OlarkKayakoOlark vs Kayako

Olark vs Kayako: live chat or help desk for a small team

A live chat software against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. Where Olark and Kayako split, and a third option for small teams.

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

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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 Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $145 a month on Olark, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Olark and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only Kayako has email. Neither Olark nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Olark against Kayako, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceOlarkOlarkKayakoKayako
Built aroundA simple chat box · AI agent at a flat priceTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$29/agent/mo · human-only chatQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$29/agent/mo · the whole product is chatQuote · widget included
AI agent$400/mo flat · unlimited AI conversations, 1 seat$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agentsNoneIn Kay
Free planNone · trial, no cardNone · talk to a pricing expert

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. Kayako raises a ticket where Olark keeps a conversation.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. Olark has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  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; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. 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. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats instead.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. 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. Kayako adds email, which Olark lacks.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. email is here and not on Olark.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    OlarkOlark

    Transcripts, reports and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot and help desks. Kayako is a help desk instead.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. Olark is a live chat software instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    OlarkOlark

    Minutes: paste the snippet. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Olark is minutes.

Sources: Olark pricing · Kayako 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 Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

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

Olark, Kayako 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.

FeatureOlarkOlarkKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI flat
Quote; AI per resolution
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; trial
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The whole product
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Transcripts only
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not offered
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not offered
Messenger and X only
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
Slack integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Website Agent
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$400 a month flat
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to a human seat
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Chats only
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Chat rules only
Automation rules
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 Kayako quotes.
  • You want the AI in the seat price ($400/mo flat) rather than Kayako's meter at $1 per resolution.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need email in the price, which Olark does not include outright.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Olark does not have.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $145 a month on Olark, and a quote on Kayako for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Olark nor Kayako 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. Kayako 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 Kayako 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; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Neither has a free plan: Olark offers a free trial, Kayako no trial. Olark and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only Kayako has email. Neither Olark nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan; Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats. Kayako has tickets and Olark does not, and neither Olark nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Olark is minutes; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Olark: AI Website Agent $400 a month flat, extra human seats $29 each. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Olark's $400/mo flat and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Olark's, and Kayako'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
    KayakoKayakoSee 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
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Olark vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Kayako has tickets and Olark does not, and neither Olark nor Kayako ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Olark $29/agent/mo (human-only chat); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Olark $29/agent/mo (the whole product is chat); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio's inbox: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Olark nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Olark and Kayako 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.

Get startedRead the docs

No credit card required