To determine the best live chat software, Forbes Advisor looked at a variety of factors important to small businesses. These included features, ease of use, customer satisfaction, support options, API access, integrations and value for money. We also considered real user experiences and reviews. After assigning a weight to each factor, we calculated a score for each live chat software.

Here are some of the categories we used to rank the providers that made the top of the list.

Pricing

For pricing, we considered the affordability of a chat software’s lowest and highest price tiers and the value that each high-priced tiers bring to users. Companies that offer free versions or free trials of their software received higher ratings here than those that only offered paid plans. This accounted for 15% of our weighted scoring.

Features

While our reviews mention a variety of features attractive to small businesses, we maintained consistency in our ratings by looking for these specific features for each provider. These included custom branding, chatbots, team collaboration, integrations and ticket and conversation management. Features accounted for 35% of our total score.

Third-party reviews

We researched reviews from real users to gauge their opinion of each platform. This entailed looking at ratings from customers on popular review sites Capterra, G2 and Trustpilot that were at 3.5 out of 5. These accounted for 15% of the total score.

Expert analysis

Based on the categories listed above and market research, we also ranked additional criteria from customer reviews, such as ease of use, standout or detailed features, popularity and value for the money. These final criteria make up 35% of the total score.

* conversion correct as of 21 November 2023