Chatlio vs Olark (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Chatlio grades higher than Olark: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Chatlio grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Chatlio
Website live chat that your team answers from Slack, Teams or Discord
Olark
Live chat for websites, with an optional flat-fee AI agent
Which one is for you
Pick Chatlio if
- Fits if your team already lives in Slack, Teams or Discord
- Works for a small site that wants live chat and nothing else
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you want triggers, saved replies or bots, because Mini lacks them and Team is $70
- Tight if you get many chats, as plans cap conversations from 250 up to 20,000 a month
- Not for you if you want a mobile app of its own, since replies happen inside your chat app
- Watch out: Slack restricted accounts and single-channel guests cannot answer without an invite to each channel
- Watch out: Team's $70 is shown as a launch price, with $100 as the regular price
Pick Olark if
- Fits if you want live chat answered by people, priced per seat
- Works for a site that wants an AI agent with unlimited conversations at a flat fee
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need ticketing or a help center, as the pages show neither
- Pricey if you add the AI agent, which starts at $400 a month billed annually
- Watch out: the page doesn't say whether the $29 seat price is monthly or annual
- Watch out: SSO, regional routing and custom SLAs are only in the sales-only Custom package
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAChatlioFair | 2.2GPAOlarkFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$30 a month for 2 operators, $15 each, inside the category's cheaper quarter of $19. Team is $70 for 5. | C$29 per agent a month is the middle of the category. The AI agent package is $400 a month billed annually, about 14 times that. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 30-day free trial on every plan with no card needed. No free plan. | CA 14-day trial of Live Chat with no credit card. There is no free plan. |
| Features | CLive chat, styling, visitor context, hours and an API. It does that job fully, but it is a smaller job than a help desk, with no ticketing. | CLive chat with human agents, and an AI agent as a separate package. It does the chat job fully, but it is a smaller job: the pages show no ticketing or help center. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You install the widget and link a chat app. | CNo store rating on record, and the chat widget and AI answers need setting up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb widget answered through Slack, Teams or Discord, with an API and webhooks, but no app of its own. | BWeb plus iPhone and Android apps, and 8 listed integrations. No desktop app on record. |
| Best for | website chat answered from Slack | plain live chat on a website |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Chatlio and Olark. How we grade
Price against what you get
Chatlio starts at $30 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Olark starts at $29 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Olark starts $1 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 22 score higher than Chatlio for less, and 19 score higher than Olark for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Chatlio also covers shared inbox and workflow automation.
- Olark also covers AI support agent, sMS marketing and whatsApp messaging.
At a glance
| Chatlio | Olark | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly | $29 per agent / month |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required | 14-day free trial for Live Chat, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Chatlio LLC | Olark |
| Price read from | chatlio.com | olark.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Chatlio
- Replies happen inside Slack, Teams or Discord; there is no separate Chatlio mobile app.
- Mini has no triggers, saved replies, custom bots or white-label widget; those start at Team.
- Slack restricted accounts and single-channel guests cannot answer chats without being invited to each one.
- Plans cap conversations per month, from 250 on Mini to 20,000 on Scale.
Olark
- The AI agent starts at $400 a month, billed annually, which is far above the $29 live chat seat price.
- The pricing page does not say whether the $29 seat price is monthly or annual billing.
- Olark is a chat product; the pages here show no full ticketing or help center product.
- SSO, regional routing and custom SLAs are only in the sales-only Custom package.
Key features
Chatlio
- Answer chats from Slack, Teams or Discord
- Each visitor conversation opens in its own channel, so several teammates can join one chat and several chats can run at once.
- Widget styling and CSS access
- Every plan allows unlimited domains, full widget customization and CSS changes; the Team plan and up adds a white-label widget.
- Triggers and pre-chat questions
- Automatic chat invitations, pre-chat questions for lead qualification and saved replies are included from the Team plan.
- Visitor context
- Operators see where the visitor is on the site, their location, browser and operating system, plus data sent with the JavaScript identify call.
- Operating hours and offline mode
- Set hours for the widget; outside them it can show an email form or hide itself.
- API and webhooks
- A widget API, server API and webhooks come on every plan, for example to export transcripts to other systems.
Olark
- AI website agent
- The agent answers visitor questions from your site content, keeps its knowledge in step with the site, and qualifies leads. The in-app name for it is AI Assistant.
- Human live chat
- Chat between visitors and your agents, with live handoff from the AI to a person in the same conversation thread.
- Proactive engagement
- Chats can be triggered by visitor behavior such as UTM source, return visits and time on page.
- Lead capture
- Buttons, in-chat contact forms and booking links appear when the agent decides they help.
- Assistant split tests
- Traffic can be split between two assistant configurations to compare tone, openers and qualification approach.
- Channels and customization
- The features page lists WhatsApp and SMS, and chatbox colors and position can be matched to the site.
Plans
Chatlio
Mini$30
per month for up to 2 operators, billed monthly
2 operators, 1 widget and 250 conversations a month, with reports, API and webhooks.
Team$70
per month for up to 5 operators, billed monthly
5 operators, 2 widgets, 2,000 conversations; adds triggers, saved replies, bots. Shown as a launch price; regular $100.
Business$200
per month for up to 15 operators, billed monthly
15 operators, 10 widgets, 6,000 conversations a month and priority support.
Scale$500
per month for up to 50 operators, billed monthly
50 operators, 25 widgets, 20,000 conversations a month, invoice payment and a direct line to the founder.
Olark
Live Chat$29
per agent / month, billing basis not shown
Full-featured live chat with human agents and no AI. The AI agent can be added later without reinstalling.
Standard AI Website Agent$400
per month, billed annually ($4,800 a year)
Unlimited AI conversations with no overages, lead capture and qualification, proactive engagement and one human agent seat. Extra human seats are $29 per agent a month.
CustomCustom
For power users and enterprise: regional routing, multiple teams, custom workflows and SLAs, and SSO. Sold through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Chatlio or Olark?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Chatlio starts at $30 per month for 2 operators, billed monthly, and Olark starts at $29 per agent / month. One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Chatlio or Olark?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Chatlio nor Olark has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
Which platforms do Chatlio and Olark run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Olark lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.