OlarkPure ChatOlark vs Pure Chat

Olark vs Pure Chat: two live chat options, compared

Two live chat softwares: Pure Chat is $93 a month cheaper for five people. 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

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Olark if you want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter. Pick Pure Chat if you want cheap chat for a small team on one site with no AI. For five people, Pure Chat is $93 a month cheaper than Olark ($145 a month on Olark against $52 on Pure Chat), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $7 under Pure Chat. Olark and Pure Chat both include website chat in the price. Neither Olark nor Pure Chat includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Olark and Pure Chat sell here at one price.

At a glanceOlarkOlarkPure ChatPure Chat
Built aroundA simple chat box · AI agent at a flat priceA chat widget for small sites · operators in packs
Entry plan$29/agent/mo · human-only chat$39/mo · Growth: 4 operators, 1 site
Chat in the price$29/agent/mo · the whole product is chat$39/mo · the whole product is chat
AI agent$400/mo flat · unlimited AI conversations, 1 seatNone · no AI agent
Copilot for agentsNoneNone
Free planNone · trial, no cardNone · 30-day trial of PRO

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. Pure Chat has no ticket queue either.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    As a chat in the widget, with the visitor's page and history in the operator dashboard. 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, against $52 on Pure Chat.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    $39 buys four operators on one site; PRO at $79 buys ten operators on unlimited sites, extras $8 to $13 each. $52 for five people, against $145 on Olark.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    OlarkOlark

    A flat $400 a month for unlimited AI conversations, with no token or per-outcome charge. Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none) instead.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    No AI agent or copilot; canned responses and triggers only. 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 Pure Chat.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Website chat only; no email, 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. Pure Chat is the same kind of product, a live chat software.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Visitor tracking, transcripts and mobile apps. Olark is the same kind of product, a live chat software.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    OlarkOlark

    Minutes: paste the snippet. Pure Chat is minutes.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Minutes: paste the widget. Olark is minutes.

Sources: Olark pricing · Pure Chat 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 Pure Chat dashboard: the visitor list and an open chat
Pure ChatPure Chat. The Pure Chat dashboard: the visitor list and an open chat

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

Olark, Pure Chat 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.

FeatureOlarkOlarkPure ChatPure ChatSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI flat
Per month with operator packs
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; trial
None; 30-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The whole product
The whole product
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Transcripts only
Not offered
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
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
Not offered
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Website Agent
None
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$400 a month flat
No AI to bill
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
Chats only
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Chat rules only
Triggers only
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Chat reports
Chat reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser only
Browser and mobile
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.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Pure Chat's: per agent per month for human chat; a flat monthly price for the AI agent.

Pick Pure Chat if

  • You want cheap chat for a small team on one site with no AI.
  • Operator packs suit you better than per-agent pricing.
  • Five people cost $93 a month less than on Olark ($52 against $145), before AI.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Olark's: per month with operators included, billed yearly or monthly. Extra operators per month.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Olark or Pure Chat who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $145 a month on Olark against $52 on Pure Chat for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan, Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none); Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Olark nor Pure Chat 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. Pure Chat: $52 a month for five ($39 for 4 operators plus $13 for the fifth); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $100 less than Olark and $7 less than Pure Chat 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

Both Olark and Pure Chat are live chat softwares, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Olark is built around a simple chat box, Pure Chat around a chat widget for small sites. Neither has a free plan: Olark offers a free trial, Pure Chat a 30-day trial of PRO. Olark and Pure Chat both include website chat in the price. Neither Olark nor Pure Chat includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan; Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none). Neither Olark nor Pure Chat has a ticket queue, and neither Olark nor Pure Chat ships a desktop app. Olark is minutes; Pure Chat is minutes.

What each price leaves out

Olark: AI Website Agent $400 a month flat, extra human seats $29 each. Pure Chat: No AI agent. Beside Olark's $400/mo flat and Pure Chat's none, 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 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
    Pure ChatPure ChatSee 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
    Pure ChatPure Chat · 30-day trial of PRO
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Olark vs Pure Chat: the questions people ask

Both Olark and Pure Chat are live chat softwares, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Olark is built around a simple chat box, Pure Chat around a chat widget for small sites.

  • Entry plan: Olark $29/agent/mo (human-only chat); Pure Chat $39/mo (Growth: 4 operators, 1 site).
  • Chat in the price: Olark $29/agent/mo (the whole product is chat); Pure Chat $39/mo (the whole product is chat).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Olark nor Pure Chat has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Olark and Pure Chat 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

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