrations with other HubSpot tools.
Hubspot Service Hub is a customer service platform that includes live chat as one of its features. It allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time through various channels, including live chat, voice, and email. Hubspot Service Hub aims to be an all-in-one solution for customer communication and support, and it integrates with a variety of other business tools to help businesses streamline their workflows. Hubspot Service Hub offers reporting and analytics, ticketing, and knowledge management features. The platform is part of the Hubspot suite of tools, and it is designed to be user-friendly and scalable, making it a good choice for businesses of all sizes.
Pros: HubSpot Service Hub is part of the HubSpot CRM platform, making it a good choice for businesses already using it. It offers a range of customer service features, including live chat and messaging.
Cons: HubSpot Service Hub may offer fewer features than standalone live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited.
16. Tidio
Tidio is a live chat and messaging platform for businesses. It offers features such as chatbots, integrations with other tools, and real-time visitor tracking. Tidio aims to provide an affordable and user-friendly solution for businesses looking to improve customer engagement and support. The platform offers a range of features designed to help companies communicate with their customers in real-time and provide high customer service.
Pros: Tidio offers a range of live chat and messaging features, including chatbots and integrations with other business tools. It’s also affordable and easy to use.
Cons: Tidio may offer fewer features than other live chat solutions, and its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited. Some users may also find that its user interface could use some improvement.
17. Help Scout
Help Scout is a customer service software that provides businesses with tools to manage and handle customer inquiries through email, chat, and phone. It aims to make it easy for teams to collaborate, personalize customer interactions, and provide exceptional support experiences.
Pros: Easy to use and intuitive interface, good email management features, strong collaboration tools for teams, ability to personalize customer interactions, good integration options with other tools
Cons: Limited phone support capabilities, limited reporting and analytics options, no native live chat functionality, higher cost compared to some other customer service software options, limited customization options for the platform.
18. Chaport
Chaport is a live chat software that enables businesses to communicate with website visitors in real-time. The software provides features such as chatbots, customizable chat widgets, and the ability to track and analyze customer interactions.
Pros: User-friendly interface and easy setup, affordable pricing, customizable chat widget, integration with popular platforms and tools (e.g. Slack, Zendesk), good customer support.
Cons: Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, some users report occasional glitches and technical issues, limited integrations, limited feature set.
19. Chatlio
Chatlio is a live chat software designed for businesses to provide customer support and engage with website visitors in real-time. It requires your team to use Slack and allows businesses to respond to customer inquiries and provide support through a chat interface on their website. Features include customizable chat widgets, integration with popular tools such as Slack and Zendesk, and real-time visitor tracking.
Pros: User-friendly interface and easy setup, integrates with popular tools such as Slack and Zendesk, real-time visitor tracking and analytics, customizable chat widget.
Cons: Requires Slack, limited feature set, some users report occasional technical issues and glitches. limited reporting and analytics capabilities, limited integrations compared to other chat providers, may not be suitable for large enterprises with complex support needs.
20. Rocket Chat
Rocket Chat is an open-source chat and collaboration platform that can be used for a variety of purposes, including customer service and support. It offers real-time messaging and file sharing capabilities, as well as integrations with other tools such as Slack, Trello, and more. One of its key advantages is its customization options, as users have access to the source code and can make modifications as needed. Additionally, it has a large user community, so support and resources are readily available. However, the open-source nature of Rocket Chat also means that users must be technically proficient or have access to technical support in order to set it up and maintain it, which can be a disadvantage for some businesses.
Pros: Open-source, customizable, and has a large user community.
Cons: May require technical expertise to set up and maintain, lacks some features compared to paid solutions.
21. Shopify Inbox
Shopify Inbox is a customer service and sales messaging tool specifically designed for Shopify stores. It allows store owners to manage customer inquiries and orders from a centralized location, and integrates with their Shopify store data. Shopify Inbox is easy to set up and use, and can help streamline the customer service process for Shopify store owners. However, its focus on Shopify stores means that it may not have all the features and capabilities of more comprehensive customer service tools. Additionally, it may not be suitable for businesses outside the Shopify ecosystem.
Pros: Integrates with Shopify store data, easy to use and set up.
Cons: Limited to Shopify stores, may not have all the features of more comprehensive customer service tools.
22. JivoSite chat
JivoSite chat is a live chat solution that enables businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time. It offers multi-language support, which makes it accessible to a global audience. JivoSite chat integrates with a variety of platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms, making it a versatile solution. The user interface is easy to use, which makes it accessible to businesses of all sizes and technical expertise levels. However, its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited compared to other live chat tools, and it may not have advanced features that are available in other solutions.
Pros: Multi-language support, integrates with a variety of platforms, easy to use.
Cons: Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, may not have advanced features compared to other live chat tools.
23. Chaty Premio
Chaty Premio is a live chat and chatbot solution for businesses. It allows businesses to interact with customers through both live chat and chatbots, which can help streamline customer service and support processes. Chaty Premio integrates with a variety of platforms, including websites and e-commerce platforms, and has an easy-to-use interface. However, its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited compared to other live chat and chatbot tools, and it may not have advanced features that are available in other solutions.
Pros: Includes chatbot capabilities, integrates with a variety of platforms, easy to use.
Cons: Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, may not have advanced features compared to other live chat tools.
24. Getbutton.io
getbutton.io is a chat and messaging platform for businesses that enables them to communicate with their customers. It offers customization options, allowing businesses to match the look and feel of their brand. getbutton.io integrates with a variety of platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms. The user interface is easy to use, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes and technical expertise levels. However, its reporting and analytics capabilities may be limited compared to other live chat and messaging tools, and it may not have advanced features that are available in other solutions.
Pros: Easy to use, customizable, integrates with a variety of platforms.
Cons: Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, may not have advanced features compared to other live chat tools.
25. Crisp Chat
It offers multi-channel support, allowing businesses to interact with customers through a variety of channels, including live chat, email, and SMS. Crisp Chat includes limited chatbot capabilities, which can help automate customer service and support processes. The user interface is easy to use, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes and technical expertise levels, the feature set is limited.
Pros: Multi-channel support, includes chatbot capabilities, easy to use.
Cons: Limited reporting and analytics capabilities, may not have advanced features compared to other live chat tools.
26. Zoho SalesIQ
Zoho SalesIQ is a live chat and visitor tracking solution for businesses. It offers visitor tracking and analytics capabilities, which can help businesses understand their website visitors and engage with them in real-time. Zoho SalesIQ integrates with Zoho CRM and other Zoho apps, making it a comprehensive solution for businesses that use the Zoho ecosystem. The user interface is easy to use, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes and technical expertise levels. However, it is limited to Zoho users, and may not have advanced features that are available in other live chat and visitor tracking solutions.
Pros: Includes visitor tracking and analytics, integrates with Zoho CRM and other Zoho apps, easy to use.
Cons: Limited to Zoho users, may not have advanced features compared to other live chat tools.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the customer live chat market offers a variety of solutions to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes and industries. Each solution has its own strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one for your business depends on your specific needs and budget. These are some of the popular options available, each offering a range of features and integrations. Ultimately, it is essential to carefully evaluate each tool and conduct a thorough evaluation before making a final decision.