# Alternatives to Olark Olark is a live chat platform focused on simplicity, giving teams a customizable website chat widget, canned responses, visitor insights, chat transcripts and reporting, and integrations with CRMs and helpdesks. Olark ranks #8 of 11 in Live chat software, with an Alt Score of 74. It is proprietary, freemium from $29/seat/mo and available on the web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/olark/ Category: Live chat software ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Small and mid-sized sales and support teams who want a straightforward website live chat widget without a heavy setup process, plus organizations (like higher ed and B-Corps) that value WCAG-accessible chat. - **What you get**: A customizable chat widget with a shared team inbox, canned response shortcuts, file uploads, real-time visitor insights, searchable transcripts, and integrations with tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and Slack; paid PowerUps add cobrowsing, real-time chat translation, and AI-powered chatbot automation. - **How it works**: You add the Olark JavaScript snippet to your site and agents reply to visitors from the web-based app.olark.com console (Standard plan); the higher Pro tier layers on Chatbot CoPilot for AI-driven automated responses and routing plus a dedicated account manager. ## Profile - **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-13) - **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-13) - **Starts at**: $29/seat/mo (verified 2026-07-13) - **Platforms**: Web - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-13) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Lime Connect (formerly Userlike)](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lime-connect.md) | 93 | Proprietary | Web | | 2 | [Comm100](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/comm100.md) | 89 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | | 3 | [tawk.to](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tawk-to.md) | 89 | Proprietary | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS | | 4 | [Zoho SalesIQ](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zoho-salesiq.md) | 89 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, Windows | | 5 | [Freshchat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/freshchat.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 6 | [Smartsupp](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/smartsupp.md) | 85 | Proprietary | Windows, iOS, Android, Web | | 7 | [LiveAgent](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/liveagent.md) | 78 | ? | Web, iOS, Android | | 8 | [Chatra](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/chatra.md) | 70 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 9 | [JivoChat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/jivochat.md) | 70 | Proprietary | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | | 10 | [SnapEngage](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/snapengage.md) | 48 | ? | Web | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Live chat software checklist | Olark | Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) | Comm100 | tawk.to | Zoho SalesIQ | Freshchat | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Subscription | Free | Freemium | Freemium | | Starts at | $29/seat/mo | €105/month | $39/agent/mo | Free | $7/operator/mo | $19/agent/mo | | License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | Web | Web | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Web | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux | Web, iOS, Android | | Website chat widget | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Shared team inbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Canned responses | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Chatbots / automation | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Co-browsing / screen share | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | | File sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Visitor tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Mobile agent app | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | CRM / helpdesk integrations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Self-hostable | No | No | Partial | No | No | No | | Multilingual | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Free tier | Partial | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for Olark. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **License**: Proprietary — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Olark, its suppliers and licensors own all right, title and interest in and to the Services, including all associated intellectual property rights.” - **Pricing model**: Freemium — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Paid plans start at Olark Standard $29/seat/mo; after the 14-day trial, accounts can downgrade to a permanent but limited free account (1 agent, 20 chats/mo) rather than losing access entirely. - Quote: “All accounts start on a free 14-day trial. At the end of your trial, you have the option to downgrade to a free account. The free account includes limited features, one agent, and a maximum of 20 chat” - **Starts at**: $29/seat/mo — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Olark Standard Starting at $29 per month” - **Platforms**: Web — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Agent console is a web dashboard (app.olark.com); Olark's own native mobile app is deprecated (see help/mobile). - Quote: “From app.olark.com chat type the ; (semicolon) character into the compose field” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: _lastModified":"2025-08-01T10:04:22.443Z"" — Site and pricing/feature pages show recent updates; Chatbot CoPilot (AI) and OpenAI/Anthropic subprocessor listings (help/gdpr) confirm active ongoing development. - **Website chat widget**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Match your chat box to your brand It only takes a few quick visual tweaks to make your Olark chat box look right at home on your website” - **Shared team inbox**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Team Inbox shows all the active chats that your team is currently engaged in.” - **Canned responses**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Send Messages Faster with Shortcuts” - **Chatbots / automation**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Standard plan includes only rule-based automated/triggered messages; full AI chatbot (Chatbot CoPilot) is a Pro-plan-only capability, sold via demo/quote. - Quote: “Everything in Olark Standard, PLUS: Powerful chatbots, AI & automation” - **Co-browsing / screen share**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Cobrowsing is a paid PowerUp add-on at extra cost on top of the base subscription, not included by default: "It will be an extra cost on top of your Olark subscription fee." - Quote: “The Visitor Cobrowsing PowerUp gives chat agents the ability to view their visitors’ screens.” - **File sharing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Visitors can upload files from the chatbox, which will be displayed to an agent. File Upload is enabled by default.” - **Visitor tracking**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “chatbox customization, automated messages, real-time visitor insights, searchable transcripts, and reporting” - **Mobile agent app**: No — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Olark now points agents to third-party XMPP clients (Trillian, Xabber, Monal) to answer chats on mobile; there is no first-party Olark mobile agent app. - Quote: “We have deprecated the Olark Mobile beta.” - **CRM / helpdesk integrations**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Whether it's Salesforce, Hubspot, or MailChimp, we designed Olark to integrate with the software your team loves.” - **Self-hostable**: No — (verified 2026-07-13) - Quote: “Google Cloud, Mountain View, CA, USA - Provides cloud hosting for core Olark services” - **Multilingual**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Real-time automatic chat translation between agent and visitor is also available as a separate paid PowerUp ($29/month) per all-powerups/live-chat-translation. - Quote: “When you sign up for an Olark account, you'll be prompted to choose your default language.” - **Free tier**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-13) - Note: Not a signup-time free plan; it's a limited free tier you can downgrade into after the 14-day trial (1 agent, 20 chats/month cap). - Quote: “All accounts start on a free 14-day trial. At the end of your trial, you have the option to downgrade to a free account. The free account includes limited features, one agent, and a maximum of 20 chat” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/