7 Best Open Source Live Chat Software to Enhance Customer Experience

Having a live chat feature on your website is no longer an option – it‘s a necessity for providing excellent customer service in today‘s digital landscape. Studies show that 38% of customers are more likely to buy from businesses that offer live chat support.

While paid SaaS solutions can useful, open source options provide more control, customization, and potential cost savings. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore the top 7 open source live chat tools to help you better engage customers in real-time:

1. Chatwoot: Full-Featured and Intuitive

Chatwoot Interface

Chatwoot is used by over 1,000 organizations to power conversational customer support. The intuitive interface enables agents to manage multiple conversations easily.

Key benefits:

  • Visually appealing and customizable widgets fit any brand
  • Supports 10+ languages with emojis and typing indicators
  • Real-time admin dashboard for monitoring performance
  • Open-source foundation allows customization as needed

As an open source platform, Chatwoot brings the flexibility to adapt the software to evolving business requirements.

Pricing: Free and open source. Paid plans start at $17 per agent/month.

2. Live Helper Chat: Packed With Enterprise Features

Live Helper Chat equips SMBs with enterprise-grade live chat capabilities out of the box. Despite easy setup, it boasts robust functionality like video/voice chat, screen sharing, and third-party API integrations.

Standout features:

  • SMS, Facebook Messenger, Telegram integrations
  • Visitor tracking across domains
  • Screenshot tools
  • File drag and drop
  • Custom forms and data pre-filling

The open source codebase features a bootstrap foundation and lean architecture for scalability. Rapid bug fixes and version releases make it developer-friendly.

Pricing: Free and open source. Paid licensing available.

3. Helpy: Unified Live Chat and Email Support

Helpy adopts an omnichannel approach, unifying live chat, email, and self-serve customer support. If agents miss a chat, they can continue the conversation seamlessly via email.

Key features:

  • Email notifications on new messages/chats
  • Team assignment for specialized support
  • Contextual knowledge base suggestions
  • Visitor email collection system

Helpy makes it easy to personalize support and follow-up without losing ticket context across channels. Its open source architecture allows deep customization as well.

Pricing: Free 14-day trial. Open source download available.

4. Papercups: Consolidated Inbox Across Channels

Papercups enables businesses to manage customer messaging across live chat, email, SMS, and popular channels like Slack from one unified inbox.

Why businesses love Papercups:

  • Single pane of glass for multiple communication channels
  • Highly customizable chat widget without coding
  • Straightforward integration with web/mobile apps
  • Scales to enterprise-level volumes

While packed with features, Papercups remains intuitive and easy to use for both agents and customers. Its open source model also allows complete control over your customer data.

Pricing: Free for unlimited users. Open source on GitHub.

5. Chaskiq: Omnichannel Bot and Live Chat

Chaskiq combines the power of chatbots and live chat for well-rounded support. Businesses can engage customers over chat, video, messaging, and popular social media channels.

Notable capabilities:

  • Schedule recurring bot actions to automate repetitive tasks
  • Embed media like videos and Zoom meetings
  • Use segment filters to target specific groups
  • Knowledge base to surface help articles
  • Unified insights across all conversations

The platform is secured end-to-end via JSON web encryption. As an open source solution, the possibilities for customization are endless as well.

Pricing: Free for 3 agents. Open source code on GitHub.

6. Tawk: Simple, Trusted Provider

Tawk doesn‘t fit the open source mold but remains free and incredibly simple to incorporate on sites. It starts working instantly after pasting a lightweight JavaScript snippet before the closing tag.

Key perks:

  • Mobile apps to monitor chats on-the-go
  • Support for 45+ languages out of the box
  • Shortcuts to speed up response time
  • Used by leading brands like Dominos and Chevrolet

Tawk won‘t provide full flexibility for customization, being a SaaS app. But its ease of use, trusted status, and generous free tier make it tough to ignore.

Pricing: Free. Paid plans from $39/month.

7. Tiledesk: All-In-One With Chatbots

Tiledesk combines live chat, chatbots, and omnichannel support functionality in one seamless package. The integrated bot leverages machine learning to address common questions using a knowledge base before routing to humans.

Essential features:

  • Chatbots proactively resolve frequent queries
  • Skill-based routing to agents
  • File sending from both agents and visitors
  • Saved chat history for future reference
  • Fully customizable and brandable

Tiledesk enables small businesses to deliver enterprise-level, automated customer service support. And of course, the open source code allows you to modify the platform to your needs.

Pricing: Free version. Open source GitHub repo.

Get Started With Live Chat to Connect With Customers

Live chat software gives you invaluable direct lines of communication to customers when they need it most. Using an open source solution empowers further customization so that the platform evolves perfectly in line with your business.

Choose the open source live chat tool aligning closest with your feature needs and requirements. With the right solution in place, get ready to drive more conversions and boost customer satisfaction.