Best Live Chat Software (September 2026)

1

Tidio

Top pickFree plan

tidio.com

Best for Small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses

Tidio combines live chat, chatbots, and AI-powered automation for customer support and sales. It lets businesses respond to website visitors in real time, set up automated flows to answer common questions, and integrate with email and social channels like Messenger and Instagram. The platform includes a visual chatbot builder, ticketing features, and an AI assistant that can handle routine inquiries. Tidio is commonly used by small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses and online stores looking to manage customer conversations across multiple channels from a single dashboard.

• Live chat widget
• Visual chatbot builder
• Multichannel integrations

2

Chatra

chatra.com

Best for Small to mid-sized e-commerce and support teams·Free trial

Chatra is a live chat platform that allows businesses to communicate with website visitors in real time. It combines live chat with basic CRM functionality, allowing teams to view visitor information, chat history, and online store activity. Chatra supports automated triggers, offline messaging forms, and integrations with e-commerce platforms and messaging channels. It is designed for sales and customer support teams looking to engage visitors proactively and manage conversations across desktop and mobile devices, with tools suited to small and mid-sized businesses running online stores or service websites.

• Real-time visitor chat
• Automated chat triggers
• E-commerce integrations

3

Olark

olark.com

Best for Small to mid-sized sales and support teams·Free trial

Olark is a live chat platform that lets businesses add a customizable chat widget to their website for real-time conversations with visitors. It includes automation rules to trigger targeted messages, chat transcripts and reporting, and integrations with CRM and helpdesk systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk. Teams can organize chats by group and view visitor information during conversations. Olark is generally suited for small to mid-sized sales and customer support teams looking to add live chat to an existing website without extensive setup.

• Customizable chat widget
• CRM/helpdesk integrations
• Automated chat triggers

4

LiveAgent

liveagent.com

Best for Small and mid-sized customer support teams·Free trial

LiveAgent is a customer support platform that combines live chat with a shared inbox, ticketing, and call center features. It consolidates messages from email, chat, social media, and phone into a single dashboard, allowing support agents to manage conversations across channels without switching tools. The live chat widget includes proactive chat invitations, real-time typing view, and chat routing options. LiveAgent also provides a knowledge base builder and reporting tools. It is generally suited to customer service teams at small and mid-sized businesses looking to unify multiple communication channels in one help desk system.

• Multi-channel shared inbox
• Live chat with proactive invites
• Built-in call center

5

Drift

drift.com

Best for B2B marketing and sales teams·Free trial

Drift is a conversational marketing and sales platform centered on live chat and chatbot automation for business websites. It lets companies engage visitors in real time, qualify leads through automated conversation flows, and route qualified prospects to sales representatives or meeting bookings. The platform integrates with CRM and marketing automation systems to sync conversation data and support account-based marketing efforts. Drift also offers email personalization and analytics to track engagement across the buyer journey. It is generally suited to B2B marketing and sales teams focused on pipeline generation and inbound lead qualification.

• Live chat and chatbots
• Meeting scheduling routing
• CRM and marketing integrations

6

Help Scout

helpscout.com

Best for Small to mid-sized customer support teams·Free trial

Help Scout is a customer communication platform that combines a shared email inbox with a live chat and messaging widget called Beacon. Teams can use it to manage support conversations across email, chat, and a self-service knowledge base from a single interface. Beacon can be embedded on websites to offer live chat, display help articles, and route conversations to support staff. Help Scout also includes reporting, workflows, and integrations with common business tools. It is aimed at customer support and success teams at small to mid-sized companies.

• Shared inbox
• Live chat widget
• Knowledge base integration