6 live chat software for 2024

From ordering a takeaway to searching “What film were they in?”, technology has changed how quickly we expect to receive results and information. The same can be said for customers. Nowadays, consumers expect support experiences to be as quick as possible, but meeting that demand can be difficult without the right tools.

Enter live chat support. Live chat software allows a customer conversation to happen in real time on a business’s website, mobile app or messaging channels like Messenger, WhatsApp and Slack. Customers can quickly get help using the channels they like the most, leading to a positive customer experience (CX).

As with any business decision, choosing live chat software may seem intimidating. To help you make the right choice for your business, we’ve gathered the 6 best live chat software for 2024.

• Zendesk for a best-in-class CX software
• LiveChat for e-commerce and B2B SaaS companies
• LiveAgent for a support software for teams
• Re:amaze for online businesses
• Tawk.to for a free live chat solution
• Tidio for a standard support software

Follow along to learn more about each of these live chat apps and what you should consider when making your choice.

When it comes to providing live chat support, there are plenty of live chat apps to choose from. The best live chat website software for your company depends on your business model, desired features, customer base and more. But there are common factors to consider when selecting the best live chat services:

• Integration support: to get the most out of your live chat software, it must integrate with the rest of your business ecosystem. Zendesk, for instance, supports more than 1,500 plug-and-play integrations, from marketing automation systems to e-commerce systems like Shopify. These integrations empower your support team with a unified view of the customer, complete with data, interaction history and context across channels to personalise conversations.
• Ease of use: let’s face it. Nobody wants to spend their time configuring complex software or stumbling through a clunky interface. Choose a solution like Zendesk that’s easy to use and set up and intuitively designed with support agents in mind. This allows your team to spend more time helping customers and less time learning complex software.
• Scalability: the ideal live chat software can scale with your business. That way, you don’t have to worry about upgrading your plan or switching to a new solution as your support team and customer base grows. Zendesk, for example, is open and flexible to meet the use cases of growing businesses and evolving customer needs. This provides your business with a long-term solution built to grow alongside you.
• Total cost of ownership: when software takes months to implement or requires developer resources, it can add extra expenses and time. Live chat software like Zendesk is fast to set up and works right out of the box with no hidden costs. This enables your team to continue providing stellar service without missing a beat, saving you time and money.
• AI: the best live chat software includes AI features to help your business streamline processes and do more with less. With our cutting-edge AI technology, Zendesk can intelligently anticipate customer needs, promote self-service support and provide instant answers using natural human language.

By keeping these 5 factors in mind, your business can land on a live chat solution that holistically benefits your organisation for years to come. Next, let’s look at some of the best live chat software to choose from in 2024.

Find the best live chat system for your business. Our comparison chart breaks down the top options by starting price, free trial length and key features.

Learn more about some common live chat apps to see which one is the right choice for your business needs.

1. Zendesk

Use case: best-in-class CX software

Zendesk offers AI-powered live chat software to empower businesses to offer fast, personalised chat conversations at scale. Our live chat software enables businesses to add live chat support to their site with a no-code widget that can be customised to match their brand. Support teams can also provide live chat support across a variety of chat and messaging channels beyond the web, including mobile, SMS, Messenger, WhatsApp and more.

With our unified Agent Workspace, agents can collaborate with each other in real time and manage live chat conversations in the same place as all their other channels, such as email or phone. This allows agents to personalise chat conversations with the full context from previous support interactions without juggling numerous dashboards and apps. Teams can also integrate our live chat software with their entire business ecosystem to create a 360-degree customer view.

Businesses may also use automation and AI to take their chat experience to the next level. For example, teams can use automated translation for multilingual support and embed pre-written responses within tickets to automatically fill in ticket fields, saving agents time. Zendesk AI can intelligently route tickets to the right agent based on agent capacity, skillset, conversation priority, language and intent. Agents can also use Zendesk AI to quickly expand and shift the tone of their messages. At the same time, our AI surfaces ticket summaries, similar support interactions and additional insights for faster resolutions.

And unlike your support agents, Zendesk AI never sleeps. Generative AI powers our AI chatbots, so they’re always on, pre-trained for CX and ready to go in just a few clicks. Zendesk even uses previous bot conversations to suggest which topics need bot support.

Our complete customer service solution also features advanced reporting and analytics capabilities, equipping your support team with valuable, real-time customer data. With prebuilt and customisable dashboards, you can quickly sift through data, gain visibility into every interaction and uncover customer insights – no statistics degree required.

In addition to being feature-rich, Zendesk is intuitively designed for agents and works out of the box. This allows you to move at the speed of your customers and offer meaningful support from day one without the need for developers or a lengthy setup, saving you time and money.

Finally, Zendesk is built to last and grow alongside your business. As a trusted partner, we ensure your team has the knowledge and resources – like access to a worldwide community of CX leaders – to deliver stellar customer service.

Pricing:

Starting at $55 per agent/month, billed annually

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

Free trial:

14 days

Take 30 seconds to start a free Zendesk trial or request a Zendesk demo.

2. LiveChat

Use case: e-commerce and B2B SaaS companies

LiveChat is a business live chat software for e-commerce and business-to-business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) companies. Organisations can use LiveChat to add live chat support to their website or app using a customisable widget. This lets businesses personalise the look and feel of their live chat experience with customisable colours, agent profiles and website placement. LiveChat also includes an AI writing assistant that can help adjust the tone of your messages.

The live chat software supports omnichannel messaging, including Messenger, Instagram for Business, SMS, WhatsApp Business and email. LiveChat also includes in-chat voice, video and screen-sharing features,

and lets e-commerce businesses share their products via live chat using product cards. Product cards are messages that include an image, price and product description. Customers can click on the product card in the chat to add the product to their cart. Support agents can also use LiveChat to share files with customers, including PDFs, images, presentations, spreadsheets, audio files and more.

With its reporting and analytics functionality, businesses can access chat reports featuring metrics like total chats, missed chats, chat satisfaction, response time and more. Businesses can also create customised reports highlighting specific customer service data and export LiveChat customised reports as CSV files.

LiveChat also offers customer engagement features like interactive greetings. With this feature, businesses can set up customised greeting messages to promote products, schedule meetings or encourage users to visit specific web pages. Support agents can also create a library of pre-written responses to aid with chat communications.

While LiveChat supports more than 200 integrations, it doesn’t include a native chatbot, knowledge base or help desk features. To get these features, businesses must integrate with separate software products (HelpDesk, KnowledgeBase and ChatBot) offered by LiveChat’s parent company. This may make LiveChat a poor choice for those looking for a complete customer service solution using a single application.

Pricing:

Starting at $20 per month for one agent only, billed annually

Free trial:

14 days

Learn about the LiveChat integration for Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. LiveChat compare.

3. LiveAgent

Use case: support software for teams

LiveAgent is a customer support software with live chat functionality. With LiveAgent, businesses can add live chat support to their website using a live chat widget. Businesses can customise widgets to match their branding, including customisable buttons, colours and chat windows. With its real-time typing view feature, support agents can preview what customers are typing before they hit send. Support agents can also create pre-written responses to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Businesses can configure LiveAgent chat routing to distribute conversations in different ways. For example, businesses can randomly assign new chats to agents or base assignments on agent workloads.

The software supports proactive chat invitations, letting businesses engage website visitors automatically. Businesses may also use LiveAgent to track website visitors and information like their chat history, time on site, geographic location and IP address.

LiveAgent also offers an omnichannel help desk and ticketing system. With its universal inbox, agents can communicate with customers across channels, including email, WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, live chat and more. The help desk features a built-in customer relationship management (CRM) tool, allowing businesses to collect and store customer information, including name, past purchases and previous support interactions.

Additionally, LiveAgent has real-time reporting and analytics capabilities, including an analytics overview with customer service metrics like customer satisfaction ratings, average chat time and average chat pickup time. LiveAgent also includes an agent rankings feature that offers a complete report of all positive and negative agent reviews. These include the review date, support ticket details and customer comments.

The software also includes AI features such as AI-powered grammar correction, multi-language support and tone adjustment. However, businesses can only utilise AI features by connecting their own OpenAI account. Because of this, LiveAgent may not be the best fit for businesses looking for out-of-the-box AI or chatbot capabilities.

Pricing:

Starting at $0 per month (basic features)

Free trial:

14 days with a free email or 30 days with a company email

See how Zendesk compares to LiveAgent.

4. Re:amaze

Use case: online businesses

Re:amaze is a customer service, live chat and help desk platform for online businesses. Its live chat offerings include a chat widget with customisable theme colours and icons. Businesses can add a searchable help centre to their live chat widget, allowing customers to access self-support resources. Additionally, businesses can control the visibility of certain topics and create a library of assets for internal use only.

With regard to support, agents can escalate live chat conversations to video calls. The live chat platform also features file-sharing capabilities, chat transcripts and chat view/read indicators.

With Re:amaze, businesses have access to prebuilt and customised chatbots. Its prebuilt bots range in functionality, from gathering initial customer information to finding customer order statuses. Businesses may also configure customised, no-code chatbots and can create a unique chatbot identity and customised responses. Businesses may also use Re:amaze to set up automated responses for specific messaging channels.

Re:amaze features a shared inbox help desk that allows support agents to manage customer conversations from multiple channels, including SMS, email, live chat, Messenger and Instagram. Agents can also view coworker conversations and see when another agent is already helping a customer. Additionally, the shared inbox includes customisable reminders, notes and notification features.

The customer service platform includes real-time reporting functionality, including individualised reports for each channel. This lets businesses track customer service quality and performance metrics like response time, chat volume, first response resolve rate and customer satisfaction ratings.

Additionally, Re:amaze offers AI features powered by OpenAI’s GPT models. These include AI-suggested responses, language translations and chat summaries. Unlike some other live chat support software, Re:amaze’s AI features are still in beta testing. Because of this, businesses that want to fully utilise generative AI and automation features may opt for a more established solution.

Pricing:

Starting at $26.10 per team member/month, billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

5. tawk.to

Use case: free live chat solution

The tawk.to platform is a free live chat software for websites. With tawk.to, businesses can monitor and chat with website and app visitors using a customisable chat widget. Businesses can add the chat widget to their site by adding a JavaScript snippet. The software also has a mobile app for iOS and Android devices, allowing agents to receive notifications and answer customer questions on the go.

The free live chat support software features multilingual capabilities, allowing businesses to communicate in over 45 languages. Additionally, support agents can create a library of pre-written responses to answer common customer questions.

In addition to its live chat features, tawk.to offers a free customisable knowledge base. Businesses can add self-service content using tawk.to’s block-based editor to add text, images, videos, GIFs and more, as well as create customised categories and control where and for whom content is displayed.

Businesses can use tawk.to to access reporting dashboards covering metrics such as chat volume, average chat duration, first response time and number of missed chats. They can also monitor customer activity in real time, including where visitors are on your site and how often they visit. Support agents can also see a complete conversation history for any customer.

While its core offerings are free, some features businesses might expect in live chat support software may be lacking. For example, tools like AI assist (starts at $29 per month), voice, video and screen sharing ($49 per month) and the ability to remove tawk.to branding ($19 per month) are all paid add-ons. This increases the total cost of ownership of the software and may lead businesses looking for these key features to consider a paid option instead.

Pricing:

Free (paid add-ons available)

Free trial:

Not applicable

6. Tidio

Use case: standard support software

Tidio is an AI customer service software with live chat features. Support agents can communicate with website visitors using a customisable widget or dedicated chat page through Tidio’s browser, desktop or mobile apps. The chat widget includes live typing features and read receipts, allowing agents to see what customers are typing before they hit send and when they’ve viewed a message.

The software lets agents create a library of pre-written responses for common questions. Tidio also offers pre-chat surveys that help collect customer data at the beginning of a chat. At the end of a conversation, agents can save chat transcripts to their devices or share them via email.

Tidio also features a multichannel help desk and ticketing system that works with channels like email, Messenger, WhatsApp and more. Businesses can customise the ticketing experience by adding priorities, notes and customised tags to each ticket. Additionally, businesses can set up different departments for ticket routing. For example, if a customer has a question related to sales, the ticket will be routed to the sales support department.

Businesses can also use Tidio for reporting and analytics. This allows businesses to track metrics like first response time, time to close, customer satisfaction, missed conversations and total conversations. Businesses can compare data using charts and filter data by specific messaging channels.

In addition to its live chat and help desk features, Tidio also offers chatbot and AI functionality. Tidio features a visual chatbot builder that can be used to create customised chatbot flows, as well as prebuilt chatbot templates. The customer service software also features Lyro AI, a conversational AI tool that can answer customer questions and generate personalised responses.

Unlike some other live chat support software, Tidio’s chatbot and AI functionality include their own pricing plans. This can lead to an increased total cost of ownership.

Pricing:

Starting at $0 per month (basic features)

Free trial:

7 days

When someone mentions live chat software, many people think of web chat. However, there are several types of live chat, and as technology evolves, the options continue to grow. Here are a few of the most commonly used types of live chat.

• Text or SMS: Customers can text your freephone number for live chat support.
  
• Social messaging apps: Customers can contact you through WhatsApp, Apple Messages for Business, or Messenger.
  
• Chat widget: Customers can message you via a chat window that pops up on your website or mobile app.
  
• 
  Social media: Customers can privately send your business a direct message (DM) or tag your business in a post on their social media profiles.
  
• Voice or video: Customers can connect through live conversation via phone or video— live chat doesn’t have to be limited to text.

Link each of these live chat channels to your omnichannel agent workspace. This allows you to view, track, and respond to all messages from that unified location, so you can seamlessly continue customer conversations.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of live chat software. Some businesses may find more value in certain benefits over others. Our list contains a few benefits that businesses look for when investing in live chat.

• Drive more efficiency and cost savings

  
  Live chat helps support teams do more with less. Unlike phone support, agents can handle simultaneous chats across multiple channels, which means increased efficiency and cost savings. After implementing live chat in its online store, Spartan Race saw a 23 percent improvement in efficiency—plus a 27 percent increase in sales.
• Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty

  
  Live chat software allows you to engage with prospects and customers quickly. With the right live chat solution, users can:

• Self-serve with relevant knowledge base content, delivered by a chatbot
• Request to connect with a live agent
• Leave a message for internal or external support
• Continue conversations from where they left off

Additionally, businesses can offer 24/7 support to customers because chatbots and self-serve options are always available. The result is higher customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores and a support team that can scale more effectively than ever.

• Boost sales and reduce shopping cart abandonment

  
  Proactive engagement through live chat reduces online cart abandonment and increases sales. Our CX Trends Report found that assisting a customer with proactive, conversational support can help resolve an issue immediately—improving the buyer’s journey and encouraging them to make a purchase.
  For example, if a customer is experiencing a problem with the business’s online shopping cart, offering support while they’re on the page can eliminate the problem holding up the sale.
  The stats in our CX Trends Report reflect how live chat can increase the lifetime value of your customers. But it’s not just your customers—live chat can also make your agents more valuable. Here are a few ways live chat can help your agents.

• Chatbots and self-service options filter out easy, repetitive questions.
• Automation handles tedious logistics, like tagging and routing support tickets.
• Chat analytics deliver relevant insights.

By filtering simple queries, chatbots enable live agents to focus on providing personalised support. In our CX Trends Report, 77 percent of businesses agree that personalization increases customer retention and lowers acquisition costs. After implementing live chat support, Smiles saw a boost in sales and increased its contracts from 100 to 1,000 per month.

The best live chat website software for your company depends on your business model, desired features, customer base, and more. But there are common factors to consider when selecting the best live chat services.

Integration with your support ecosystem

To get the most out of your live chat software, it must integrate with your current support ecosystem, be powerful enough to handle complex business needs, and offer tools that set your teams up for success. It needs to work with the people, processes, and tools your agents already use.

Live chat integration provides agents with a unified view of the customer, complete with customer data, interaction history, and context from across channels. This prevents customer pain points—like repeating information while being routed between different departments—and ensures that everyone (including chatbots) has the context needed to create a consistent, personalised experience.

Ease of use and fast implementation

The best chat software is intuitive. When software takes months to implement and doesn’t integrate well with existing systems, it can add extra costs and time to train agents. Software that sets up fast and works right out of the box lets your team continue providing stellar service without missing a beat.

Scalability and total cost of ownership

The ideal live chat software is flexible enough to grow with your scaling business. Provided your live chat software gets deployed within an agile, centralised workspace, live chat website tools should be:

• Scalable: One-to-many interactions enable agents to serve multiple customers or employees concurrently.
  
• Fast: Automated workflows and self-service options help users solve simple issues quickly.
  
• Personal: Chatting with support agents feels much more like the back-and-forth customers have with their family and friends.

Here are some common questions businesses ask when choosing live chat software.