The 15 best free live chat tools we track: 1 completely free and 14 with a free plan alongside paid tiers. Ordered by Toolradar's ranking score (review volume and rating on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and other sites, plus media mentions), not by vendor pitches; every rating shows its date.
Key Takeaways
Zoho Desk is our free pick for live chat in 2026, and our overall pick.
We screened 28 live chat tools with a free plan to build this list.
Free live chat with unlimited agents, ticketing, and CRM
Ratings from G2, Capterra, and other public review sites. Each cell shows the snapshot date so a cited number is never an undated one.
Toolradar data
The live chat tools market in numbers
Toolradar data: Toolradar tracks 59 live chat tools as of November 2, 2026. 47% of the live chat tools on Toolradar are free, freemium or open source. The median cheapest paid plan for live chat tools is $25/mo, across the 27 that publish a price. Toolradar re-checked the pricing of 85% of live chat tools in the last 90 days. Toolradar aggregates 59,136 public user reviews (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and other review sites) across 39 rated live chat tools. The most cross-shopped live chat tool is Zendesk, listed as an alternative to 113 other tools on Toolradar. The most compared live chat tool on Toolradar over the last 90 days is Zendesk, with 304 side-by-side comparisons. Computed from the Toolradar catalog and on-site activity.
59 live chat tools tracked
47% are free, freemium or open source
$25/mo median cheapest paid plan, across the 27 live chat tools that publish one
85% of prices re-checked in the last 90 days
59,136 public user reviews aggregated across 39 rated tools
Most cross-shopped live chat tools on Toolradar, as of November 2026 Listed as an alternative to the most other tools on Toolradar
Order: Toolradar ranking score, which is the public review volume times the average rating on G2, Capterra, Trustpilot and other review sites, plus media mentions (recent ones count more). Paid placements are labelled and never change the score. How we rank.
4.4/5across G2 and Capterra· 10,148 ratings, Sep 2026
Zoho Desk is an omnichannel help desk that unifies email, live chat, phone, social media, and instant messaging into a single ticket stream. Its Zia AI engine handles sentiment analysis, auto-tagging, and chatbot responses, while Blueprint automation enforces SLA-driven workflows. Used by 100K+ companies, it scales from a free 3-agent plan to a full enterprise suite with custom modules and sandbox environments.
Live chat, AI chatbots, and email to convert visitors
4.6/5across G2 and Capterra· 2,552 ratings, Sep 2026
Tidio is a customer service platform combining live chat, chatbots, and email. Chat widget engages visitors in real-time. AI chatbots handle common questions automatically. Visual chatbot builder requires no coding. Integrations with popular e-commerce platforms and content management systems. Customer communication that converts visitors to customers.
Increase sales and customer satisfaction with AI-powered live chat, chatbots, and a shopping assistant.
4.7/5across TrustRadius, G2 and Capterra· 1,419 ratings, Sep 2026
Smartsupp is a comprehensive customer communication platform designed to help businesses, particularly e-commerce sites, engage with their customers, generate leads, and boost sales. It unifies live chat, chatbots, WhatsApp, Messenger, and email into a single dashboard, allowing teams to manage all customer interactions efficiently.
The platform features an AI Shopping Assistant named Mira AI, which learns about a business's products and can provide instant assistance, product recommendations, and answer up to 80% of common and technical questions. Smartsupp also offers tools for lead generation, automated visitor engagement, and team management, including agent roles, performance tracking, and conversation history. It aims to streamline customer support, increase conversion rates, and improve overall customer experience by providing timely and relevant assistance.
Engage B2B customers with configurable, AI-powered live chat software for sales and support.
4.4/5across SourceForge and Capterra· 1,067 ratings, Sep 2026
SnapEngage, now TeamSupport Messaging and Live Chat, provides a robust live chat solution designed for B2B businesses to enhance customer support and sales. It allows companies to connect with customers across various channels, ensuring support is available whenever and wherever needed. The platform emphasizes creating a seamless customer experience through configurable, AI-powered chat and branded interactions.
This software is particularly beneficial for organizations that prioritize meeting customers on their preferred digital channels and require high security standards, such as healthcare companies. It helps manage complex tickets efficiently, reduce delays, and ultimately aims to increase customer satisfaction and revenue by providing 24/7 digital support. The solution integrates with existing systems and offers a Hub Software Development Kit for custom app integrations.
SnapEngage is ideal for businesses looking to improve their digital customer engagement, streamline support operations, and leverage AI for personalized interactions. Its omnichannel capabilities and HIPAA compliance make it a strong choice for industries with stringent regulatory requirements.
Free live chat with unlimited agents, ticketing, and CRM
4.6/5across G2 and Capterra· 548 ratings, Sep 2026
tawk.to is a free live chat software offering unlimited agents, chat history, ticketing, knowledge base, and CRM features with optional premium add-ons.
Engage website visitors and manage customer communications across multiple channels from one dashboard.
4.5/5across SourceForge, G2 and Capterra· 551 ratings, Sep 2026
Chatra is a comprehensive messaging platform designed for businesses to communicate with their website visitors and customers. It offers live chat functionality, allowing real-time interactions, and a messenger mode for asynchronous communication. The platform centralizes messages from various channels including live chat, email, Instagram, and Facebook into a single multichannel dashboard, eliminating the need to switch between different applications.
Beyond direct communication, Chatra provides tools for visitor intelligence, such as real-time visitor lists, browsing history, and location tracking, enabling personalized engagement. It also incorporates chatbots for automating routine tasks like collecting contact information, gathering consent, and answering frequently asked questions. The service aims to boost sales by facilitating quick answers, clarifying concerns, and supporting cross-selling and upselling efforts. With mobile apps for iOS and Android, businesses can manage customer conversations on the go. Chatra is suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to improve customer support, increase conversions, and streamline communication workflows.
Modern messaging software for sales and customer engagement
4.3/5across G2 and Capterra· 656 ratings, Sep 2026
Freshchat is a modern messaging software built for teams who want to ace customer conversations across channels. With Freshchat, you can talk to customers on web, mobile, social, and messaging apps with context and seamless handoffs.
The AI platform for strong customer relationships, offering more sales and faster support.
4.4/5on G2· 453 ratings, Sep 2026
Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) is an AI-powered messaging suite designed to transform customer interactions into sales and efficient support. It centralizes various communication channels like live chat, email, and WhatsApp into a single smart inbox, enabling seamless collaboration between AI agents and human teams. The platform aims to scale communication without increasing resource demands.
Key features include Connect AI for automating tasks and assisting service teams, a Website Messenger to engage visitors and direct conversations to the right agent or chatbot, and WhatsApp Campaigns for interactive marketing newsletters. Lime Connect emphasizes data security and compliance, being GDPR-compliant, developed and hosted in Germany, and ISO 27001 certified. It also adheres to the European Accessibility Act, ensuring inclusive web messaging.
This solution is ideal for businesses looking to enhance their customer experience, improve lead generation, and streamline customer service operations through AI-driven automation and multi-channel communication management. It caters to companies seeking to build lasting customer relationships and boost conversion rates.
4.5/5across G2 and Capterra· 350 ratings, Sep 2026
Crisp is a customer messaging platform combining live chat, chatbots, and CRM. Chat with website visitors in real-time. Automate common questions with chatbots. Shared inbox manages conversations across channels. CRM tracks customer relationships. Customer communication for startups and growing businesses.
An all-in-one messaging platform for sales, support, and customer engagement.
4.9/5across G2 and Capterra· 86 ratings, Sep 2026
Chaport is a modern customer messaging platform designed to help businesses communicate more effectively with their customers. It combines live chat, chatbots, multi-channel messaging, and a knowledge base into a single, simple interface. The platform aims to increase sales by enabling real-time customer interaction, improve support efficiency through automation and self-service options, and enhance overall customer engagement.
This tool is ideal for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises, across various industries such as e-commerce, education, real estate, and travel. It provides features like auto-invitations, typing insights, saved replies, and detailed customer information to empower support and sales teams. Chaport also offers mobile apps for iOS, Android, Web, Windows, and MacOS, ensuring teams can connect with customers from any location, and integrates with over 4,000 apps via Zapier and a robust API.
Deliver omnichannel real-time customer service across live chat, social media, and messengers.
4.6/5across TrustRadius and G2· 55 ratings, Sep 2026
JivoChat is an all-in-one customer service solution designed to help businesses engage with clients across multiple communication channels from a single platform. It integrates live chat for websites with popular social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as messengers like Telegram and Apple Business Chat, and even email and phone calls. This allows businesses to consolidate all customer interactions, respond faster, and provide support on customers' preferred channels.
The platform is suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their customer support operations, improve response times, and enhance customer satisfaction. Key benefits include increased efficiency for support teams, automated responses for common queries through an AI Agent, and tools for monitoring communication quality and analyzing sales funnels. JivoChat aims to help businesses never miss an opportunity by centralizing communications and providing tools for better engagement and lead management.
Beyond basic chat functionality, JivoChat offers advanced features like WhatsApp automation, chatbots, broadcasts, an AI assistant for faster writing, video calls within the chat, and telephony integration. It also provides a desktop app for operators, an API for developers, and integrations with over 50 CRMs and other software, making it a comprehensive tool for managing customer relationships and support.
Streamline customer support with an integrated help desk, live chat, and knowledge base solution.
4.8/5across G2 and Capterra· 33 ratings, Oct 2026
ProProfs Help Desk is a comprehensive customer support solution designed to help businesses manage customer inquiries efficiently. It integrates a ticketing system, live chat, and a knowledge base into a single platform, aiming to improve response times and customer satisfaction. The help desk module allows support agents to receive, track, and resolve customer tickets, while the live chat feature provides real-time assistance.
This tool is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses looking to consolidate their customer service operations. It helps teams collaborate on support issues, automate workflows, and gain insights through reporting. The integrated knowledge base empowers customers to find answers independently, reducing the volume of support tickets and freeing up agent time. Its user-friendly interface aims to make it accessible for support teams of varying technical proficiencies.
Transform Slack into a powerful customer service hub for seamless communication.
4.5/5across SourceForge, G2 and Capterra· 39 ratings, Sep 2026
Slaask is a customer service application designed specifically for Slack users, enabling businesses to manage customer interactions directly within their existing Slack workspace. It integrates a website chat widget with Slack, automatically creating new Slack channels for first-time customer messages. This allows support teams to respond to customer inquiries, leads, and support requests using the familiar Slack interface, streamlining communication and collaboration among team members.
The platform is ideal for businesses that already rely on Slack for internal communication and want to extend that efficiency to their customer support operations. By centralizing customer conversations in Slack, Slaask eliminates the need for separate customer service tools, reducing context switching and improving response times. It also provides analytics on team and individual performance, helping to optimize customer service efforts.
Chatwoot is an open-source customer engagement platform. Live chat, email, social media, and WhatsApp in one inbox. Self-host for complete control or use the cloud version. Canned responses and automation save agent time. Team collaboration features assign and discuss conversations. The open-source alternative to Intercom and Zendesk that you can customize and own.
Streamline customer support with an integrated help desk, live chat, and knowledge base solution.
4.2/5on G2· 11 ratings, Sep 2026
Cayzu is a comprehensive customer support platform designed to help businesses manage customer inquiries efficiently. It integrates a help desk ticketing system, live chat functionality, and a knowledge base into a single interface. This allows support teams to centralize communication, track issues, and provide self-service options to customers.
The platform is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking to improve their customer service operations without investing in multiple disparate tools. It aims to reduce response times, improve customer satisfaction, and empower customers to find answers independently through its knowledge base. Cayzu focuses on providing an all-in-one solution for managing customer interactions across various channels.
Key benefits include improved agent productivity through centralized ticket management, instant support via live chat, and reduced support volume by enabling customers to self-serve. Its integrated approach helps maintain consistency in customer communication and provides a unified view of customer interactions.
Free live chat tools are an excellent way to get started without financial commitment. Whether you're a startup, freelancer, or small business, these tools offer essential features at no cost.
What to look for in free live chat tools
Feature limitations: Understand what's included in the free tier vs paid plans
Usage limits: Check for restrictions on users, storage, or API calls
Data ownership: Ensure you own your data and can export it
Support: Free tiers often have community-only support
Upgrade path: Consider future needs if you outgrow the free tier
Free vs Freemium: what's the difference?
100% free 100% free, no payment ever
Completely free with no paid upgrades available. Best for simple, focused workflows that don't require advanced features.
Free plan Free tier + paid upgrades
Generous free tier with optional paid plans that unlock advanced features, higher limits, or team collaboration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free live chat tool in 2026?
Zoho Desk is our free live chat pick in 2026. Zoho Desk offers a free plan alongside paid plans: Customer service software for businesses.
Is Zoho Desk really free forever?
Zoho Desk uses a freemium model: there is a permanent free tier you can use without a credit card, plus optional paid plans that unlock higher usage limits and advanced features. The free tier itself does not expire.
What does the free tier of live chat tools typically include?
Free live chat tools typically include the core workflow features needed to evaluate the product. Paid plans usually unlock higher usage limits, team collaboration, advanced analytics, integrations, and priority support. The specific cap differs per tool.
When should I upgrade from a free live chat tool?
Upgrade when you hit one of the free tier ceilings: usage quota (output count, storage, contacts, projects), team size, or a paid-only feature your workflow depends on.
Are there live chat tools that are 100% free, not just freemium?
Yes. We found 1 completely free live chat tool (no paid upgrade path) and 14 tools with a permanent free tier alongside paid plans. tawk.to is 100% free.
Are free live chat tools good enough for business use?
Yes, for most startups, freelancers, and small teams. Zoho Desk and Tidio both offer free tiers robust enough for production workflows. Larger teams typically upgrade when they need SSO, audit logs, advanced permissions, or usage past the free quota.
Last updated: November 2, 2026
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