14 Best Live Chat Software To Connect With Customers In 2023

SysAid is an ITSM Software designed to help bring clients closer to help desk teams at scale through many channels, live chat included.

SysAid's help desk software improves team efficiency through several automation features like ticket routing. With ticket routing, users concerns no longer sit in a queue waiting for a help desk coordinator to assign them to team members. Instead, the platform automatically routes the information based on pre-defined people structures.

One of the many features that this platform has is a self-serve portal in which users can access services like password resets and live chat. SysAid lets you view all users, which ones have initiated a chat, who are waiting in a queue and which IT administrator is chatting with which user.

One thing I like about their queueing system is that you can configure different queues for different services. That way, you won't have people waiting for their turn when there is someone available from the team that can help them solve their problem.

Finally, this platform can let your team perform remote control sessions directly from SysAid's console and save the conversation within the ticket so that you always have context and can help users in the most personal way.

Integrations can be accessed through SysAid's marketplace and include pre-built integrations with Jira, Teamviewer, Solarwinds, Azure, Openam, Slack, Okta, and Google Apps. You can also connect to thousands of additional apps using a paid subscription with Zapier.

HubSpot CRM is a customer relationship management tool that helps businesses manage their sales, marketing, and customer service processes. It's designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, making it a great option for businesses of all sizes.

I chose HubSpot CRM as one of the best live chat software options because it offers a comprehensive set of features that make it easy for businesses to engage with their customers in real-time. The live chat functionality is fully integrated with the CRM, so all customer interactions are automatically logged and can be easily accessed by the entire team. This makes it easy for businesses to provide personalized and efficient customer support, which is essential for building strong customer relationships.

There are several features that make HubSpot CRM's live chat software stand out from the competition. First, the chat widget is fully customizable, allowing businesses to match the look and feel of their website. This helps create a seamless experience for customers and reinforces brand consistency.

Another standout feature is the chatbot builder, which allows businesses to create custom chatbots to handle common customer inquiries. This can help reduce response times and free up customer support agents to handle more complex issues. The chatbot builder is easy to use, with a drag-and-drop interface that doesn't require any coding knowledge.

HubSpot CRM also offers powerful analytics and reporting tools, allowing businesses to track the performance of their live chat support. This includes metrics like response times, customer satisfaction scores, and chat volume. These insights can help businesses identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize their customer support processes.

One of the reasons HubSpot CRM is such a powerful tool is its extensive integration capabilities. The platform integrates with a wide range of third-party tools, including popular email marketing, social media, and ecommerce platforms. This means that businesses can easily connect their live chat software with their existing tech stack, streamlining their processes and ensuring that all customer data is centralized in one place.

Some of the most popular integrations for HubSpot CRM's live chat software include Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Shopify, and Zapier. These integrations make it easy for businesses to manage their customer support processes and ensure that they're providing the best possible experience for their customers.

Pricing starts at $50 per month, and they offer a 14-day free trial.

Hiver is a dynamic live chat software solution designed to revolutionize team collaboration and customer support. It seamlessly integrates with email platforms like Gmail, allowing businesses to transform their email inboxes into shared collaborative spaces where teams can respond to customer inquiries and internal messages in real-time. Hiver empowers organizations to provide timely and efficient customer support, streamline internal communication, assign tasks, track progress, and maintain a unified approach to managing email interactions, all within a user-friendly interface. 

Hiver excels as a live chat software by offering several key strengths. Firstly, its seamless integration with email platforms like Gmail makes it an exceptional tool for businesses already heavily reliant on email communication, allowing them to transform email inboxes into collaborative workspaces for real-time customer support and internal team communication. Secondly, Hiver's shared inbox and task assignment features enable efficient collaboration among team members, ensuring that customer inquiries are addressed promptly and that tasks are delegated and tracked effectively.

One of Hiver's standout features is its capability to turn standard email inboxes, such as Gmail, into shared collaborative spaces. This unique approach allows teams to manage customer inquiries and internal communication within their existing email infrastructure, eliminating the need for separate live chat platforms. Competing live chat software often requires businesses to adopt a new interface, whereas Hiver integrates seamlessly with familiar email clients, enhancing user adoption and reducing the learning curve.

Hiver offers a distinctive feature by allowing users to assign tasks directly within email threads. This means that customer inquiries can be converted into actionable tasks, assigned to team members, and tracked efficiently, all within the same email interface. This feature streamlines workflow management and ensures that customer issues are addressed promptly, setting Hiver apart from competitors that may require external task management tools or lack this level of integration.

Hiver distinguishes itself with the ability to add notes and tags to email conversations. This unique feature enables teams to add context, instructions, or important information directly to email threads, enhancing collaboration and ensuring that all team members are well-informed about customer interactions. Unlike many competitors that lack this level of integrated note-taking and tagging within live chat, Hiver provides a seamless way to manage and share vital information, improving the quality and consistency of customer support.

Hiver offers collision alerts and prevention to ensure that multiple team members don't accidentally respond to the same customer inquiry simultaneously. This distinctive feature enhances customer service by preventing redundant responses and potential confusion. It helps maintain a professional and streamlined customer support process, setting Hiver apart from competitors that may lack built-in mechanisms for preventing and managing collisions in live chat scenarios.

Hiver integrates with Slack and Gmail. More can be accessed through Zapier, but that requires another product subscription and may incur additional costs.

Hiver costs from $19/user/month and offers a 7-day free trial.

Zoho SalesIQ is live chat software that enables businesses to communicate with their customers in real-time. The software provides features like live chat, website visitor tracking, and analytics to help businesses connect with their website visitors on a deeper level.

One of its standout features is its robust functionality. The software allows for easy customization of chat widgets so it matches the company branding, and its chatbots can handle basic customer inquiries, leaving human agents to handle more complex ones.

Zoho SalesIQ also includes visitor tracking, which shows visitors' behavior in real-time, and advanced reporting and analytics to help businesses make informed decisions about their engagement strategies. Additionally, the software offers integration with popular CRM systems, making it easy for businesses to track customer interactions and follow up with leads.

In terms of integrations, Zoho SalesIQ seamlessly integrates with other Zoho tools like Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, and Zoho Campaigns. It also integrates with other popular tools like Google Analytics and Slack, making it an all-in-one tool for customer engagement and management.

Plans start at $7/operator/month, and they offer a 15-day free trial.

3CX is an enterprise communications system that offers software-based PBX functionality with a cloud-hosted option. It includes multiple features like live chat, instant messaging, CRM integration, web conferencing, and native mobile applications.

3CX’s live chat solution is a great way to initiate a non-intrusive connection between agents and customer at scale. Since most live chats end up being forwarded to a call center agent more than half the time, the live chat tool is designed so that it’s easier to elevate the conversation from live chat to an actual call. The customer or the agent can initiate the call to expedite the resolution of whatever issues there might be.

The live chat tool is available with 3CX’s free plan, which means that small businesses and startups can take full advantage of this feature for no charge. They can easily assign more agents (up to 10 users) to group chats without having to worry about added monthly fees. They can also customize the live chat tool to add voice and video call functions too.

3CX also comes with free Android and iOS apps, allowing contact center agents to respond to live chat, WhatsApp, and SMS messages through their smartphone or tablet. This can help boost the productivity and efficiency of any company’s customer service program.

Pricing for 3CX starts at $175/year for 10 users. They also offer a freemium version with limited features that includes their live chat tool too.

LiveChat is a customer service and sales platform that handles all customer communication. You just create the chat experiences and then roll out the widget to your website.

The tool stands out due to its selling features. For example, you can add product cards to the live chat widget to encourage customers to buy. Or you can add forms or AI chatbots to capture leads on your website and then route the conversation to relevant people. You can then measure the tool’s impact on sales using its reporting features.

LiveChat works with plenty of communication channels to handle all communication in a single inbox. You can connect Facebook Messenger, Email, SMS, Apple Business Chat, and WhatsApp alongside your website and apps.

LiveChat plans start at $19 per agent per month and rise to $50. You can also get a free trial of the software to test it before buying.

CallTrackingMetrics is a conversation analytics platform that helps marketers see which campaigns generate calls and conversations. The tool also has live chat functionality to help support and sales teams provide better experiences.

The tool has a dashboard you can use to manage calls, texts, and chats in a single place. And the live chat widget is easy to install and has plenty of customization options to ensure it meets your branding.

A cool feature is the ability to suggest relevant questions from within the widget on the page the customer is visiting. For example, a pricing page could include questions to help customers get a product demo, while a help page could include questions relevant to the specific problem. You can also create customized templated responses to help your team respond to common queries quickly.

The tool also allows you to set up chat routing rules that ensure conversations always go to the right agent. For example, sales queries go to your sales team, while requests for support go to your support team. And there are also support tools to help you transfer conversations between agents, so you don’t start from scratch every time a new person takes over.

CallTrackingMetrics pricing starts at $39 per month and rises to $299 per month. Each plan comes with a free month.

Intercom is a business messaging tool with plenty of live chat features. The main product is the chat widget, which you can install on your website or app. From here you can handle chats, as well as provide easy access to self-service documents, a knowledge base search bar, and relevant content. One thing I like about Intercom is that the chat tool shows an estimate of response time. Or, if your team is currently offline, it tells them when you will be online again. This ensures customers are never left waiting for a reply that is unlikely to come. Intercom also has useful proactive chat support features. This lets you reach out to customers to provide help with issues before they know the problem exists. A simple example is providing customers with extra information about shipping times when they spend time on a relevant page. Intercom’s starter plan costs $67 per month when billed annually. Larger businesses can contact the company for further pricing options.

Userlike is a website messenger that allows you to assist customers as they browse your site. It offers chatbots, an omnichannel help desk, and many agent help options.

The tool has advanced functionality. A useful lead generation feature allows you to collect customer information before they start a call. You can use the data from these pre-chat forms to build a customer profile.

You can also proactively reach out to customers as they browse your website. And you can include a green circle to show that your help team is currently online which may encourage people to connect.

You can connect Userlike to other communication channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and SMS. You then answer all queries from within the Userlike platform and even switch to browser-based voice calls when necessary. The tool also has a dashboard that allows you to track your conversational KPIs. Just choose to highlight the ones most relevant to your business.

Userlike paid plans start at $100 per month for four seats, although you need the $320 per month for ten seats plan to integrate with other channels. The tool offers a free trial as well as an always-free version of the tool for a single user.

Zendesk is a powerful help desk platform with plenty of advanced live chat features. It’s easy to roll the tool out to your website and app and then answer queries from the help desk alongside other communication channels.

Zendesk offers plenty of advanced live chat features. Use AI chatbots to handle simple customer requests that don’t need live agent support. Or set up triggers to offer proactive support—for example, if a customer spends a long time on a check-out page, you can reach out to ask if they need any more help.

Another useful Zendesk feature is queue management. If you deal with a high volume of requests, you can effectively create rules to deal with them. For example, you could prioritize sales requests over other types of calls as these are more likely to result in revenue.

Zendesk also offers plenty of integrations. You can connect with Slack to get notifications about new conversations. And if there’s no integration for the tool you need, you can use the API integration.

Zendesk pricing starts at $19 per agent per month when billed annually. Pro plans go up to $99 per agent per month for more advanced features. You can grab a free trial of any of the tools via the website.