LiveChat Review 2026: The Complete Deep Dive (Features, Pricing, Issues, and Alternatives)

LiveChat is customer-messaging software for businesses that want to speak with website visitors in real time. It provides a customizable chat widget, agent applications, routing, reports, customer details, ecommerce integrations, and AI-assisted tools.

The product is polished and easy to deploy, but pricing is charged for every user account. AI automation, email ticketing, and knowledge-base software can also require separate Text, HelpDesk, or KnowledgeBase subscriptions.

Quick Verdict

Overall rating: 4.4/5

LiveChat is a strong choice for businesses that want dependable website chat with good agent tools, customization, routing, reporting, and integrations.

Its main disadvantages are per-user pricing, a one-user limit on Starter, and the need for additional products when a company wants complete AI support, email ticketing, or a knowledge base.

If what you actually want is chat connected to funnels, CRM pipelines, appointments, email, SMS, calling, and reputation management, that is the SmartChat CRM platform — and SmartChat AI provisions it for Philippine businesses with a 24/7 AI front desk on top.

What Is LiveChat?

LiveChat is a customer communication platform operated by Text. Businesses install its chat widget on a website or application, after which agents respond through web, desktop, or mobile apps.

The system can identify visitors, route conversations, collect information, save transcripts, measure agent performance, and connect chats with ecommerce or CRM applications.

LiveChat is the company’s established live-chat product. Text is a broader customer-service platform combining chat, tickets, and AI. HelpDesk, KnowledgeBase, and ChatBot are related products with separate packaging.

LiveChat Features

Website Chat Widget

Rating: 4.7/5

LiveChat provides a fast, customizable widget that can be installed on one or several websites. Current plans allow multiple website use without an additional LiveChat subscription charge.

Businesses can adjust colors, themes, position, language, and branding. Higher plans offer more advanced branding controls, multi-brand customization, and white-label options.

The widget supports right-to-left languages and advertises WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility. Companies should still test their final configuration with their website, consent tools, and accessibility requirements.

Agent Applications

Rating: 4.6/5

Agents can answer conversations through browser, desktop, and mobile applications. They can review customer details, transfer chats, use saved replies, leave internal notes, and manage several conversations.

The interface is straightforward for daily support and pre-sales work. Agent availability, notifications, workload, and mobile behavior should be tested under realistic conditions.

Chat Routing

Rating: 4.5/5

LiveChat can route incoming conversations to available agents or groups. Businesses can organize teams by department, location, language, or skill.

Higher plans provide stronger queue, routing, staffing, and management capabilities. Enterprise can add customized service and implementation requirements.

Routing rules should be tested for unavailable teams, transfers, after-hours conversations, unanswered chats, and returning customers.

Pre-Chat and Post-Chat Surveys

Rating: 4.3/5

Pre-chat surveys can collect names, email addresses, subjects, or other information before a conversation begins. Post-chat surveys collect customer feedback and agent ratings.

Starter provides predefined surveys, while higher plans allow more customization. Requiring too many fields can reduce chat starts, so forms should remain focused.

Traffic Tracking

Rating: 4.1/5

LiveChat shows active website visitors and information such as location, current page, referrer, and previous activity where available.

Published traffic-monitoring limits are:

Plan	Tracked visitors
Starter	Up to 100
Team	Up to 400
Business	Up to 1,000
Enterprise	Custom

The pricing page states that detailed data is available for 100 visitors. Buyers expecting heavy simultaneous traffic should confirm how the limits work and what happens when capacity is exceeded.

Customer Profiles and Chat History

Rating: 4.4/5

Agents can review customer names, email addresses, locations, current pages, previous chats, and other information collected through the widget or integrations.

This context helps staff avoid asking customers to repeat information. Data quality depends on what visitors provide and what tracking technology can lawfully collect.

Establish retention, deletion, access, and sensitive-information policies before enabling chat.

AI Assistance

Rating: 4.1/5

LiveChat includes AI-assisted features such as:

• Reply suggestions
• Conversation summaries
• Writing improvement
• Suggested tags
• Conversation insights
• Sentiment analysis in applicable access

Knowledge-source limits differ by plan. Starter lists three sources, while Team and Business list 10.

These assistance features should not be confused with the complete Text AI Agent. The AI Agent that answers customers and performs custom skills is promoted through Text, starting at $19 per user monthly with annual billing.

AI-generated replies require supervision. Verify accuracy, escalation rules, source management, usage limits, and data handling.

Multichannel Communication

Rating: 4.1/5

LiveChat lists support or integrations for website chat, mobile applications, direct chat links, Facebook Messenger, Apple Messages for Business, SMS, email, Instagram, X, and WhatsApp.

Availability and behavior vary by channel. Some connections require another provider, product, approval process, or usage fee.

Do not assume the LiveChat subscription includes WhatsApp, SMS, telephone, or third-party messaging charges.

Reports and Analytics

Rating: 4.3/5

LiveChat reports can help managers evaluate conversation volume, response time, customer satisfaction, agent activity, staffing demand, goals, and sales influenced by chat.

Business provides deeper reporting and workforce-management capabilities than the lower tiers. Enterprise can add custom requirements and service levels.

Check chat-attributed sales against ecommerce and analytics data because attribution can differ between systems.

Ecommerce Tools

Rating: 4.4/5

LiveChat integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. Agents can answer product questions and, with applicable integrations, view useful shopping context.

Goals and sales tracking help measure how conversations contribute to purchases.

LiveChat does not replace the ecommerce platform. Product catalogs, orders, inventory, payments, tax, shipping, and refunds remain managed elsewhere.

Integrations and API

Rating: 4.4/5

The LiveChat Marketplace includes free and paid connections for CRM, ecommerce, analytics, support, and communication tools. Developers can also use APIs, webhooks, and platform tools.

Private API usage starts with 1,000 free requests, after which API pricing can apply. Marketplace developers receive different access conditions.

Confirm whether every required integration is free, maintained, and capable of transferring the necessary fields.

Want chat connected directly to sales follow-up? SmartChat AI answers SMS, Messenger, Instagram, and website chat 24/7 and lands every lead in a SmartChat CRM CRM with calendars and automated follow-up already configured.

What LiveChat Does Not Clearly Include

A LiveChat subscription should not be assumed to include:

• Text AI Agent
• Full email ticketing
• A customer knowledge base
• ChatBot
• A complete sales CRM
• Marketing email campaigns
• SMS or WhatsApp usage
• Business telephone service
• Website and funnel building
• Reputation management
• Staff who answer conversations
• Unlimited private API usage
• Unlimited user accounts

LiveChat provides the software, not outsourced customer-service agents.

LiveChat Pricing in 2026

LiveChat offers Starter, Team, Business, and Enterprise. Pricing is charged per person.

Plan	Monthly billing	Annual billing
Starter	$25 per month	$19 per person/month
Team	$59 per person/month	$49 per person/month
Business	$89 per person/month	$79 per person/month
Enterprise	Custom	Custom

Annual subscriptions provide a lower monthly equivalent. Prices are in US dollars, and applicable taxes are additional.

LiveChat charges for every created user account, whether or not that person is currently logged in.

Starter

Starter is designed for a small business and costs $25 monthly or $19 under annual billing.

It includes core website chat, multiple website support, agent applications, basic surveys, customer information, integrations, and up to 100 tracked visitors.

Starter is limited to one user, making it suitable only for a solo operator or a single shared responsibility model. Sharing one login between employees can create security and accountability problems.

Team

Team costs $59 per user monthly or $49 with annual billing. It adds stronger customization, collaboration, reporting, groups, and support-team capabilities.

Team and Business allow up to 400 invited users, but every created user is billable. This is an account-capacity limit, not 400 users included in the listed price.

Business

Business costs $89 per user monthly or $79 with annual billing. It is intended for larger customer-service departments and adds more advanced staffing, routing, reporting, and management capabilities.

It increases traffic tracking to 1,000 visitors. Companies should confirm any required work-scheduling, forecasting, routing, security, and reporting features in the live comparison.

Enterprise

Enterprise uses custom pricing and can include custom user capacity, security assistance, product training, software-engineer support, legal assistance, a product expert, professional services, SLAs, and alternative payment terms.

The contract should state seat quantities, implementation scope, support standards, uptime commitments, data location, SSO, retention, integrations, and renewal terms.

Team Cost Examples

Using annual pricing:

Team size	Starter	Team	Business
1 user	$19/month	$49/month	$79/month
5 users	Not available	$245/month	$395/month
10 users	Not available	$490/month	$790/month

Taxes, paid integrations, API usage, Text, HelpDesk, KnowledgeBase, and other products are excluded.

Text, HelpDesk, and KnowledgeBase Costs

Related products are promoted separately:

• Text: starts at $19 per user monthly with annual billing
• HelpDesk: starts at $29 per month
• KnowledgeBase: starts at $49 per month

Text combines chat, tickets, and AI in one inbox. Its starting price should not be interpreted as including every AI interaction, custom skill, channel, or enterprise service.

Businesses considering several related products should request a combined quote and check whether overlapping LiveChat functions would create unnecessary subscriptions.

Trial, Billing, and Cancellation

LiveChat offers a 14-day free trial without requiring a credit card. The trial includes AI-driven features, although continued access can depend on the purchased product and plan.

Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing cycle. Annual billing is advertised with a discount compared with monthly payment.

Before cancelling, export chat transcripts, customer information, reports, goals, saved replies, configuration details, and integration records. Confirm when the widget stops operating and how long stored data remains available.

Known Issues and Buying Risks

Per-User Pricing

Every created user account is billable. Costs can become substantial when managers, part-time agents, contractors, and occasional users all require individual access.

Starter Supports One User

Starter’s price looks affordable, but it cannot support a conventional multi-agent team. Most customer-service departments will need Team or Business.

Related Products Cost Extra

AI Agent automation, ticketing, and knowledge-base functions are promoted through separate products. A complete service stack can cost considerably more than LiveChat’s headline price.

Channel Availability Varies

Website chat is the core product. SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Apple Messages, and other channels can require separate setup, approval, providers, or charges.

Traffic Limits

The visitor-tracking allowance is not unlimited. High-traffic businesses should establish how simultaneous visitors are measured and whether the limit affects proactive engagement or only monitoring.

API Charges

Private API use begins with a free allowance rather than being universally unlimited. Businesses building substantial custom integrations should model API costs.

No Complete CRM

LiveChat records customers and conversations but does not provide the complete pipelines, lead nurturing, attribution, and sales automation available in SmartChat CRM.

Security and Reliability

LiveChat documents 256-bit SSL connections, credit-card masking, visitor blocking, trusted domains, two-factor authentication, access restrictions, and US or EU data-center options.

Higher plans can add audit logs, SSO, security assistance, and enterprise services. HIPAA support requires an eligible plan and a signed Business Associate Agreement.

Businesses with regulated data should confirm that their plan, configuration, integrations, and internal procedures meet the applicable requirements. A feature description alone does not establish compliance.

LiveChat provides 24/7/365 product support through chat. Enterprise can add defined SLAs and specialist services.

LiveChat vs SmartChat CRM

Category	LiveChat	SmartChat CRM
Primary purpose	Website chat and customer messaging	CRM and marketing automation
Website chat	Excellent	Included conversation tools
Agent routing	Strong	Available, less support-center focused
Chat reporting	Strong	More CRM focused
AI customer agent	Separate Text product	Available with applicable charges
Ticketing	Separate product or Text	Conversation management available
CRM pipelines	Requires integration	Included
Funnels and websites	Not included	Included
Email and SMS automation	Requires other products	Included
Appointment booking	Requires integration	Included
Business calling	Requires integration	Available
Reputation management	Not included	Included
Agency subaccounts	Partner tools available	Core Unlimited-plan capability
Starting price	$19 annually for one user	Included with SmartChat plans

SmartChat CRM is provisioned through SmartChat’s annual plans at flat peso pricing rather than sold as separate tiers. There are no separate platform usage charges: SMS runs through your own postpaid SIM under your telco plan, and the AI front desk is included.

For Philippine businesses, SmartChat AI is the simplest way to get that SmartChat CRM column: a provisioned SmartChat CRM sub-account — CRM, pipelines, workflows, calendars — plus a 24/7 AI front desk answering SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and website chat from your own knowledge base. SMS sends through your own postpaid SIM in a dedicated Android relay phone, so texts come from your real business number.

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose LiveChat if the priority is a polished website-chat experience with agent routing, monitoring, customization, and customer-service reporting — and your team will staff the inbox.

Choose SmartChat AI if:

• You want every inquiry on SMS, Messenger, Instagram, and web chat answered 24/7 without hiring coverage
• You want the SmartChat CRM platform — CRM, funnels, calendars, automated follow-up — provisioned for you
• You want flat peso pricing: SMS + AI at ₱2,699 per month equivalent billed annually, unlimited contacts
• Per-user pricing for occasional agents does not fit how your team works

Some companies integrate LiveChat with a separate CRM. Test record matching, ownership, consent, transcript transfer, and failed synchronization before launch.

Migrating from LiveChat to SmartChat CRM

A practical migration process is:

1. Export chat history, contacts, reports, tags, and saved replies.
2. Document widget settings, routing, groups, surveys, and integrations.
3. Create pipelines, custom fields, calendars, and workflows in SmartChat CRM.
4. Configure website chat and other required communication channels.
5. Rebuild automated replies, notifications, assignments, and follow-up.
6. Train agents on the new inbox.
7. Test desktop, mobile, after-hours, and handoff scenarios.
8. Keep LiveChat active until the replacement system is verified.

Historical transcripts, reports, AI settings, and routing rules may not transfer automatically.

Final Verdict

LiveChat remains a polished and dependable tool for real-time website conversations. Its widget, agent applications, routing, customer information, reports, customization, integrations, and ecommerce tools make it a strong specialist product.

Starter works for one operator. Team is the practical starting point for a support group, while Business suits larger departments requiring more advanced management and reporting.

The main concern is total cost. Every user is billable, and AI Agent, ticketing, knowledge-base software, private API usage, and external channels can add separate charges.

LiveChat is the stronger dedicated website-chat product. SmartChat AI is the better alternative for Philippine businesses that need chat as part of a complete lead-response, sales, and appointment system — with the AI doing the answering around the clock. Text 0917 315 4230 to see it work.