Live chat overlaps with chatbots and customer support
The related tags show that Live Chat spans live conversation, automated chat and customer-support use cases.
The category shares tags with chatbot (307 plugins) and customer-support (277), as well as chat (169) and AI-chatbot (138). Other overlaps include WooCommerce (100), chat-widget (71) and helpdesk (46), pointing to connections with store-related chat and support tools.
How the leading plugins differ in reach and scope
Install counts range from two widely installed plugins to a group of established options with smaller audiences.
- HubSpot All-In-One Marketing: 200,000 active installs.
- 3CX Free Live Chat, Calls & Messaging: 100,000 active installs.
- Tidio: 70,000 active installs; the next listed plugin by reach.
- Buttonizer: 50,000 active installs.
- Chatway Live Chat: 30,000 active installs.
- Crisp and Chat Button & Custom ChatGPT-Powered Bot by GetBut: 20,000 active installs each.
- LiveChat and Zoho SalesIQ: 10,000 active installs each.
Review signals and update recency among leading plugins
The leading plugins have mostly excellent directory ratings, but review volumes differ and do not establish which option fits a particular site.
3CX Free Live Chat, Calls & Messaging and Chatway Live Chat are rated excellent with many reviews. Tidio, Crisp, Chat Button & Custom ChatGPT-Powered Bot by GetBut, LiveChat and WPBot are rated excellent with a moderate number; Buttonizer, Jotform and Animated Floating Chat Button are rated excellent with few. HubSpot All-In-One Marketing is rated good with a moderate number, while Zoho SalesIQ is rated good with few. Updates range from this month for 3CX, Chatway, Crisp, WPBot, Jotform and Animated Floating Chat Button to 11 months ago for Zoho SalesIQ; the other listed plugins were updated between one and five months ago. These are directory signals, not a substitute for evaluating fit.
A fragmented category with broadly recent maintenance
Live Chat has many listed options, while a small number account for the highest install counts and most plugins have recent updates.
- 607 plugins are in the category, but only 2 have at least 100,000 installs and 9 have at least 10,000. This concentration means install reach is limited to a small portion of the field.
- 75% were updated within the last year. That broad maintenance recency is useful context when comparing options, alongside each plugin’s audience and fit.