OlarkAcquireOlark vs Acquire

Olark vs Acquire: where the two split for a small team

A live chat software against a customer engagement platform: one prints a price and one quotes. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

No credit card. Live in minutes.

The short answer

Pick Olark if you want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter. Pick Acquire if you need cobrowsing and video calls in the same tool as chat. For five people it is $145 a month on Olark, and a quote on Acquire, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Olark and Acquire both include website chat in the price. Neither Olark nor Acquire includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Olark and Acquire sell here at one price.

At a glanceOlarkOlarkAcquireAcquire
Built aroundA simple chat box · AI agent at a flat priceChat, cobrowse and video · priced by quote
Entry plan$29/agent/mo · human-only chatQuote · no printed prices
Chat in the price$29/agent/mo · the whole product is chatQuote · Self Service tier
AI agent$400/mo flat · unlimited AI conversations, 1 seatComing soon · bots listed, not priced
Copilot for agentsNoneNone printed
Free planNone · trial, no cardNone · trial on request

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    OlarkOlark

    As a chat in the box on your site, with transcripts emailed afterwards. Acquire has no ticket queue either.

    AcquireAcquire

    As a chat that can turn into a cobrowse or a video call with the same agent. Olark has no ticket queue either.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    OlarkOlark

    $29 buys a human agent seat; the AI Website Agent is $400 a month flat with one seat included. $145 for five people; Acquire prints no figure to set beside it.

    AcquireAcquire

    No seat price is printed; the Self Service and Integrated tiers are quoted after a demo. No figure for five people here; Olark prints $145.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    OlarkOlark

    A flat $400 a month for unlimited AI conversations, with no token or per-outcome charge. Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon) instead.

    AcquireAcquire

    Bots are listed as coming soon with no price; today the product is human agents with cobrowsing. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    OlarkOlark

    Website chat only; no email inbox, WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. The same set as Acquire.

    AcquireAcquire

    Website chat, SMS, email and voice or video on the Integrated tier; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. The same set as Olark.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    OlarkOlark

    Transcripts, reports and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot and help desks. Acquire is a customer engagement platform instead.

    AcquireAcquire

    Cobrowsing, screen sharing and video for guided support; workflows, SLAs and queues. Olark is a live chat software instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    OlarkOlark

    Minutes: paste the snippet. Acquire is a sales cycle.

    AcquireAcquire

    A sales cycle: a demo, a quote, then onboarding by their services team. Olark is minutes.

Sources: Olark pricing · Acquire pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with visitor details
OlarkOlark. The Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with visitor details
The Acquire agent view: a chat with the cobrowse and video controls beside it
AcquireAcquire. The Acquire agent view: a chat with the cobrowse and video controls beside it

Pricing references: Olark pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13); Acquire pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Olark, Acquire and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureOlarkOlarkAcquireAcquireSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI flat
Quote after a demo
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; trial
None; trial on request
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The whole product
With cobrowse and video
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Transcripts only
Integrated tier
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not offered
SMS only
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not offered
Not offered
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not offered
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications
Notifications only
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Website Agent
Bots listed as coming soon
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$400 a month flat
Not priced
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to a human seat
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Chats only
Cases, not a ticket queue
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Chat rules only
Workflows and queues
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Chat reports
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser only
Browser only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Olark if

  • You want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter.
  • Website chat is the only channel and simplicity beats features.
  • It prints its price ($145 a month for five) where Acquire quotes.
  • Time to the first reply is minutes here and a sales cycle on Acquire.

Pick Acquire if

  • You need cobrowsing and video calls in the same tool as chat.
  • You are buying for a regulated or high-touch team and want a services-led rollout.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales cycle here and minutes on Olark.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Olark's: no prices printed; three tiers quoted after a demo.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Olark or Acquire who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $145 a month on Olark, and a quote on Acquire for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan, Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon); Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Olark nor Acquire includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Olark on Live chat: $58, $145 and $290 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Acquire quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $100 less than Olark and against a quote on Acquire for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $195 under Olark.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box; Acquire is a customer engagement platform built around chat, cobrowse and video. Neither has a free plan: Olark offers a free trial, Acquire a free trial. Olark and Acquire both include website chat in the price. Neither Olark nor Acquire includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan; Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon). Neither Olark nor Acquire has a ticket queue, and neither Olark nor Acquire ships a desktop app. Olark is minutes; Acquire is a sales cycle.

What each price leaves out

Olark: AI Website Agent $400 a month flat, extra human seats $29 each. Acquire: Bots are listed as coming soon; no AI price is printed. Beside Olark's $400/mo flat and Acquire's coming soon, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Acquire does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (No prices printed; three tiers quoted after a demo.), so they are marked unverified here beside Olark's, and Acquire's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    OlarkOlarkAssumed $0$0
    AcquireAcquireSee vendorNot quoted
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    OlarkOlark · Free trial, no card
    AcquireAcquire · Free trial on request
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

FAQ

Olark vs Acquire: the questions people ask

Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box; Acquire is a customer engagement platform built around chat, cobrowse and video. Neither Olark nor Acquire has a ticket queue, and neither Olark nor Acquire ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Olark $29/agent/mo (human-only chat); Acquire Quote (no printed prices).
  • Chat in the price: Olark $29/agent/mo (the whole product is chat); Acquire Quote (Self Service tier).
  • Sellio's inbox: email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Olark nor Acquire has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Olark and Acquire on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

No credit card required