The 6 Best Live Chat Plugins for WordPress
Offering live chat on WordPress is important for creating personalized customer experiences. But choosing the right provider from the multitude of chat plugin options is not that easy.
WordPress is one of the world's most popular content management systems. The free open-source platform has millions of applications available in the plugins menu to add useful features to your WordPress site.
A good live chat tool allows you to establish a direct connection with visitors to your WordPress site, accompany them along the customer journey and resolve questions directly. This increases customer satisfaction and boosts your conversion rate.
With a live chat plugin for WordPress, you'll be ready to chat with your visitors in just a few minutes. In this article, we share the six best chat plugins for WordPress.
1
Userlike
Userlike is the leading provider of live chat and service automation in Germany. Compared to other live chat solutions, Userlike's chat plugin allows companies to have asynchronous conversations. When a user returns to your website days or weeks later, they can easily resume their chat and be connected to the same agent when possible.
Userlike is an ideal professional live chat tool for customer service and sales. You can seamlessly switch from a chat to an audio/video call and share your screen with visitors along their customer journey.
As an all-in-one solution, you can connect not only live chat but also other popular messaging channels, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and SMS. All messages arrive in Userlike's Message Center and can be accessed and handled by the team.
Userlike's WordPress chat plugin is free and takes just a few minutes to integrate.
- Asynchronous conversations: Yes
- Switch to video call: Yes
- Intelligent routing: Yes
- Star ratings after chat: Yes
- Chatbot builder: Yes
- Messaging integrations: WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Threema and SMS
- GDPR-compliant: Yes
- Free version: Yes
- Trial period: Yes, 14 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: 90 euros/month
Online reviews:
Price:
- The free version comes with unlimited website chats and contacts, Userlike’s website messenger, and all the basic features for customer support in a small team.
- Paid versions are available starting at 90 euros per month, including access to messaging apps (e.g. WhatsApp, ) live translations, audio and video calls, which includes screen sharing, and basic API access.
- For companies with large customer service teams, we have comprehensive enterprise plans, Corporate and Flex, which come with automation features and advanced routing.
- Startups and nonprofits receive a discount.
Customers:
Special features:
- Userlike’s AI Automation Hub and intelligent chat routing
- Advanced privacy features and servers hosted in Germany
- Pre-written texts for common inquiries
- Supports images, videos, files and voice messages in the chat
- Automatic live translations of over 26 languages
- Surveys before and after a chat
- Integrations with business tools (e.g. Salesforce, Slack)
- Browser-based (video) calls
- Intelligent chat routing to connect customers directly to the appropriate agent
2
Olark
Olark's chat plugin can be set up on your website in a few steps. This intuitive US-based chat software is limited to basic features like message templates, analytics and customer surveys before the chat.
For a monthly fee, Olark offers add-ons for professional service features such as live translations and visitor co-browsing.
- Asynchronous conversations: No
- Switch to video call: No
- Intelligent routing: No
- Star ratings after chat: Yes
- Chatbot builder: Custom chatbot in Pro plan
- Messaging integrations: No
- GDPR-compliant: Yes
- Free version: Yes
- Trial period: Yes, 14 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: 29 euros/month
Online reviews:
Price:
- Free version with unlimited features, one operator and a maximum of 20 chats per month.
- Olark offers three plan options. The monthly fees are based on the number of operators. The cheapest plan costs $29 per operator per month with the option to cancel at any time for free. The one-year contract costs $23 per operator, and the two-year contract costs $19 per operator per month. Both must be paid directly at the start of the contract.
Customers:
- University of Montana
- Remedy
- Kennolyn
Special features:
- Customizable chat box
- Supports media files (jpg, jpeg, png, gif, pdf and txt)
- Business integrations such as Slack, Hubspot, Magento and Zendesk
- Ticket system for registration and archiving
- Customer satisfaction rating via post-chat surveys
- Operator groups
Userlike: Instant chats, long-term customer relationships
Over 10,000 companies like Toyota and Hermes trust Userlike to connect with their customers every day - via website chat, WhatsApp, chatbots and more.
Learn more
3
Tawk.to
Tawk.to is a completely free tool that allows you to chat with your customers on your WordPress site via desktop or a mobile app. The US-based live chat plugin is simple to set up and has a user-friendly website widget.
However, Tawk.to users can’t use messaging integrations like WhatsApp and Facebook, or automation features like agent routing and chatbots.
- Asynchronous conversations: No
- Switch to video call: Only via add-on
- Intelligent routing: No
- Star ratings after chat: No
- Chatbot builder: No
- Messaging integrations: No
- GDPR-compliant: Yes
- Free version: Yes
- Trial period: Yes, 14 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: Free, though no extensions available
Online reviews:
Price:
The software is free of charge.
Customers:
- True Corp
- Scribendi
- Euronics
Special features:
- Mobile app for chatting via smartphone
- Canned messages
- Unlimited number of chat agents
- Group chat/group messaging
- Available in more than 45 languages
4
Intercom
Intercom's WordPress plugin is a modern live chat tool for your website or product app. They are the only chat software besides Userlike that allows asynchronous messaging, which lets you answer inquiries at a later time. Your chat history is always saved.
In addition, Intercom's live chat plugin lets you provide personalized and proactive customer support with features like automated message triggers, text templates and custom behavioral data.
The biggest drawback is Intercom's non-transparent pricing. You can only see the price of the starter plan on their homepage. Users state that the monthly costs dramatically increase with important add-ons.
Customers also often complain about Intercom’s slow customer service.
- Asynchronous conversations: Yes
- Switch to video call: No
- Intelligent routing: Yes
- Star ratings after chat: Yes
- Chatbot builder: Yes
- Messaging integrations: Yes
- GDPR-compliant: No, but bookable with fee
- Free version: Yes
- Trial period: Yes, 14 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: $74/month
Online reviews:
Price:
The $74-a-month basic plan is only suitable for very small businesses. Intercom does not disclose pricing for bigger plans on its website.
Customers:
- Moz
- Airtable
- Guru
Special features:
- Available via desktop or mobile app
- Chatbot automation
- Synchronous and asynchronous chat
- Customizable messenger
- Central team inbox
5
Zendesk
Zendesk's suite allows for customer support across various channels, including live chat. Their WordPress plugin is advanced and allows, for example, you to create useful workflows like chat distribution and canned responses. However, Zendesk's WordPress chat plugin lacks professional service features like switching from chat to a voice or video call.
If you want to reach customers not only through live chat, but also via messengers like WhatsApp and Telegram, Zendesk gives you a limited choice of messaging integrations.
Since live chat is part of the Zendesk Suite, it is a comparatively expensive customer messaging solution. If companies want to use the American provider's live chat and remain GDPR-compliant, they will be charged additional fees for EU servers.
- Asynchronous conversations: Yes
- Switch to video call: No
- Intelligent routing: Yes
- Star ratings after chat: Yes
- Chatbot builder: Yes
- Messaging integrations: Yes, but only WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram
- GDPR-compliant: No, but bookable with fee
- Free version: No
- Trial period: Yes, 14 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: 49 euros/month
Online reviews:
Price:
- Zendesk's premium plans are available starting at 49 euros per month per support agent with annual payment
- EU servers are an additional charge
Customers:
- Personio
- HiPay
Special features:
- Optimized for mobile devices
- Proactive chat function for customer retention
- Advanced analytics feature
- Zendesk Marketplace with over 1,000 apps and integrations
6
Tidio
Tidio offers a simple live chat plugin for your WordPress website. Their chat tool has some useful service features. For example, like with Userlike, you can see what the customer is typing before they even send their message. However, Tidio does not allow you to have asynchronous conversations or send voice messages in the chat.
Messaging integrations are limited to two channels: Instagram and Facebook Messenger. Tidio does not offer customer support via WhatsApp, the world's most popular messaging app.
Another disadvantage for German companies: The backend of this Czech live chat software is only available in English, Russian, French and Spanish.
- Asynchronous conversations: No
- Switch to video call: No
- Intelligent routing: Yes
- Star ratings after chat: Yes
- Chatbot builder: Yes
- Messaging integrations: Yes, Instagram and Facebook Messenger
- GDPR-compliant: Yes
- Free version: Yes
- Trial period: Yes, 7 days
- Cheapest Pro plan: 19 euros/month
Online reviews:
Price:
- Tidio offers a free version, but it's limited to conversations with only 50 contacts
- The "Communicator" Pro plan is available starting at 19 euros per month with unlimited live chat conversations and five operators
Customers:
- Wicklewood
- Pooch Bandana
Specia; features:
- Available via browser, desktop and mobile app
- Real-time visitor list
- Visitor website tracking
- Analytics
Userlike: all-in-one chat plugin for WordPress
With this German market leader for customer messaging and service automation, you get a professional chat tool for your WordPress website.
Companies like Toyota, Nivea and Decathlon already rely on Userlike. You too can benefit from our professional service features and high privacy standards.
Our support team is happy to answer any questions you may have and help you successfully get started!
