Chatlio Review: Features, Pricing, & Alternatives

Our Verdict

Explore our comprehensive review of Chatlio, a tool for live website chat from Slack. Discover its strengths and where it could improve.

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Chatlio Chatlio
Software Type: Slack live chat
Best For: Businesses that seek to enhance live chat with Slack.
Pricing: $29/mo - $199/mo
Pros:
  • 30-day free trial
  • User-friendly interface
  • Reliable customer support
  • Easy integration with other tools
Cons:
  • Specifically built for Slack
  • Occasional system glitches

Chatlio is a potent software tool designed to streamline the process of live website chat directly from Slack. While it boasts impressive integration and user-friendly features, it falls short in advanced customization options.

Our Chatlio review explores these aspects and more, serving as your guide to understanding Chatlio’s full potential.

SMB Guide’s Verdict for Chatlio

We give Chatlio an 8 out of 10. While it’s great in terms of customizable chat widgets, analytics, and user experience, it falls short with real-time messaging, NLP, and integrations.

That is reflected accordingly in our final score.

FactorRating (out of 10)
Pricing & Plans8
Real-Time Messaging & Canned responses7
Live Chat AI & Natural Language Processing (NLP)7
Customizable Chat Widgets9
Visitor Tracking and Analytics8
User Interface and User Experience9
Integrations and Compatibility7
Customer Support9
SMB Guide Rating8

At SMB Guide, we use a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria to ensure our reviews are detailed, unbiased, and deliver value to our readers.

Pricing & Plans

There are four pricing plans to choose from based on the number of operators, widgets, and conversations you need every month.

There does not appear to be an annual billing discount.

Chatlio pricing

Each plan comes with a 30-day free trial to help you test the platform before committing to paying for it. If you need an Enterprise plan or have other questions, you can contact the Chatlio support team for more information.

Starter

The base plan, this includes limited operators and chat conversations.

Price

  • $29/month

Features

  • 2 operators
  • 1 widget
  • 200 conversations/month
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited Domains
  • Free CSS customization

Who it’s for: Small businesses that are just getting started

Basic

This plan upgrades you from two operators to unlimited, so no matter how big your team is, you’ll be able to equip them with what they need.

Price

  • $49

Features

  • Unlimited operators
  • 1 widget
  • 1,000 conversations/month
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited Domains
  • Free CSS customization
  • Triggers and auto messages
  • Saved replies

Who it’s for: Growing businesses that need more operators or features than the base plan offers.

Pro

This plan is ideal for businesses that need more conversations than the other plans have to offer.

Price

  • $99/month

Features

  • Unlimited operators
  • 2 widgets
  • 3,000 conversations/month
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited Domains
  • Free CSS customization
  • Triggers and auto messages
  • Saved replies
  • White label widget
  • Qualify leads
  • Pre-chat questions

Who it’s for: Businesses who need more conversations and features than the other plans have to offer.

Business

The top-tier plan, this offers the highest level of monthly communications, unlimited users and all features.

Price

  • $199/month

Features

  • Unlimited operators
  • 5 widgets
  • 5,000 conversations/month
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Unlimited Domains
  • Free CSS customization
  • Triggers and automessages
  • Saved replies
  • White label widget
  • Qualify leads
  • Pre-chat questions

Who it’s for: Businesses with a large volume of monthly conversations.

Real-Time Messaging & Canned Responses

Real-time messaging is spot on with Chatlio. I did wait a few seconds to hear from someone, and there was no automatic response, which is a bit weird since so many other businesses at least send something to let you know you’re being connected to a live person.

It’s that, and the fact that canned responses are not available on all plans that keeps me from giving it a perfect score here.

Live Chat AI & NLP

With Chatlio, you’re on your own to add bots to handle this. That means you do not have to use chatbots if you don’t want to – and the quality of the live chat AI and NLP depends on the chatbot you decide to use.

Customizable Chat Widgets

When customizing a chat widget with Chatlio, you have limitations.

Chatlio chat widget customization

You can choose to easily customize your chat widget’s attributes, like it’s shape, colors, and labels in the Chatlio control panel.

Or you can also take full control of the entire widget design with CSS access for free on all plans.

Visitor Tracking and Analytics

There is limited analytics information available in your dashboard about your performance.

Chatlio analytics

You can see the conversations today compared to the total over the last 30 days, and the average chats per day over the last 30 days.

My screenshot shows none because I didn’t have any live chats with myself for the purposes of this demo.

User Interface and User Experience

I found the user interface and user experience to be highly intuitive and easy.

Chatlio interface

The setup wizard is right in the dashboard upon signing up, and you can connect Slack and create a channel if you don’t already have one.

From there, it’s a few clicks to customize your widget, and get things up and running.

Integrations and Compatibility

This is one area where Chatlio could use some improvements. While it is dedicated to Slack, the integrations are limited.

Chatlio integrations

Customer Support

Customer support is available via live chat. When I reached out with a question about how the software worked, it was clear I had a real human on the other end of the screen.

There was no bot response. The agent didn’t know what I meant when I asked about whether the tool uses NLP, but upon further explanation, I was able to determine my answer with him.

Chatlio — Unique Features

The most unique thing about Chatlio is how it functions directly with Slack. Several other tools have Slack integrations, but this one is exclusively Slack.

What the Experts Say About Chatlio

At the time of this writing, Chatlio had the following reviews:

  • G2 rating: 4.3/5 (80+ ratings)
  • GetApp rating: 4.3/5 (5+ ratings)
  • Capterra rating: 4.1/5 (5+ ratings)

Chatlio is so easy to use and set up because it integrates with Slack perfectly. We had our entire system set up and launched in less than one day. They give you everything you need to be successful. It honestly added so much value to our Slack contract because it allowed us to bring outsiders into our internal Slack chats.

Pete W., Communications Officer – Verified Capterra review

It opens up a chat for you and has automated replies, making your chats very easy. It really works when you have a lot of customers on your website! I love the slack integration.

Serianna V., Ambulante Receptiemedewerker – – Verified Capterra review

Chatlio Alternatives

Not sure Chatlio is the answer for your business?

 
 
 
4.5
3.9
3.8
Free - $95/user/mo
$39/user/mo - $139/user/mo
$2,500/mo
4.5
Free - $95/user/mo
3.9
$39/user/mo - $139/user/mo
3.8
$2,500/mo

Freshdesk

Freshdesk homepage

Freshdesk is a comprehensive help desk tool that offers a range of features such as ticketing, multi-channel support and automation. It’s a robust platform designed for businesses that need to manage complex customer service operations.

Chatlio focuses on live chat via Slack integration. It’s a great choice for businesses that already use Slack and want to incorporate it into their customer service. 

Freshdesk pricing starts at $15/agent/month when billed annually, but there is a free forever plan available for up to 10 agents.

Start your free trial of Freshdesk today!

Intercom

Intercom homepage

Intercom and Chatlio offer similar services but they cater to different needs and markets. Intercom is more than just a chat tool, it’s also considered a lifecycle marketing tool.

As such, it provides more comprehensive solutions for customer engagement and communication throughout the customer lifecycle making it ideal for businesses looking for a holistic approach to customer interaction.

Chatlio on the other hand is primarily a customer support chat tool, with a focus on its Slack integration. It makes good businesses already using Slack that want to enhance their customer support capabilities.

Pricing for Intercom starts at $39/month/seat. Pricing for Chatlio starts at $29/month.

Drift

Drift homepage

Drift is a customer lifecycle management and deal management tool. It includes a wide range of features to support customers before, during, and after the sale.

While live chat is a portion of what it offers, it is not the main focus of the software. Pricing starts at $2,500 a month, making it out of reach for most small businesses.

That said, if you’re a growing business that needs a variety of needs met, not just live chat and customer support, it could be the better solution for you. Chatlio is fairly basic in comparison.

Getting Started with Chatlio

Chatlio is an efficient live chat tool that’s ideal for businesses already using Slack. It offers seamless integration with Slack, allowing you to enhance your customer support capabilities without having to learn a new system.

Whether you’re a startup looking for an affordable solution or a larger enterprise needing to streamline your customer service, Chatlio can be a great addition to your toolkit. 

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Start exploring the benefits of Chatlio today with their free trial. It’s time to evaluate your customer support experience and see the difference Chatlio can make for your business.

FAQs

What is Chatlio?

Chatlio is a live chat tool that allows businesses to communicate correctly with website visitors and users through Slack. It’s the first official app integrated with Slack for this purpose.

Does Slack have a live chat?

Yes, it does – but you must use a tool like Chatlio, Live Chat by Social Intents, or LiveChat to make it work. It is not a native feature.

When was Chatlio founded?

Chatlio was founded in 2014, by John Eberly, according to Crunchbase. It is head quartered in the Greater Seattle area.

Freshdesk

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Chatlio

Chatlio is the first and best app to let you talk to your website visitors and users directly from Slack.

Product Brand: Chatlio

Editor's Rating:
4

Lucinda has spent the last 15 years working from home as a freelance writer and WordPress designer, and throughout her career, she has worked directly with several digital marketing agencies with clients in the SaaS space, ranging from e-commerce platforms to procurement software.