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10 Best Live Chat Software Solution and Tools
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    Are you ready to revolutionize the way you interact with your customers? In the digital world, instant communication is key, and nothing does it better than live chat! Using a live chat software will take your customer support, sales, and engagement to soaring heights.

    But that’s not all! A good live chat software will elevate the service you are able to provide to your customers. Using a comprehensive live chat solution will allow you to provide personalized support, quick resolutions, and much more.

    Combining the benefits for both customers and businesses, a live chat tool can enable you to do a lot in the realm of customer service. So, let’s talk about some of the popular solutions available on the market and which ones you should consider investing in.

    Key Factors to Consider in a Live Chat Software

    Certain factors must be taken into consideration for evaluating which live chat support solutions are the best for you. Every live chat platform is created with certain objectives that distinguish themselves from each other.

    That creates distinct pros and cons for each tool and makes certain one’s appeal to specific types of businesses. So, let’s take a look at some of the key considerations that you will need to evaluate when selecting a live chat software for your business.

    • Key Features: It is important for a business to check whether or not a live chat software has the key features that you need. These features include omnichannel capabilities, smart single inbox, intelligent chat routing, an extensive reporting system, and more. Depending on the features on a solution, businesses can make an informed decision as to which live chat software to pick. 
    • Pricing: Companies want the most value from their purchases. Thus, companies should opt for a live chat software that will fulfill their needs and be affordable.
    • Usability: The live chat software should be easy for both agents to use and customers to interact with. On the agent end, the UI and Inbox should be easy to use and reply to customers with. On the other hand, customers should be able to open the chat widget and converse with an agent easily. 
    • Advanced Collaboration Tools: Certain features like Co-browsing, video and voice calls, and more can be extremely beneficial when serving customers. Using such tools, agents can provide more collaborative support and direct customers to solutions. 
    • Integration Capabilities: The software should integrate to any platform you require with ease, whether it be your CRM, CMS, ecommerce platforms, or any social media channel.
    • Checking Software Security: Lastly, the live chat solution should be secure to integrate with any platform. As many businesses need to protect their data, the chat widget integrated into their website or other platforms should be secure and not have any vulnerabilities that can be taken advance of. 

    Best 10 Live Chat Software for Your Business

    There are many live chat software available on the market. In fact, the number of solutions is so staggering that businesses find it difficult to pick one.

    So, to help you make that decision, here are the 10 best live chat applications for your business.

      Name

      Price Free Trial Best For
      REVE Chat

      Starts from $15/Month/Agent

      Omnichannel Live Chat Solution with Collaborative Tools

      Live Chat

      Starts from $24/Month/Agent

      Multichannel Customer Support Service

      Intercom

      Starts from $39/Month/Seat

      SaaS & IT Companies

      Zendesk

      Starts from $25/Month/Agent

      Advanced Ticketing System

      LiveAgent

      Starts from $19/Month/Agent

      Self-Service Options

      Tidio

      Starts from $29/Month/Agent

      Customization Capabilities

      FreshChat

      Starts from $23/Month/Agent

      CRM Capabilities

      Olark

      Starts from $29/Month/Agent (billed annually)

      Providing Live Chat Solution to Large-Scale Companies

      Zoho Desk

      Starts from $20/Month/Agent

      Small-Scale Customer Service Solution

      Pure Chat

      Starts from $49/Month/Agent

      Automation Capabilities

      1. REVE Chat

      REVE Chat

      REVE Chat is the most comprehensive live chat solution you will find on the market at this point. Seamlessly blending cutting-edge technology with unmatched user-friendliness, the app redefines the way businesses engage with their customers. Our software offers real-time communication that fosters immediate assistance.

      Whatever your company needs, we can offer with our extensive list of features. With REVE Chat, you can not only provide live chat support across multiple channels, but you can also directly guide customers using our co-browsing and video chat features.

      Furthermore, with our intelligent chat routing, proactive triggers, in-depth analytics, smart ticketing system, and seamless integration, businesses can truly understand their customers’ needs and provide personalized support at the perfect moment.

      Not to mention, we provide customized solutions to any business to fit their needs and provide AI-powered Chatbots to automate your customer service. Thus, no matter the industry or size of your enterprise, we empower you to create exceptional customer experiences that leave a lasting impact.

      Key Features

      • Access to Collaborative Tools: We offer advanced features like co-browsing, video chat, and screen sharing that will assist customers in real time efficiently.
      • Smart Single Inbox: Conversations across all channels are funneled into an smart inbox where agents can handle queries with ease.
      • Seamless Integration System: Easily integrate to any social media or other platforms of your choosing.
      • Customized Product: When required, we can customize our software for any business as needed.
        Proactive Customer Interaction: Using features like auto triggers and proactive chat to engage customers at the right time.
      • Detailed Analytics and Reporting: Access insightful reports that allow businesses to monitor performance, track customer interactions, and make data-driven improvements to service quality.
      • Mobile Support: REVE Chat’s mobile apps ensure that your team can offer customer service anytime, anywhere, maintaining flexibility and responsiveness.

      Pros

      • Complete customer engagement solution with video chat, co-browsing & live chat
      • Omnichannel capabilities along with a seamless integration process.
      • Mobile SDK for live chat and video chat
      • Prompt customer service with 24×7 live chat support
      • Affordable plans for all types of businesses with per-agent pricing
      • Automation Options to streamline business operations

      Cons

      • Ticketing system still needs a bit of improvement
      • There is an initial learning curve

      Pricing

      REVE Chat offers three pricing plans with 14 days of a free trial. All prices mentioned below are for annual subscriptions.

      • Standard: $13.5 per agent
      • Advanced: $22.5 per agent
      • Enterprise: $45 per agent

      We also offer a Chatbot builder as an add-on with any of the plans with additional pricing of $50 per month.

      2. LiveChat

      LiveChat

      Image: LiveChat

      One of the better tools in the market, LiveChat provides businesses with what is needed to have a great customer service system. With its easy-to-use service, you can integrate with any platform to provide personalized service to customers.

      Also, LiveChat offers chat transfers, transcripts, proactive messaging, 24/7 support, and more. There is also an offline mode where customers can send messages and it will be in queue the next business day.

      With some automation options also there, LiveChat provides a solid customer support solution. However, it lacks some features that you would need to augment your service system like Chatbots or Co-Browsing.

      So, while LiveChat provides a good solution at an affordable price, its lack of features can be a detriment to scaling the future.

      Key Features

      • Personalized and targeted messaging
      • Comprehensive list of platforms for integration
      • Extensive reporting system with chat transcripts
      • Asynchronous mode for both online and offline support
      • Varied customization options available

      Pros

      • One of the simplest and easy-to-use interfaces
      • Strong reporting and analytics
      • Dedicated app marketplace with almost any integration you can think of. They can also do custom integrations if needed

      Cons

      • Though a great live chat tool, it lacks real-time engagement features such as video chat and co-browsing.
      • No built-in chatbot builder. need to purchase another product.
      • Mobile apps have very limited functionality. Agents may not get full features to work the same way as the web version

      Pricing

      LiveChat offers four pricing plans with a 14-day trial for the Team plan. Prices below are for the annual subscriptions.

      • Starter Plan: $20/Month/Agent
      • Team Plan: $41/Month/Agent
      • Business Plan: $59/Month/Agent
      • Enterprise Plan: Contact sales team for more information.

      3. Intercom

      Intercom

      Image Credit: Intercom

      Branded as a conversational relationship platform, Intercom helps to build customer relationships via messaging and live chat across their journey. Utilizing proactive and self-service options, Intercom provides the right support at the right time to customers through conversation routing.

      Also, with its many API and integration options, Intercom can provide a lot of value to any business. However, its pricing model and focus on SaaS and IT companies can be a huge deterrent.

      Key Features

      • Personalized communication based on behavior and demographic of customers.
      • Support for email as a fallback channel is great for having ongoing conversations
      • 250+ out-of-the-box integrations and APIs for custom integrations
      • Provides in-app product tours to onboard new customer

      Pros

      • Personalized conversations
      • Conversation reporting system allowing for improvement
      • More suited for SaaS and IT Companies

      Cons

      • Focus on certain industries can be a limitation for overall businesses
      • The implementation process is tedious and takes a long time
      • Extra costs for automation options

      Pricing

      Intercom provides the following pricing plans (billed annually).

      • Essential: $29/month/seat
      • Advanced: $85/month/seat
      • Expert: $132/month/seat

      The platform also charges $1 per resolution with their AI-Agents.

      4. Zendesk Chat

      Zendesk Chat

      Image Credit: Zendesk

      Zendesk Chat is a cloud-based live chat solution that focuses on providing customer service via automation and a robust ticketing system. Their biggest selling point is their excellent ticketing system, which pairs really well with their live chat system, focusing a bit more on automation.

      With a live chat software capable of integrating to a variety of messaging and social platforms, they provide a solid customer service solution, which heightens even further if used with Zendesk’s other products.

      However, Zendesk suffers from being hard to integrate with other CRMs or similar platforms. Also, while their ticketing system is top-notch, their other gestures are not as developed as some of the other competitors on the board.

      Key Features

      • Advanced issue resolution with ticketing system
      • Smart routing process
      • Detailed analytics and reporting
      • Hassle-free integrations with other Zendesk tools

      Pros

      • Real-time view of visitors
      • Excellent ticketing system
      • Can be easily integrated with other Zendesk products

      Cons

      • No support for video and voice chat
      • The free plan has very limited features and is not very useful
      • Integration with other products is a problem

      Pricing

      Zendesk Chat offers three pricing plans with a free trial period.

      • Support Team: $19/Month/Agent
      • Support Professional: $55/Month/Agent
      • Support Enterprise: $115/Month/Agent

      Zendesk also provides all in one solution that start from $55/month/agent.

      5. LiveAgent

      LiveAgent

      Image Credit: LiveAgent

      LiveAgent is a platform that provides live chat service to all businesses through a widget. Along with live chat, LiveAgent also provides a built-in call center, knowledge base and a variety of self-service options.

      Through this, customers can receive service without having to contact an agent. When it comes to its chat features, they have everything you need from customization options to proactive chatting.

      However, it is hard to set up LiveAgent and the overall software can be unintuitive. That can be a big deterrent for many businesses.

      Key Features

      • A great chat and ticket handling process
      • Customer service solutions for self-service
      • A good number of features
      • Easy integration process

      Pros

      • Self-service solutions
      • Centralized ticketing solution
      • Extended free trial

      Cons

      • There is a learning curve
      • UI is not intuitive
      • Poor statistics and reporting options

      Pricing

      LiveAgent offers four pricing plans with a free trial for 30 days.

      • Small Business: $15/Month/Agent
      • Medium Business: $29/Month/Agent
      • Large Business: $49/Month/Agent
      • Enterprise: $69/Month/Agent

      6. Tidio

      Tidio

      Tidio is one of the best free live chat software for small online businesses. It streamlines website live chat, Facebook Messenger, and email in a single platform to address all the customer issues instantly. You can use chatbots to provide 24/7 customer service and automate the lead generation process.

      The live typing preview and canned responses help to deliver faster responses and boost customer satisfaction. Tidio also offers chatbot templates to provide answers to common queries and collect visitors’ emails.

      However, the software can get pretty pricey for bigger businesses as well as be hard to onboard onto. So, while it has some great upsides, some missing features and the overall price for a big business can be a detriment.

      Key Features

      • Intuitive UI
      • Personalized messaging
      • Customizable chat widget
      • Automation options
      • A great number of integration options

      Pros

      • User-friendly and easy-to-understand UI
      • Suitable for small and medium businesses
      • Chatbot Builder

      Cons

      • Lack of customer engagement tools such as co-browsing and video chat
      • Onboarding process can be problematic
      • Can be pricey for large businesses.

      Pricing

      Tidio offers a forever-free version for up to 3 live chat operators. Also, Tidio has some premium plans as well.

      • Starter Plan: $24.17/month/agent
      • Growth Plan: $49.17/month/agent
      • Plus Plan: $749/month
      • Premium Plan: $2999/month

      7. FreshChat

      FreshChat

      Image Credit: FreshChat

      FreshChat is a live chat solution platform that helps you engage with customers over chat through various channels like websites, mobile apps, or even social pages. It helps businesses and their teams focus on a continuous and context-driven messaging experience.

      The app also helps to understand the customer you are conversing with the help of events timeline, social profiles, and auto-upload the captured leads to your CRM. With integrations in place, FreshChat is a good addition for any business, and it also has a Chatbot that users can opt for.

      However, the software lacks proactive messaging as well as limited marketing capabilities. Also, the UI can hide some features and does not exactly guide users properly to its many features.

      Key Features

      • Easy to Use
      • Can be integrated across multiple platforms
      • WhatsApp and SMS Campaigns
      • Advanced analytics

      Pros

      • Integration options across multiple channels and platforms
      • Campaign system
      • A great analytics system
      • Has a whole host of other products that integrate well with FreshChat

      Cons

      • Every plan has limited monthly unique visitors.
      • Does not offer video & voice chat
      • Proactive messaging system is tiresome

      Pricing

      FreshChat offers four messaging plans for all businesses with a Free plan that supports upto 10 agents.

      • Growth Plan: $19/agent/month,
      • Pro Plan: $49/agent/month,
      • Enterprise Plan: $79/agent/month

      8. Olark

      Olark

      Olark is one of the better live chat apps for engaging with website visitors and customers in real time. Its customization options for both the widget and automated queries elevates what the app has to offer in terms of customer service.

      Furthermore, Olark is unique in the sense that its widget is readable via keyboard only or screen readers, providing a solution to businesses or companies that serve people with disabilities.

      However, Olark is limited to single channel messaging via website widget and does not offer support on mobile. Also, their reporting system leaves much to be desired.

      Key Features

      • Easy-to-use platform
      • Advanced customization options for responses and widget
      • Accessibility options
      • Custom chatbox forms

      Pros

      • The user interface is extremely easy to learn and to use.
      • Advanced chat widget customization options.
      • Accessibility options

      Cons

      • Good live chat platform but not suitable if you need multi-channel messaging or real-time customer engagement
      • No mobile apps or chat SDK
      • Reporting is limited, unable to segment data by specific time periods

      Pricing 

      Olark offers a 14-day trial, a free plan with limited functionality and the following paid plans.

      • Olark Standard: $29/month/seat
      • Olark Pro: Contact them for price and demo

      9. Zoho Desk

      Zoho Desk

      As a cloud-based customer service solution, Zoho can provide a lot of value to businesses with their live chat solution. However, their primary focus is the CRM, which integrates seamlessly with the live chat solution.

      Their ticket resolution system along with tracking customer inquiries can resolve problems quickly, while providing the necessary live chat tools needed.

      But as mentioned earlier, Zoho Desk works best with its own solution as opposed to integrating with other CRMs and such.

      Key Features

      • Excellent integration with its other products
      • Tracks and manages customer queries across other messaging channels.
      • Real-time monitoring

      Pros

      • Great customer inquiry solution process
      • Excellent integration with other Zoho products
      • Centralized ticketing and monitoring system

      Cons

      • UI can be unintuitive at the beginning
      • Integration with other CRMs is a hassle
      • Lack of customization options for most plans

      Pricing

      Zoho Desk offers four plans, with three of them providing a live chat solution. Also, they provide a free solution with a free trial to try out their full capabilities.

      • Standard Plan: $14/month/seat
      • Professional Plan: $23/month/seat
      • Enterprise Plan: $40/month/seat

      Zoho also offers a lot of Suite options that businesses can get alongside Zoho Desk.

      10. PureChat

      pure-chat

      Catering to small businesses through a simple to use app, Pure Chat provides a simplified experience to users. The software is lightweight and only has all the features you would need for your live chat solution.

      However, that is it as Pure Chat does not offer more than that. This can be a huge problem for businesses that want to grow and scale.

      Key Features 

      • Simple and intuitive UI
      • Monitor website visitors in real-time
      • Customizable widget

      Pros

      • Daily reports
      • Easy to install plugins
      • Widget is very customizable

      Cons

      • Notifications of chats are usually late
      • Lack of features
      • Slow performance at times

        Pricing 

        Pure Chat offers a month of Free trial as well as two premium plans.

        • Growth Plan: $39/month/agent
        • Pro Plan: $79/month/agent

        In Conclusion

        To wrap up, there are many live chat solutions available that businesses can pick from. Through our recommendations and guidelines, a business can pick the perfect live chat software for themselves. This is where a solution like REVE Chat can help businesses achieve their goals. 

        Our product stands out from the rest as offering two of the most sought out features in the current market, which are Smart Single Inbox and Co-browsing. Combining with our extensive integration and reporting system, a business can take their customer service to the next level. 

        Hence, try out our app now and experience all REVE Chat has to offer. 

         

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        Snigdha Patel
        AUTHOR’S BIO

        Snigdha Patel is a customer experience researcher, author, and blogger. As part of REVE Chat, she focuses on helping organizations maximize customer experience using omnichannel messaging and conversational AI.

        She creates contextual, insightful, and conversational content for business audiences across a broad range of industries and categories like Customer Service, Customer Experience (CX), Chatbots, and more.

        Serving as the lead content strategist, Snigdha helps the customer service teams to leverage the right technology along with AI to deliver exceptional and memorable customer experiences.

        Being a customer service adherent, her goal is to show that organizations can use customer experience as a competitive advantage and win customer loyalty.

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