LiveChat Alternatives: Pricing and Benefits

LiveChat is a popular customer service software that many businesses use to communicate with their customers. However, several other live chat software options are available, each with its own set of pricing and benefits.

Customer service software is an excellent option for businesses to engage and connect with both clients and visitors. It can also be a tool used by businesses as part of a solid customer experience strategy. If you are about to decide on a chatbot or live chat app, we will help you get a broader look at other effective alternatives that are currently available on the market. There are many of them to pick from, so choosing the right one can be an overwhelming task. We hope that this article will help you make the best decision for your organization.

Let’s look at some of the most popular LiveChat alternatives and what they have to offer.

What is LiveChat?

LiveChat provides chatbots and live chats on your website to capture new leads and close more sales, as well as help you with customer service. Thanks to LiveChat’s products, you can communicate with your customers via chat.

LiveChat Features

Let’s check out LiveChat’s features, benefits, and pricing. These aspects are the most crucial ones when choosing a customer service software solution.

• Incoming chat - operators can answer all messages in one place
• Customers overview - see the necessary information about customers such as their name, email, order ID, and others
• Reports and statistics - track and measure agents’ performance and have a complete overview of customer satisfaction ratings
• Integrations - there are many available
• Agent group - assign inquiries to the right team
• Customization - a chat widget is customizable
• Mobile application - agents can chat on the go

Pricing

You can start your journey with LiveChat by testing it out during a 14-day free trial, with no credit card required. After, you need to choose one of the paid options:

• The Starter plan billed at $16 monthly per agent, recommended for small offices or home offices.
• The Team plan billed $33 monthly per agent, recommended for full-time support teams.
• The Business plan billed $50 monthly per agent, recommended for customer service departments.
• The Enterprise plan includes an individual contract with annual billing.

At first glance, these prices seem to be quite reasonable. But, unfortunately, the fee for each plan will change depending on how many employees you have.

Best LiveChat Alternatives

LiveChat is a decent customer service software solution. It provides basic features to perform good customer service. But before you make a decision, we would like to show you a few platforms that are noteworthy and might be even better than LiveChat.

Without further ado, let’s dive into some LiveChat alternatives that are arguably better than the original. Our primary focus is on their benefits, features, and pricing.

#1 Smartsupp

Smartsupp is a user-friendly LiveChat alternative. It is a complete customer service platform that provides efficient communication with customers and visitors via live chats or chatbots.

Smartsupp key features:

• Multichannel - manage all messages from one place without jumping from tab to tab. Smatsupp integrates live chat, email inbox, and Facebook Messenger in one customer messaging platform.
• File-sharing - photos or documents can often show us much more than a situation description. Smarstupp provides a drag-and-drop interface that makes file-sharing a smooth experience.
• Customization - create beautiful chat boxes to match your company colors. You can upload a chat agent photo to add some personal touch. It also creates a unified customer experience.
• Web dashboard - get an overview of visitors’ information in one place, including their names, the page they are on, who is active, and more.
• Mobile app - manage messages via mobile devices. Agents can use the mobile app for iOS and Android to stay in touch with customers.
• Automatic messages - decide when to send a message to visitors. You can set automatic messages at the right moment to help customers finish their purchases. Use it to welcome customers to your website, inform them of current discounts and offers, or even let them know about sales.
• Video recordings - an awesome Smartsupp feature that gives you detailed information about customers’ behavior. Track visitors’ activity on your site, including where they click and where they get lost. Cursor movement, browsed pages, and clicks will give you a better understanding of them.
• Detailed statistics - Smartsupp provides insights into performance on your website. It is a valuable feature for developing it and improving your service. Also, detailed statistics will help you make data-driven decisions.
• Smooth integration and API - Smartsupp is integrated with dozens of e-commerce platforms and website builders to automatically link the data. If you can’t find your platform, you can do your own integrations with the API. Smartsupp integrates natively with popular e-commerce platforms such as PrestaShop, WordPress, OpenCart, Google Analytics, etc.
• GDPR compliance - security and data privacy are provided.

Smartsupp pricing

There are four plans, or you can start a 14-day free trial to try it out.

• The Free plan is recommended for freelancers and personal websites. It is entirely without charge and ideal for those wishing to test live chats.
• The Standard plan at €22.50 per month is suitable for small teams.
• The PRO plan at €108 per month is ideal for large teams.
• The Ultimate plan at €2,000 per year is recommended for those who need tailored-made solutions.

The pricing is reasonable, and there is a free plan if you would like to test how live chats work. Sign up for a free trial to offer an all-round customer support solution.

#2 LiveAgent

LiveAgent offers customer support software to assist you with communication and customer service via live chat.

LiveAgent key features:

• Universal inbox - agents can answer all messages from one place
• Automatic messages - visitors get proactive messages
• Visitor tracking - see what visitors do on your website
• Customize chat window - change the colors, fonts, and size to match your website
• Website monitoring - track the visitors’ movement on your website
• Android and iOS app - keep in touch with customers away from the desk

Compared to other platforms, LiveAgent provides only live chat support. That could be a disadvantage once your business grows, and one day you will need to implement chatbot assistance too. Also, its reporting feature and Android app need upgrades.

LiveAgent pricing

There is a Free plan available, as well as a 14-day trial period. Also, LiveAgent offers three paid options:

• the Ticket plan costs $15, billed monthly per agent
• the Ticket + Chat plan costs $29, billed monthly per agent
• the All-inclusive plan costs $49, billed monthly per agent

Similarily to LiveChat, the pricing is quite affordable. However, if you need more agents, that service could get pricey.

#3 Freshdesk

A cloud-based customer messaging platform that delivers support services.

Here are Freshdesk’s key benefits and chat functionality:

• Integration - with many platforms
• Visitors overview - agents can see information about visitors
• Reports and statistics - get automated reporting insights from statistics to measure agents’ performance
• IntelliAssign - Freshdesk automatically assigns conversations to agents or the customer service team based on their skills and workload
• One inbox for all messages
• Automatic messages - sent to customers when you want
• Chatbots and live chat - Freshdesk offer both methods of communication with visitors and customers

This customer communication platform could be better if it was equipped with more advanced features like sending files and video recording.

Freshdesk pricing

There are four plans: one free and three paid. In addition, Freshdesk offers a 21-day free trial.

• the Free plan is recommended for starting - it’s without charge
• the Growth plan costs $15 monthly per agent
• the Pro plan costs $59 monthly per agent
• the Enterprise costs $69 monthly per agent

There are limited amounts of bot sessions available, and you have to pay $75 to get an additional 1,000 sessions whenever you need them. Freshdesk accepts most payment methods, but not via mobile devices.

#4 UserLike

A customer communication platform.

Here are the features that UserLike offers:

• Operator groups - customers can select which department to talk to
• Integration - with many popular e-commerce platforms
• Sticky Chat - if a customer comes back and writes again, Sticky Chat enables the customer to connect with the same operator as before
• Chat rating and feedback - customers can rate the conversation so that you can gather feedback and user reviews
• Proactive chat - enables you to reach out to web visitors at opportune moments
• Simultaneous chats - operators can chat with multiple customers at the same time
• Canned messages - agents can prepare answers for common questions and situations
• Analytics for business - determine how well your support team responds
• Messenger customization - create customizable chat boxes

UserLike provides live chats and chatbots. Nevertheless, there could be more customized options available for lower prices. For example, a while label is available only on the most expensive pricing plan.

UserLike Pricing

Contrary to other alternatives, UserLike is quite pricey. This can be an eliminating factor in the case of businesses with limited budgets. They offer three paid plans and one free plan:

• the Free plan is completely complimentary
• the Team plan costs €90 per month
• the Corporate plan costs €290 per month
• the Business plan costs €720 per month

#5 Intercom

Intercom supports your customer support service with bots and live chats.

Let’s have a look at its main conversational features:

• Shared inbox - answering all messages in one inbox is possible
• Agents see what customers are typing before sending a message
• Language support - it supports 32 different languages
• Proactive chat - set automatic messages whenever you choose to
• Integration - with various platforms
• Reporting - measure the engagement of both customers and agents
• Mobile app - operators can chat via mobile devices

A lack of features such as file-sharing, WhatsApp integration, and some other additional options make this tool not as effective as its competitors.

Intercom pricing

The price is not provided on Intercom, but we know more or less how they calculate the cost depending on:

• how many agents there are
• the number of individual users who received at least one outbound message from you in the past 30 days

Pricing here is complicated and hard to estimate without consulting with the customer service team.

What to take into consideration when choosing your LiveChat alternative

The below features are must-haves when it comes to customer service support. They will help you enhance your work, generate new leads, and deliver support to the highest level. They are worthy of consideration before selecting an ideal platform.

One inbox for all messages

It is good to have one inbox for all messages in order to make the communication between operators and users or customers seamless. In addition, managing messages from one place will help you improve the chat user journey, enhance agents’ workflow, and increase efficiency.

Customization

A chat widget that matches your website design will make it look like an integral part of the whole page. People will more likely click on something that looks familiar. Set the colors and fonts to make the chat window correspond to your style and company concept.

Reports and statistics

Good customer service software should provide robust reports and statistics. For example, measuring the quality of customer care and tracking user satisfaction will give you valuable insights about your service or product. Additionally, analyzing your agents’ workflow will also be helpful for getting better at managing tasks.

Data is the foundation and base of further business decisions. Pay attention to how information is organized and delivered to you. It is good to have this depicted in charts.

Integrations

Having a provided integration saves plenty of time and accelerates work if you use e-commerce platforms such as WordPress or Prestashop. Moreover, you can often integrate media with one click, as in the case of Smartsupp.

This is an extremely useful feature. For example, Facebook Messenger integration brings many benefits because it is the best-known communication channel.

File-sharing

Another chat tool worth taking note of. During a live chat session, it is advantageous to be able to send files. Sending a picture will save time needed to describe what’s on someone’s mind. Choose a platform that allows you to drag and drop files to streamline the process.

Mobile application

Check if you can chat with visitors and customers on the go using a mobile app. By conversing via mobile device in real-time, agents can still have easy, functional access to conversations when they cannot use a computer.

Automatic messages

Customers will receive automatic messages if certain conditions are met. For example, you can send an automated message to a visitor viewing a specific product on your site for more than three minutes. In that case, the message “Hi, it seems that you are looking for a Canon camera. Have you got any questions about them? We would be happy to help you.” can be sent proactively to encourage a visitor to make a purchase.

Conclusion

Among many available pieces of software, Smartsupp is the best solution for any business size and type. In comparison to LiveChat and other competitors, Smartsupp offers better features and functionality necessary to keep customer satisfaction levels high and help you achieve your business goals. To get excellent software for customer service and care, sign up for a free trial today.