LiveChat, as far as names go, is self-explanatory. It’s a live chat software that can be integrated into your website for instant customer support.
If you’re using this tool and it no longer suits you, or you’re simply looking for a better solution in this category, then you’re in the right place.
To choose a LiveChat competitor, you must weigh several factors, such as your business size and budget, current requirements, pros and cons of each of the alternatives.
But don’t worry—
We did the heavy lifting for you and reviewed the best options on the market.
In this article, we will talk about the following LiveChat alternatives:
| LiveChat alternative | G2 rating | Free plan | Key feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | 4.7/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | AI & NLP Chatbot |
| Zendesk | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Live chat |
| Freshchat | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Shared mailbox |
| LiveAgent | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Social media integrations |
| Crisp | 4.6/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | LiveTranslate |
| Pure Chat | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Customized live chat widget |
| Intercom | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Facebook Messenger routing bots |
| Olark | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Chat triggers |
| Acquire | 4.2/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Co-browsing |
| HelpCrunch | 4.7/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Multi-channel support |
| Drift | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Customer segmentation |
| Tawk.to | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Offline messaging functionality |
Let’s start from the top and learn the main features of LiveChat.
The pros and cons of using LiveChat
LiveChat is most suitable for large enterprises. The solution is highly prized for its simplicity, efficiency, and ability to connect with consumers in real time.
Here is a list of LiveChat’s key features:
- Canned responses—allow your team to answer routine questions as fast as possible.
- Customizable widgets—the LiveChat widget can be customized according to your preferences
- 200+ third-party integrations—you can integrate into many CRM tools, help desk, SaaS, and ecommerce applications such as Facebook Messenger, Zoho Desk, and Zapier
- Dedicated plugins—plugins are available for websites like WordPress, Weebly, Shopify, and more
- Chat analytics—through the application, you can gain valuable insights into your audience’s buying habits
- Daily summary—the software can give you a daily recap of your agent’s activity and performance. Moreover, you can know how many reps are needed to handle chats optimally
- Time tracking feature—it measures agent performance and response turnaround time
- In-built call center—agents can reach customers through voice calls on the chat interface
And some of the drawbacks of LiveChat include:
- Expensive pricing plans—despite the basic functionality, the plans are costly in comparison to other alternatives to LiveChat
- Limited performance—when visitor traffic is high, users may experience system overload, which can be frustrating
- Steep learning curve—for new users, getting familiar with the software may take time
With the pros and cons out of the way, let’s explore the best LiveChat alternatives for your business.
Best LiveChat alternatives
There are numerous LiveChat competitors available on the market. And since you’re here, we’ll take a guess that one of the cons of the platform drove you away from it. So, here are the best software you should check
1. Tidio
Ratings: 4.7/5 ⭐️ (1,450+ reviews)
Tidio is a popular customer service platform for medium-sized and large enterprises. This live chat alternative is known for helping ecommerce businesses serve large volumes of customers. It offers flexible payment options for businesses of all sizes.
By taking advantage of its AI customer service platform, you can provide excellent support, convert more leads, and boost sales using its AI chatbot, Lyro. Research shows that over 80% of customers want to immediately connect with an agent upon contact. Your agents can promptly respond to your audience with Tidio’s live chat widget, ticketing features, workflow automations, and other capabilities.
Main features:
- Tidio’s canned responses
- Ecommerce integrations
- Omnichannel capability
- Pre-built email templates
- Premade chat flows
- 7-day free trial available
- Free version available
- Starter ($29/mo)
- Growth (starts at $59/mo)
- Plus (starts at $749/mo)
- Premium (starts at $2999/mo)
Improve customer service experience with Tidio live chat
2. Zendesk
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (5,820+ reviews)
Zendesk is a live chat alternative that assists enterprise customers in meeting a variety of business needs. The platform combines help desk capabilities, collaboration features, knowledge base management, and more. Also, Zendesk supports organizations with lead generation, customer engagement, and overall support.
Zendesk chat allows agents to scale their support through several unique features. Some of them include personalizing conversations across several channels. In fact, Zendesk’s chat feature had over 17% of the live chat technology market share.
Pros:
- Collaborative agent workspace
- Customer self-service portal
- Advanced reporting and analytics
Cons:
- Expensive for small businesses
- Complex user interface
- Free 6-month trial for eligible startups
- Basic plan ($19/mo/agent)
- Suite ($69/mo/agent)
- Suite Growth ($115/mo/agent)
- Suite Professional ($149/mo/agent)
- Suite Enterprise (Talk to sales)
- Suite Enterprise Plus (Talk to sales)
Read more: Check out some of the best Zendesk alternatives out there.
3. Freshchat
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (25+ reviews)
Freshchat is a SaaS solution used by businesses to offer digital support to consumers. The AI-powered software integrates several messaging channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger integration, Apple Business Chat, and more. This LiveChat alternative is trusted by over 60,000 companies to empower sales, marketing, and support agents to have conversations at scale.
Pros:
- In-app marketplace integrations and custom APIs
- Auto-routing capabilities
- Access to Freshdesk
Cons:
- Comprehensive features only available for premium plans
- Auto-assignment and auto-close features experience lag at times
- Free version available
- Growth ($23/mo/agent)
- Pro ($59/mo/agent)
- Enterprise ($95/mo/agent)
Read more: Discover the best Freshdesk alternatives for your customer service management.
4. LiveAgent
Ratings: 4.5/5 ⭐️ (1,485+ reviews)
LiveAgent is a help desk tool renowned for its live chat solution. This alternative to live chat has a ticketing system used by reps to personalize conversations and streamline help desk workflows. The solution is widely used by small businesses to handle large volumes of requests and orders.
LiveAgent consolidates all communication platforms in a single dashboard. The tool’s ability to track responses to support requests and create a knowledge base is useful for agents handling customer support. It also offers a wide range of marketplace integrations for companies.
Pros:
- In-built call center
- CRM functionality
- Shared inbox tool
Cons:
- Limited reporting and customization options
- No functionality for customers to chat with multiple agents
- Free version available
- Small business ($15/mo/agent)
- Medium business ($35/mo/agent)
- Large business ($59/mo/agent)
- Enterprise ($85/mo/agent)
5. Crisp
Ratings: 4.6/5 ⭐️ (120+ reviews)
Crisp is a valuable tool for handling support inquiries in the form of chat and inbound emails. If you are in the market for a one-stop solution for sales, marketing, and support, then Crisp is the software for you.
The LiveChat competitor is used by small companies due to its outstanding performance and affordable plans. The platform’s features are perfect for ecommerce website owners to converse with customers and generate leads. Additionally, its centralized knowledge base makes it easy for the audience to obtain information.
Pros:
- Automated bots
- Availability of GIFs to personalize chat interfaces
- Macros/templated responses
Cons:
- Limited widget customization options
- Lack of certain features like pop-ups
- Free version available
- Pro ($25/mo/workspace)
- Unlimited ($95/mo/workspace)
Read more: Learn how an Italian beauty brand increased sales with Tidio live chat and Flows.
6. Pure Chat
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (200+ reviews)
Pure Chat is widely used by organizations and companies for proactive live chat interactions with customers. It provides agents with information and contact history of users. This LiveChat alternative is used to assist support teams in solving technical issues, online product navigation, and processing order requests.
You can use Pure Chat’s interface to gain insights into the activity of website visitors and determine the effectiveness of your marketing strategy. Visitor notifications and trigger-based chat functionality can be used to qualify promising leads to prospects and increase real-time sales.
Pros:
- Integrations to HubSpot, Google Analytics, Infusionsoft
- Chat customization through canned responses
- Real-time visitor analytics
Cons:
- Email receipts are unavailable
- Confusing user interface
- Free 30-day trial
- Growth ($49/mo)
- Pro ($99/mo)
- Additional users – Growth ($15/mo/operators)
- Additional users – Pro ($10/mo/operators)
7. Intercom
Ratings: 4.5/5 ⭐️ (2,960+ reviews)
Intercom is another LiveChat alternative suitable for large companies with multiple consumer-facing departments. The platform connects companies directly to their audience through powerful messaging and customer service automation tools. It aims to free up agents using bots and custom rules.
The rules can be used to customize your virtual sales pipeline. Intercom stands out for enabling proactive messaging to get ahead of common issues and reduce the volume of incoming requests. Its chat software supports several customer communication channels.
Pros:
- Highly customizable
- Trusted by marketplaces like Udemy, Zeplin, Loom
- Collision detection for inbound requests
Cons:
- A steep learning curve
- Costly for small businesses and startups
- Free 14-day trial available
- Essential ($39/mo/seat)
- Advanced ($99/mo/seat)
- Expert ($139/mo/seat)
Read more: Learn about the best Intercom alternatives for your business requirements.
8. Olark
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (220+ reviews)
Olark is a leading LiveChat alternative used by over 12,000 customers globally. The software focuses on solving organizational problems as they occur. It achieves this by facilitating consumer interactions and organizing information.
Olark offers actionable insights from pre-chat questionnaires and chat surveys. By utilizing the in-platform chat widget, support teams can personalize conversations with customers. Moreover, agents can access chat archives to reference past correspondence for speedy resolution.
Pros:
- Suitable for small businesses
- Live chat analytics
- Triggers like welcome messages and special offers
Cons:
- Expensive for large teams
- Confusing user experience when dealing with large volumes of requests
- Free 14-day trial available
- Live chat ($19/mo/seat)
9. Acquire
Ratings: 4.2/5 ⭐️ (40+ reviews)
Acquire is a great live chat platform that offers live messaging to support teams. Agents can handle multiple conversations using this software. On the other hand, managers can optimize support team efficiency using workflows.
By implementing queues and service level agreements (SLAs), employees can manage communications seamlessly. The platform allows for voice and video calling, with the latter being necessary for customers to have face-to-face conversations. In fact, according to the Deloitte digital report, organizations have increased the use of voice from 62% in 2020 to over 80% in 2023.
Pros:
- Unified agent view
- Workflow engines
- Video and voice messaging
Cons:
- Co-browsing can be slow at times
- Expensive for small businesses
- Free trial available
- Self-Service ($25/mo/agent)
- Integrated Solution ($45/mo/agent)
Read more: Go through the detailed reviews of the best Gladly alternatives and choose the right platform for your business.
10. HelpCrunch
Ratings: 4.7/5 ⭐️ (200+ reviews)
HelpCrunch is a hybrid CRM that combines live chat, sales, and marketing automation for enterprises. The LiveChat alternative helps online shopping stores consolidate all communication in one place and provide seamless navigation across many channels. Its helpdesk solution allows team members to proactively solve support requests.
The platform involves automatic SMS, email marketing, and other support features. Furthermore, the solution is very popular in its capability to provide useful insights through data analysis. HelpCrunch’s chat widget is valuable in channeling consumer feedback to sales and marketing managers.
Pros:
- Customizable chat widget
- Knowledge base with extensive FAQs
- Multi-channel support
Cons:
- Increasing costs for add-ons
- The basic version has few features
- Free trial available
- Basic ($15/mo/team member)
- Pro ($25/mo/team member)
- Unlimited ($620/mo/unlimited team members)
11. Drift
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (1,150+ reviews)
Drift is a cloud-based solution that helps companies automate live chat sales and support processes. The platform is billed as an AI-powered, automated help desk that provides a personalized customer experience at every stage of the buying process. Its AI engine transforms conversational data and buyer behavior into customer relationship metrics.
In comparison to LiveChat, the product differs in the sense that it’s suitable for global conglomerates with several brands. Drift has innovative chat capabilities like chatbots, geotargeting, and an offline knowledge base.
Pros:
- Internal notes for team collaboration
- Customer segmentation
- Integration to Salesforce, Google Analytics, etc.
Cons:
- Confusing dashboard
- Presence of bugs and errors
- Premium ($2,500/mo)
- Advanced (Get more details from sales)
- Enterprise (Get more details from sales)
Read more: Here is a list of the best Drift alternatives for you to compare and consider.
12. Tawk.to
Ratings: 4.5/5 ⭐️ (180+ reviews)
Tawk.to is a LiveChat alternative recognized for its user-friendly interface and ability to be deployed quickly. Your support team can use it for live chatting and to create a consumer knowledge base. The live chat feature allows agents to respond to support requests, track web chat activity, and generate leads for sales teams.
The Tawk.to tool provides customer self-service functionality for online shops through embedded widgets. Its automated workflow reduces reps’ response times and helps to reach a wider audience.
Pros:
- Extensive customization options
- Mobile app available
- Free-to-use widget
Cons:
- Absence of social messaging platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.
- Limited automation features
- Free version available
- $1 per hour for trained agents
Read more: Find out more about the best Tawk.to alternatives in the market.
Pick the right LiveChat alternative for your needs
While LiveChat is an impressive tool, you still may need something else to suit your commercial needs. So, if you are looking for an alternative to LiveChat, our list of tools may have the answer.
Aside from tools like Zendesk and Freshchat, we ultimately recommend Tidio as the best LiveChat alternative. It’s a capable chat software that utilizes AI chatbots to engage with users in real time
It’s easy to navigate, has multi-channel capabilities, and provides excellent support to customers. The solution is also affordable for small enterprises and ecommerce platforms. Give it a try today!
Improve customer service experience with Tidio live chat
