Ollabear vs LiveChat
A fair comparison from the Ollabear team. All LiveChat prices come from livechat.com/pricing. LiveChat is the OG of the category (founded 2002) and is genuinely great at live-chat workflow - we'll be specific about who they're the better choice for.
TL;DR
Pick LiveChat if humans on chat are your primary support channel, you have 5-15 agents, and AI is a deflection bolt-on rather than your core strategy. Their 20+ years of polish on agent workflow is real.
Pick Ollabear if AI chat is your primary channel (not a bolt-on), you want voice as well as chat, conversational setup instead of forms, and a flat tier instead of per-agent math.
Pricing - per-agent + bolt-on AI vs flat tier
LiveChat pricing verified 2026-05-21 from livechat.com/pricing. Note: LiveChat sells live-chat-for-humans as the main product; their AI is a SEPARATE product called ChatBot at $52/mo.
| What you're paying for | LiveChat (per agent) | Ollabear (per workspace) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter plan | $19 / agent / month (annual) | One flat tier. AI chat widget included. No per-agent math, no separate AI product to buy. |
| Team plan | $49 / agent / month (annual) | |
| Business plan | $79 / agent / month (annual) | |
| Enterprise | Custom (request a call) | Custom - talk to us |
| ChatBot (their AI product) | $52 / month - separate product | Included - no separate purchase |
What it really costs - three realistic scenarios
Math from LiveChat's published prices.
Scenario A: SMB, 2 agents + need AI deflection
2 agents x $49 + $52 ChatBot = $98 + $52Scenario B: Mid-size, 8 agents + AI
8 agents x $79 + $52 = $632 + $52Scenario C: 20 agents + AI
20 x $79 + $52 = $1,580 + $52AI bot quality - LLM agent vs flow builder
Important to understand the difference before comparing - LiveChat's ChatBot is a different product category than Ollabear's AI.
| LiveChat ChatBot | Ollabear | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary metaphor | Visual flow builder - you draw decision trees with conditions, responses, and branches. | LLM agent - reads your knowledge base and answers in natural language. |
| Best at | Predictable, repetitive flows: lead capture forms, FAQ routing, appointment booking with fixed slots. | Open-ended natural-language questions about your business that the LLM can answer from crawled content. |
| Setup time for a basic bot | 30 minutes - few hours, depending on flow complexity. | About 90 seconds (paste URL, accept drafted persona). |
| Maintenance burden | Flow needs manual updates when your product/policies change. | Just update your website; the bot's knowledge follows. |
| When users hit an edge case | Returns a fallback message; you add a new branch. | LLM tries to reason from the closest related content; handoff to human if confidence is below threshold. |
Feature matrix
| Feature | LiveChat (+ ChatBot) | Ollabear |
|---|---|---|
| Live chat widget | Yes - best-in-class agent UX | Yes |
| AI bot | ChatBot (separate $52/mo product) | Included at every tier |
| AI chat | Integrations | First-party |
| Email / Messenger / WhatsApp | Yes - via integrations marketplace | Webhooks today, native roadmap |
| Conversational setup | No - forms-based admin | Yes - chat with the Builder |
| Industry templates | Some ChatBot templates | 14 packs auto-detected |
| Self-hostable | No - SaaS only | Yes - single-VM supported |
| Help desk integration | HelpDesk product (separate) | Not yet |
| Years in market | 23 (since 2002) | Launching |
| Widget weight (gzipped) | ~150 KB | ~12 KB |
Who LiveChat is right for
Genuinely. If this describes you, LiveChat is probably the better pick.
- You have a real customer-service team (5-15 agents) and human chat is your primary channel.
- You want a mature integrations marketplace - 200+ apps - already wired into your tools.
- Your AI needs are flow-based, not open-ended - you want predictable branches not LLM reasoning.
- You value 20+ years of vendor stability and willingness to handle complex sales onboarding.
- You also need helpdesk-style ticketing (LiveChat has a separate HelpDesk product).
Who Ollabear is right for
Be honest about your situation. If this describes you, give us 90 seconds.
- You don't have a dedicated agent team - AI chat is meant to be the primary channel.
- You want voice as well as chat from the same vendor (LiveChat is text-first).
- You want one product to buy, not Live chat + ChatBot + HelpDesk on three subscriptions.
- Your business content lives on your website and you'd rather the bot read it than draw a flowchart of it.
- You may want to self-host - we run on a single VM.
- You prefer a vendor you can call (Mon-Sat 10 AM - 6 PM IST) and visit at HSR Layout, Bengaluru.
FAQ
How much does LiveChat cost?
LiveChat pricing verified from livechat.com/pricing on 2026-05-21: Starter $19/agent/mo, Team $49/agent/mo, Business $79/agent/mo (all annual billing), Enterprise custom. AI is NOT included - the ChatBot product is sold separately and starts at $52/month. For a 3-agent team on Team plus ChatBot you pay 3 x $49 + $52 = $199/month.
What does Ollabear cost?
Free plan available, no credit card. After the trial, paid tiers are flat per-workspace with AI chat AND voice both included at every tier. No separate AI product to buy.
Is LiveChat's ChatBot the same as Ollabear's AI?
Different products. LiveChat's ChatBot is a no-code flow builder more like a scripted decision tree - you draw branches with conditions and responses. Ollabear (and competitors like Intercom Fin, Tidio Lyro, Crisp Hugo) use LLM-based agents that read your knowledge base and answer in natural language. ChatBot can also use AI but the primary metaphor is still flowcharts.
Does Ollabear do voice?
Yes - chat and voice are first-party features in a single product. LiveChat focuses on text channels; voice is via integrations.
When is LiveChat the better choice?
When humans-on-chat is your primary channel and AI is the deflection layer. LiveChat has 20+ years of polish on the human-agent workflow - assignments, internal notes, canned responses, agent productivity dashboards. If you have a 5-15 agent team and AI is a nice-to-have rather than the core, LiveChat fits well.
Is this article biased?
It's written by the Ollabear team, so structurally yes. We've tried to be specific about who LiveChat is genuinely better for (human-agent-first teams, mature integrations marketplace, flow-builder bot use cases). If you find a factual error about LiveChat, email hello@ollabear.com and we'll fix it within 48 hours.
Try Ollabear
Free plan available, no credit card. Live in 90 seconds.