7 Best HTML Live Chat Widgets for Websites to Use Free in 2024

One of the best ways to improve the customer support experience as a whole on your website is to provide live chat support using a website chat widget or chat box.

Even though you can integrate other direct communication methods such as emails, helpdesk support, and phone assistance, using live chat widgets on websites gives you many advantages and opportunities as a website owner.

There are many live chat widget providers. But, services categories based on the type of service:

1. Social Live Chat widget providers: These services integrate social messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, and Viber and let you provide customer support through those platforms.
2. Business Live Chat messengers: These are custom live chat software developed by companies and provide more functionalities such as Chat Bots, Product Tours, Event Tracking, and In-app messages.
3. Group chat widget providers: These custom-built chat widgets allow website users to chat together in one room and see each other’s messages. They are similar to YouTube’s Chat widget and Twitch’s chat box on live streams.

Each live chat widget type has its own pros and cons. Essentially, social live chat widgets give you direct access to people’s social messaging accounts while business messaging services are more suited for businesses who are looking for more than a live chat box widget on a website.

How can you add a live chat widget for a website?

In our recent article on best social media HTML widgets, we shared a few social live chat widgets, including Instagram DM widgets. However, in this article, you will find out the best chat widgets for websites, their top features, and demos.

The specialty of some of these widgets is they support multiple social messaging services and lets you offer multiple chat options for your website users.

5 tips to consider when using website chat widgets

1. Customize the widget – Most website chat widget creators provide templates and let you change the widget’s appearance using designing tools and custom CSS. Add a human touch to the widget and emphasize the instantaneousness of replies (by adding a convincing chat header text such as ‘Typically replies within minutes’) and display human faces.
2. Utilize available messaging platforms – Provide as many messaging channels as possible. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Instagram DM are some popular services you can consider.
3. Concern about the user experience – One of the biggest complaints about using fixed HTML widgets on a website, such as a floating live chat box, is that it directly impacts the user experience. Hence, display it only where required, such as the pricing comparison and services details pages, and position it on the proper placement on your site (e.g., left bottom or right bottom).
4. A/B test – It’s not guaranteed that using live chat widgets on websites will end in positive results for your business, even though studies & data¹ show it does. Test your landing pages with and without chat prompt messages and entire chat widgets.
5. Concern about website loading speed – One potential issue with using excessive third-party plugins and apps on a website is that it can greatly impact how quickly your site loads. According to studies², web page loading time inversely impacts the conversion rate. Since messaging services such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp can load third-party scripts dynamically, using a social chat widget can increase HTTPS requests and page loading time. You can use a script management service such as Google Tag Manager or Cloudflare’s Zaraz to load third-party scripts asynchronously and control the script loading sequence.

Best Chat Widget Creators to Add Chat Box for Websites

Elfsight’s All-in-One Chat Widget

Elfsight is an online service that provides no-code widget builders to create HTML widgets for websites, online stores, shops, and HTML web apps. Its apps catalog consists of over 80 apps ranging from review aggregators (ex: All-in-One Reviews, Facebook Reviews, Amazon Reviews widget), web components (ex: Contact Form creator, Logo slider, Photo Gallery, Business Hours), to website chat widgets (ex: Line Chat, Facebook Chat, Viber Chat).

Elfsight’s All-in-One Chat Widget is free-to-use and provides ready-to-use templates, visual editor, and customization features.

Features:

• Stay reachable in all most used messengers at once – One of the reasons why Elfsight’s Chat widget is the best chat box for a website is the choices you can provide for your website users to contact you online. The complete list includes WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram, Line, Rumble Talk, and Viber.
• 10 templates – Elfsight has added ten live chat widget designs to get you to start. And you can customize each of these on a customizable panel.
• 3 variants of chat positions – They are Floating Bubble, Embed Bubble, Embed Chat Window. Floating Bubble will follow when visitors scroll the page and stay visible. Embed Chat Window will basically add a chat box without opening messages, making it best to use as an inline chat box widget. Furthermore, the floating website chat widget can be aligned at the center, left, or right to improve user experience on your site.
• Chat widget display settings – These settings are used to activate/deactivate the widget based on pages, devices, and visitors. For instance, you can enable Elfsight’s website Chat box for new visitors visiting your service page, pricing page, and booking page and hide it on the client dashboard.
• Date & Time settings for chat widget occurrence – These settings allow you to permit when to display the chat box on your site. For example, you can disable it from appearing on weekends. Also, a Time Schedule feature lets you automatically show/hide the live chatbox widget depending on your specific time. For example, disable the chat widget outside of business hours.
• Chat-opening triggers – Set the type of user behavior that will open the chat window automatically. The choices are One Page Load, Time On Page, Time One Site, Scroll Position, and Exit Intent.
• Greeting message – Create a custom welcome message for your chat widget. In the greeting text field, you are allowed to add text, fonts, lists, and links.
• Browser notifications – Attract visitors’ attention to your chat by adding a notification marker to the chat bubble and a notice to the title.
• Customize widget – Change the appearance of the widget by changing fonts, colors, and animations. Also, there is a custom CSS field that you can use to transform the look of the website chat widget as you prefer.
• Preview the widget before publication, share a widget via a link, duplicate widgets, stats, and more.

How to create a Chat widget for a website using Elfsight

Use the following widget builder to create a live chat widget:

Or sign up on Elfsight from here, search “All-in-One Chat” app on the Apps Catalog, and start designing your widget.

Here’s a video tutorial on using Elfsight to create a free chat widget.

Live Chat HTML Code

Once you have created the widget, you will be given an embed code for the live chat widget, slightly similar to the one shown in the screenshot below.

The live chat HTML code consists of a JavaScript part and an HTML div with the class identifier.

<script src="https://static.elfsight.com/platform/platform.js" data-use-service-core defer></script>
<div class="elfsight-app-3389fe7f-e33a-4371-afdd-a196cb7e03d9" data-elfsight-app-lazy></div>

Copy and paste the embed code before the closing body tag (</body) if you created a floating website chat widget. You should place the HTML code (especially the div HTML code) in which you want to embed the chat widget (if you created an embedded chat window).

Note: You only have to place the JavaScript part on your website once, even if you have installed other Elfsight widgets, such as a back-to-top button, background music, and Tumblr feed widgets.

Pricing

Elfsight’s All-in-One Chat widget is free to use. However, the free plan is limited to one free website chat widget, with 200 total views per month and Elfsight branding on the widget. Paid plans start from $10 per month, and each plan offers more chat widgets and views per app, removing Elfsight branding.

Click here to try Elfsight’s All-in-One Chat widget.

WidgetSquad’s All-In-One Chat Widget

WidgetSquad is a service similar to Elfsight that offers 20+ Social Proof, Fomo & Feed widgets. Some of its widgets are WhatsApp Chat widget, Facebook Chat widget, Emoji feedback, Cookie banner generator, and social email collector.

WidgetSquad’s All-in-One Chat widget lets you offer chat options for website users via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, or Telegram and provides customizable options to make the widget as unique as you want.

Features:

• Connect multiple messaging platforms – WidgetSquad supports WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, and Telegram platforms for the All-in-One Chat plugin.
• Trigger options – Specify where, on which devices, and how often the chat widget should appear. For example, you can delay the appearance by a specific time (in seconds) and hide widgets on certain pages on your site.
• Display position – Available options are Bottom Right and Bottom Left.
• Customization – Change colors, borders, shadows, and entrance & exit animations.

Pricing

WidgetSquad’s All-in-One Chat widget is free-to-use. However, the free plan is limited to up to 5,000 widget impressions per month, and the website chat box contains WidgetSquad’s brand logo.

Click here to try WidgetSquad’s All-In-One Chat widget.

Widgio’s All-in-One Live Chat Widget

Widgio is another website that provides widgets for websites to add functionalities and display data. It’s an alternative to services such as Powr. It provides 65+ widgets ranging in different categories, including Reviews (e.g., Etsy reviews widget), Content (e.g., RSS News Feed widget), Images (e.g., Photo Gallery widget), and Chat (e.g., Discord Chat widget).

Widgio’s All-in-One Chat widget allows you to add a social chat widget or social DM widget on your website and let website users contact you directly on your site.

Features:

• Chat users through multiple social messenger services – Widgio supports Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Line, Discord, Rumble Talk, and Viber. You can turn any service on or off at any moment.
• Customize chat widget – You can edit various items of the widget such as text & icon on the chat bubble button, name of agent, reply time text (ex: typically replies within minutes), agent’s profile picture, message text, and chat start text.
• Change appearance – Even though appearance customization options aren’t as rich as Elfsight’s, you can still change the color of the bubble button & text and the chat window header & text.

Pricing

Widgio’s All-in-One Chat widget is free to use. However, the free plan is limited in views and embeds Widgio’s logo on widgets. Paid plans start from £5/month.

Click here to try Widgio’s All-in-One Live Chat widget.

Sleekflow’s Live Chat

Seekflow’s Live Chat and Chatbot solutions for businesses allow you to embed a social chat widget that supports multiple social messaging networks on a website.

Features:

• All-in-one social live chat widget – Sleekflow supports WhatsApp, Instagram (DM), Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Telegram, and Line platforms.
• Omnichannel message inbox – Manage conversations from all messaging platforms with different real-time customers on your website in one place.
• Real-time tracking and analytics – You can get an in-depth understanding of what page your customers are browsing on your website.
• Widget customization – Design your widget to match your brand identity.
• Mobile application, team collaboration, and more.

Pricing

Sleekflow is a free chat widget provider for websites. Its free plan supports three messaging channels. To try all the social channels, such as WhatsApp, subscribe to a paid plan starting from $99/month.

Click here to try Sleekflow’s Live Chat solutions.

NovoChat’s Multi-Channel Widget

NovoChat is a website chat widget provider with features like WhatsApp automation, Team Inbox, and Shopify integration.

Its Multi-Channel widget lets you add a live chat widget to a website and have a two-way social messaging apps widget embedded on your site.

Features:

• Add multiple channels to one chat widget – Connect with WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram, Instagram, and LINE and give users options to chat.
• Analytics – Measure conversational activity, agents’ activity, and resolution times.
• Team members – Add your staff to assist in helping customers via the live chat widget.

Pricing

Novochat is a paid service, and a subscription is required to use the Multi-Channel chat widget. Plans start from $40 per month.

Click here to try Novochat’s Multi-Channel widget.

Fouita’s Social Chat widget

Fouita is an HTML widget generator for websites with 40+ widgets available to use. Some of its widgets are the table of contents, pricing table builder, audio player, and contact form.

Fouita’s Social Chat widget lets you add chat links to your social messaging accounts on one widget.

Features:

• Multiple social messaging platforms – WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, Line, Telegram, Messenger.
• Templates – Choose a preferred widget template to use on your website.
• Customize widget – Customize the agent’s name, profile picture, and welcome message, turn the auto prompt on/off, and change the widget’s appearance. Also, there is a custom CSS insertion field where you can edit the look of the widget further.
• Triggers and conditions – Specify when and where to show the live chat widget on your website. For example, you can show the widget after a visitor stays a particular time on the page and schedule the widget showcase to hide it during business offline hours.
• Stats on widget displays, preview widgets on mobile, and more.

Pricing

Fouita’s widget pricing starts from free. The free plan includes the following features:

• 5 projects (to organize widgets)
• 5,000 views per month
• 50 widgets per project
• Integrations

You must upgrade to a paid plan starting from $29/month for more increased projects and views per month.

Click here to try Fouita’s Social Chat.

SocialProofy’s All-in-One Chat widget

SocialProofy is another website that provides widgets for websites. Its 30+ Social Proof widgets include ones such as Scratch & Win, Video Popup, Live Visitors, and live chat widgets for websites.

Its All-in-One Chat widget lets you create and embed a multi-channel social messaging widget on websites.

Features:

• Link all your social messaging platforms – SocialProofy supports Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Line, Discord, RumblrTalk, and X (previously known as Twitter).
• Customize widget – Change chat header (chat representative name, profile picture, job position, organization), chat body (welcome message and button title), and widget appearance.
• Triggers – Specify where to display the chat widget on your site.

Pricing

SocialProofy’s plans follow, as shown in the screenshot below.

Click here to try SocialProofy’s All-in-One Chat widget.

Which is the best live chat widget solution?

It depends on your needs and situation. In this article, you found several services to create social live chat messaging widgets using social messengers such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype. Additionally, there are simple live chat widget generators such as Get.chat’s Chat widget creator and GetButton.io and WordPress plugins such as Chaty. But most of those are expensive and do not provide substantial features.

The best part is all of the listed live support widgets are all-in-one chat widget providers.

Sleekflow’s Live Chat comes with an omnichannel inbox in which you can manage all the messages. However, it’s expensive compared to others.

If you are looking for a simple yet customizable and, most importantly, reliable (from a privacy policy standpoint and platform-wise), Elfsight’s All-in-One Chat widget would be a good choice.

It’s free to use (it provides all the features even in the free plan), can upgrade or downgrade whenever required, and can try all other Elfsight widgets, such as social feed widgets. Also, it can be installed on any platform, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, Shopify, Google Sites, and custom HTML sites created using a static site generator.

Furthermore, in many situations, you might have to display a countdown widget, make a map of multiple locations, and use an HTML number counter on your website. On those times, you can use Elfsight.

You can also try others such as Widgio, Socialproofy, and Fouita. However, those lack templates and customization options compared to Elfsight.

Final words on Best Live Chat Widgets

According to studies³, the addition of live chat software to a website typically causes a 20% increase in conversion. Chatters are 2.8x more likely to convert than visitors who don’t chat. Among the two chat widget types, social chat widgets are the easiest to implement, and they get you messages from real people.

Choose the right chat widget for your website, customize it, position it on the proper placement on the webpage, set accurate business hours, and add your assistants to respond to messages.

Resources & Footnotes:

1. Relevant Live Chat Software Statistics (FinancesOnline) ↩︎
2. Site Speed is (Still) Impacting Your Conversion Rate (Portent) ↩︎
3. The Importance of Live Chat Customer Support (Invespcro) ↩︎