Alternatives to Olark
Simple live chat for sales and support teams
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why people leave Olark
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Lime Connect is a live chat and customer messaging platform (chat widget, shared inbox, WhatsApp integration, AI agent) that was known as Userlike until it was rebranded on September 10, 2025 after fo.
Comm100 is an omnichannel customer engagement platform whose live chat product offers real-time visitor tracking, co-browsing, audio/video chat, and translation across 90+ languages.
tawk.to is a free live chat application that lets businesses monitor and chat with website visitors in real time through a customizable widget, with a shared inbox, canned responses, a mobile agent ap.
Zoho SalesIQ is a live chat and website-visitor engagement platform offering a chat widget, visitor tracking and scoring, chatbots, canned replies, and mobile agent apps, tightly integrated with Zoho.
Freshchat (by Freshworks) is a live chat and customer messaging tool with a website widget, shared team inbox, chatbots and automation, canned responses, and mobile agent apps, integrated with Freshde.
Smartsupp is a live chat platform that pairs a website chat widget with rule-based/AI chatbots and visitor session recording for behavioral analytics, aimed mainly at e-commerce sites.
LiveAgent is a cloud customer service platform built around a real-time chat widget, combined with ticketing, a built-in call center, and a knowledge base in one dashboard.
Chatra is a live chat and messaging tool offering a customizable website widget, a shared team inbox, canned responses, and a free 1-agent plan.
JivoChat is a live chat and omnichannel customer messaging platform that connects a website chat widget with email, phone, and social channels in one agent app, with canned responses, visitor tracking.
SnapEngage is a live chat widget for sales and support teams that also connects SMS, Twitter/X, and Facebook Messenger into one inbox, with chatbot and routing automation.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Live chat software checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
+ Add app
| Live chat software checklist | Olark | Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) | Comm100 | tawk.to | Zoho SalesIQ | Freshchat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Website chat widget | ||||||
| Shared team inbox | ||||||
| Canned responses | ||||||
| Chatbots / automation | ||||||
| Co-browsing / screen share | ||||||
| File sharing | ||||||
| Visitor tracking | ||||||
| Mobile agent app | ||||||
| CRM / helpdesk integrations | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Multilingual | ||||||
| Free tier |
Sources & verification
17
Every fact and feature listed for Olark is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License Proprietary verified 2026-07-13
Olark, its suppliers and licensors own all right, title and interest in and to the Services, including all associated intellectual property rights.
https://www.olark.com/tos -
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-13
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.
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
https://www.olark.com/pricing -
Starts at $29/seat/mo verified 2026-07-13
Olark Standard Starting at $29 per month
https://www.olark.com/pricing -
Platforms Web verified 2026-07-13
Agent console is a web dashboard (app.olark.com); Olark's own native mobile app is deprecated (see help/mobile).
From app.olark.com chat type the ; (semicolon) character into the compose field
https://www.olark.com/help/shortcuts -
Status active verified 2026-07-13
_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.
https://www.olark.com/pricing -
Website chat widget Yes verified 2026-07-13
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
https://www.olark.com/features -
Shared team inbox Yes verified 2026-07-13
Team Inbox shows all the active chats that your team is currently engaged in.
https://www.olark.com/help/ee-new-agent -
Canned responses Yes verified 2026-07-13
Send Messages Faster with Shortcuts
https://www.olark.com/help/shortcuts -
Chatbots / automation Partial verified 2026-07-13
Standard plan includes only rule-based automated/triggered messages; full AI chatbot (Chatbot CoPilot) is a Pro-plan-only capability, sold via demo/quote.
Everything in Olark Standard, PLUS: Powerful chatbots, AI & automation
https://www.olark.com/pricing -
Co-browsing / screen share Partial verified 2026-07-13
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."
The Visitor Cobrowsing PowerUp gives chat agents the ability to view their visitors’ screens.
https://www.olark.com/help/cobrowsing -
File sharing Yes verified 2026-07-13
Visitors can upload files from the chatbox, which will be displayed to an agent. File Upload is enabled by default.
https://www.olark.com/help/file-upload -
Visitor tracking Yes verified 2026-07-13
chatbox customization, automated messages, real-time visitor insights, searchable transcripts, and reporting
https://www.olark.com/features -
Mobile agent app No verified 2026-07-13
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.
We have deprecated the Olark Mobile beta.
https://www.olark.com/help/mobile -
CRM / helpdesk integrations Yes verified 2026-07-13
Whether it's Salesforce, Hubspot, or MailChimp, we designed Olark to integrate with the software your team loves.
https://www.olark.com/integrations -
Self-hostable No verified 2026-07-13
Google Cloud, Mountain View, CA, USA - Provides cloud hosting for core Olark services
https://www.olark.com/help/gdpr -
Multilingual Yes verified 2026-07-13
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.
When you sign up for an Olark account, you'll be prompted to choose your default language.
https://www.olark.com/help/languages -
Free tier Partial verified 2026-07-13
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).
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
https://www.olark.com/pricing
FAQ
Yes. Lime Connect (formerly Userlike), tawk.to and Zoho SalesIQ have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.