Live chat software is a customer communication tool that enables real-time text conversations between a business and its website visitors, leads, or customers. Modern live chat platforms typically combine human agent support with AI-powered chatbots, proactive messaging, and omnichannel inbox management, making them a core part of both customer support and sales workflows.
Live chat has moved from a nice-to-have to a table-stakes support channel. According to Forrester Research, 63% of customers are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat, and customers who use live chat are three times more likely to make a purchase than those who do not. For businesses competing on customer experience, choosing the right live chat platform is a high-stakes decision.
Live chat is quickly becoming a must-have for brands who want to meet and exceed their customers' expectations for immediate, convenient, 24/7 support.
If you're adding live chat to your support offering for the first time or improving your current offering, you will want to spend some time vetting and selecting live chat software that meets your needs.
How to choose the right live chat software for your business
Before you start to assess the many different software options available, get some clarity on how you intend to use the platform. Start with these questions:
What are the primary and secondary use cases for your live chat tool? For example, the primary use case may be providing support to existing customers in a SaaS platform. The secondary use case may be providing support to leads on a website.
Do you need a chatbot, live chat functionality, or both? The answer is probably both. Modern live chat works best when AI and human support agents are working together. This generally requires some process outlining, including an escalation process, but the upfront work saves your team time down the track.
What does your process look like now? Where are the bottlenecks and opportunities to improve? Answer this for both your primary and secondary use case with the aim of developing a list of features and functionalities you will require.
Will you need integrations with other platforms? Consider all the tools in your tech stack and whether they play a role in the support or sales process.
Is there an opportunity for consolidation? Tech stack consolidation is top-of-mind for many businesses. Rather than adding another point solution, ask whether the software you are evaluating could replace one or more existing platforms in your stack.
Best live chat software 2026
Our roundup of the best live chat software will help you get a headstart on your research. We have assessed each based on value for money, ease of setup and use, quality of support, and features, functionality, and integrations.
1. Talk by Ortto
Ortto's Talk is an AI-powered live chat tool connected to your marketing automation and customer data. Talk was purpose-built to break down silos and provide support teams with everything they need to deliver an exemplary customer support experience.
This starts with access to data. Because your Talk inbox, knowledge base, and CDP live in the same platform, all the customer data you need for productive conversations is right there in the inbox.
Ortto is known for fantastic UX, and Talk is no exception. The platform is clean, intuitive, and easy to set up and use, and agents can personalize their experience by selecting split view or table view.
With Talk, your customer-facing widget can be customized to match your brand style, with features including proactive messaging, screen sharing, in-chat calls, and multi-channel messaging.
One of Talk's most-loved differentiating features is its reporting capabilities. Since Talk is connected to all your customer data and marketing automation tools, you can run reports to answer complex questions and generate insights for growth.
Talk is underpinned by a custom AI model trained on content from your website, knowledge base, app, and past tickets. It auto-generates suggested answers to help agents spend more time on the conversations that matter most.
Standout features:
Proactive messages
Custom reporting
Omnichannel solution (email, chat, in-app)
AI-generated suggested responses
Team inboxes and routing rules
Conditional messenger visibility
Voice calls and screen sharing
Role-based permissions
Pricing: Visit ortto.com/pricing for current Talk pricing and plan details.
Free trial: 14 days free — get started at ortto.app/signup
Demo: Book a demo at ortto.com/contact/sales
Integrations: Salesforce, Pipedrive, Stripe, Segment, and more, plus custom APIs
2. LiveChat
LiveChat is a support solution with a focus on ecommerce and retail. It offers both reactive and proactive support and includes features like team management tools, comprehensive reporting, saved responses and AI-generated suggestions, and in-chat widgets including product cards, carousels, and a meeting scheduler.
The integrations library includes over 200 apps across ecommerce, analytics, email marketing, CRM, and CMS. Features like message sneak peek and canned responses help agents answer questions faster. Reviewers note that the per-agent price can climb quickly for larger teams.
Pricing: Starting at $20 per agent/month, or $41 per agent/month for advanced plans
Free trial: 14 days free
Integrations: 200+ integrations with popular ecommerce, analytics, and email marketing apps
3. Zendesk
The Zendesk service suite has been around for over 15 years, making a name for itself as an all-in-one support solution for large businesses with robust support needs. It includes chat across channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Apple Business Chat, as well as live chat, email support, and voice.
Zendesk has a sizable marketplace of integrations. The Visitors tab shows real-time visitor information to help agents enter conversations with context, and enables proactive support. Accessing advanced features like customizable ticket layouts and multilingual support requires the Professional plan, and AI features are add-ons, meaning the price can climb quickly.
Pricing: Starting at USD $55 per agent/month
Free trial: 14 days free
Integrations: Thousands of integrations across a wide range of apps
4. Help Scout
Help Scout offers a messaging widget called Beacon with three modes: self-service (shows help documentation first, with contact options appearing after), neutral mode (customers choose their own support path), and ask-first mode (contact options appear immediately). It includes intelligent routing and shows agents customer profile information in a conversation sidebar.
Help Scout is rated highly for ease of setup and use. Reviewers note it is a more affordable option but may lack some of the more complex features and customizations that large operations need.
Pricing: Starting at USD $20 per user/month
Free trial: 15 days free
Integrations: 100+ integrations
5. Intercom
Intercom offers live chat, an AI chatbot, and proactive support. Their AI chatbot Fin is trained on articles, your help center, or any public URL and can handle common questions, passing more complex issues to human support agents. The platform supports phone calls, video calls, and screen sharing.
Reviewers note that Intercom has a wide range of features and solid workflows, but some cite a steep learning curve and cost as prohibitive for smaller businesses.
Pricing: Starting at USD $39 per seat/month
Free trial: 14 days free
Integrations: 300+ integrations and apps
Final word
Finding the right live chat software comes down to three things: the use cases you need to support, the integrations required by your existing tech stack, and whether you want a point solution or a platform that connects live chat to your broader marketing and customer data infrastructure.
For businesses that want live chat connected to their marketing automation, customer data, and analytics, Ortto Talk is the only platform on this list built with that integration native rather than bolted on. Every conversation happens with full customer context, every interaction feeds back into your CDP, and your support team's work connects directly to your marketing and sales data.
-> Try Talk free for 14 days or book a demo to see it in action
Frequently asked questions
What is live chat software?
Live chat software is a customer communication tool that enables real-time text conversations between a business and its website visitors, leads, or customers. Modern platforms combine human agent support with AI-powered chatbots, proactive messaging, omnichannel inbox management, and reporting – making them a core part of both customer support and sales workflows.
What should I look for when choosing live chat software?
The most important considerations are: (1) your primary use case – customer support, sales, or both; (2) whether you need a chatbot, human chat, or a combination; (3) the integrations your existing tech stack requires; (4) your team size and how pricing scales per agent; and (5) whether there is an opportunity to consolidate – replacing existing tools rather than adding another point solution.
What is the difference between live chat and a chatbot?
Live chat connects website visitors or customers with a human support agent in real time. A chatbot is an automated tool that uses AI or predefined rules to handle common queries without human involvement. Most modern live chat platforms combine both: a chatbot handles routine questions and escalates more complex issues to a human agent. The best platforms allow you to configure when and how the handoff between bot and human occurs.
What is the best live chat software for SaaS businesses?
Ortto Talk is purpose-built for SaaS teams that want live chat connected to their customer data, marketing automation, and CDP. Because Talk, Ortto's CDP, and the journey builder are in the same platform, support agents can see a customer's full profile, lifecycle stage, and interaction history directly in the chat inbox – without switching tools. This makes it particularly effective for SaaS businesses running product-led or customer-success-driven growth models.
How does AI work in live chat software?
AI in live chat software typically works in one of two ways: as a self-serve chatbot that handles inbound queries before a human agent is involved, or as an AI assistant that suggests responses to human agents in real time. Talk by Ortto uses the second approach — a custom AI model trained on your website, knowledge base, and past support tickets generates suggested responses for agents, helping them answer questions faster and more consistently without removing the human element.
How much does live chat software cost?
Live chat software pricing varies significantly by platform and team size. The tools in this guide range from $20 per agent/month (LiveChat, Help Scout) to $55 per agent/month (Zendesk) at base tier, with costs increasing as you add features, seats, or AI capabilities. Intercom starts at $39 per seat/month. For Ortto Talk pricing, visit ortto.com/pricing — Talk is included in Ortto's platform plans alongside the CDP, marketing automation, and analytics.
Can live chat software integrate with my CRM?
Yes – most live chat platforms on this list offer CRM integrations. Ortto Talk integrates natively with Salesforce and Pipedrive, among others, and because Ortto includes its own CDP, customer data from every interaction is automatically unified in a single profile without requiring a separate CRM sync. LiveChat, Zendesk, Intercom, and Help Scout all offer CRM integrations through their respective app marketplaces.
