LiveAgent Alternatives: 10 Tools For Better Customer Engagement

Are you finding LiveAgent limiting and wondering what else is out there?

While this help desk platform is a great tool with a lot to offer, it’s important to explore other options to find the perfect fit for your business needs.

This is why we’ve compared the top 10 LiveAgent alternatives to help you optimize your customer interactions.

Whether you’re looking for a more user-friendly tool that offers advanced features or fits better within your budget, we’ve gathered a range of options to suit your needs.

What Is LiveAgent?

LiveAgent is a comprehensive help desk software designed to streamline customer service operations. While it includes live chat capabilities, it goes far beyond just that, offering a full suite of tools to manage customer interactions across various channels.

Key features

LiveAgent provides over 180 help desk features and integrates with more than 195 platforms, focusing on improving agent productivity, boosting conversions, and increasing customer retention. Some of its popular features include:

• Support tickets and customer service management: Centralized management of support tickets from various channels and automated ticket distribution ensures balanced workloads and optimized response times.
• Live chat: Customizable chat boxes, video chat, and multilingual support.
• Call center: Integrated phone support functionality with automated callback options.
• Social media integration: Unified inbox to handle social media queries along with other customer service channels.
• Knowledge base: Includes FAQs, articles, and guides to reduce the load on support agents.
• Customer portal: A dedicated portal for customers to track their tickets and find solutions independently.

• Automated ticket distribution: Ensures that incoming support requests, calls, and chats are evenly distributed among agents, improving efficiency and response times.
• Rules and workflow automation: Enables action-triggered, time-triggered, or SLA-based automation to handle high ticket volumes, reducing support costs and minimizing human error.
• Automated callback: Allows customers to request a callback with a simple click, improving the overall support team performance.
• Powerful built-in CRM: Provides customer support teams with access to all customer data in one place, improving customer relationship management and service quality.

Best for

LiveAgent’s all-in-one platform is particularly useful for businesses with high volumes of support tickets and those offering multi-channel support, especially on social media.

Pricing

LiveAgent offers various pricing plans to suit different business needs:

• Small Business: Starting at $9 per agent per month, suitable for small teams needing basic support functions.
• Medium Business: Typically around $29 per agent per month, offering more advanced features like call center integration and workflow automation.
• Large Business: Priced at $49 per agent per month, includes extensive capabilities and higher limits on features.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring extensive customization and support, starting at $69 per agent per month.

Why Isn’t LiveAgent for Everyone?

LiveAgent is a comprehensive help desk solution designed to cater to a wide range of businesses. However, its broad scope can sometimes mean it might not be the best fit for everyone. Here’s why:

Doesn’t cater to specific business requirements

Different industries have unique needs. For example, ecommerce businesses may require extensive integrations with shopping platforms, whereas a tech startup might prioritize advanced automation and developer-friendly features. LiveAgent’s broad feature set doesn’t delve deeply enough into these specific areas.

High costs for smaller businesses

For smaller businesses or startups, cost-effectiveness is crucial. LiveAgent’s pricing plans start at $9 per agent per month for basic features, but more comprehensive plans that include live chat and other advanced features start at $29 per agent per month. This can add up quickly, especially for small teams needing to scale.

Complex features

Because LiveAgent offers so many features and integrations, it can be complex to manage. Businesses looking for a straightforward, easy-to-implement chat solution might find LiveAgent’s extensive capabilities overwhelming and more than what they actually need.

Not ideal for live chat-specific needs

If your primary need is a live chat service, LiveAgent might not be the best option, as it doesn’t offer a chat-only plan. For instance, its basic plan includes ticketing, and the combination of chat and ticketing starts at $29 per agent per month. Since LiveAgent aims to provide a holistic support solution rather than specializing in live chat, there might be other tools that offer more advanced or streamlined live chat functionalities.

10 Best LiveAgent Alternatives for Your Business

Now that we’ve covered why LiveAgent might not be the right fit, let’s help you find the best LiveAgent alternative that might better suit your specific needs:

1. Social Intents

Social Intents is a powerful live chat platform designed for customer service and sales, seamlessly integrating with communication platforms like Microsoft Teams or Slack.

This integration eliminates the need to switch between platforms, making Social Intents the perfect live chat support tool for businesses that need a simple solution that can be used within their existing working platform (no additional training needed).

Key features

• Real-time live chat integration: Seamlessly integrate live chat with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Chat, Zoom, and Webex.
• Chat from existing platforms: Communicate with website visitors directly from tools like Gmail and Webex Spaces, avoiding app switching.
• AI-powered chatbots: Embed ChatGPT and Dialogflow-powered chatbots, trained on your content, with easy escalation to human agents.
• Customizable settings: Adjust chat settings, logos, and office hours to match your brand.
• Detailed chat transcripts and reports: Monitor interactions and improve customer service with comprehensive reports.
• Proactive chat invites and targeting rules: Engage visitors with custom invites and strategic targeting.
• Unlimited team members: No per-agent pricing, allowing unlimited agents across plans.
• Third-party integrations: Integrate with CRM, ticketing, and marketing systems to streamline workflows.
• Real-time auto-translation: Support automatic translation in higher-tier plans for international customers.

Dive deeper into our key features here.

Why choose Social Intents?

• Ease of use: Manage customer support directly within Slack or MS Teams, avoiding the need to learn new software.
• Cost-effective scaling: Allows unlimited agents across all plans, making it ideal for businesses looking to scale without high costs.
• Ideal for diverse organizations: Trusted by over 75,000 customers, including government organizations, colleges, startups, and remote teams.
• Quick setup: Get started in just five minutes.
• Access to live chat metrics: Monitor important analytics to optimize your live chat strategy. help you identify what works in your live chat strategy, and more.

Pricing

• Starter Plan: $39/month (billed annually) or $49/month (billed monthly). Includes 1 chat widget, 1 website domain, up to 3 agents, and 200 chat conversations per month.
• Basic Plan: $69/month (billed annually) or $79/month (billed monthly). Features 2 chat widgets, 2 website domains, unlimited agents, and 1000 chat conversations per month.
• Pro Plan: $99/month (billed annually) or $132/month (billed monthly). Offers 5 chat widgets, 5 website domains, unlimited agents, and 5000 chat conversations per month, with additional features like cross-team chat transfers.
• Business Plan: $199/month (billed annually) or $265/month (billed monthly). Includes 10 chat widgets, 10 website domains, unlimited agents, and 10000 chat conversations per month​​.

Try Social Intents for free here.

2. LiveChat

LiveChat is an excellent web chat software option for businesses looking to boost their customer satisfaction and team performance. It is well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses that need a feature-rich chat solution to manage customer interactions effectively.

Key features

• Message sneak-peek: See what your customer is typing before they send their message for quicker and more effective responses.
• Canned responses: Save and reuse responses to frequently asked questions, saving time and ensuring consistency.
• Rich messages: Improve customer communication with interactive elements such as sharing cards, carousels, buttons, and even apps within the chat widget.
• File sharing: Share pictures, screenshots, offers, catalogs, and more directly within the chatbox, facilitating easy and efficient communication.
• Inactivity messages: Engage customers even when agents are not available, maintaining interaction and interest.

Pricing

• Starter Plan: Begins at $19 per agent per month, including basic features suitable for small teams.
• Higher-tier Plans: Include additional features such as ticket management, chat assignment to agents, chatbots, and integration with numerous tools and e-commerce platforms. Prices increase with added features and capabilities​.

Why choose LiveChat?

LiveChat comes with a user-friendly interface and powerful chat tools, making it a great choice for businesses looking to offer a seamless customer experience. With all the necessary features like message sneak-peek, rich messages, and file sharing, LiveChat is a good LiveAgent alternative to consider.

However, all LiveChat plans are priced per agent, which can become costly as your team grows. This per-agent pricing model might limit scalability for businesses with larger support teams.

3. Zendesk

Zendesk is an advanced customer support solution ideal for tech startups, especially those looking to scale. It leverages AI-powered chatbot technology to provide contextual and relevant responses, making it an excellent choice for businesses focused on automation and efficiency.

Key features

• AI-powered chatbots: These chatbots provide contextual replies, ensuring users receive accurate and relevant responses without having to repeat their queries.
• Automation and workflows: Automate repetitive tasks and processes, increasing efficiency and productivity.
• Multi-channel support: Provides customer service across messaging, live chat, social media, email, and voice channels.
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics: Offers detailed insights into customer interactions and support performance.
• Prebuilt integrations: Access to over 1000 apps and integrations to extend functionality.
• APIs: Robust APIs for custom integrations and functionality.
• Onboarding and adoption guidance: Support for new users to help them get started quickly and effectively.

Pricing

• Starter Plan: Begins at $49 per agent per month, including features such as automation, AI-powered answers, reporting, integrations, and onboarding guidance.

Why Choose Zendesk?

Zendesk stands out for its extensive automation capabilities, which makes it particularly suitable for businesses that need reliable and intelligent customer support solutions.

However, Zendesk’s pricing starts at $49 per agent per month, which might be steep for some businesses, especially if they are looking to scale.

4. Hubspot

HubSpot is a great option for businesses that need a comprehensive CRM solution that includes live chat without additional costs. Although HubSpot does not offer a live-chat-only option, it integrates live chat as part of its lifetime free CRM.

Key features

• Canned messages: Save and reuse responses to frequently asked questions, ensuring quick and consistent replies.
• Branded live chat widget: Customize the chatbox to match your brand’s look and feel.
• Centralized inbox: Keep all customer communications in one place for easy future reference.
• Slack integration: Connect HubSpot with Slack to manage chats and notifications.
• Chatbot builder: Create custom chatbots to automate responses and engage with customers efficiently.

Additional services with free CRM

• Contact and lead management: Manage your contacts and leads effectively.
• Pipeline management: Track and manage your sales pipeline.
• Data insights: Gain valuable insights from data collected across your company.
• Email templates and tracking: Use pre-built templates and track email performance.
• Gmail and Outlook integration: Seamlessly integrate with your email clients.
• Facebook and Instagram lead ads: Generate leads directly from social media.
• Meeting scheduling: Simplify scheduling with integrated meeting tools.
• Live chat and bots: Engage with website visitors and automate interactions with chatbots.

Pricing

• Free Plan: Includes email, live chat, calling, contact and lead management, pipeline management, data insights, email templates, Gmail and Outlook integration, Facebook and Instagram lead ads, meeting scheduling, and more.

Why choose HubSpot?

HubSpot’s free CRM, which includes live chat, is a compelling option for businesses looking to manage customer interactions without incurring extra costs. The integration of email, live chat, and calling in the free plan makes it a comprehensive solution for small businesses and startups.

However, HubSpot does not offer a live chat-only plan, which might be a drawback for businesses solely focused on live chat support. Additionally, while the free plan is robust, advanced features and higher limits are available in paid plans, which could be necessary for larger or rapidly growing businesses.

5. ClickDesk

ClickDesk is an excellent live chat solution designed to convert website visitors into happy customers. It offers a range of communication tools, including live chat, helpdesk, voice chat, and video chat, making it a versatile option for your customer support team.

Key features

• Instant communication: Engage with visitors through live chat, helpdesk, and voice chat.
• Mobile integration: Agents can install ClickDesk on their Android devices and chat directly from their mobile phones.
• Visitor data insights: Access visitor data such as country, location, browser, and history to personalize interactions.
• Proactive messaging: Use proactive messages to encourage visitors to become customers.
• Customizable pop-ups: Customize popup messages in any language to cater to a global audience.
• Social integrations: Allow customers to tweet or share your company information directly from the chat interface.
• Voice and video chat: Provide voice and video chat services.

Pricing

ClickDesk offers a range of pricing plans to suit different business needs:

• Lite Plan: Free for basic live chat features.
• Pro Plan: Starting at $14.99 per agent per month, includes additional features like helpdesk integration and visitor insights.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring advanced features and higher limits.

Why choose ClickDesk?

ClickDesk stands out due to its ability to engage visitors through multiple channels – live chat, voice chat, and video chat – ensuring a thorough and varied customer support experience. This multi-channel engagement allows businesses to meet customers on their preferred communication platform.

However, ClickDesk’s per-agent pricing model can become costly as your team grows, similar to other live chat solutions.

6. Zoho

Zoho Cliq is an ideal solution for remote workplace collaboration. Specifically built to boost team communication and productivity, Zoho Cliq offers a suite of features designed to streamline workflows and foster a sense of togetherness, whether your team is new to remote work or already experienced.

Key features

• Custom bots: Allows you to build your own bots to automate simple workflows and optimize team operations, fully customizable to connect with your existing tool stack.
• Built-in smart assistants: These bots handle routine tasks for your team, boosting productivity.
• AI-powered bot assistant (Zia): Manages events on your behalf by sending invites, updating invitee status, and creating custom group conversations with all invitees.
• Remote collaboration tools: Designed to meet the needs of both new and experienced remote teams, enhancing a sense of working together.

Pricing

Zoho Cliq offers various pricing plans to accommodate different business needs:

• Free Plan: Provides essential chat features for small teams.
• Unlimited Plan: Priced at $3 per user per month, includes advanced features like unlimited message history, custom bots, and extended integrations.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring comprehensive collaboration tools and support.

Why choose Zoho Cliq?

Zoho Cliq stands out as an excellent choice for remote teams due to its extensive automation features. Its focus on remote workplace collaboration also ensures that all team members feel connected and part of a cohesive unit.

However, while Zoho Cliq offers powerful features, the initial setup and learning curve can be steep for some users, particularly those unfamiliar with bot automation and integration processes. Some users might also find that it lacks certain advanced collaboration tools found in more specialized platforms.

7. LiveHelpNow

LiveHelpNow offers a chat support suite designed to handle chat requests instantly across multiple channels, including your website, Facebook page, and SMS text. This platform enables agents to manage multiple chat requests in real-time with minimal effort, making it an ideal solution for businesses of all sizes.

Key features

• Multi-channel support: Handles chat requests from your website, Facebook page, SMS text, and other channels.
• Real-time multi-chat management: Allows agents to handle multiple chat requests simultaneously with ease.
• Easy agent onboarding: Simplifies the process of bringing new agents up to speed.
• Customizable customer experiences: Tailor each interaction to enhance customer satisfaction.
• Multi-brand workflows: Supports both large and small call centers with out-of-the-box multi-brand workflows.

Pricing

LiveHelpNow offers a customizable pricing model to fit various business needs. Their pricing calculator allows you to determine the cost based on your specific requirements, such as the number of agents and desired features.

Why choose LiveHelpNow?

LiveHelpNow stands out for its comprehensive features and easy-to-navigate analytics platform with built-in reporting.

However, it’s important to note that while LiveHelpNow offers robust multi-channel support, some users may find the initial setup and customization complex, particularly for businesses with less technical expertise. Furthermore, while it does offer several integrations, it may not support as wide a range of third-party applications as other solutions.

8. ProProfs

ProProfs is a versatile software offering live chat solutions for a variety of applications, including customer support, sales, e-commerce, lead generation, WordPress, and enterprise needs. Its Gmail-like interface ensures that your team requires no additional training, saving both time and money.

Key features

• Instant help for customers: Delight your customers with immediate support and assistance.
• Anticipate customer queries: Proactively address common questions and concerns.
• Easy chat transfer: Seamlessly transfer chats between agents to ensure the best support.
• Canned responses: Respond faster with pre-saved answers to frequent questions.
• Self-help articles: Provide customers with helpful resources directly within the chat.
• 24/7 chatbot availability: Ensure customers never feel ignored with round-the-clock chatbot support.
• Powerful integrations:
  • Salesforce: Enhance sales efforts with robust CRM integration.
  • Drupal: Add live chat to one of the most powerful CMS platforms.
  • BigCommerce: Improve customer experience and generate more opportunities.
  • MailChimp: Use pre-chat survey data in your marketing campaigns.
  • Google Analytics: Access accurate visitor data for better insights.

Pricing

ProProfs offers various pricing plans to accommodate different business needs:

• Essentials Plan: Starting at $19 per agent per month, including basic live chat features.
• Premium Plan: Priced at $39 per agent per month, offering advanced features like integrations and customizations.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring comprehensive solutions and additional support.

Why choose ProProfs?

The intuitive, Gmail-like interface minimizes the learning curve, enabling your team to start using it immediately without extensive training. This ease of use is a significant advantage for businesses looking to deploy a live chat solution quickly and efficiently.

However, ProProfs’ pricing is per-agent, which can become costly as your team grows.

9. Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer support software designed to help businesses manage customer queries seamlessly. It is well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses that require an efficient and user-friendly tool to offer timely support.

Key features

• Shared inbox: Centralizes customer communication in one place, making it easy for teams to manage emails and chats.
• Knowledge base: Allows businesses to create a comprehensive library of self-help articles for customers.
• Customer profiles: Provides detailed information about customers, helping agents deliver personalized support.
• Collision detection: Prevents multiple agents from responding to the same query simultaneously, ensuring coordinated responses.
• Workflows: Automates repetitive tasks, saving time and increasing efficiency.
• Reporting and analytics: Offers insights into team performance and customer satisfaction through detailed reports.
• Live chat: Engage customers in real-time with embedded chat functionality.
• Custom fields: Capture additional information about customers to tailor the support experience.

Pricing

Help Scout offers several pricing plans to accommodate different business needs:

• Standard Plan: Starting at $25 per user per month, includes essential features like shared inbox, knowledge base, and reporting.
• Plus Plan: Priced at $40 per user per month, adds advanced features such as custom fields and additional integrations.
• Company Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring tailored solutions and additional support.

Why Choose Help Scout?

Help Scout is an excellent choice for businesses looking to simplify their customer support operations. Its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set make it easy for teams to manage customer interactions effectively.

However, it lacks built-in advanced automation features that some larger organizations might require. While Help Scout provides basic workflow automation, it may not be sufficient for businesses that need more complex automation capabilities to handle high volumes of support tickets or intricate customer support processes.

10. HappyFox

HappyFox is a versatile help desk and ticketing software designed to streamline customer support operations. It is well-suited for businesses of all sizes that need an efficient tool to manage customer interactions, automate workflows, and provide exceptional service.

Key features

• Multi-channel support: Manage customer inquiries from various channels, including email, phone, chat, and social media, all from a single platform.
• Ticketing system: Efficiently organize and track customer issues with a powerful ticketing system.
• Automation and workflows: Automate repetitive tasks and set up custom workflows to improve efficiency.
• Knowledge base: Create a comprehensive library of self-help articles for customers.
• Reporting and analytics: Gain insights into support performance with detailed reports and analytics.
• Custom fields and forms: Collect specific information from customers to tailor support interactions.
• SLA management: Ensure timely responses with service level agreement (SLA) management.
• Mobile app: Manage support on the go with HappyFox’s mobile app.

Pricing

HappyFox offers several pricing plans to accommodate different business needs:

• Mighty Plan: Starts at $39 per agent per month, and includes basic ticketing and automation features.
• Fantastic Plan: Priced at $59 per agent per month, adds advanced automation and integrations.
• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations requiring comprehensive solutions and additional support.

Why choose HappyFox?

HappyFox comes with a powerful ticketing system that helps organize all your messages efficiently, while automation and custom workflows reduce the burden of repetitive tasks, allowing support agents to focus on more complex issues.

However, it lacks some real-time collaboration features that some other communication channels, like Slack or Microsoft Teams, offer natively. For businesses that rely heavily on real-time communication and collaboration, this might require additional tools or integrations.

Next Steps: Choosing the Ideal LiveAgent Alternative

Choosing the right tool to boost customer engagement is key for any business.

While LiveAgent is a solid option for many, its per-agent pricing and complexity can be limiting for many teams. LiveAgent alternatives like Social Intents, ProProfs, Help Scout, and others offer a variety of features and pricing structures to suit different needs and budgets.

Are you looking for hassle-free integration with your current communication platforms?

Social Intents is the best tool for those looking for cost-effective, seamless integration with communication channels like Microsoft Teams and Slack. With unlimited agent seats, it is an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.

Ready to take your customer engagement to the next level? Sign up for a free 14-day trial today.