Free Live Chat Software: Compare Limits and Choose a Plan

Choose free live chat software by matching the work you need done to the exact unit each free plan limits. Do not choose the largest headline number before checking whether it counts sessions, conversations, visitors, messages, seats, or AI interactions.

For example, a team expecting 80 support threads a month should check whether the plan counts operator sessions, billable conversations, or chatbot messages. A 100-unit allowance is not automatically enough, or even comparable, until the vendor’s definition is clear.

Start with three questions: which channels do you need, how many people will operate the inbox, and what activity will consume the plan? Then verify CRM context, routing, privacy controls, installation requirements, and what happens when a quota runs out. The examples below are practical starting points, not universal rankings.

How to choose free live chat software

Choose according to the operating job rather than the biggest advertised allowance:

• High chat volume with few stated capacity restrictions: tawk.to states that its self-managed product has no limits on agents, chats, or sites. This is the vendor’s claim, not an independent capacity audit. See tawk.to’s FAQ.
• Visitor tracking with session-based capacity: Zoho SalesIQ lists operator chat sessions and visitor insights, with its own rules for when a session ends.
• Separate live-chat and AI usage measures: Tidio distinguishes billable conversations, seats, unique visitors or Flows activity, and Lyro AI conversations.
• Rule-based chatbot messaging: SendPulse publishes separate quotas for chatbot count, subscribers, and messages. Those quotas do not mean the same thing as website live-chat capacity.
• Website chat for one operator: Lime Connect’s Free plan lists one seat, one website channel, and 200 conversations.

If CRM follow-up ownership is essential, HubSpot describes live-chat conversations being saved in its CRM. Its current pricing page lists up to two free users and HubSpot branding for live chat. Check the current plan details before signup because packaging and regional pricing can change.

Compare what each free-plan limit actually counts

The selected plan facts below were checked on October 11, 2026. Pricing, packaging, and limits may change, and some pages vary by region or configuration. A session, conversation, visitor, message, seat, and AI interaction are different units.

Vendor	Published free-plan measure	What the unit means	Decision implication
Zoho SalesIQ	3 operator licenses; 100 operator chat sessions per month; visitor insights up to 10,000 visitors per month	Zoho defines a session using its visitor-engagement and closure rules. It is not automatically one conversation or one message thread.	Useful when visitor tracking matters and the team can forecast session-based usage. Check Zoho’s plan table.
Tidio	50 billable conversations; 10 seats in the pricing configurator; 50 free Lyro AI conversations	Tidio uses distinct measures for live-agent conversations and AI. The free Lyro allowance is one-time, not monthly.	Identify which quota applies to the feature you will use. Review Tidio pricing and its Lyro limit explanation.
SendPulse	3 chatbots; up to 500 subscribers; 10,000 messages per month across chatbots	Subscribers, chatbot count, and messages are separate quotas. Messages are not conversations.	Consider it when chatbot messaging is the workload. See the US-selected chatbot plan.
Lime Connect	1 seat; 1 website channel; 200 conversations	The listed Free plan is website-chat-only. The pricing page displays plan and billing conditions that should be rechecked before signup.	Fits a single-operator website-chat requirement if the channel and conversation allowance are sufficient. See Lime Connect pricing.
HubSpot	Up to 2 free users; HubSpot branding on live chat	These are user and branding details, not a published conversation quota in the sources checked.	Consider it when native CRM conversation context is important. Check the current HubSpot pricing page.
tawk.to	Vendor states no limits on agents, chats, or sites for self-managed use	This is tawk.to’s own product description, not an independently audited capacity measure.	Consider it when that stated capacity matters more than documented native CRM context. Confirm current terms on the vendor FAQ.

Tidio’s FAQ describes another free-plan measure, live chat for up to 50 unique visitors per month, and also describes Flows activity. Do not merge those figures with billable conversations or Lyro interactions. For SendPulse, the published 10,000-message figure is across chatbots, not 10,000 customer conversations.

Use precise labels when comparing plans. Free forever means the vendor explicitly describes an ongoing free plan. A free trial expires. A free allowance may be one-time or subject to a separate renewal rule. Do not assume that a quota renews monthly unless the vendor says so.

For a repeatable comparison, keep one record per vendor, plan, region, billing period, metric, source version, and retrieval period. Store the metric name, value, unit, vendor definition, source URL, and date checked. Keep citations as separate source records rather than combining multiple limits into one measurement.

If observations are stored in a shared database, define the row grain before writing. A proposed observation key is vendor_id + plan_name + region + billing_period + metric_name + observation_period + source_version. Use a database-enforced uniqueness constraint or a transactional upsert. A read-then-insert check alone can create duplicate observations when researchers or automated jobs run concurrently.

Match the tool to the operating job

Prioritize the capability tied to the work instead of using an unverified all-purpose feature ranking:

• CRM context and follow-up ownership: HubSpot says its live-chat conversations can be saved in its CRM and describes routing. This supports a qualified HubSpot example, not a direct connection to every CRM. Its live-chat overview describes the product; confirm plan eligibility separately.
• Visitor tracking with session-based capacity: Zoho SalesIQ’s feature overview describes visitor tracking and live chat. Use its pricing page for exact limits and the session definition, not a promotional feature summary.
• Chatbot message volume: SendPulse’s subscriber, message, and bot quotas are relevant if the workload is chatbot messaging. They do not establish that every channel or live-agent feature is included in the same way.
• Single website channel and a small operator team: Lime Connect’s Free plan is listed as website-chat-only, with one seat and 200 conversations. Lime Connect states that it uses German or European hosting and provides GDPR-related controls. Review its DPA, subprocessors, retention, and deletion terms for your use case.

For a small support or sales team, also confirm operator coverage, offline handling, transcript access, and the behavior when a quota is exhausted. If the operational gap is staffing and routing rather than software selection, see ConsultEvo’s website live chat agent support.

Install the widget and verify the live path

A typical website deployment is: configure the vendor property and routing, install the vendor snippet or supported CMS method, publish, then test a visitor message through to the operator inbox. The exact method varies by product.

HubSpot’s external-site instructions require its tracking code before a website chatflow appears. tawk.to documents a property-specific JavaScript snippet, commonly placed before the closing body tag, and notes that Content Security Policy settings can block it. These instructions support widget deployment, not a universal CRM integration or complete automation workflow.

Measure success by confirming that the widget appears only where intended and that a test message is received by the correct operator. For tawk.to, inspect browser-console errors if the widget does not load. Its installation instructions cover the widget snippet and relevant setup issues.

Route chat context into a CRM without creating bad records

HubSpot documents saving its live-chat conversations in its CRM. Do not infer that every chat vendor supports the same CRM connection, API, or export path. Treat the CRM as the system of record for customer identity and the chat platform as the source of conversation events.

Where the chosen system provides a documented write path, use this proposed handling sequence:

1. Receive the submitted conversation and retain its vendor, property, conversation, and event identifiers.
2. Attempt a contact match only when a stable identifier, such as an email address or vendor contact ID, is available and the operator has permission to use it.
3. Update an existing record only when the match is unambiguous. If multiple contacts match, stop and send the case to a CRM administrator or assigned support operator.
4. Limit transcript copying. Save only the context needed for follow-up in fields with appropriate access controls.

The following is an illustrative association record, not a vendor schema:

{
  "source_vendor": "chat platform name",
  "property_id": "vendor-property-123",
  "conversation_id": "conversation-123",
  "event_id": "event-456",
  "visitor_email": "[email protected]",
  "matched_contact_id": null,
  "review_status": "pending"
}

Keep this event record separate from the CRM contact row. For an association event, a proposed idempotency key is source_vendor + conversation_id + event_id + destination_object_type + destination_record_id + event_type. Enforce uniqueness in the destination database or use its transactional upsert. This protects against repeated delivery of the same event while preserving separate contact, conversation, and event grains.

Before a supported CRM write, validate the identifier and permissions, and stop on ambiguous matches. ConsultEvo’s CRM systems consulting is relevant when defining record ownership and validation rules.

Use rules for predictable routing and AI only for a bounded task

Prefer simple rules when the signal is explicit: route a selected billing menu choice, send a submitted order number to support, direct a pricing-page request to sales, or apply business-hours routing. Rules are easier to test and explain than asking AI to infer a known condition.

A hypothetical AI triage design could ask a model only to suggest an intent label when free text does not match a rule. Its output remains a proposal:

{
  "conversation_id": "conversation-123",
  "intent": "billing",
  "confidence": 0.91,
  "rationale": "The message asks about an invoice",
  "review_status": "pending"
}

Parse the output, require the expected fields, check that the intent belongs to an allowed list, and confirm that the conversation ID matches the source event. A human owner reviews low-confidence, malformed, multi-intent, or sensitive cases before any change to CRM ownership, customer status, or lifecycle stage. This is a proposed design, not a claim that every free plan includes this AI workflow or a renewable AI allowance.

Check privacy, accessibility, and plan details before launch

A chat widget can load third-party code and collect personal information through pre-chat forms or transcripts. Lime Connect states that it offers German or European data hosting and GDPR-related controls. Treat those as vendor statements and request the applicable DPA, subprocessors, retention and deletion terms, and data-location details. The reviewed materials do not independently establish WCAG 2.0 AA conformance, so test the actual widget in your website context.

The best free plan is the one whose limits match the work you expect and whose installation, privacy, and follow-up responsibilities have named owners. Recheck vendor plan pages before launch because limits and packaging can change.