Top 5 JivoChat Alternatives to Push Your Business to a New Level

Today, when the market can offer numerous customer communication tools and the set of features is relatively similar, how do you make a decision? In this case, price, design, support, and who stands behind the brand come upfront. 

Indeed, 87% of respondents say that the price is one of the most important indicators when choosing a brand to buy from. Moreover, 71% choose a company that shares their worldview and values (do you? 🤨). 

In this post, we will go through the main reasons why users look for a JivoChat alternative and also introduce you to the top-5 software for communication with customers to choose from. 

What is JivoChat?

JivoChat is a live chat software for online businesses to talk with clients in real-time. It offers live chat for websites, emails, calls, and social media integration. All conversations are stored in one inbox. The app is available for iOS and Android.

For a few weeks, there had been a banner displayed on the JivoChat landing page. It informed users about some technical issues that caused poor work of the service. It’s one of the reasons why you might want to find an alternative to JivoChat. But let’s take this step by step.

Main features:

• Instant callbacks for visitors. Allows to call users back in 27 seconds.
• Integration with social media messengers. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp messages get to the Jivo app, from where you can manage them.
• Visitor monitoring in real-time. You can track your visitors and initiate conversations based on the setup triggers. 
• CRM. Customers’ tickets from different channels are automatically saved in Jivo CRM, where you can plan tasks, create automatic notifications, and set up funnels.
• Video calls. You can call clients with a video to assist them better by showing a product or sharing the screen.

JivoChat pricing:

• Basic: free for the first 5 operators with limited functionality
• Professional: $29/mo per agent if billed monthly (14-day free trial)

Capterra rating: 4.6 

Why look for the JivoChat alternative?

One of the steps in the consumer decision-making process is research and alternatives evaluation. That’s why you are here I guess. And my task is to show you both sides of the coin. I’ve already listed the main features of Jivo. Now it’s time to show you what’s behind the curtain and who stands behind the app.  

JivoChat is a Russian company that was established in 2012. Considering the war launched against Ukraine by Russia, the country came under unprecedented sanctions, which no other state has ever known. Consequently, it brings new risks for foreign companies and pushes businesses to search for a JivoChat alternative. 

Some of the risks are as follows:

• Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia, hence, causing difficulties with the payment process from abroad;
• Russian servers might also get under sanctions and hacker attacks;
• Jivo has blocked many clients from Ukraine and we can only guess if this will affect users from other countries in the future. 
• The company is owned by Sberbank which belongs to the National Welfare Fund of Russia and is managed directly by the Russian authorities. The organization will be banned from SWIFT as part of a new sanctions package. The fate of subsidiaries may be at stake. 

Another reason to think twice before subscribing to JivoChat is that by paying money to them, to the Russian majority state-owned banking, you are sponsoring the killings of Ukrainian kids, women, and men.

On the features side, Jivo lacks some important opportunities like a knowledge base and email marketing functionality. Others don’t like that their chatbot is not native which can cause problems when you manage chats or conduct analysis. Some users report frequent bugs and express dissatisfaction with the support team and design. So, say, you’re looking for alternatives to Intercom live chat. Could Jivo be your choice? Absolutely not.

Businesses also complain about the lack of functionality on a free version. If you want to have a solid solution for communication with customers, you eventually need to pay for a professional plan which is relatively expensive in comparison to other software on the market today. 

In short, we encourage you to evaluate all pros and cons carefully before making a purchase decision.

Top 5 JivoChat alternatives

Here is a comprehensive list of alternatives to JivoChat. I’d dare to say that some of them offer even more opportunities than their rival. Let’s dive in!

1. HelpCrunch – the best one-stop JivoChat alternative

HelpCrunch is the best JivoChat alternative for communication with customers. It provides a live chat, email marketing, knowledge base, and popup features. All the tickets automatically get to the shared inbox, allowing support agents to manage conversations effectively. Thanks to canned responses, proactive messages, and pre-chat forms, companies can improve customer engagement and increase sales. The app is available for Android and iOS devices.

Main features:

Live chat. It allows you to communicate with customers in real-time, as well as proactively engage visitors with automated messages, offering discounts, feature upgrades, or useful educational materials. Besides, the tool provides chat ratings, pre-chat forms, and live visitor profile features.

Chatbot. The feature lets you automate customer support. The bot can handle simple questions from users according to preset scenarios and automate routine tasks such as chat, tag, and department assignments. 

Knowledge base. It offers an intuitive editor to create helpful materials for 24/7 customer self-service. You can add the help center to the live chat widget, shortening the path for visitors from the problem to its solution.

Popup builder. Your team can attract the attention of more users by leveraging eye-catching popups. It can help you increase conversions and customer engagement. Change text, insert visual elements (including videos), set up triggers, choose overlays, and get live reports. 

Email marketing. This feature allows you to share company news and product announcements with your customers through email newsletters. Choose one of many templates or create your own. 

HelpCrunch pricing:

• Basic: $15/month per agent 
• Pro: $25/month per agent 

If billed monthly. You can get a 14-day free trial first.

Capterra rating: 4.8

2. Tawk.to – a free live chat software

Tawk.to is a free live chat software that offers common features for communication with customers. It’s an ideal solution for those who need just a live chat solution and a ticketing feature. If you need more opportunities like email marketing or chatbot, you might want to consider HelpCrunch or Tidio (stay tuned 🤫). 

Main features:

Live chat. It includes all the must-have live chat capabilities (canned responses, private notes, and typing preview). What helps this feature to stand out, it’s the opportunity to view up to four chats side by side on one screen. 

Screen sharing. You can assist visitors by viewing their screens and guiding them to a solution. Users will be asked for permission before initiating screen sharing. No privacy rules are neglected here. It’s an add-on that is paid separately. 

Visitor information. The software captures visitor data that your team can use to better understand customers and their activity on a website. The monitoring tab categorizes site visitors by active, idle, and served.

Hired chat agents and virtual assistants. For a monthly fee, you can hire additional help to support your business and site visitors. It’s a good deal for aspiring brands who don’t have the resources to interview and train in-house agents. 

Tawk.to pricing:

• Live chat software: free
• Hire live agents: from $1/hour
• Remove Tawk.to branding: $12/month
• Screen sharing: from $29/month

Capterra rating: 4.6

3. Smartsupp – a live chat with screen recording

Smartsupp is a unique JivoChat alternative that embraces live chat, chatbot, and visitors’ screen recording altogether. It integrates with WordPress, Shopify, and Google Analytics where you can track your performance. It comes as a mobile app as well so that agents can chat with users on the go.

Main features:

Live chat. Just like in the case of other platforms described above, Smartsupp live chat offers all the necessary features for effective chatting with clients. It includes file sharing, widget customization opportunities, and automated messages.

Chatbot. Their chatbot is rather basic. However, it still gives businesses a chance to automate and speed up their work. Chatbot automatically engages visitors to start a conversation at the right moment and answers some repetitive questions. 

Screen recording. It’s the only chat software that offers a visitor screen recording where you can actually see the movement of each user on your website. This feature can provide valuable insights and help improve your site performance. 

Smartsupp pricing:

• Free: $0 for one agent
• Standard: $24/month for three agents
• Pro: $117/month for three agents

If billed monthly. You can get a 14-day free trial first.

Capterra rating: 4.7

4. LiveAgent – help desk software with an advanced ticketing system

LiveAgent is an omnichannel help desk software with a well-polished live chat. The platform allows you to engage with users on many channels including email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Viber. Each conversation is stored in the form of a ticket in the shared inbox from where you can manage the interaction. Let’s see what are the key features of the software.

Main features:

Ticketing system. It converts customer inquiries coming in form of emails, chats, calls, and social media messages into tickets. All tickets get to the universal inbox where agents can tag, filter, and generally manage conversations in one central location. 

Live chat. I can hardly surprise you with any outstanding features that their live chat offers. Even though it’s usual, it’s still reliable and does its job right with proactive messages, visitor tracking, real-time typing view, and wide customization opportunities.

Call center. It allows your business to deal with both incoming and outgoing calls using the platform. The key features are automatic call distribution, IVR (interactive voice response), and internal calls. 

Knowledge base. The customer-self service feature allows users to find solutions by themselves. It comprises helpful articles, forums, and customer feedback boxes. The platform provides a powerful search engine bar for easy and quick service. 

LiveAgent pricing:

• Free: $0/month per agent (limited functionality)
• Ticket: $15/month per agent
• Ticket+Chat: $29/month per agent
• All-inclusive: $49/month per agent

You can get a 14-day free trial first.

Capterra rating: 4.7

5. Tidio – a live chat software with chatbots

Tidio is one of the best JivoChat alternatives that enables brands to connect with their customers in real-time. All user responses from chat, email, Messenger, or Instagram arrive in a single shared inbox which helps support agents address any issues collaboratively. The platform also offers a notable chatbot feature.

Main features:

Live chat. It’s a usual yet stable live chat tool that embraces all the must-have functionality for communicating with customers. You can change the widget design so it looks more like your own. Canned responses and live typing previews can help you assist visitors better.

Chatbots. The feature allows you to choose one of the 35+ templates or create your own chatbot. With an intuitive chatbot builder in a form of a drag-and-drop visual editor, it’s easy. You can set up actions, triggers, and conditions for your chatbot. 

Visitor list live preview. You can see who is visiting your website in real-time. In a sidebar you have access to contact details, location, the browser system, and last visited page info. Moreover, you can customize and filter visitor lists so they align with your marketing goals.

Tidio pricing:

• Free: $0/month for two agents
• Starter: $42/month for three agents
• Team: $85/month for five agents
• Scale: $431/month for an unlimited number of agents

If billed monthly. You can get a 7-day free trial first.

Capterra rating: 4.8

Wrap up

Choosing the best software for communication with your customers is not easy. The tool has to be reliable and user-friendly. Unfortunately, JivoChat might not meet these requirements these days. But there is no reason to worry, as the market can offer many solid JivoChat alternatives.

Choose HelpCrunch for a one-stop customer communication solution with live chat, email marketing, and a knowledge base. 

Go with Tawk.to if you need just a simple live chat and have no budget to cover the costs just yet. 

Pick Smarsupp if you want more detailed insights into your customers’ behavior on the site (hi, screen recording!). 

LiveAgent would be great if you have a large volume of customer inquiries flooding from different channels. And another JivoChat alternative – Tidio – would perfectly serve brands looking for an advanced chatbot solution for a reasonable price.