hello

there's a lot of threads about live chat systems, so I'd like to know if you can help me on a little different one... instead of just listing them, I'll make some comments and maybe you can do some too...

I tested a lot of chat systems (I don't need it to be hosted) and found the best prices and features with:

kayako liveresponse
I think kayako is well known, so few comments:
- it's not expensive (specially the yearly version)
- I think the owned version doesn't worth it (because it doesn't include upgrades, that are sold around $100/year)
- it's a bit expensive to rebrand it... $99
- it doesn't have a web interface, just winapp, but it's a nice program (so far as I tested it)

phpLive
- I see ThePlanet uses it, and I see many good comments, but I didn't get a free trial because it's not working on their site (and they didn't answer my E-mail sent 48 hours ago asking why)... also, I couldn't find them on-line on their own live chat the whole day (I checked each 2 hours or so)
- the price is similar to kayako
- they offer web-based interface for operators (and also optional winapp)
- it seems their support could be better (Sales at least)

chatstat
- really liked it, the free version is very feature-rich, also it's not expensive to add new features
- a problem I found is that, to be able to translate it, it's needed to buy many "features" and it goes around $25/month
- not expensive (and the free version is good), but at $25/month it's more expensive than kayako that's also good and more well-known
- a highlight is the integration with IMs and skypeout

providesupport
- it seems to be a very good one too, customizable and to have a good support
- but it's $30/month for 3 operators, what make it the most expensive from the others


so far, based on this tests and cost-benefit I'm choosing kayako liveresponse

if anyone have any comments or would like to add something, please do it :)

Provide Support is $90 one time and it's awesome.

Check out www.stardevelop.com - their LiveHelp software is really wonderful.

Has anyone tried TrioLive (http://www.activecampaign.com/triolive)? Looks pretty good to me.

We have used phplive since 2002'ish.

No complaints.

Here is some comments I have to add (okay :) a lot of comments):

stardevelop.com
This is what we are using without any issues. They actually do answer their e-mails and are on live chat to speak to. We have the multi-domain version and running it on 2 domains right now. I do not get that many chats, so I cannot comment on how well it handles a very busy company.

providesupport
I used these guys for a year without an issue. They are a really good remotely hosted live chat option. Their support is present on live chat to assist you and they have both an online operator area and a windows client.

kayako liveresponse
It is okay, I did not like it as much as the others. It is a little expensive to keep up to date and I didn't find it to have any more features than the others to justify its pricing. I did not particularly like the windows client, however I have not tested it in about 1 year, so it may have improved in that area.

phpLive
As far as I know, the support for this product has seemed to disappear. When I used this product to answer about 8-10 chats a day. I hated it a lot! The window would not change color (like on Trillian and other chat programs do) to indicate that the client had responded, so often times I would not know -- especially when you are helping multiple people it is necessary to multi-task. It did beep, but if you have more than one window open, how am I suppose to know which one without opening each window. It was a pain! After a while it stopped working and it won't work on some control panel systems. It has very outdated coding.

chatstat
I did not like the windows client, it seemed really buggy to me -- not allowing me to change a few options, but it is very new so it probably will improve. I agree that to get all the features you want, it adds up quickly.

TrioLive
Have not actually tested this product from the windows client, which is rather new -- within the last 6 months I think. I've been waiting for them to release their windows client and it seems rather good. I cannot justify the pricing on this one either at this time. But it defiantly looks like a great option to look into.

We use LivePerson http://www.liveperson.com/ to handle 200+ chats a day, it's a reliable, quality solution, it's not the cheapest so some startup hosts will be put off.

J

StarDevelop is great for the low end of chat systems. I recently stoped used it as it was unable to handle the high demand our site required. We are looking into Kayako LiveResponse as our next option. I have a thing with hosted support I would prefer it to be on our own server

just a correction
providesupport is almost the same price as kayako (I didn't considered they offered discount for yearly payments)
so I'm considering it too

We use providesupport and so far it's been the best by quite a margin I've used from these 4 options. The yearly option seems good if you are considering it long-term.

We use providesupport and so far it's been the best by quite a margin I've used from these 4 options. The yearly option seems good if you are considering it long-term.

could you point some advantage of providesupport on kayako liveresponse?

thanks

We have used phpLive since 2002'ish. We got in when it was something like $89 for an owned perpetual license.

PHP Live hasnt updated their SSL cert since January and i personally find that worrying and wouldnt buy from them on that basis. We use StarDevelop (http://livehelp.stardevelop.com/) and find it great.

well any total free with all features? or which of them have a free version with less features but doing a good job?

Thanks

When i had Live Support, i always used Kayako LiveSupport. Was the most user friendly, most feature packed option for me and had a nice price tag.

"Provide Support is $90 one time and it's awesome"

$ 90 for what ?

Has anybody had any experience with auracle , we are looking into buying it.

Just want to here if anybody has anything to say about it?

Provide Support is $90 one time and it's awesome.

where do you find the one time price? On their site, it's 1-3-6-12 months fee

could you point some advantage of providesupport on kayako liveresponse?

thanks

- Better support and I'd say by quite a margin
- Users actually know when you (operator) sends a message!
- Doesn't lose chats (well that use to happen a year ago, not sure if it still happens but that was pretty bad back then)
- More user friendly
- Customisable

I wouldn't buy LiveResponse unless you are also buying eSupport and in that case you should just get SupportSuite.

now I see from the ones we comented, only TrioLive offers stats (at least by what I could find on their sites)
I mean stats like "average waiting time", "average % of users that quit while waiting" (not sure triolive shows this one), etc. (that I very useful for service quality IMO)

anyone see these stats on other chats?

Has anybody had any experience with auracle , we are looking into buying it.

Just want to here if anybody has anything to say about it?

I tested it and I didn't find it user friendly. There were icons on the tabs but no names to indicate what each icon did. If I used the program for a while, it would be great to have just icons to kill clutter, but since I hadn't it was impossible for me to move around in the program without actually clicking each one and even than I sometimes didn't have a clue what was going on. Tested it about 6 months ago, may have changed to a more user friendly by now.

huh, I'm very confused
I was almost decided by kayako... then by provide support
now I liked stardevelop

reason: these 3 seems to be nice and customizable
but none of them (AFAIK) offers stats on the chats (what I'd like), however you get 100% source on stardevelop, so I can code it myself
(maybe I could do it on the others too, but they seem to have basically the same features, and stardevelop is cheaper)

I am moving away from stardevelop to kayako support suite. Stardevelop is good however it cannot handle much - 3 chats at the most before it started to play up. It is good software though.

Does stardevelop tell you when the operator replies? It didn't when I tried and that was a deal-breaker as I like to browse while chatting on a website and if I forget about it - can be really annoying. This was also the main problem, as well chats continously being lost on kayako for me too.

Provide Support is $90 one time and it's awesome.

Providesupport is NOT a one time payment
Providesupport is a month to month subscription, on a per-operator basis.

Stardevelop, I'd advise staying away from unless you're using AU payments. I picked up a package from them, and they overcharged me by $8 , and they only refunded a portion of my purchase price, after invalidating my license. The SOFTWARE looks good, but they have no real way to use up to date currency conversions, and their "support" itself really just sucks. When they were presented with the problem, their only solution was to refund the entire purchase (which they never did, they STILL have a couple $$ of my money), and they refused to do a partial refund (for the overcharged fee) at all.

I'm still lookin myself for decent software that is purchasable and I can put on my own server.

Has anybody had any experience with auracle , we are looking into buying it.

Just want to here if anybody has anything to say about it?

I tested it and I didn't find it user friendly. There were icons on the tabs but no names to indicate what each icon did. If I used the program for a while, it would be great to have just icons to kill clutter, but since I hadn't it was impossible for me to move around in the program without actually clicking each one and even than I sometimes didn't have a clue what was going on. Tested it about 6 months ago, may have changed to a more user friendly by now.

We use it and we like it....however i do echo GnomeyNewts comments on user friendliness, however they are scheduled to come out with a completely revised version of the entire software in a few days if you can wait....:D

Personally when i bought it i found the price point to be hands down the best for what i got, live chat, tickets, the whole nine.....however, they have unfortunately changed their pricing.....give it a try and see what you think, they do offer free trials.

Take a look at SightMax.com. We recently replaced LivePerson with SightMax, and it seems to be a nicely polished chat solution

I'd recommend StarDevelop's Live Help Messenger,

Its got a handy desktop tool from which you can browse and speak to customers.

Since having the software my ticket count has gone down to 2 a day.

Pretty good if you ask me and it only costs £45.00

Dom ;)

Has anybody had any experience with auracle , we are looking into buying it.

Just want to here if anybody has anything to say about it?

We use it and like it. Just wish there was more web-based administration.

from the chats I checked none is fully what I expected, so I think phpLive! is a good option, because it's pretty good IMO and open source
but they really don't answer my sales E-mails
I sent it 2 or 3 days ago

anyone got to talk to them recently?

I have never emailed them for anything myself.

I usually catch them on their live chat system.

I have never emailed them for anything myself.

I usually catch them on their live chat system.

In fact I never found their online in the last 3 days (some days I refreshed the site each like 2 or 3 hours)

PHPLive, what we currently use, its awesome...their support is terrible though..if you know what you are doing, go PHPLive...

Kayako..good but not our pick.

ProvideSupport...We had severe issues with latency and their support team..They would not support our tickets

Chatstat...very neat program, I spoke with the founder and they know what they are doing..I would give it a try, but we don't like free software, specially when its hosted on their end..

Overall, I would aim my thoughts to PHPLive because of the simple install and its only $80-90 I beleive...Just remember, they don't really have GREAT support, they actually don't have any support....their SSL has been expired for along time now but I went though with our virutal credit card and had no problem...

Anyways, my 2 cents...

Overall, I would aim my thoughts to PHPLive because of the simple install and its only $80-90 I beleive...Just remember, they don't really have GREAT support, they actually don't have any support....their SSL has been expired for along time now but I went though with our virutal credit card and had no problem...

Anyways, my 2 cents...

I'm thinking about PHPLive JUST because I know PHP and can work on issues I can find, because it really seems they don't care
but did you purchase it lately? I'm afraid to purchase it and they don't even send me (I can't expect anything better from a company that doesn't answer even sales E-mail)

yes, 1 month ago :)