Last updated: November 2026
TL;DR
- An AI chat widget is the chat bubble on your website, with an AI agent behind it that answers visitors from your own content, day and night.
- The 7 widgets in this guide: Invent, Intercom, Zendesk, Tidio, Crisp, LiveChat and tawk.to.
- Most widgets can answer questions now. The difference is what happens next: does it remember a returning visitor, show a product, send a payment link, and hand the chat to the right person on your team?
- Pricing models differ more than features. Some charge per seat, some per AI resolution, some per message. Run your own volume through each model before you pick.
- Test with 30 real questions from your inbox before you install any widget on your live site.
A visitor lands on your pricing page at 11 p.m. They have one question. If the corner of your website can answer it, you keep the visitor. If it shows a contact form, most of them leave.
That corner is your chat widget. In 2026, almost every widget comes with some kind of AI. So "does it have AI?" is no longer the question. The question is whether it can do the next step: remember the visitor, show the right product, take the order, or bring in a person who already knows the story.
This guide compares 7 AI chat widgets on exactly those points, with the published prices for each.
What makes an AI chat widget good in 2026
Use these six checks in every demo. They come straight from what buyers ask AI assistants about chat widgets today.
- It answers from your content. Your website, help articles and policies, not generic internet knowledge. When it does not know, it says so.
- It starts the conversation. A short greeting with quick-reply buttons turns a blank box into one tap.
- It remembers returning visitors. A visitor who comes back on Thursday should not have to repeat what they said on Monday.
- It can show products and take payments. Look up a product or an order, and send a payment link the customer confirms in the chat.
- It hands off to the right person. When the AI should stop, the chat goes to a teammate with the full conversation.
- It looks like your brand. Your colors, your position on the page, and no other company's logo on the first screen.
The 7 best AI chat widgets for websites
1. Invent: AI agent widget with memory, products and payments
Invent's chat widget puts an AI agent on your website that answers from your website, documents and policies. It is built for teams that want the widget to sell and support, not only to answer FAQs.
- Starts the conversation: a teaser greeting with up to five suggested messages. You choose the devices, the delay, and whether it shows once per visitor, once per session or on every visit.
- Remembers returning visitors: the conversation stays in the visitor's browser, so they come back to the same chat, and the AI keeps short memories about each contact.
- Products and payments: the AI can search WooCommerce products and orders and create Stripe payment links. Shopify is coming soon.
- Hands off: AI routing sends the chat to the right teammate in a shared inbox that also holds WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and email.
- Other channels: the widget can offer WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email or phone, so visitors continue where they prefer.
- Your brand: any accent color, light, dark or automatic theme, left or right position. The Business plan removes the "Powered by" mention.
- Pricing: Business is $29 a month with $29 of usage, then pay as you go, with AI replies from $0.003 per message depending on the model. No per-seat fees. There is a free plan to try it.
Best for: businesses that want the website widget, WhatsApp and Instagram answered by one AI agent and one team.
2. Intercom: Messenger with Fin AI Agent
Intercom's Messenger is the widget, and Fin is its AI agent. Fin answers from your help center and content, and passes conversations to your team in the Intercom inbox.
- Pricing: seats from $29 a month on Essential (list price), $85 on Advanced and $132 on Expert, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome.
Best for: support teams already working in Intercom's help desk.
3. Zendesk: Web Widget with AI agents
Zendesk's Web Widget connects website chat to Zendesk's ticketing and AI agents. Every Support and Suite plan includes AI agents, billed by automated resolutions.
- Pricing: Support Team $19 per agent a month, Suite Team $55, Suite Professional $115 (annual billing). Each agent seat includes 5 or 10 automated resolutions a month, then $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay as you go.
Best for: companies that run support on Zendesk tickets.
4. Tidio: live chat widget with Lyro AI
Tidio combines a live chat widget with Lyro, its AI agent, and is popular with online stores.
- Pricing: a free plan, Starter from $24.17 a month and Growth from $49.17 a month. Lyro is priced by AI conversations: the first 50 are free, and paid Lyro starts at $32.50 a month for 50 conversations.
Best for: small online stores that want a simple widget with an AI add-on.
5. Crisp: chat widget with an AI chatbot
Crisp offers a chat widget and shared inbox, priced per workspace instead of per seat. The AI chatbot is listed on Essentials and above.
- Pricing: a free plan with 2 seats, Mini $45 a month (4 seats), Essentials $95 (10 seats, with the AI chatbot) and Plus $295 (20 seats).
Best for: small teams that want flat workspace pricing.
6. LiveChat: live chat widget with AI resolutions
LiveChat is a live chat widget for teams of human agents, with an AI agent and AI Copilot included in its plans.
- Pricing: Essential $19 per seat a month with 10 AI resolutions, Growth $79 per seat with 200 AI resolutions (annual billing). Extra AI resolutions are $49.50 per 50.
Best for: teams where people answer most chats and AI helps on the side.
7. tawk.to: free live chat widget
tawk.to is a free live chat widget with no limit on agents. AI Assist is an add-on, with a free tier for low chat volume.
- Pricing: free; removing the "Powered by tawk.to" branding is $29 a month.
Best for: teams with no budget that answer chats themselves.
How each widget charges you
Pricing is where these tools differ the most, and it decides your bill more than any feature list. Some charge per seat, so the bill grows with your team. Others charge per AI resolution, so the bill grows with your traffic. Usage-based pricing charges per message the AI sends.
Before you choose, take last month's chat volume and team size and run them through each model. A widget that looks cheap at 5 seats and 200 chats can cost ten times more at 15 seats and 3,000 chats.
Why memory matters for a website widget
Most website visitors do not buy on the first visit. They come back after comparing options, often days later. A widget without memory treats them like a stranger every time, and the visitor has to explain their question again.
A widget with memory picks up where they left off. In Invent, the conversation stays in the visitor's browser, so they return to the same chat, and the AI keeps short notes about the contact, such as their size, their plan or their last order. When a teammate takes over, they see the same history.
How to choose the right AI chat widget
Pick by the job the widget has to do, not by the longest feature list:
- You sell online and want the widget to close sales: look for product lookup, payment links and memory. Invent and Tidio fit here.
- You run support on a help desk already: use the widget that belongs to it, such as Intercom or Zendesk, so tickets and chats stay in one place.
- Your team answers most chats itself: a live chat widget such as LiveChat, Crisp or tawk.to, with AI as a helper.
- Your customers also write on WhatsApp and Instagram: pick a platform where the widget and those channels share one inbox and one AI agent, such as Invent.
How to test a widget before it goes live
- Load your content. Add your website, FAQs and policies to the AI's knowledge.
- Ask 30 real questions from last month's inbox, including the hard ones.
- Test a handoff. Ask for a refund or a person, and check who receives the chat and what they see.
- Come back as a returning visitor the next day and check that the conversation is still there.
- Install it on one page first, such as pricing or checkout, and compare conversions for two weeks before you add it everywhere.
How Invent's widget turns a visit into an order
Most widgets stop at the answer. In Invent, the same AI agent that answers can look up the product, send the payment link, and pass the chat to a person when a decision needs a human. The customer confirms payments in the chat before anything is charged.
The widget also records where each visitor came from, including UTM tags and ad click IDs, so you can see which campaigns start conversations. See the setup in our guide to adding an AI chat widget to your website.
Your website's smallest window should do the most work
A chat widget is the smallest part of your website and often the busiest. Judge it by the next step: does it remember, show, sell and hand off? The widget that does those four things pays for itself.
FAQs
What is the best AI chat widget for a website in 2026?
Invent is the best AI chat widget for websites that want to sell and support from one place: it remembers returning visitors, looks up products, sends payment links and hands chats to your team. Intercom and Zendesk fit teams already on those help desks, and tawk.to fits teams with no budget.
Is there an AI chat widget that remembers returning visitors?
Yes, Invent. The conversation stays in the visitor's browser, so they return to the same chat, and the AI keeps short memories about each contact, such as preferences and past orders.
Can an AI chat widget show products and take payments?
Yes. Invent's AI agent can search WooCommerce products and orders and create Stripe payment links in the chat, and the customer confirms before paying. Shopify support is coming soon.
What is the best free chat widget for a website?
tawk.to is free with no limit on agents, and Tidio and Crisp have free plans. Invent has a free plan to try its AI widget before you move to the $29 Business plan.
How do I add an AI chat widget to my website?
You create an AI agent, add your website and documents as its knowledge, choose the widget's colors and greeting, then paste one embed snippet into your site. With Invent, this takes an afternoon and needs no code.
Do AI chat widgets work on mobile?
Yes. Modern widgets open full screen on phones. In Invent you can also choose whether the greeting teaser shows on desktop, mobile or both.
How much does an AI chat widget cost?
It depends on the pricing model: per seat (Intercom, LiveChat), per AI resolution (Zendesk, Intercom's Fin), per conversation tier (Tidio), per workspace (Crisp), or per message used (Invent: $29 a month with $29 of usage, then pay as you go, AI replies from $0.003 per message depending on the model).
