Compare the top 8 live chat widgets

Live chat widget overview

In this modern multichannel, multitasking world, businesses know that customers often prefer typing over talking. Live chat has become a fast-growing trend, with 81% of customer service leaders telling Freshworks they plan to invest 36% more in live chat and messaging in the near future.

There are several ways to add live chat capabilities to your website, social media pages, and mobile apps, but chat widgets are among the simplest solutions to deploy (you just embed some code) and simplest for your customers to use (they just click on a pop-up chat box and start typing).

How do chat widgets work? How do they improve customer service and your overall customer experience? And what is the best chat widget for website and mobile app deployment?

What is a chat widget?

A chat widget is a pop-up window on a webpage or mobile app that enables visitors to have a real-time conversation with your agents or AI chatbot (or both!). It usually appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen and invites visitors to start chatting with your representatives.

Most chat widgets today are still manned by live chat support agents, but chatbots are quickly becoming the preferred choice for companies that need to scale their chat capabilities or offer 24/7 support. Gartner predicts that chatbots will become the primary customer service channel by 2027.

You can embed a live chat widget on any or all pages of your website, or integrate this tool into your social media pages and mobile apps.

Why use a chat widget?

Nearly half (43%) of consumers say live chat is their preferred way to communicate with businesses. This is because live chat enables visitors to reach out when it is most convenient for them, get their questions answered immediately, and easily multitask during the conversation. Chat widgets can serve multiple purposes at once, all from one, easily accessible window. With a live chat widget, you can:

• Provide real-time customer service and support directly from your website, social media pages, or mobile apps

• Track customer activity across your site to quickly identify where customers are running into issues and offer proactive advice

• Convert window shoppers into buyers by monitoring common points of website bounce or cart abandonment, and offering incentives to purchase

• Publish FAQs to help customers quickly find answers without leaving the page

Top 8 chat widgets for 2024

Which chat support widget is best for your business? This website chat widget comparison guide will help you weigh your options.

Freshchat

Freshchat is a robust messaging platform built by Freshworks to help sales and customer support teams have conversations with customers at scale. Freshworks enables your team to live chat across channels, including web chat, email, phone, and social media. It also includes the Freshworks widget and AI-powered chatbots.

Key chat features:

• User-friendly dashboard with conversation archiving provides a complete chat history for each customer, so you don’t have to request previously provided details and start all over

• Native integrations with Freshsales and popular CRM solutions enables support agents to view customer’s profile and buying history 

• Programmable away messages let users know when chat is unavailable and when to expect a response

• On-hand FAQs that users can browse the chat window and reach out if they have questions

• Proactive notifications that reach out to idle visitors and increase your chances of converting them with engaging messages

• Free AI chatbots and integrated knowledge base enables self-service capabilities with just a few clicks

• Intelligent routing sends live chats to most qualified available support agent

Pros and cons:

• No-code widget builder makes it easy to configure, customize, and deploy

• Customizable widget that you can personalize to match your brand’s image and use language that would resonate with your customers

• Canned responses make it easy to respond to common queries

• Free customer support from Freshworks 

Pricing: 

$0 to $60 per month

Why Customers Rave About Freshworks 

“[Freshworks is] awesome as we can serve our clients from anywhere. We can use pre-written replies (canned responses ) for frequent live chat queries. All conversations are saved as tickets. We can add the client contact details on the Freshworks portal, and if an offline chat (non-business day) is received, we can create a ticket and respond by email also. We have been using Freshworks for more than six years, and we really love it.”

—Customer review from G2

Tidio 

Tidio is an AI-powered customer service platform. With its live chat and chatbot plugin, Tidio combines human agent and chatbot support to enable 24/7, real-time customer engagement.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• AI chatbot

• Knowledge base

• Conversation archiving

• Customer profiles

• Intelligent routing

• Notifications/automated messaging

Pros and cons:

• Robust AI capabilities

• All-in-one live chat platform 

• Tracks user activity to enable proactive messaging

• Integrates with popular customer service software

• Inflexible annual contracts that won’t let you scale down users

• Complicated chatbot builder

Pricing: 

$0 to $54+ per month

Tawk.to

Tawk.to is a free live chat app and customer management software that lets you monitor and chat with customers on your website or from a customizable page.

Key chat features:

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• Knowledge base

• Conversation archiving

• Customer profiles

• Notifications/automated messaging

Pros and cons:

• Tracks user activity so you can deliver proactive messaging

• No AI capabilities or chatbots

• Enables self-service

• Free for multiple agents to use, but free plan includes Tawk.to branding

• Limited customization with free plan

• Customer support from Tawk.to costs extra

• Limited analytics

Pricing: 

$0 to $19 per month

Help Scout

Help Scout is a help desk platform that enables your business to engage your customers across channels via live chat, self-service, and a shared email inbox—all from one platform. It includes collaboration, organization, and automation tools that help your team members work faster.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• Automated responses

• Knowledge base with searchable articles

• Customer/contact database

Pros and cons:

• Integrates with social media and third-party software

• Chatbot not included but can be integrated with third-party chatbot solutions using API

• Offers automated workflows but has very limited AI capabilities (only a newly-released AI Assist add-on)

• Limited customizations (only one knowledge base template)

• Customer support from Help Scout costs extra

Pricing: 

$20 to $65 per month

LiveAgent

LiveAgent is an all-in-one help desk and live chat support platform that enables your team to connect with customers across channels 24/7.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• Automated responses

• Knowledge base/searchable articles

• Customer profiles

Pros and cons:

• No native chatbot functionality

• 200+ possible integrations popular business software

• Social media integrations available with enterprise plan

• Robust ticketing features

• Easy implementation and configuration

• Automated workflows but very limited AI capabilities 

• Features are limited in mobile

Pricing: 

$0 to $49 per month

Live Chat

Part of the Hubspot Service Hub, Live Chat enables you to connect with website visitors in real time to improve conversions, close more deals, and better support your customers.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Intelligent routing

• Automated responses

• AI chatbot builder

• Notifications/away message

• Knowledge base/searchable articles

Pros and cons:

• AI-enabled workflows

• Native integrations with Slack and the free Hubspot CRM

• Complex to set up and configure

• Expensive premium features 

• Limited customization options

Pricing: 

$0 to $12,000 per month

Intercom

Intercom is an all-in-one AI-enhanced customer support platform focused on combining AI automation and human agent communication to provide a seamless, efficient customer experience.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Automated responses

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• Notifications

• Knowledge base

• Customer profiles

• Chatbot

Pros and cons:

• Robust customer service functionality

• Extensive workflow automations and proactive messaging capabilities

• Many customer complaints about latency

• Expensive for SMBs, with many premium features, analytics, and add-ons kept behind paywalls

Pricing: 

Starting at $74 per month

Zoho Live Chat

Part of the Zoho SalesIQ Suite, Zoho Live Chat is an AI-enhanced chat support widget that enables you to track visitors across your website, apps, and social media sites, engage them with proactive messaging, and provide real-time support.

Key chat features:

• Customization

• Live chat with pop-up widget

• Codeless AI chatbot builder

• Knowledge base/searchable articles

• Canned/automated responses

• Notifications

• Customer profiles

Pros and cons:

• Visitor tracking for proactive messaging

• Robust AI and automation capabilities

• Limited native integrations

• Complex to set up and configure

Pricing: 

$0 to $20 per month, per agent

Are you ready to take the next step? 

Live chat support is quickly becoming a must-have feature for business websites and mobile apps. Customers expect fast answers, 24/7 support, and robust self-service options—all of which chat widgets help you deliver. This technology enables you to meet customers where they are, provide the information they need, and boost sales and customer engagement. And all it takes is a few lines of code.

With Freshworks, you don’t even have to write your own code. Simply use our platform to deploy a customized live chat support widget, complete with the AI chatbot, FAQs, and self-service options your customers have come to expect.

Simply put, if you’re ready to modernize customer interactions, you’re ready for chat widgets.

What are the benefits of a chat widget?  

Live chat widgets are quickly becoming a common feature on business websites and mobile apps, because they:

Make support accessible and convenient

Chat widgets enable customers to interact with your sales and customer support teams from right where they are. They don’t have to find your “Contact Us” page, open a third-party messaging app, place a call and wait on hold, or send an email and await a response. They just click on the widget to start a live chat.  

Boost customer engagement and sales

Chat widgets enable you to proactively trigger customer communications based on their activity on your webpage. For instance, if customers have trouble navigating your site, an agent or chatbot can ask what they’re looking for and direct them to it. If a customer seems to be interested in a product or service, your rep can reach out with a personalized message to provide more information, tell them about ongoing promotions, or attempt to upsell or cross-sell by making recommendations for related products and services.

Reduce ticket volume with self-service

You can easily integrate your knowledge base and FAQs in your chat widget, enabling customers to resolve common queries on their own. This reduces the number of incoming tickets, freeing your agents to focus on resolving complex issues. 

Increase human productivity 

With live chat, agents can help multiple customers simultaneously. While one user is typing, your agent is responding to the latest message from another customer. An experienced live chat agent can handle four to six chats at the same time. This is not possible with phone support. 

Enable chatbots

Customers don’t always need to talk to your best agent; sometimes your best AI chatbot can get the job done. Chatbots can respond to customers immediately and can handle dozens of conversations simultaneously. This helps you stay on top of your First Response Rate, even during surge times, and lightens the workload for human agents. A conversational AI chatbot can also take the lead with proactive messaging—they can start conversations with users based on their behavior and then pass them along to human agents when necessary.

Lower customer service and support costs

When your agents can multitask and rely on chatbots for backup, you don’t have to hire extra agents to handle an increased volume of support tickets. With a single chatbot integration, you can deflect most common queries, enabling a faster resolution time without increasing your support costs or budget. 

Reduce ticket volume with self-service

You can easily integrate your knowledge base and FAQs in your chat widget, enabling customers to resolve common queries on their own. This reduces the number of incoming tickets, freeing your agents to focus on resolving complex issues. 

Increase human productivity 

With live chat, agents can help multiple customers simultaneously. While one user is typing, your agent is responding to the latest message from another customer. An experienced live chat agent can handle four to six chats at the same time. This is not possible with phone support. 

Enable chatbots

Customers don’t always need to talk to your best agent; sometimes your best AI chatbot can get the job done. Chatbots can respond to customers immediately and can handle dozens of conversations simultaneously. This helps you stay on top of your First Response Rate, even during surge times, and lightens the workload for human agents. A conversational AI chatbot can also take the lead with proactive messaging—they can start conversations with users based on their behavior and then pass them along to human agents when necessary.

Lower customer service and support costs

When your agents can multitask and rely on chatbots for backup, you don’t have to hire extra agents to handle an increased volume of support tickets. With a single chatbot integration, you can deflect most common queries, enabling a faster resolution time without increasing your support costs or budget.

Fast facts: Chatbots vs email

Source: Freshdesk benchmark report

What does a chat widget look like? 

Chat widgets typically appear as a button at the bottom-right side of the visitor’s computer or phone screen. Widgets are typically customizable, so you can choose to include verbiage, such as “Welcome to ABC Company! How can we help?” Or you can use a recognizable image, such as a message icon.

When customers click on the button, a live chat window appears that looks similar to any other messaging application, so they know exactly how to use it. Here, you can provide a list of topics or simply say hello and start a conversation.

Meanwhile, your agents see a live chat dashboard where they can accept tickets and manage ongoing conversations. If your live chat solution is integrated with your CRM, they can also view important details about the customer, such as contact and demographic info, previous purchases, website activity, and previous support request.

What are the different use cases of a chat widget?

A live chat widget improves your:

Customer service

A chat support widget enables you to deliver high-quality customer service from anywhere on your website or mobile apps. Customers don’t have to go looking for help. Help comes to them. These types of effortless customer service interactions make customers 94% more likely to buy from you again, and they’ll spend 88% more, according to Gartner.

Customer engagement

Deploying a chat widget for websites and mobile apps makes it easy for customers to engage with your team members and quickly get the information they need about your products or services. Speed matters, because 47% of shoppers will abandon an online purchase if they can’t get their questions answered in a timely manner, according to Forrester.

Self-service

By integrating a website chat widget with your self-service portal and/or chatbot software, you give customers the freedom to find answers without reaching out to an agent. Not only does self-service save your company time and money, but it’s how 39% of customers prefer to get their information, according to the Freshworks Deconstructing Delight survey.

Freshworks case studies:

• MTN Cameroon delivers ‘EPIC’ customer experiences with Freshworks

• IBA Cosmetics achieves a 230% spike in online orders using Freshworks and Neo Platform

• Doctaly uses Freshworks to reduce COVID-19 consultation time from 25 minutes to 4 minutes

• How bots and automation helped Travix navigate customer service during a global crisis

• How Shuttle Delivery resolves 95% of its queries

How to add a chat widget to your website 

Adding a website chat widget only takes a few steps with Freshworks:

1. Define your bot flows and easily embed your Freshworks widget by navigating to Deploy > Deploy options > Conversations widget > Save. 

2. Copy and paste the widget code into the HTML for the page where you want to add your widget.

3. If you want to add a self-service widget, choose the self-service widget instead of conversations. 

4. If you want to add a conversational AI bot, follow these steps for how to make a chatbot.

Key capabilities of chat widget

All chat widgets are not created equal. When you’re shopping for a solution, look for these core capabilities:

Always be there for your customers

• Communicate in real time: Give customers contextual solutions based on their activity.

• Message asynchronously: Continue conversations where you last left it, never start over.

• 24/7 resolutions: Use the chat widget to connect with customers anytime, night or day.

Run campaigns that convert

• Skip boring forms: Employ bots that recognize visitors and engage them in conversation.

• Trigger messages: Get the attention of website visitors by nudging them with messages.

• Customize your widget: Align your widget with your brand.

Offer self-service for quick resolution

• Enable FAQs: Use the FAQs section to provide quick answers to common questions.

• Deploy chatbots: Build bot flows to automate routine processes.

The makings of a great CX

According to consumers, a great customer experience is defined by:

• 33.71% Ease of access to support

• 33.71% Quick and correct resolution

• 25.84% Quick responses from agents

• 5.62% Proactive support from your team

• 1.12% Customer history-based/contextual communication

Source: Benchmark Report