Best free Live Chat Software/Tool

At its core, live chat is a simple window that pops up on our website to display text. Users can type in it, and we can see and reply from our own backend. Our agent can also see a list of users on the website and approach them with a question, like in a real store.

It’s also worth noting that these days, live chat installation is relatively painless. We just have to copy a few lines of codes and integrate it into our website.

A few Important live chat terms are

• Chat console — this is our control center. We can answer chat requests, monitor our live website users and more. Usually this will be provided via a desktop or cloud-based platform. Some chat support tools also let us go through an already existing instant messaging service like Slack.
• Proactive chats — the ability to monitor live users on your website and contact them before they touch the live chat window. This can be a great help but can also frustrate some users who feel bothered by your messages.
• Canned messages (shortcuts) — these are pre-written answers to regular questions that we can just bring up with a shortcut or in a few clicks. They can save us time but can also make users doubt if they are talking to a real person, so we better use them sparingly.
• Triggers (chat automations) — sometimes have different names depending on the live chat provider, (greetings, targeted chat) but they are essentially the same tool for analyzing user behavior and sending an automated message. For example, we could start a proactive chat conversation with users who spend an unusually high amount of time on our checkout page to help them with the payment.
• Chat protocols/transcripts — a record of the live chats. Great for monitoring the quality of the answers and finding patterns in the frequently asked questions.
• Seats — The number of seats represents the number of operators or agents that can be online at the same time to handle multiple queries

Important parameters to be considered for deciding a Real time chat software

• Apps — whether the software has mobile and desktop apps
• SSL security — is the chat SSL secured
• Number of operators/agents — how many operators can have an account on the platform
• Concurring chats — how many chats can be handled simultaneously
• Chats per month — is there any restriction on the number of chats per month
• Number of operators/agents that can be online at the same time
• Post chat feedback/ Agent rating — is there an option to rate the agent after the chat ends
• Chat History & transcripts — whether the user and the operator have the options for emailing the chat transcript and for how long is the chat history available
• Visitor Info — What all information does our software tells us about the customer such as IP address, location, email, etc.
• Chat widget customization — whether we are able to customize the color, font, look and feel of our chat widget
• Online & Away statuses — our widget should show the customer if we are available to take the chat or not, and if we are not available whether an email form is available or not
• Inter agent chat — whether 2 or multiple agents can chat amongst themselves
• Pre-chat form — before the chat starts whether the user is prompted for his contact info such as his name and email
• Operator availability schedules — with this option we can set specific operating times when our chat window will appear and during times when it won’t appear
• File Sharing — whether files can be shared between operators and users on the chat window

Top 10 Free Real Time Chat Providers according to us

Olark | UserLike | PureChat | Tidio | Smartsupp | Tawk | MyLiveChat | ZenDesk | ZohoDesk | Chatra

Please Note that all the below reviews are for the free version of respective software’s. If you are willing to shell out money, you may find many additional features that are not available in the free version. However, with many feature-rich software free of cost we would recommend trying a free version first and then upgrading to the paid version only if you have additional needs that are not met by any of the below mentioned free version.

We have only ranked the top 3 software (at the end of the post), rest (seven) are arranged in a random order.

Olark

Olark is a free real time chat solution. The thing that Olark stands out for is its incredible design. The software is nice for someone looking for a basic functionality real time chat. However, there are some serious limitations. There are no mobile apps and you cannot monitor chats from your mobile. Also, only 20 chats per month are allowed, which we think could have been a little higher (at least 100). Chat data is encrypted with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology. However, offline messaging functionality is present in the software. For someone who only needs a great design and just the basic functionality, this software is a good bet. However, the lack of apps is a huge disappointment and might be the primary reason for many companies not opting for the software.

Userlike

Userlike is another software which has a great design, but the free version lacks many of the features present in its competitors’ offerings. The first missing feature is the lack of mobile apps, which is a required feature for many of the customers. The software however offers support for many languages and is recommended quite often for EU countries. The chat console also looks very neat. We can have unlimited chats with the software but there can be only one operator and thus only one live chat window at a time. There are a number of missing features in the software such as inter agent chat, file transfer options, canned responses, triggers, etc.

ZenDesk

Zendesk is already a renowned name in the customer support field, and it also offers its free real time chat software. The software is packed with a few rich features such as chat widget customization, SSL encryption, visitor banning, Android and iOS apps, and chat rating. The biggest disadvantage in this offering is that you can have only 1 agent live at a time. Chat history is also available for only 30 days and the option to send files is also not available in the free offering. However, Zendesk being a large name in the industry offers a large number of integrations with their chat software, which other chat software might not be able to offer.

Tidio

Tidio offers a “free plan and then add what you need” offer. It is a company that prides itself on its design. It offers email and messenger integration. It also offers iOS and Android apps along with a chrome extension and a desktop app. The free version allows 3 users to use the software forever. But a lot of top level features are missing in the free version. There is no option for inter agent chat or for canned responses or triggers. Post chat feedback is also missing. The design and feel of the chat widget however are phenomenal and people looking for a basic feature driven chat widget with a superb design may find this to be their choice.

mylivechat

mylivechat is another decent looking offering with a lot of relevant features such as SSL secured chat, canned responses and multiple simultaneous chats. The software also offers unlimited agents, unlimited chats and a 3-year chat history as well. However, one big disadvantage of the software is that at once only 1 operator can be live. And there is no option for inter agent chat.

Chatra

Chatra is another great looking offering. In its free offering it has unlimited agent accounts and unlimited concurring chats. However, at a time only a single agent can be online. The software provides basic visitor info, SSL encryption as well as mobile (iOS/Android) & desktop (windows and mac) apps. Also, complete chat history is accessible and chat widget can be customized to some extent. Some of the missing features that could have made this an even more phenomenal offering are the options of file transfer, chat ratings, typing insights, pre-chat form, visitor banning, etc. But again, this is one offering that offers a decent set of features with an incredible design.

Smartsupp

Another gem in the lineup of free real time chat software is Smartsupp. This software offers a host of features for free. You can have unlimited number of agents with unlimited chats and unlimited conversations. Chat transcripts, agent ratings and personal shortcuts (canned responses) are also provided in the free version. Mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop apps are also available for monitoring visitors on your website from your mobile. Chat box customization is also available in the free version. However, two important limitations in the free version are lack of a pre-chat form and the availability of chat history for only 14 days.

Rank 3 — Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho is another giant of a company with offerings in different domains such as Sales & Marketing, Finance, Project management, IT help desk, Human Resources, etc. Zoho SalesIQ is its live chat software. The software is packed with a long list of features such as visitor history, canned messages, file sharing and advanced visitor info. Chats can be transferred between agents; the agents can chat amongst themselves and can be rated by the customer upon completion of the chat. Desktop, Android and iOS apps are available for monitoring messages from mobile. Users can also mail the transcripts of the chats to their email. 9 chats can be handled simultaneously. The chat window can be customized, and offline/online status is also available within the software. The only features that prevented from this software being the number one in this list is the limited number of agents. We can have only 2 agents. Also, the chat history is limited to 30 days and chat conversations are limited to 100 per month (for some this may be a constraint, maybe for B2C companies, but for B2B companies this may not be that big a factor as 100 conversations is a decent number). If it was not for the limited chat history and only 2 agents being online at the same time this could very well have been our number one choice.

Rank 2 — PureChat

It was difficult deciding between PureChat and our number one choice and it can be considered almost a draw. This software offers almost every feature available on the market from unlimited users, unlimited chats, unlimited chat history (transcripts) and advanced widget customization to chat alerts, iOS and Android mobile apps, Canned responses and Pre-Chat Info Form. Chat agents can be assigned specific roles with different authorities such as admin, power users and operators. An option for email form is also available when operators are offline. Visitor information, location details and operator availability schedules are some other features that are available as well. Only 2 features that are available in other offerings, but we did not find here are message sneak peek and the ability to set up triggers.

Rank 1 — Tawk

Tawk is a giant when it comes to features. It has it all. There’s not a single relevant feature that is present in other chats but not present in Tawk. It offers unlimited chats, unlimited agents accounts, unlimited concurrent chats, and the option for unlimited agents to be online at the same time. As usual the chat is SSL encrypted. Many of the advanced features included in Tawk are unlimited chat history, canned shortcuts, option to transfer files between the user and the operator and mobile apps for both iOS and Android. Inter agent chat is also available which is not visible to the customers. The Message sneak peek feature allows us to see what the consumer is typing even before the customer hits submit so that our responses can be sped up.

We can even pay a small fee for removing the Tawk branding (“powered by Tawk” line). A single agent can have multiple aliases also. Tawk also offers a huge database of emojis. Other features such as chat widget customization and Offline/Online statuses are also provided. All of the above features are free.

You might be wondering how come all of the premium features are free, are there any advertisements or any hidden fees. Well there are no ads and neither any hidden fees. Offering Live Answering as a service is core to Tawk’s revenue model, and it is how they’re able to offer the software completely free to over 700,000+ (and growing) business users. Currently Tawk gets paid to answer chats for a small number of clients that do not want to (or simply can’t) answer the chat themselves. The company also boasts of Pizza Hut, Hyundai and Chevrolet among others as its customers on their website. Almost every feature is present in this software and it is difficult to not crown it the king of free chat software.

Please note that the data for the above-mentioned list of software was directly collected from their websites since most of the review sites does not explicitly tell which features are available in the free version and which features are paid-only. And thus, whatever features are not mentioned on their website anywhere, are assumed to be missing in the free version.