In this article we will look at three popular Chat programs you can use for your business and website- JivoChat, Tidio and Livechat. They have different pricing fees and features as you can see in the table below-
| Features | JivoChat | Tidio | LiveChat |
| Website | https://www.jivochat.com/pricing/ | https://www.tidio.com/ | https://www.livechat.com/ |
| FREE PLAN | |||
| Details | For responds on the site and in messengers such as Instagram, FB, Telegram etc. | Live Chat - conversations with 50 users Chatbots - conversations with 100 users | - |
| Support | Email, chat and Phone | Email support | - |
| PLAN B | |||
| Professional | Communicator | Starter | |
| Price | 29$/month (27$ 3mo, 19$ 1year billing) | $19/mo (15.83$ annual billing) | 24$/mo (20$ billed annually) |
| Support | Email, chat and Phone | 24x5 Email & Chat. | 24x7 Phone, Chat, Email |
| Free Trial | 14 days | Yes | |
| PLAN C | |||
| Enterprise | Chatbots | Team | |
| Price | 59$/month (55$ 3mo, 38$ 1year billing) | $39/mo (32.50$ annual billing0 | 49$/mo (41$ billed annually) |
| Support | Email, chat and Phone | 24x5 Email & Chat. | 24x7 Phone, Chat, Email |
| Free Trial | Yes | ||
| Plan D | |||
| - | Tidio+ | Business | |
| Price | - | Starting from $289$ (240.83$ billed annually) | 69$/mo (59$ annually) |
| Support | - | 24x5 Email & Chat. Emergency Phone, Dedicated Manager | 24x7 Phone, Chat, Email |
| Plan E | |||
| - | - | Enterprise | |
| - | - | Custom Pricing |
JivoChat and Tidio Free Plan
Of the three only Tidio and JivoChat have free plans, with the former not requiring your credit card for use. They even have a free trial for their other paid plans, this too without the need for credit cards. But the free plan is limited to Livechat with 50 customers and 100 users for chatbot conversations. That’s probably more than enough if you are a small business.
With Jivochat you can have unlimited chats on unlimited websites with the free ‘Basic’ plan, but the features are limited mainly to integrations with social media apps such as Facebook, Viber, Apple Business Chat & Telegram. Instagram Direct is also included but it may have additional charges.
Live chat vs Chatbots
Live chat is a software or plugin usually integrated into a company’s website that allows users to have real-time conversations with customer support agents or sales representatives through a chat interface. Live chat enables users to receive personalized and immediate assistance, resolving issues or answering questions more quickly than traditional methods like phone or email support.
On the other hand, a chatbot is an automated software program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) to conduct a conversation with a human user through text or voice. Chatbots can be used for a variety of purposes, including customer support, marketing, and e-commerce. Chatbots are programmed to respond to specific questions and provide automated assistance and unlike live chat this can be all done without the need for human assistance.
One of the key differences between chatbots and live chat is the level of personalization and flexibility. Chatbots are designed to provide automated responses based on a set of predefined rules, which means that they may not be able to handle complex queries or unique situations. In contrast, live chat agents can provide more personalized and tailored responses to individual customers, using their expertise and experience to resolve issues in a more flexible way.