Adding live chat to your website

May 13, 2025

Adding live chat functionality to your website can be a proactive way to communicate instantly with potential customers while they browse your website design. With AI getting even better, you can further utilize chatbots to free up resources and lower costs.

Here are three live chat tools we recommend for your website:

Tawk.to (For Growing Businesses)

Although Tawk.to is a completely free live chat tool with basic features, they just announced an AI-powered chatbot that is available on their free plan. It also includes an easy to set up WordPress plugin so you can quickly add it to your website, and an app for iOS or Android so you can instantly respond to chat requests while on-the-go.

There are some downsides to the free tool, such as no technical support, reports are limited and you will be required to pay a monthly fee to remove the Tawk.to branding.

Olark (For Established Businesses)

Olark is a professional live chat tool that you’ve likely already used as an end user on numerous websites. Unlike Tawk.to, there is a monthly fee per agent, but this fee includes support, a white-labeled experience where you can customize the chat widget to match your own brand, and a basic chatbot that will respond to requests on your behalf. The chatbot does not use AI and instead works using rules-based automation that you can configure.

Olark also includes additional advanced features, like automation rules and integration with popular CRM softwares. Similar to Tawk.to, Olark has their own WordPress plugin which will allow you to easily add the chat widget to your website.

Intercom (For Large Businesses)

Intercom offers even more features and integration potential than Olark, but with that comes a more expensive price tag. Unlike Olark, Intercom has an AI-powered chatbot that will learn about your business, services & products and respond to your potential customers with professional accuracy. It doesn’t require many resources after the initial setup.

Intercom also includes advanced features to assist your sales process, such as custom workflows, smart responses, advanced analytics, user journeys and funnel tracking. Just like with Tawk.to and Olark, it also has its own proprietary WordPress plugin so it too can be easily integrated with any WordPress website.

 

Even if your chosen live chat tool offers a chatbot, many customers appreciate speaking with a human. The tools above do allow a human to step in place of a chatbox if requested, and making yourself available for this is highly recommended for good customer service even if you’re taking advantage of the growing capabilities of AI and automations.