best live chat plugins for WordPress
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Looking to add some WordPress live chat functionality to your website? Then read on (or click here to skip), as we’re taking a look at some of the best WordPress chat plugin options available…

Browsing the internet feels quite impersonal, doesn’t it? To combat this feeling of isolation, try adding lots of personal touches to your website and reap the rewards – you’ll enjoy much healthier conversion rates, for a start.

Most bloggers recognize the benefits of taking the personal approach. Take a moment to look at your favorite blog to see what I mean. At a minimum, I bet it includes a contact form, email address, and social media profile links, am I right?

However, if you want to crank the personal touch up a notch, nothing beats live chat.

Live chat empowers you to provide exceptional customer service by resolving customer problems instantly. It can drive more conversions, too, as you can respond to sales queries in real-time, eliminate buyer friction, and provide a reassuring human presence until customers are ready to pull out their wallets.

Top 8 live chat plugins for WordPress

If you want to know how to add live chat to a WordPress website, read on. Today, I’ll be introducing you to eight of the best live chat plugins for WordPress. Enjoy!

  1. LiveChat
  2. Sendinblue
  3. Olark
  4. Zendesk Chat
  5. Tidio Live Chat
  6. Live Chat Unlimited
  7. Formilla Live Chat
  8. Pure Chat

1. LiveChat

LiveChat

LiveChat is a very handy live chat solution – as the name implies – and it’s geared at providing everybody in the picture with something that’s really easy to use. This goes both for your website visitors/customers and you (your agents).

On the customer side, LiveChat greets people with a nice chat box at the bottom of the page. That box always remains in sight and can be accessed with just a single click. Then, after the conversation is done, your customers can leave feedback and grade their experience with your agent. They can also give you a shout-out on social media through the share buttons embedded in the chat box itself.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: customizable chat boxes, agent ratings, beautiful and functional dashboard.
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: YES
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: none (premium solution)
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $16/month for a single user and you get 30% off for your first payment.

However, where LiveChat really shines is the amount of cool features that it gives to you and your support agents.

  • For instance, you can engage customers directly (instead of waiting for them to contact you). By making the first step towards a conversation, you’re increasing the likelihood that the customer is going to walk out with a positive experience.
  • You can customize the chat window.
  • You get to control all conversations from a single dashboard – even if you have LiveChat set on more than one site.
  • Each customer interaction is marked with colorful circles indicating how long the person has been waiting (this allows you to react faster).
  • You get full history of the previous chats.
  • They offer a 14-day free trial for every new user, but you can get an exclusive 30-day extension if you sign up to LiveChat here.

LiveChat’s WordPress plugin allows you to integrate your site with their solution easily. The chat window is also friendly and simple. But do know that the pricing could vary based on the number of agents in your team.

Get an exclusive 30% discount on your first payment, plus an extended 30-day trial when you use this Themeisle coupon.

Chat window demo:
livechat demo

2. Sendinblue

Sendinblue

This last solution isn’t a WordPress live chat plugin per se, but it’s still more than easy to integrate with your site nonetheless. You basically get a simple embed code that you can put in your site’s footer (can be done via WordPress Customizer).

The main reason we’re including Sendinblue here is that it’s an interesting alternative for those site owners who are looking for a multi-purpose tool that would handle more than just live chat.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: all-in-one solution for customer communication via multiple channels; including live chat
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: undisclosed
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: undisclosed
πŸ’³ Price: chat-enabled plans start at $66/month

Sendinblue is most known for their email marketing tools that are on par with the giants in the market. But perhaps its main strength is that you can use Sendinblue to replace a handful of other tools, all in one package.

Sendinblue lets you:

  • Send email newsletters and broadcasts
  • Set up email marketing automation
  • Send email via Sendinblue’s SMTP
  • Set up and manage Facebook ads
  • Build landing pages
  • Send SMS messages
  • And, yes, you’ve guessed it, use live chat

Sendinblue is a great solution for those who know that they will need to get tools to handle all of the above anyway, so why not get it done by just a single tool vs using multiple ones?

The version of Sendinblue that gives you access to all of the features above starts from $66 / month, for which you can send up to 120,000 emails / month.

Chat window demo:
sendinblue chat demo

3. Olark

olark

Olark is a fully-featured live chat solution. While it’s not an ideal example of WordPress live chat plugins per se, it can be easily integrated with your WordPress website through a handy widget.

Basically, you get a piece of code directly from Olark, which you can then embed wherever you wish. Simple stuff.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: advanced live chat solution that integrates with other elements of your business, like CRM, help desk, even sales
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: YES
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: 20
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $19/month

More importantly, Olark offers really a lot … with many of the features quite advanced:

  • First off, you get chat reports – you can track chat frequency, operator responsiveness, and customer satisfaction.
  • There’s CRM Integration – with Salesforce, Highrise, Nutshell, and many more CRMs.
  • You can set rules to hide and show the chat box, automatically send messages, and assign chats to specific departments.
  • Helpdesk integration – with Groove, Desk.com, Zendesk, and more.
  • You can group your operators by team, like a sales team and support team.
  • You can search through the chat history and detailed transcripts of the talks.
  • See what visitors have in their shopping carts to give more informed answers and close sales faster.
  • White label feature – remove Olark’s branding.

Each chat conversation box gets a detailed breakdown of the person’s (your customer’s) activity on your site. You can see which pages they’ve been to and what they did on those pages. And once the talk is done, the customer can leave their feedback and rating. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, as Olark has really a lot to offer, and particularly if your live chat needs are slightly more advanced, so to speak.

Chat window demo:
olark demo

4. Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim Live Chat)

Zendesk Chat is one of the most popular live chat services available to WordPress users. It is easily installed thanks to a dedicated WordPress plugin, available for free from the official repository. Zopim’s chat boxes are among the most stylish you will find, with beautiful, customizable layouts and themes.

To respond to visitor messages, simply access the external Zopim Dashboard – if you want to access chats on the go, you can install a dedicated Android or iPhone app, too. The dashboard is crammed with vital metrics that let you review chat performances, track chat history, and learn about your visitors in real-time.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: gorgeous, professional-looking chat boxes, with minimal restrictions for free users
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: 14 days with free plans; unlimited for premium plans
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: unlimited
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $14/month

A free subscription with Zendesk Chat allows one chat agent to handle unlimited chats, though restricted to one at a time. If your website is small, this live chat plugin may well suffice.

If, however, you want to upgrade, premium access starts at $14/month. This also unlocks cool additional features like chat triggers – chat triggers let you specify certain conditions for the chat box to auto-launch, such as if a visitor is stuck on a page for more than a minute.

Chat window demo:
zendesk demo

5. Tidio Live Chat

Tidio Live Chat is one of the easiest live chat plugins to get up and running – simply activate the plugin, and you’re ready to go. The chat boxes come in three designs, which can be fully color customized to fit your branding.

Chats are handled from a Tidio Chat tab, which is accessed right from your WordPress dashboard. You can also manage chats by installing a dedicated desktop, iOS, or Android app.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: one click installation, and direct emails sent to offline chat users
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: unlimited
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: unlimited
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $15/month

If you’re unable to chat for any reason, offline messages are sent directly to your inbox. Similarly, if a visitor leaves the chat, you can continue the conversation via email.

The free version of Tidio allows you to have one agent and one chat open, with no other restrictions. Additional agents are added from $16.80/month, which also enables unlimited concurrent chats and automatic messages.

Chat window demo:
tidio demo

6. Live Chat Unlimited

live chat unlimited

If you find monthly fees off-putting with live chat plugins, look no further than the Live Chat Unlimited. It’s available from CodeCanyon for a fee of $75.

Chats are handled entirely from the WordPress dashboard – ideal if you spend most of the day logged in. The chat boxes are simple but effective, with two colors for you to customize.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: no monthly fees, and chats handled from the WordPress dashboard
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: unlimited
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: none (premium plugin)
πŸ’³ Price: one-off $75 fee

You can handle an unlimited number of conversations at any given time, plus multiple operators can respond to the same query. If all operators are offline, the chat box is replaced by a contact form, so that visitors can email their questions directly.

Chat window demo:
live chat unlimited demo

7. Formilla Live Chat

Formilla is an excellent freemium live chat solution. If your website has modest traffic figures, you can try Formilla for free – the free package allows one agent, one concurrent chat, and up to 30 total chats/month, all handled via Formilla’s bespoke interface.

For those looking for live chat plugins that can handle the volume, 30 chats/month won’t be enough for everyone, though, so most of you will need to upgrade. For one agent handling unlimited chats, you’ll have to fork out an affordable $11.99/month.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: good feature set for free users, including proactive chat
☁️ Customizable chat box: only premium
⏳ Chat history: unlimited
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: 30
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $19.99/month

Premium users can access chats via Android or iOS apps, as well as the Formilla interface. Premium users can also benefit from customizable chat boxes and real-time visitor monitoring.

Other impressive features include proactive chat, offline email forms, and chat queues for when operators are busy handling other queries.

Chat window demo:
formilla demo

8. Pure Chat

Pure Chat is one of my favorite live chat plugins because of the beautiful chat boxes it builds. Any part of the chat box can be customized, with unlimited colors, eye-catching animations, and custom images available.

Beyond the eye candy, Pure Chat is also a very capable live chat tool. Functionality includes powerful analytics, multi-chat management, and proactive chat triggers.

TL;DR:

⭐ Best for: eye-catching chat boxes and powerful real-time visitor tracking
☁️ Customizable chat box: YES
⏳ Chat history: 30 days with free plans; premium plans start with 90 days
πŸ”₯ Free conversations per month: 15
πŸ’³ Price: premium plans start at $39/month

You can also schedule when the live chat function is online – and when offline, your live chat box converts into an opt-in form for any MailChimp email list.

The free version of Pure Chat grants up to 15 chats/month. If you want more than this, plans start from $39/month, which includes four users and unlimited chats. Chats are handled via the Pure Chat dashboard or mobile apps.

Chat window demo:
pure chat demo

Final thoughts on WordPress live chat

That concludes our roundup of eight of the best live chat plugins for WordPress. And because most of the live chat plugins featured include some form of free plan, you have no excuse not to give one a try!

Using a different live chat solution? Let us know in the comments below!

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