7 Best Olark Alternatives & Competitors

Olark is a live chat software used by businesses and websites to engage with their visitors or customers in real-time.

But some of its drawbacks can make you consider exploring alternative options. First, adjusting the chat settings might take a bit too much time, which can be a hassle.

Olark shows you as offline or away at times, which can be annoying for users. Then, some may feel confused and find it hard to use Olark because of its UI.

In this article, I’ll explore 7 Olark alternatives that offer intuitive interfaces and enhanced chatbot features for a smoother communication experience.

1. LiveChat

Best for: eCommerce businesses and software/IT companies

Pricing: $20/user/mo – $59/user/mo

LiveChat is a real-time communication platform that enables businesses to engage with website visitors or customers through instant messaging.

It allows for immediate customer support, interaction, and problem resolution directly on a company’s website or application.

Features

• Message sneak-peek
• Canned responses
• Chat tags
• Rich messages
• File sharing
• Chat archives
• Inactivity timeout configuration
• Pre-chat & post-chat surveys
• Agent rating
• Custom customer segments
• Chat transfer
• Chat widget customization
• Reports & analytics
• 200+ integrations
• Chat takeover
• Chat history & transcripts
• Private comments in a chat
• Custom logo in chat window
• Internal notes
• Routing rules based on URL
• Proactive chats
• Chat limit
• Automatic status change

LiveChat vs. Olark

Criteria	LiveChat	Olark
Best For	Sizable organizations seeking dependable and robust live chat solutions	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	AI-powered chatbot	Transcript archive
Pricing	$20/user/mo – $59/user/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Companies find LiveChat very helpful for their products. Instead of waiting with tickets, customers can just start a chat for quick assistance, especially when they have product questions or need help troubleshooting online issues.

It’s an easy way for customers to explain what’s going on, and the company can respond right away.

Sign up to LiveChat for free today!

Try LiveChat for free

2. Tidio

Best for: small businesses, eCommerce companies, and marketing agencies

Pricing: Free – $499/mo

Tidio is a customer communication platform that provides businesses with tools for live chat, chatbots, and email marketing.

Features

• Ticketing system
• Conversational AI
• Conversation history
• Rich media support
• Fallback mechanism
• Canned responses
• Offline message
• Pre-chat survey
• Transcripts
• Tags & contact properties
• Live visitor list
• Operating hours settings
• Customer satisfaction measuring
• Banning users
• Visual chat builder
• Mobile-specific actions
• Chat triggers to create workflow
• Greeting messages
• Message analytics
• Customization & branding
• WhatsApp Business API

Tidio vs. Olark

Criteria	Tidio	Olark
Best For	Small businesses, eCommerce companies, and marketing agencies	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Chat triggers to create workflow	Transcript archive
Pricing	Free – $499/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Companies use Tidio to build custom chatbots, aiming to improve customer satisfaction by simplifying the ticketing system.

The chatbots can automatically answer common questions, which saves time for teams and makes customer support work better.

Get started with Tidio for free today!

Try Tidio for free

3. Tawk.to

Best for: Tawk.to is most used by IT companies and service industries, especially by startup companies.

Pricing: Free

Tawk.to is a free live chat software and messaging application that enables businesses to engage with website visitors and customers in real-time.

Features

• Canned shortcuts
• Visitor banning
• File transfer
• Domain restriction
• Mail notifications
• Geo IP tracking
• Message sneak-peek
• Automated triggers
• Customizable widgets
• In-chat payments
• Reporting
• Message filtering
• Agent alerts
• JavaScript API

Tawk.to vs. Olark

Criteria	Tawk.to	Olark
Best For	Customer support teams and small businesses	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Chat triggers to create workflow	Transcript archive
Pricing	Free	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Teams use Tawk.to to talk directly with people visiting their website which helps them with questions or issues in real-time.

Download the free Tawk.to widget

Try Tawk.to for free

4. Zendesk

Best for: eCommerce businesses, IT help desks, sales teams, and customer support teams

Pricing: $25/user/mo – $149/user/mo

Zendesk is a customer service and engagement platform that provides businesses with a unified system for managing customer support inquiries.

It includes chat features for real-time communication with customers.

Features

• Chat automation
• AI responses
• Sentiment identification
• Proactive messages
• Unified omnichannel solution
• Pre-written responses
• Chat tags
• Inactivity messages
• Intelligent routing
• Chat transfer between agents & departments
• Operating hours settings
• Chat widget customization
• JavaScript API
• Visitor banning

Zendesk vs. Olark

Criteria	Zendesk	Olark
Best For	eCommerce businesses, IT help desks, sales teams, and customer support teams	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Intelligent customer intent detection	Transcript archive
Pricing	$25/user/mo – $149/user/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Zendesk is a popular platform that businesses use to offer quick assistance on their website, mobile apps, and social channels.

It allows you to add messaging to your website or app, including popular social platforms like WhatsApp, as well as business tools like Slack, making it super easy to provide instant support for customers.

5. Intercom

Best for: sales, marketing, and support teams

Pricing: $39/user/mo – $139/user/mo

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that facilitates communication between businesses and their customers, offering a chat feature to engage in real-time conversations and support.

Features

• AI chatbot
• Automated responses
• User segmentation
• Customizable chatbots
• Multilingual support
• User feedback collection
• Integration with CRM systems
• Proactive messaging
• Answer suggestions
• Appointment scheduling
• Custom workflows
• Reporting & analytics
• Seamless handoff to human agents
• A/B testing
• Inbox for real-time oversight
• Extensive list of integrations

Intercom vs. Olark

Criteria	Intercom	Olark
Best For	Sales, marketing, and support teams	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Fully customizable chatbots without any code	Transcript archive
Pricing	$39/user/mo – $139/user/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Different teams rely on Intercom for real-time website chat, particularly for sales and support purposes.

It proves to be super useful for companies aiming to respond quickly to customer inquiries and complaints.

6. Chatlio

Best for: teams already using Slack, customer service teams, and small businesses

Pricing: $29/mo – $199/mo

Chatlio is a customer support and live chat platform that integrates with Slack. It allows businesses to provide real-time support to their website visitors or customers through a chat interface.

Features

• Response reminders
• Chat throttling
• Pre-chat questions
• Triggers & auto-messages
• Complete customization
• Chat reporting & analytics
• Canned response
• Conversation ratings
• Push messages to users
• Saved replies
• File uploads
• Operating hours settings
• Geo restrictions
• Javascript API

Chatlio vs. Olark

Criteria	Chatlio	Olark
Best For	Teams already using Slack, customer service teams, and small businesses	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Customizable Chatlio appearance	Transcript archive
Pricing	$29/mo – $199/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Chatlio is a tool that helps you manage customer inquiries on your website and through Slack.

What’s more interesting is that by setting up Chatlio triggers, you can automatically send messages to users, making it a great way to boost engagement.

7. Zoho SalesIQ

Best for: startups, eCommerce businesses, and customer success teams

Pricing: Free – $25/user/mo

Zoho SalesIQ is a customer engagement and live chat software that businesses use to interact with website visitors in real-time.

Features

• Canned replies
• Live chat hour setting
• Chat routing
• Lead scoring
• Internal message board
• Programmable custom bots
• Voice note
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Real-time analytics
• Proactive chat
• Chat transfer & group chat
• Website visitor insights
• Agent-to-agent chat
• Customizable widgets
• Automated triggers
• Offline messages
• Chat monitoring
• File sharing

Zoho SalesIQ vs. Olark

Criteria	Zoho SalesIQ	Olark
Best For	Startups, eCommerce businesses, and customer success teams	Customer support teams and eCommerce companies
Standout Feature	Programmable custom bots	Transcript archive
Pricing	Free – $25/user/mo	$29/user/mo

Conclusion

Companies often use Zoho SalesIQ on their websites to connect with visitors. For example, when visitors want to learn more about a product or try out a demo, Zoho SalesIQ helps visitors get in touch with a live person quickly.

Start your free trial of Zoho SalesIQ

Try Zoho SalesIQ for free

Which Olark alternative should I use?

If you’re looking for a complete customer service platform that comes with multi-channel support along with features like chat widget customization and post-chat surveys, then give LiveChat a try.

For those wanting an easy-to-use platform with functions like chat transfer between agents and intelligent customer intent detection, Tidio is worth trying

Quick Recap of Olark Alternatives:

1. LiveChat
2. Tidio
3. Zendesk
4. Tawk.to
5. Intercom
6. Chatlio
7. Zoho SalesIQ