With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP), chatbot apps are a vital bridge between businesses and customers. Companies like H&M, Sephora and Amazon use chatbots and live chat solutions to support their impressive customer experience.

Before you jump on the bandwagon, though, you need to know what your options are. Our analysts have done the heavy lifting and curated a list of the leading chatbot apps. Let’s take a look!

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Best Chatbot Apps

From helping customers find the perfect outfit to offering makeup tips and product recommendations, chatbot apps revolutionize how we interact with businesses. Let’s look at some notable chatbot apps that can provide a seamless and convenient user experience.

Best Overall: LiveChat

LiveChat provides solutions that enhance customer engagement and streamline business operations. This AI-powered bot provides personalized assistance by combining automation and human interaction. Some key features include chat transcripts, analytics, customizable chat widgets and more.

Connect with users in real time to track ongoing query requests.

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Chat Routing — 100
• Custom Chatbots — 100
• Pre-chat Survey Forms — 100
• Masking Information — 100
• Pre-built Templates— 100

Top Benefits

• Reduce Costs: Automate routine tasks like processing orders, scheduling appointments and answering frequently asked questions (FAQs). Reduce staffing costs by allowing chatbots to handle product questions, orders and shipping status. Simultaneously handle multiple queries to reduce the need for additional human representatives.
• Increase Sales: Provide targeted promotions and suggests additional products based on customer browsing behavior and purchase history to increase average order. Help customers find relevant products, add products to carts and complete the checkout process.
• Boost Customer Relationships: Collect feedback on customer needs and preferences, and make improvements accordingly. Reduce frustration by providing prompt, accurate and reliable responses.
• Access a Free Trial: Get a 14-day trial for free.

Primary Features

• Work Scheduler: Customize chatbot scheduling, including its availability in days and hours. Time zone support ensures chatbot availability based on customer time zones. Customize messages during non-business hours to display the chatbot’s unavailability.
• Embedded Chat: Create and customize chat window design to match the brand and website. Access customer service through preferred channels like web, mobile and social media. Allow customers to connect with a human representative via the live chat option.
• Chat Notes: Take real-time notes during customer chat sessions and keep important details intact. Customize notes such as custom fields, tags and other details specific to the company workflow. Seamless integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems allows companies to track customer interactions and history.
• Agent-to-Agent Chat: Provide real-time collaboration between human agents to ensure team members are up-to-date. Transfer chats to another agent if necessary. It also includes private messaging, which allows agents to communicate with each other without the customer being aware.
• Banning Website Visitors: Identify repeat offenders and take appropriate action by keeping track of previous bans for specific visitors. Ban visitors based on their IP address to prevent access from different devices and websites.

Limitations

• No free plans.
• System overloads might impact the app’s speed.
• Opening another chat window may lose your current conversation.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Chat Message Translation — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Co-browsing — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Voice Messaging — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Lead Qualification — Supported With Partner Integrations

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Best for Handling Tickets: LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a customer service platform that provides several tools to manage online interactions. It combines live chat, ticketing and automation features that offer a complete solution. It also helps businesses improve their customer support operations by automating routine tasks, reducing response times and providing personalized customer experiences.

View and respond to queries from a universal messaging inbox. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Audio and In-app Notification — 100
• Dashboard Customization — 100
• File Sharing — 100
• Chat Routing — 100
• Canned Responses — 100

Top Benefits

• Increase Revenue: Provide immediate responses to reduce wait times and increase customer retention. It can engage website visitors to gather information and pass it on to the sales team for follow-ups. Reduces support team workload and saves labor costs by automating queries.
• Boost Conversions: Suggest additional services to increase conversion rate using previous chat and purchasing history. Instant support during the checkout process reduces cart abandonment.
• Improve Customer Service: 24/7 support allows customers to get help when needed. It can automate FAQs and help the support team to focus on more complex issues. It also supports multiple languages and communicates with customers across different countries.

Primary Features

• White Labeling: Customize chatbot conversation flow and language to match brand voice and tone. It maintains a consistent brand image and provides a more personalized and professional customer experience.
• Multiple Integrations: Integrate chatbots with help desk software like Zendesk or Freshdesk to manage issues and support tickets in a single location. It also seamlessly integrates with CRM platforms like Salesforce or HubSpot that automatically sync customer data and interactions.
• Analytics: Track conversation volume to identify trends and patterns in customer behavior and adjust accordingly. NLP helps track conversation duration to identify improvement areas and dissatisfaction.
• Workflow Rules: Set specific trigger events to activate workflow rules, like customers asking specific questions about products and services or expressing frustration. It also defines specific actions that can take place during workflow rule activation (sending specific messages or triggering specific actions).

Limitations

• Doesn’t provide an accurate number of visitors on site.
• The SMS chat feature is missing.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Customizing Chatbots — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Adding CTA Button — Not Supported
• Chat Message Translation — Not Supported
• A/B Testing — Not Supported

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Best for Omnichannel Support: Freshdesk Messaging

Freshdesk Messaging is an omnichannel platform that enhances customer support by automating interactions and providing fast and accurate responses. It uses AI and NLP to understand customer requests and provide real-time responses. It can seamlessly integrate with several messaging platforms to engage customers on their preferred channels.

Schedule emails to customers at a later date and time.

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Adding CTA Button — 100
• Agent-to-Agent Chat — 100
• Offline Behavior Configuration — 100
• Chatbot Customization — 100
• Chat Routing — 100

Top Benefits

• Improve Customer Support: Leverage customer data and previous interactions to offer a more personalized experience, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Automated chatbots, canned responses and routing rules help respond to customer queries quickly and efficiently.
• Increase Efficiency: Create canned responses to respond quickly to regular problems. Set up routing rules to automatically redirect queries to the appropriate support team or agent. Collaboration tools allow support teams to work together and resolve issues in real time.
• Boost Productivity: Manage all customer communication channels from a single dashboard. Share notes, assign tasks and transfer conversations to streamline customer support processes.
• Try for Free: Get the 21-day trial version.

Primary Features

• Chat Transcripts: View and manage customer chat conversations. It provides a complete history, including messages exchanged, conversation time, date, and any notes or tags associated with the conversation.
• Target Messages: Create target audiences based on location, pages visited, past interactions and more. Customize personalized messages for visitors to see when they visit the website.
• Pre-built Chatbot Templates: Set up chatbots quickly and easily without building them from scratch. Train the chatbot to understand and respond efficiently by adding more training data.
• Canned Responses: Answer questions using pre-written responses. Organize canned responses into categories and use tags to help find them quickly. Users can customize the response as needed before sending it to the customer.

Limitations

• Some say the co-browsing feature needs improvement.
• Obtain basic features like targeted messages in the paid version.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Internal Chat — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Visitor Chat Preview — Not Supported
• Voice Messaging Capability — Supported With Workarounds
• Lead Qualification — Supported With Additional Modules
• Customize Email Template — Not Supported

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Best for Generating Leads: Drift

Drift is a conversational marketing and sales platform that uses a chatbot app to communicate with website visitors in a conversational and personalized manner. It can handle multiple tasks like answering FAQs, providing product recommendations, scheduling appointments and even processing payments. It also uses NLP to understand and respond to requests that feel like a human conversation.

Agents can share screens with customers during a chat or video call. Source

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Email Template Customization — 100
• White Labeling — 100
• Pre-built Reports — 100
• Privacy and Data Protection — 100
• Platform Integration — 100

Top Benefits

• Shorten Sales Cycle: Identify potential leads and engage with customers before they leave the website. AI helps qualify leads based on website behavior and chatbot interactions. Provide personalized recommendations and address specific pain points to build customer trust, making them more likely to purchase.
• Improve Lead Generation: Capture leads through customized lead capture forms. Improve lead generation efforts by requesting customer information and offering incentives like exclusive content or free trials.
• Minimize Costs: Reduce support team workload by automating tasks like lead qualification, scheduling appointments and answering common questions. Offers a knowledge base or FAQ section for customers to resolve problems without human assistance. Data-driven insights into customer behavior and preferences help optimize sales and marketing strategies.

Primary Features

• Webhooks: Allows for real-time data transfer between different applications when an event occurs, such as new conversations, leads or appointments. Set up multiple endpoints for a webhook that sends data to multiple applications or services.
• Data Export: Export data from platforms using multiple formats such as CSV and JSON. Users with access to this data can conduct customer and trend analysis and reporting.
• CRM Integration: Provide real-time data synchronization to ensure both platforms have the latest information. Set up automated lead routing to assign leads to relevant teams based on predefined rules.
• Agent-to-Agent Chat: Communicate with each other privately using separate channels. Access relevant customer information and conversations while they collaborate.
• Chat Widgets: Customize and create chat widgets that match the brand and website design. Optimize widgets to access support from any device. It also supports multiple languages for businesses to engage with several customers simultaneously.

Limitations

• No support is available in the free plan.
• Doesn’t support messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, SMS text messaging and WhatsApp.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Internal Chat — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Masking Sensitive Information — Not Supported
• Preview Chat Messages — Not Supported
• Voice Messaging Capability — Not Supported
• Support Ticket Creation — Supported With Partner Integrations

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Best for Customization: Intercom

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that provides personalized, real-time customer support while reducing support workloads. It can seamlessly transfer chats to live support for further assistance.

Manage all customer conversations in one place.

Highest Rated Features According to Our Data

• Forward Chat Conversations — 100
• Multiple Software Integration — 100
• Adding Tags to Tickets — 100
• Role-based Permission — 100
• Custom Reports — 100

Top Benefits

• Increase Sales: Qualify leads and drive sales by providing personalized product and service recommendations, and asking targeted questions. It automates certain sales processes like lead nurturing and follow-up to save time, resources and labor costs.
• Minimize Costs: Handle large volumes of customer issues and support requests, freeing customer support representatives to focus on higher-level tasks. Businesses can scale customer support and sales operations without additional resources.
• Improve Customer Experience: Provide helpful responses using customer browsing history and other relevant information. Resolve issues quickly and enhance customer experience by providing real-time support.
• Reduce Workload: Provide FAQs and knowledge base articles for users to get their queries answered. Streamline workflows by automating and integrating certain tasks with other tools.

Primary Features

• Chat Distribution: Users can manually assign conversations to themselves or other team members. Distribute conversations in a round-robin fashion to ensure all team members receive an equal number of conversations.
• Customer Feedback: Gather customer feedback to understand customer needs and preferences and identify improvement areas. Set up automated customer feedback requests after a specific event or action (purchase or a support interaction).
• Pre-built Chatbot Templates: Customize and change the chatbot language, appearance and functionality to match the company brand and communication style. It supports multiple languages that allow businesses to create chatbots for a global audience.
• Chat Routing: Automatically routes incoming chat conversations to the most appropriate agent based on factors like availability, skill set and workload.

Limitations

• Poor customer service.
• Too expensive.

Features Not Fully Supported According to Our Data

• Custom Field — Not Supported
• Co-browsing — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Pre-chat Survey Customization — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Agent-to-Agent Chat — Supported With Partner Integrations
• Voice Messaging Capability — Not Supported

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Why Businesses Need Chatbot Apps

Chatbot apps have emerged as powerful tools to achieve several business goals. With the ability to provide personalized and immediate support, chatbots can improve customer satisfaction, increase sales and conversions, and reduce customer service costs. As a result, businesses across industries are increasingly turning to chatbot apps to enhance their customer service and engagement strategies.

Here are several reasons why businesses need live chat apps:

• Increased Sales and Conversions: Customers who use live chat are often more likely to purchase since they spend more than customers who don’t use live chat.
• Improved Customer Experience: Live chat apps can offer a more personalized and immediate experience. They also provide real-time assistance and support that may lead to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
• Analytics and Insights: Analytics and insights improve customer experiences and identify improvement areas. Businesses can use this information to further optimize sales and marketing strategies.
• Cost Savings: Reduce customer service costs by letting support teams handle multiple chat conversations. Many live chat apps offer automated chatbots to manage customer issues, reducing the need for human intervention.
• Increased Efficiency: Features like chat routing, canned responses and chat history can help support teams handle queries more quickly and effectively. They can also streamline communication processes and improve overall team efficiency.

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How We Choose Products

Our team of writers and analysts at SelectHub is committed to giving you the best recommendations based on our data. To make our list, products had to meet two criteria:

1. Closely match the topic
2. Earn a top-5 analyst score in our selection platform

Our analyst scores are based on an in-depth research process using primary and secondary sources. This includes SelectHub Analyst Briefings, direct communication with vendors, and reviewing materials such as user reviews, product brochures, specification sheets, case studies, user manuals, and technical documentation.

Our platform’s Scoring Engine processes the research and computes the analyst score. The score also factors in platform settings such as industry and company size.

Learn more about our research methodology and editorial standards

ChatGPT and the Future of Chatbot Apps

AI models like ChatGPT are cutting-edge chatbot apps with powerful conversational capabilities that understand user intent. ChatGPT can generate human-like responses for more natural and engaging interactions.

Its skyrocketing popularity is due to its advanced language generation capabilities, extensive training, continual model improvements, public availability through APIs, community engagement and demonstrated success in real-world use cases.

ChatGPT leverages advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques to understand user queries and context more effectively. It can handle complex sentence structures, interpret intent and extract relevant information from user inputs. This enhanced NLP understanding allows similar chatbots to provide accurate and relevant responses.

Want to meal-prep your food for the week but need ideas? Ask ChatGPT to stand in as your shopper and suggest recipes. Need help writing a cover letter for a new job? ChatGPT can look over your resume and suggest talking points. We have only scratched the surface of what AI like this can do.

Frequently Asked Questions

Every chatbot app varies based on factors like use cases, industry type, user journeys, business needs and more. Let’s take a look at some of the key questions users frequently ask:

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Next Steps

From lead generation and customer support to sales and marketing, chatbots offer several benefits that streamline business operations and drive growth. Although chatbot apps have become essential for businesses looking to improve their customer experience and stay ahead of the competition, choosing the best one can be challenging.

Use our free comparison report to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the top chatbot apps on the market.

Which of these chatbot apps have you used? Tell us in the comments!