LiveChat

LiveChat is one of the longest established products in this category and states its purpose plainly: live chat software that gets the job done. Three outcomes are named, increasing online sales, improving customer satisfaction and automating customer service.

Naming sales alongside support is deliberate and reflects how live chat is actually justified. A support team sees chat as a cost to be minimised, while a sales team sees a visitor asking a question as the most qualified lead on the site. The same conversation serves both readings, which is why the tool is bought by both.

Automation is handled through a companion product, with the company positioning ChatBot.com for routine tasks so human agents concentrate on complex cases. That split is the sensible arrangement: routine questions absorb agent time without producing much value, while complex conversations are where human judgement pays.

Pricing is published per agent per month at 19, 49 and 79 dollars across tiers, with a further figure of 52 dollars in the range. Per agent pricing is the norm in live chat and it carries a planning consequence worth noting: the cost scales with the number of people answering rather than with the number of conversations, so automating routine questions reduces the seats required rather than reducing a usage bill.

A 14 day free trial runs with no credit card required, and sign up is available without speaking to sales, which suits a team that wants to test chat volume on its own site before committing to a seat count.