The top live chat software reviews are in! Now the most efficient service channel for customers who want real-time support, live chat software offers instant access to agents and personalized one-to-one messaging. No wonder more and more customers are choosing live chat. But with so many chat vendors on the market, it can be difficult to tell which one will be the best live chat solution for you. Luckily, we’ve got you covered.

Here are the best live chat software companies that we included in our review:

Each platform has pros and cons, so before you jump in, think about your top priorities and requirements. Here are the criteria we used to compile the best live chat software reviews and reveal the best live chat for websites:

Product Breadth and Depth

While standard features (like a chat window and button) help you use live chat software; each chat vendor has a unique offering and varying live chat tools that make all the difference.

Customer Support

Live chat software is essential for any customer service team. Website live chat providers should strive to offer the same quality of service and support to you, that you offer to your customers.

Security

Depending on the industry or location you operate in, your security requirements may be more stringent. You may require your live chat vendor to be HIPAA, PCI & GDPR compliant and include advanced data security features like IP restriction & blocking.

Deployment Options

Security conscious companies need to be concerned with where and how data is stored. Consider if you need a cloud deployment, where the application is hosted on their servers, or a local on-premise deployment that hosts the application on your servers.

Ease of Use

This not only encompasses how easy the live chat software is to operate, but also how easy set-up, implementation and customization is for your team.

Pricing

Each live chat service provider packages their software differently  so read this for a live chat software price comparison to get the best bang for your buck.

 

We’ve listed the best online live chat software in alphabetical order. With that in mind, let’s discover the best live chat software for your business.

www.bold360.com
Headquartered
Boston, United States
Founded
2003
Tightly integrated live agent and bot solution
Best for
Enterprise-level contact centers with teams of 500+ agents
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Co-browsing
  • Routing rules
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Offline forms
  • Detailed reporting
  • Auto-translation (third-party integration)
  • Single sign-on
  • AI-powered customer service
  • SMS
Security
  • Data level: Data obfuscation; IP restrictions
  • Application level: Advanced password policy; Blocking agent logins after set attempts
  • Compliances: GDPR and PCI compliant
Ease of Use

Bold360 is a highly robust solution. The interface is easy to use and customize. Some users have reported a tedious implementation process due to the complexity of their solution.

Customer Support

Bold360 offers 24/7 live chat support, however there are several reports of inadequate service due to their outsourced support team. Issue resolution tends to stretch over a few days and there reportedly have been problems with server stability and system outages.

Deployment Options

Bold360 offers private and cloud live chat software deployment. They do not offer on-premise deployment.

Pricing

Bold360’s pricing package is completely quote-based depending on your business needs. They offer 3 plans: Starter, Plus, and AI.

Pros
  • Robust multi-channel experience. All their products can be accessed from one agent console
  • Interface is very user-friendly and can easily be customized to meet unique business requirements
  • Audio/video chat one of the unique features included in their mobile app
Cons
  • Support queries can take 48 hours or more to get a response
  • Implementation is lengthy and tedious
  • Does not offer multiple campaigns for different departments or use cases
Top 10 Live Chat Software Review - Comm100
www.comm100.com
Headquartered
Vancouver, Canada
Founded
2009
Digital omni-channel platform
Best for
Mid-market, enterprise-level contact centers and support teams looking for a fully integrated, all-in-one live chat solution
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Co-browsing
  • Routing rules
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Audio/video chat
  • Detailed reporting
  • Multi-language support
  • Multiple campaigns
  • Single sign-on
  • Chatbot
Security
  • Data level: TLS/SSL encryption; Data obfuscation, Comm100 is one of the only vendors that does not store any payment information
  • Application level: Complex agent password policy enforcement; CAPTCHA verification
  • Compliances: ISO 27001; TRUSTe® Privacy Certified; PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant
Ease of Use

Comm100 is reported to be one of the easiest live chat software to use, with implementation and agent training usually taking one hour or less. However, while the visitor-facing chat window is fully customizable, the console on the agent side only has one theme.

Customer Support

Comm100 offers 24/7 live chat support, plus phone support, SMS and WhatsApp during business hours. It is reported that they are quick to respond, provide reliable support, and will work to meet custom needs. On-premise customers tend to wait longer to resolve technical issues.

Deployment Options

Comm100 is the only live chat provider that offers cloud, private, and on-premise live chat software deployment.

Pricing

Comm100 offers its Live Chat business edition for free up to three agent licenses. For more than three licenses, there are three pricing packages for Live Chat, three for omnichannel and quote-based pricing for AI. Their live chat pricing includes:

  • Team: $29/agent per month
  • Business: $49/agent per month
  • Enterprise: Quote-based pricing
Pros
  • Implementation is quick and easy, platform is easy-to-use with an intuitive UI
  • Robust integrations, specifically for Salesforce.com, and reporting
  • A feature-rich free live chat version is available for up to three agents, offering great value for money
Cons
  • Product is heavily weighted towards live chat versus other channels
  • Lack of customization options for agent console
  • Does not integrate with IVR, limited integration with phone systems
www.drift.com
Headquartered
Boston, United States
Founded
2015
Specializes in “conversational sales and marketing”
Best for
Sales and marketing teams looking to qualify more leads
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Drift profiles (open a chat through email signature)
  • Automated calendar booking
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Offline forms
  • Basic reporting
  • Calendar integration
  • Single sign-on
  • Chatbot
  • Account-based marketing playbooks
Security
  • Data level: All data stored in AWS; uses AWS security protocols like TLS/SSL Encryption
  • Application level: Ability to set agent data permissions and restrictions
  • Compliances: GDPR compliant
Ease of Use

The platform is described as easy-to-install, easy-to-use, clean, and modern. However, Drift seems to have issues when setting up multiple campaigns. When set up incorrectly, a visitor may be kicked out of chat when switching pages. There are also reports of difficulties setting up other features due to their complexity.

Customer Support

Drift only offers chat support during business hours. It is reported they have poor response times and customers do not usually know when new features or updates are rolled out until after the fact.

Deployment Options

Drift only offers cloud live chat software deployment. They do not offer private or on-premise deployment.

Pricing

Drift offers a free plan with one free agent license and limited features. Their Pro, Company, and Enterprise plans include Chatbot. Their full pricing packages are:

  • Free
  • Standard: $50/agent billed monthly
  • Pro: $500/agent billed monthly
  • Company: $1,500/agent billed annually with a one-time $2,000 onboarding fee
  • Enterprise: $5,000/agent billed annually with a one-time $10,000 onboarding fee
Pros
  • Can set meetings ‘while you sleep’, accelerating lead generation efforts
  • Easy to install and easy to use, UI is clean and modern
  • Ability to do complex targeting and ABM
Cons
  • Does not offer support features like co-browsing
  • Updates are rushed and seem to be buggy
  • Lack of features like rule-based routing or multiple campaigns makes it difficult to use for support teams
www.intercom.com
Headquartered
San Francisco, United States
Founded
2011
Accelerating the customer lifecycle with a new way to acquire, engage and retain customers
Best for
Sales and marketing teams looking to track the entire customer lifecycle
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Automatic meeting scheduling
  • Automatic lead qualification
  • Chatbots
  • Agent availability
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Routing rules
  • Reporting
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Agent-to-agent @ mentions
  • Offline forms
Security
  • Data level: All data stored in AWS; uses AWS security protocols like TLS/SSL Encryption
  • Application level: Ability to set agent data restrictions, advanced password policy
  • Compliances: SOC2, EU-US Privacy Shield, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Compliant
Ease of Use

Intercom’s user interface is described as well-designed and navigationally intuitive. However, while set-up is easy, being able to use Intercom’s extensive features in practice takes some effort.

Customer Support

Intercom offers live chat support during business hours, however according to their chat window their team typically takes a few hours to reply to an inquiry.

Deployment Options

Intercom offers private and cloud live chat software deployment. They do not offer on-premise deployment.

Pricing

Intercom offers a 14-day free trial of all their products with unlimited add-ons. They have Essential, Pro, and Premium packages for each of individual products, as well as the full suite. Their live chat pricing includes:

  • Essential: $87/agent per month
  • Pro: $153/agent per month
  • Premium: Quote-based pricing
Pros
  • Flexible API, offers a host of integrations in their marketplace to fit seamlessly into any tech stack
  • Easy to set-up and personalize, UI is well designed and easy to navigate
  • Able to centralize KB articles, chats, and emails into one simple platform
Cons
  • Reporting is not detailed or intuitive, cannot see data segmented by individual agents or departments
  • They do not offer real-time, 24/7 support
  • Issues with features like search functionality, managing user filters, and not being able to use proactive chat invitations unless you have both the “Message” and “Inbox” packages
www.livechatinc.com
Headquartered
Wrocław, Poland
Founded
2002
A solution dedicated to eCommerce and customer care
Best for
Small to medium-sized business with customer service teams
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Offline forms
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Routing rules
  • Basic reporting
  • Chatbots
  • Single sign-on
  • Agent grouping
  • Agent availability
  • Multiple campaigns
Security
  • Data level: IP Restrictions; TLS/SSL Encryption
  • Application level: 2-step verification for agents; ability to set agent data restrictions
  • Compliances: PCI DSS; HIPAA; GDPR compliant
Ease of Use

LiveChatInc is reported to have one of the simplest, easy-to-use platforms of all vendors. It’s easy to set up and they offer many customization options from both the agent console side and the visitor side.

Customer Support

LiveChatInc offers 24/7 live chat support and are reported to be one of the most responsive vendors. However, they can only usually answer more basic questions. If you have questions about specific functions or features like their chatbot, you’ll have to email them.

Deployment Options

LiveChatInc offers cloud and private live chat software deployment. They do not offer on-premise deployment.

Pricing

LiveChatInc offers a 30-day free trial of their Teams plan. With each of their pricing packages, you are able to create unlimited agent accounts but are only billed for the number of agents logged in monthly. Their full pricing packages are:

  • Starter: $16/agent per month
  • Pro: $33/agent per month
  • Business: $50/agent per month
  • Enterprise: $149/agent per month
Pros
  • Dedicated app marketplace with almost any integration you can think of. They can also do custom integrations if needed
  • Very easy to use and set-up
  • Able to automate reports through email
Cons
  • Reported to have technical difficulties or “glitches” from time to time
  • Not as secure as other vendors, lacking transactional security measures such as PCI compliance
  • Functionality is limited, does not have co-browsing, agent wrap-ups, spellcheck, etc.
www.liveperson.com
Headquartered
New York, United States
Founded
1995
Specializes in AI-powered “conversational commerce”
Best for
Enterprise-level contact centers with high customization needs
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Canned messages
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Meaningful connection score
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Routing rules
  • Reporting
  • Chatbots
  • Single sign-on
  • Co-browsing
  • SMS
  • Multiple campaigns
Security
  • Data level: IP restrictions; Data obfuscation
  • Application level: Advanced password policy; Ability to set agent data restrictions
  • Compliances: ISO 27001, PCI DSS, EU-US Privacy Shield, Skyhigh Enterprise-Ready, SOC2 and HIPAA Compliant
Ease of Use

This live chat software provider is reported to have one of the most difficult platforms to set up. It takes some effort in order to properly set up the platform to align with reporting requirements. Customization is difficult, and their team will need to be involved to set up features such as customizing routing rules.

Customer Support

LivePerson offers phone, email, and live chat support. While their support team is described as second to none, their service team is the center of much vocal frustration – with long response times and misalignment between sales and support.

Deployment Options

LivePerson offers cloud live chat software deployment only. They do not have an on-premise deployment or private deployment option.

Pricing

LivePerson offers a 30-day free trial. Their pricing packages are completely quote-based starting at $40 per user monthly. They offer user-based, usage-based, and custom pricing depending on your setup.

Pros
  • Complete mobile messaging program including in-app service, SMS, etc.
  • Integrates with contact center IVR, allows deflection of customers from IVR hold to a chat
  • Diverse functionality including co-browsing and multiple campaigns
Cons
  • Does not offer on-premise deployment
  • Reporting is limited, unable to create custom reports and dashboards, must manually export reports
  • Customer information does not appear on the same window as the chat
www.olark.com
Headquartered
Ann Arbor, United States
Founded
2009
Olark’s team is fully remote, spread across 3 continents to help businesses everywhere connect with their customers
Best for
SMBs looking for a simple, cost-effective live chat solution
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Co-browsing (add-on)
  • Auto-translation (add-on)
  • Basic reporting
  • Canned messages
  • Searchable chat transcripts
  • Customizable chat window
  • Agent availability
  • Group agents by team
  • Chat tagging
  • Automated reports sent by email
Security
  • Data level: AES encryption
  • Application level: Ability to set agent data restrictions
  • Compliances: No compliances
Ease of Use

Olark is reported to be the easiest live chat platform to use and set up. Their interface is clean, well-designed, and easy to navigate. The chat window on the visitor’s side and the agent console offer many customization options.

Customer Support

Olark offers email and 24/7 live chat support, but no phone support. They are quick to respond but as their team is remote you may be transferred between departments in order to get an answer.

Deployment Options

Olark offers cloud live chat software deployment only. They do not offer private or on-premise deployment.

Pricing

Olark offers both a 2-week free trial and a free plan. They only offer one pricing package with discounts given depending on the billing cycle. Their free plan comes with one free agent license capped at 20 chats per month. Their full pricing packages are:

  • Billed monthly: $17/agent per month
  • Billed yearly: $15/agent per month
  • Billed bi-yearly: $12/agent per month
Pros
  • One of the simplest live chat platforms to use and set up
  • Wide range of integrations e.g. SugarCRM, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics
  • Many customization options from both the visitor and the agent side
Cons
  • Limited functionality, no spellcheck, routing, etc.
  • Reporting is limited, unable to segment data by specific time periods
  • No social integrations
www.salesforce.com/ca/products/service-cloud/features/live-agent/
Headquartered
San Francisco, United States
Founded
1999
Live chat for real-time, online customer service by Salesforce Service Cloud
Best for
Most popular live chat software for Salesforce Service Cloud customers looking for basic live chat solution
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Routing rules
  • Canned messages
  • Multi-language support
  • Reporting
  • Real-time agent queue monitoring
  • Agent-to-agent private messaging
  • Manage concurrent chats
  • Supervisor suggested chat
  • Customizable chat window and button
Security
  • Data level: TLS/SSL Encryption
  • Application level: 2-step verification for agents; Ability to set agent data restrictions throughout Salesforce Service Cloud
  • Compliances: PCI DSS; FISMA; ISO/IEC 27001:2005; SAS 70 Type II; SysTrust; and EU-US and Swiss-US Safe Harbor compliant
Ease of Use

Installing Salesforce Live Agent takes some basic coding abilities. You need to have the service cloud console open to pick up chats. There are limited customization options for both the service console and the visitor side chat window.

Customer Support

Salesforce offers 24/7 phone, email, and live chat support. However, their support team handles queries for all salesforce.com products. It’s reported that there is some lag time to get answers for more complex queries.

Deployment Options

Salesforce is a cloud-based solution that offers hosted and private deployments. While you can request your business’ data, Salesforce does not offer an on-premise deployment option for their live chat software or their Service Cloud.

Pricing

Live Agent is part of the Salesforce Service Cloud and only available in their Lightning Enterprise (as an added cost) and Lightning Unlimited (included) plans. Plans start at $150/agent per month and $300/agent per month respectively.

Pros
  • Easily integrates with all your other salesforce.com data in one platform
  • Agent console embedded alongside salesforce customer profile, agents have context during chats
  • The Salesforce Service Cloud integration is part of the Cloud Elements Help Desk Hub, a uniform API to easily connect to the leading cloud help desk services
Cons
  • All reports need to be created and exported manually
  • Expensive for a live chat tool, only included in the Unlimited Enterprise package starting at $300 per agent/month
  • Very few customization options, takes some effort to get set up
velaro.com
Headquartered
Hollywood, United States
Founded
2000
Live chat performance management for complex customer engagement
Best for
SMB customer service teams looking to provide live chat support
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Canned messages
  • Routing rules
  • Advanced reporting features
  • A/B testing for canned messages and pre-/post-chat surveys
  • Offline forms
  • Multi-language support (third-party integration)
  • Customizable chat window and button
  • Agent and chat rating
  • See previous visitor survey history
Security
  • Data level: TLS/SSL encryption; Data obfuscation
  • Application level: Advanced password policy, ability to set agent data restrictions at the department and individual level
  • Compliances: Velaro’s hosting partner, DataPoint, is PCI DSS, ISO 27001, SAS-70 Type II compliant
Ease of Use

Velaro is one of the only vendors that includes a walkthrough wizard built into their platform to help you get started. Getting started with Velaro is easy but you are introduced to all their features at once which has been described as overwhelming.

Customer Support

Velaro offers phone support during business hours, and 24/7 live chat support. They’re relatively responsive, although sometimes only their sales team will be online to answer chats.

Deployment Options

Velaro offers cloud and custom private deployment but does not offer on-premise deployment for their live chat software.

Pricing

Velaro offers three pricing packages for live chat. Their full pricing packages are:

  • Small Business: $64.95/agent per month
  • Professional: $179.95/agent per month
  • Enterprise: Quote-based
Pros
  • Innovative features like multi-step conversion reporting
  • Robust integrations such as Twilio, Salesforce, NetSuite, and Microsoft Dynamics
  • One of the only live chat vendors that offers a walk-through wizard when first getting set up
Cons
  • Lack of notifications on both the agent and visitor side
  • Does not offer other security features like CAPTCHA verification or on-premise deployment
  • Comes with a higher price tag than other vendors with the same functionality and business model
www.zendesk.com
Headquartered
San Francisco, United States
Founded
2007
Helping businesses increase conversions by engaging important leads through live chat
Best for
Teams looking for a robust help desk solution
Product Breadth and Depth
  • Proactive chat invitations
  • Pre-/Post-chat survey
  • Website visitor tracking
  • Canned messages
  • Routing rules
  • Detailed reporting
  • Offline forms
  • Customizable chat window and button
  • Chatbots
  • Agent availability
  • Timeline (Jump back to different points of conversation history)
  • Agent permissions
Security
  • Data level: TLS/SSL encryption; IP restrictions
  • Application level: Advanced password policy; 2-factor authentication
  • Compliances: PCI DSS; ISO 27001:27018; SOC 2 Type II; Skyhigh Enterprise-Ready; Cloud Security Alliance (CSA); TRUSTe® Privacy; U.S.-EU Privacy Shield; U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor; HIPAA; SAS-70 Type II compliant
Ease of Use

Zendesk is easy to set up and has a modern interface. However, navigation is difficult as different features are grouped into categories that are not intuitive to an agent, which takes some getting used to.

Customer Support

Zendesk does not offer phone or live chat support, only email support. Other Zendesk support agents may take over your query but not understand your full use case, so you may end up repeating yourself to different people.

Deployment Options

Zendesk offers cloud deployment for all its products and custom deployment of their live chat software in Europe only. They do not offer on-premise deployment.

Pricing

Zendesk offers a 30-day free trial of their Enterprise plan and a free plan for live chat. The free version of live chat is included with every Zendesk Support package. Their full pricing packages are:

  • Lite: $0/agent per month
  • Team: $14/agent per month
  • Professional: $29/agent per month
  • Enterprise: $59/agent per month
Pros
  • Real-time dashboard that shows individual agent metrics
  • Easily integrated with Zendesk Support so all your other support tools are in one, centralized platform
  • Robust agent and visitor management capabilities
Cons
  • Limited functionality, e.g. unable to set up multiple campaigns, or view shopping cart items
  • Reported to be “buggy” and have glitches from time to time
  • Limited reporting capabilities, all reports have to be manually exported

Live chat software comparison - review summary chart

See how others from G2Crowd & Capterra rank the best live chat service providers
Bold360
Comm100
Drift
Intercom
LiveChatInc
LivePerson
Olark
Salesforce Live Agent
Velaro
Zendesk

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