What Is Live Chat? Definition + 12 Best Live Chat Software Compared

This guide explains how live chat differs from bots and asynchronous messaging, how to choose coverage hours, and which software fits different workflows. Start with the questions customers ask and the time needed to answer them, then choose the tools and staffing together.

What is live chat?

Live chat is a customer service channel for a conversation happening while the customer is on your website. A visitor types into a chat window and a support agent responds. The exchange can include links, order details, or instructions that are easier to keep in writing.

The useful promise is a clear response window. If your team can answer during stated hours, customers can resolve a simple question without starting an email thread. If the issue needs investigation, collect the information and arrange a follow-up. A chat widget should make the next step easier to understand, including when nobody is available to answer immediately.

How live chat works

The mechanics are simple. You paste a snippet of JavaScript into your site, and a chat bubble appears in the corner of every page. A visitor clicks it, types a question, and the message lands in a shared dashboard where your team can see who's asking, what page they're on, and what they've looked at.

An agent picks up the conversation and types back. Good tools show the agent a live preview of what the visitor is typing, suggest canned replies for common questions, and route chats to whoever's available. If nobody's online, the widget usually switches to a contact form that creates an email ticket instead.

Most platforms add proactive triggers on top. For example, you can set a rule that pops open the chat window when someone has been sitting on your pricing page for 60 seconds.

Live chat vs chatbots vs messaging

These three terms get mixed up constantly, so here's the difference.

Live chat means a human answers. The conversation happens in real time, and it usually ends when the visitor leaves the site.

A chatbot answers automatically, with no human involved. Older bots followed scripted decision trees. Newer AI agents, like Intercom's Fin or Tidio's Lyro, generate answers from your help docs and hand off to a human when they get stuck.

Messaging means asynchronous conversations on channels like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or SMS. The visitor can close the tab and pick the thread back up hours later, which live chat traditionally couldn't do. Most modern tools blur this line by keeping chat history tied to the visitor's email.

In practice, most companies run a hybrid. A bot fields the first message and answers the easy stuff, and a human takes over for anything involving money, bugs, or frustration.

When email beats live chat

Live chat isn't the right channel for every conversation. Email wins when the answer takes research. If a refund request needs a manager's sign-off or a bug needs an engineer to look at logs, a chat window just holds the customer hostage while they wait. Email is useful for longer explanations, attachments, and a record that the customer can return to. Asynchronous messaging can also serve customers outside your team's working hours.

There's a staffing reason too. Chat sets an expectation of a prompt reply during the advertised hours. Email buys you hours. A two-person company can promise same-day email replies and keep that promise, but the same team offering chat from 9 to 5 will leave the widget unattended every time both people are in a meeting. An empty chat widget annoys people more than no widget at all.

If you're building out your email channel first, my guide to email customer support covers response targets, templates, and tooling.

Who answers your live chat?

Before you pick software, decide who's going to sit behind the widget. You have four realistic options.

A dedicated remote assistant

Magic is my first choice for a small business that needs live chat staffed alongside email support and admin. A dedicated assistant can learn your product and work in the tools you already use. That gives the same person responsibility for the reply, the order check, and the follow-up in your CRM.

The offer combines screened and trained assistants with ongoing coaching and AI tools. Magic sits in the offshore dedicated cost tier, with part-time and full-time options and no long-term commitment. Define the chat hours in the brief; full-time plans include Magic 24/7 backup for urgent tasks, which is a separate service from continuous staffing of your chat queue.

Give the assistant approved replies, escalation contacts, and limits on refunds or account changes. Publish coverage hours you can keep, and set the widget to collect an email address when the team is offline.

Your existing team

Your existing team can cover chat during business hours. This works if someone's at a desk most of the day and your volume is low, maybe a few dozen chats a week.

An AI agent

An AI agent can take the first pass around the clock. This handles password resets and shipping questions well, and it fails on anything unusual.

Outsourced chat agents

Some providers sell staffed chat coverage as a separate service. Check which channels the agents handle, whether they learn your product, and who owns the next step after a chat closes. My email support outsourcing comparison covers providers whose work also includes chat.

Quick comparison: 12 best live chat software

The products below are software you or an assistant operates. The numbered entries explain where each fits.

Software tiers compare subscriptions within this category: $ entry, $$ mid-market, $$$ larger support suites or advanced plans. They describe software costs, not the cost of a person answering messages. Plan limits and add-ons are set by each vendor.

1. LiveChat

LiveChat centers on the agent's chat workflow, with routing, saved replies, and reporting. It fits a team that treats chat as a daily support channel and needs to see who's available and which conversations are waiting.

The software sits in the mid tier and is priced by agent. Include the seats needed for coverage and supervision when comparing plans. Set up an offline message and an escalation process before publishing the widget; a well-equipped dashboard still needs somebody scheduled to watch it.

2. Intercom

Intercom combines a customer messenger, a support workspace, and its Fin AI agent. It suits a business that wants automated answers from its help content with a route to a person when the conversation needs one.

Seat charges and AI usage can both affect the bill, so it spans mid and advanced software tiers. Ask what counts as a billable AI outcome and how that appears in reports. Keep the human handoff easy to find for complaints, account-specific issues, and requests the help center doesn't cover.

3. Zendesk

Zendesk combines messaging with ticket handling, a help center, and other support channels. It fits teams that need the chat history attached to a broader customer-support record, with routing and reporting across departments.

It sits in the larger-suite tier. Compare the features available at the agent level you would buy, including reporting and integrations. A small team should define the few workflows it needs before taking on a full suite; configuring every available feature can delay a useful launch.

4. HubSpot

HubSpot connects live chat to contact records in its CRM. It suits a sales or service team already working there, because a chat can become part of the same history as emails, forms, and follow-up activity.

Free tools and paid plans cover different scopes. Check which routing, automation, and reporting features your existing subscription includes. Decide whether a new conversation belongs to sales or support and assign an owner, especially when the customer already has an open deal or ticket.

5. Tidio

Tidio combines live chat with automated conversations and its Lyro AI product. It fits online stores that want to answer product questions, capture contact details, and route a shopper to a person when more context is needed.

It offers free and paid options, with usage and feature limits affecting the package. Include the busiest shopping period in your estimate. Product recommendations and shipping information need current source material, so assign someone to keep the help content and escalation instructions updated.

6. tawk.to

tawk.to offers free live chat software, with paid services and add-ons around it. It fits a business that wants to put a staffed chat window on the site without adding a software-seat bill for every agent.

The free widget still needs setup, a response library, and a coverage schedule. If you consider a paid staffing add-on, compare its responsibilities separately from the software. Confirm how the agent handles customer records and passes unresolved work to your team before treating a closed chat as a completed request.

7. Crisp

Crisp combines a shared inbox with website chat and additional customer-messaging features. Its workspace pricing can suit a team that wants to coordinate conversations in one place without treating each channel as a separate process.

There are free and paid workspace tiers. Compare the seats, automations, and knowledge-base features included in the package you need. Keep one owner on each conversation even when several colleagues can see it, and document how a chat becomes an email follow-up when the customer leaves.

8. Olark

Olark offers live chat for human support and a separate AI product. It fits a business that wants to compare those approaches while keeping the chat workflow relatively focused.

Check the plan for the specific product you intend to use, since human-chat seats and an AI service are different purchases. Transcripts are useful for improving saved replies, but nominate a person to review them. A record of repeated questions only helps if the product page or help article gets corrected afterward.

9. Help Scout

Help Scout combines an email-oriented support inbox with Beacon for website help and chat. It suits a team that wants a conversation to continue through email when a live answer isn't practical.

Compare the current plan's chat availability, inbox capacity, and usage rules. The advantage is keeping the support record together. Define when to move a customer out of live chat and give a realistic follow-up time, so neither the customer nor the agent stays in a session waiting for a specialist.

10. Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ connects website chat with visitor information and the wider Zoho environment. It fits a team already using Zoho products that wants customer conversations tied to its sales and support processes.

Free and entry-tier paid options have different limits. Check the operator count, traffic allowance, and integrations your setup requires. If another system holds the customer record, test the handoff with a sample conversation before assuming the connection will copy every field you need.

11. LiveAgent

LiveAgent puts chat inside a helpdesk that also handles tickets and other support channels. It suits a team that wants several ways of contacting support managed from one agent workspace.

The plans span entry and mid software tiers. Confirm that the selected plan includes the chat capabilities and channel connections you need. Compare the work of migrating your existing tickets as well as the subscription, and keep a clear fallback route while the new setup is being introduced.

12. Smartsupp

Smartsupp focuses on conversations with website visitors, with live chat and automation for ecommerce. It suits a store that needs to understand what the customer is looking at before answering a buying or order question.

There are free and paid options, with plan limits and add-ons to review. Check the conversation allowance against a normal sales period and a promotion. Keep tracking and account-access settings aligned with what your site tells visitors, and use the conversation history to improve the answers your team saves.

How I chose

The comparison is based on the workflow each product supports, its staffing requirements, and how its costs scale. Vendor pages are linked for the current offer. A free widget, a per-agent subscription, and a larger support suite are compared within their own scope.

For a useful trial, send sample questions about an order, a product detail, and a refund. Check assignment, handoff, transcripts, and the offline response. The apology email template gives an assistant a starting point when the answer needs investigation rather than an immediate fix.

Live chat FAQ

What is live chat in simple terms?

Live chat is a chat window on a website where a visitor types a question and a person from the company answers in real time. It works like texting a business while you're browsing its site.

Is live chat the same as a chatbot?

No. Live chat means a human is answering, while a chatbot answers automatically with software. Many companies use both, with a bot handling the first message and a human taking over harder questions.

What does live chat mean on a website?

When a website says "live chat," it means real-time messaging support is available on that page, usually through a bubble in the bottom corner. If agents are offline, the same widget typically collects your email for a reply later.

What's the best free live chat software?

tawk.to is the most generous, with unlimited agents and chats at no cost. HubSpot's free chat is the better pick if you want conversations logged in a CRM, and Tidio, Crisp, Zoho SalesIQ, and Smartsupp all offer usable free tiers with limits.

How much does live chat software cost?

Options range from a free widget to entry subscriptions and larger support suites. Agent seats, AI usage, conversation allowances, and add-ons can all change the bill. Budget separately for the person covering the queue. Magic is my recommended staffing choice when chat, email support, and related admin belong in one role.

Does live chat increase sales?

It can help customers finish a purchase when they need a product answer or clarification. The result depends on whether the chat is staffed and whether the answer resolves the question. Measure completed purchases and unresolved requests for your own visitors rather than assuming that installing a widget will change sales.