What are the most popular live chat solutions for customer engagement right now?

Hey G2 expert,

I’ve been researching top-rated platforms in the Live Chat Software category on G2 that help businesses drive engagement through proactive messaging, real-time support, and smart automation. Based on user sentiment and popularity, here’s my full software list:

1. Intercom – Known for its rich in-app messaging, Intercom helps SaaS and digital product teams personalize conversations at scale. Its combination of AI chatbots, outbound campaigns, and behavioral targeting enables teams to drive engagement throughout the user lifecycle—from onboarding to upselling.
2. Tidio—Tidio merges live chat, chatbots, and email automation into a sleek, customizable widget. It’s popular with e-commerce and SMB teams thanks to features like real-time visitor tracking, AI-driven suggestions, and the ability to trigger chats based on browsing behavior—all focused on improving engagement and conversion.
3. Crisp – Crisp offers a multichannel chat platform with a shared inbox, chatbot automation, and built-in CRM features. Its MagicMap and MagicBrowse tools allow support reps to engage more intelligently by understanding user behavior in real time, making it a standout for customer-centric teams.
4. Gorgias—Built for e-commerce, Gorgias connects live chat with customer order data from platforms like Shopify and Magento. Teams can automate responses to common questions and engage high-value customers with personalized support. Gorgias is well known for helping DTC brands improve retention and average order value through more responsive chat interactions.
5. Zoho SalesIQ – Designed to enhance website engagement, Zoho SalesIQ offers lead scoring, live chat, and user tracking in one dashboard. For businesses already in the Zoho ecosystem, it’s a seamless way to turn site traffic into conversations with context-rich chat and detailed visitor insights.
6. LiveChat – LiveChat’s polished widget and real-time messaging tools are trusted by businesses in various industries. With support for canned responses, product recommendations, and chat triggers, it helps teams turn passive visitors into active buyers or support-qualified leads.
7. Tawk.to is one of the most popular free chat tools. It offers unlimited agents and features like message routing, offline forms, and branding. It’s widely adopted by small businesses and startups looking to boost engagement without breaking the bank.
8. Help Scout – Help Scout’s Beacon chat widget supports contextual engagement by allowing customers to browse help content or chat with a live agent based on need. It's an ideal tool for teams that want to offer meaningful, human support without over-relying on bots.
9. Freshchat (Freshdesk Messaging) – Freshchat combines modern chat UI with AI-powered bots, custom triggers, and contextual messaging. It supports both proactive and reactive engagement and integrates tightly with the broader Freshworks ecosystem.
10. Olark – Olark keeps things simple with a clean UI, real-time chat, and built-in tools like visitor insights and post-chat surveys. It’s a great option for teams that want effective engagement tools without a steep learning curve or complex automation setup.

These live chat solutions stand out for helping businesses create real-time, meaningful conversations that build customer relationships and improve retention. Whether you’re focused on SaaS, ecommerce, or services, each of these tools offers strengths in driving engagement.

Let me know—would you add any others to the list or reorder based on your experience? What’s worked best for keeping users active and supported in real time?