Olark Alternative: Pricing in 2026 and Cheaper Picks
Olark is a paid live chat tool. Human live chat costs $29 per agent a month after a 14-day free trial, and its AI website agent is a separate plan at $400 a month billed annually. It suits teams that want a straightforward chat inbox and pay per seat. If you are a solo founder or a two person team, the per agent price and the lack of a free plan are why people look for an Olark alternative, and there are cheaper tools that do more for a small SaaS.
Prices come from Olark’s pricing page in October 2026. Check it before you buy, since plans change.
What is Olark?
Olark is a live chat tool: a chat widget for your site and an inbox where agents answer. It now sells two products: human live chat, and an AI agent that answers questions from your content and captures leads, with human seats on top.
How much does Olark cost?
Olark charges per agent for human chat and a flat yearly fee for the AI agent:
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat (humans only) | $29 per agent a month | 14-day free trial, no card needed |
| Standard AI Website Agent | $400 a month, billed annually | Unlimited AI conversations, one human seat included |
| Extra human agent on the AI plan | $29 per agent a month | Two agents total $429 a month |
| Custom | Contact sales | Routing, teams, SSO, SLAs |
There is no permanent free plan.
What is Olark good at?
- Simple chat for a team. A familiar inbox where several people answer.
- An AI agent if you want one, with human seats in the same plan.
- A free trial without a card. You can test the human chat for 14 days before paying.
Why look for an Olark alternative?
For a team of one or two, four things push people elsewhere:
- No free plan. After the trial, every seat is paid. Small products that get a handful of chats a week pay the same per agent as a busy store.
- Per agent pricing. When a cofounder or contractor helps answer, the bill grows with them.
- The AI plan is a big step. Going from $29 a month to $400 a month billed annually is a jump most small products cannot justify.
- No bug report flow. Bug reports with a screenshot or screen recording, and your product numbers, live in other tools.
What are the best Olark alternatives?
| Alternative | Best for | Free plan | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiehacker Studio | Founders running several apps | 1 site, 50 conversations a month | $12 a month flat |
| Tawk.to | Free chat on one site | Yes, with branding | Add-ons from $29 a month |
| Crisp | A small team with a polished inbox | 2 seats | $45 a month per workspace |
| Chatwoot | Open source and self-hosting | Cloud: 2 agents, 500 conversations a month | $19 per agent a month |
More detail on each, plus Tidio and Intercom, in the best live chat software for small SaaS. If Tawk.to is on your list, read our Tawk.to alternative guide too.
Indiehacker Studio
One script tag adds a bubble with live chat, a feedback tab with a 1 to 5 rating, and a bug report tab with screenshots, screen recordings and files. All your sites share one inbox (see running several side projects from one dashboard), and the same script gives you cookieless analytics; Pro adds Stripe revenue per project. Pricing is flat after a 14-day trial: $12 a month or $120 a year, not per agent. When you are away, the bubble asks for the visitor’s email and your reply goes there.
Limits: no mobile app, no AI bot, and browser notifications only while a dashboard tab is open (new conversations also arrive by email). Free covers one site and 50 conversations a month; attachments and recordings need Pro.
Tawk.to
Free core chat with apps on every platform. You pay $29 a month to remove the branding.
Crisp and Chatwoot
Crisp has a free plan for two seats and paid plans per workspace. Chatwoot is open source with a free cloud tier and a self-hosted option.
What does each cost for one founder for a year?
Using list prices from each vendor’s site in October 2026, for one person answering on one site:
| Tool | Yearly cost | What you give up |
|---|---|---|
| Olark Live Chat | $348 (12 x $29) | No AI, no free plan |
| Tawk.to without branding | $348 (12 x $29) | Busy dashboard |
| Indiehacker Studio Pro | $120 | No mobile app, no AI |
| Crisp Free | $0 | Paid features above 2 seats |
| Chatwoot cloud free | $0 | 500 conversations a month, 30 days of history |
How do you switch from Olark?
- Sign up for the new tool and copy the script.
- Swap the Olark snippet in your layout for the new one.
- Set a greeting, your color and the away email.
- Save any transcripts you want to keep from Olark.
- Send a test chat from a private window. The checklist is in how to add a chat box to a website, and the install in how to add live chat to a SaaS with one script.
FAQ
Does Olark have a free plan?
Olark has no free plan. It has a 14-day free trial; after that, live chat is $29 per agent a month.
How much is Olark’s AI agent?
$400 a month billed annually, with one human seat included and extra agents at $29 each.
What is the cheapest Olark alternative?
Crisp and Tawk.to have free plans. For no branding and several sites, Indiehacker Studio Pro is $12 a month.
Is per agent pricing a problem?
Only when more than one person answers. For a solo founder it is the base price that matters. See website chat for how to run chat alone.
Next step: try the alternative
Get live chat, feedback, bug reports and analytics from one script on every site you run. Start free with Indiehacker Studio or see pricing.