What Is Live Chat?
August 11, 2026
It's an instant messenger for your website.
A customer sends you a message and goes back to what they were doing. You reply when you're free. Just like texting a friend, you can either chat back and forth in real time, or answer whenever you get a chance.
That's really all live chat is at its core: a small chat widget on your website that lets visitors message your team directly, instead of picking up the phone or sending an email into a black hole.
The different types of live chat software
Not all "live chat" software is actually just chat. Live chat software falls into two rough categories:
Standalone live chat
This is chat in its simplest form: a widget, a message box, and a way for your team to reply. No CRM, no automated email sequences, no lead scoring. Just a fast way to talk to whoever's on your site right now.
Live chat and CRM platforms
Some live chat systems are more like an iceberg; what you see is a small chat bubble, but underneath is a full customer relationship management system: automated messages and emails, educational content libraries, team-based customer management, and workflows that carry a visitor through an entire sales or support journey.
These platforms still call themselves "live chat" because it's an easy, recognizable term; not because "CRM Marketing Sales Interactive Live Chat Support Platform" is technically more accurate (it is, it's just a mouthful nobody wants to say out loud).
What live chat companies mean by marketing jargon
Live chat vendors love a good buzzword. Here's what they're actually saying:
"Real-time convenience to customers" means people hate phoning companies, and everyone's used to texting now. So, basically, offering chat means more people will actually reach out to you.
"Stand out amidst competitors" means customers can tell when you're not putting in effort, and with more competition than ever, being available to answer a quick question matters more than it used to.
"Develop deeper customer relationships" means people remember when you're decent to them; and tend to buy from companies they like, even at a slightly higher price.
"Transcripts offer data to improve customer service" means customers will tell you exactly what's wrong with your product in the chat window, instead of you having to guess and hope.
"Increase conversions and average order value" means people buy more when their questions get answered. A meaningful share of sales, sometimes as much as 60% for certain businesses, can trace back to a live chat conversation, especially for larger purchases where the buyer needs to trust you're actually responsive.
The TLDR; if you make the effort to actually talk to the people using your site, you get better at serving them; and they buy more.
What is the best live chat software?
There's no single "best" live chat software, it depends on whether you want simple chat or a full CRM-style platform behind it, and how much you're willing to pay for the extras. Here's how the major players stack up:
| Tool | Type | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveChat | Chat + ticketing | Teams that want strong chat and ticketing without a full CRM | Smaller in scope than Intercom, but does the core job well and has a large existing customer base. |
| Zendesk Chat | Chat module within a larger support platform | Companies already using Zendesk's ticketing system | Chat is one piece of a much bigger Zendesk product suite. Generally priced below Intercom and Drift, above Olark. |
| Drift | Chat + chatbots, CRM-adjacent | Sales-led teams that want conversational bots qualifying leads automatically | Known for advanced chatbot flows that collect visitor details without manual follow-up. Pricing scales with seats and contact volume, similar range to Intercom. |
| Olark | Standalone live chat | Budget-conscious teams that just want reliable chat | One of the longest-running live chat tools, straightforward and affordably priced. |
| Re:amaze | Standalone live chat, ecommerce-focused | SaaS and ecommerce companies wanting chat with relevant integrations | Smaller player, but well-reviewed and built with ecommerce/SaaS workflows in mind. |
If you just need a fast way to talk to website visitors, a standalone tool like Olark or Re:amaze will get you there without extra cost or complexity. If you want chat to feed into a bigger sales and marketing engine, Drift is built for that; you'll pay more, but you're buying a lot more than a chat box.
What is outsourced live chat support?
Everything above is about software; the tool your own team uses to chat with customers. Outsourced live chat support is a different decision entirely: instead of (or alongside) buying a chat tool, you hire a third-party team or agency to actually staff the chat and answer customers on your behalf.
In practice, that means:
- A support provider's agents are trained on your product, given access to your chat tool (or their own), and handle conversations under your brand, often without customers realizing they're not talking to your in-house team.
- Coverage can extend beyond your own team's hours, including evenings, weekends, and different time zones, without you having to hire and manage a round-the-clock in-house staff.
- Outsourced chat pricing is usually based on chat volume, hours of coverage, or a per-agent retainer, rather than a flat software subscription.
When outsourced live chat support makes sense
- You want live chat coverage outside your team's normal working hours, but don't have the volume to justify a dedicated night-shift hire.
- You're scaling fast and don't have time to hire, train, and manage an in-house chat team from scratch.
- Your chat volume is inconsistent, it's either busy during launches or sales, quiet otherwise, and a flexible outsourced team absorbs that better than a fixed headcount.
When it doesn't
- Your product is technical or requires deep account-specific knowledge that's hard to hand off to a third party without a steep training investment.
- Trust and relationship-building are core to your sales process (as they often are in finance, healthcare, or high-touch B2B), where customers may expect to be talking directly to your team.
Outsourced support and live chat software aren't mutually exclusive; most outsourced teams work inside whatever chat tool you're already using. The decision to outsource is about who's answering, not which tool they're answering in.
How to get started with live chat?
For most standalone tools, setup is genuinely simple: copy a snippet of JavaScript onto your site, and you're live. You can realistically be chatting with your first customer within about five minutes.
The more you move toward the "iceberg" platforms (Intercom, Drift, and similar) the more setup involves configuring automated flows, integrations, and team workflows on top of that initial install. It's still not complicated, but it's a bigger project than just pasting in a script.
The bottom line
Live chat, similar to tools like cobrowsing at their core, are just a faster way to let people talk to you. Whether that's a bare-bones widget or a full CRM platform underneath depends on how much you want chat to do beyond answering questions; and whether you staff it yourself or bring in an outsourced team depends on your hours, volume, and how much of the conversation needs deep product knowledge.
If you're just getting started, don't overthink it: install a standalone tool, see how many people actually use it, and let that usage tell you whether you need more (automation, a bigger platform, outsourced coverage) or whether simple chat was the answer all along.
About the Author
Pardeep Kullar
Pardeep overlooks growth at Upscope and loves writing about SaaS companies, customer success and customer experience.