WordPress live chat, per site — not per agent
Unlimited agents & conversations · Visitor intelligence · From $149/year
WordPress Live Chat That Doesn't Bill Per Agent
A native WordPress live chat with a full agent inbox, a visitor intelligence sidebar that knows who's chatting before they say hello, automatic CRM contact creation, GDPR-compliant pre-chat capture, business hours, proactive engagement, and canned replies with merge tags. No iframe SaaS. No per-agent fees.
- WordPress-native
- Unlimited agents
- Unlimited conversations
- Visitor intelligence sidebar
- CRM auto-linking
- Per-site pricing
Is the Business plan per site?
Thanks, that works!
Do you support WooCommerce?
Sarah Johnson
Sarah Johnson
OnlineCRM Contact
CustomerView full profile →
Engagement
8
Chats
46
Msgs
1m
Resp
Session
/pricing
Source
google / cpc
Every Live Chat Tool Charges You More for Every Agent You Add
Intercom Essential is $39 per seat per month. Intercom Advanced is $99 per seat. Drift starts at $2,500 a month. LiveChat Team is $41 per agent per month. Olark Standard is $29 per operator per month. Crisp Pro is $25 a month with limits on team members and conversations.
The pricing math is structurally hostile to growing teams. Hire a second support agent, your bill doubles. Hire a third, it triples. By the time you have a five-person support team on Intercom, you're paying $2,340 to $5,940 a year for chat alone. Tools designed to help you serve more customers charge you more for trying.
The deeper problem is integration. Most chat tools live in their own cloud. When a visitor chats with you, your WordPress CRM doesn't know it happened. When you tag a customer as VIP, the chat tool doesn't know. Your agents see the chat thread but not the contact's full history, status, deal stage, custom fields, or past meetings. They answer questions without context.
Then there's the technical baggage. The chat widget loads from the SaaS cloud. The JavaScript bloats your page weight. The iframe embed breaks when you change your theme. The chat survives only as long as your subscription does — cancel, and the conversation history goes with the vendor.
Auto Form CRM gives you a native WordPress live chat with a real agent inbox — one flat price per site for unlimited agents and unlimited conversations.
A visitor intelligence sidebar. Auto-linking to your CRM. Your data on your own server.
Four Reasons This Replaces Your Per-Agent Chat Subscription
Per-site pricing, not per-agent
Personal at $149 a year covers one site with unlimited agents. Run a 3-person support team or a 30-person one — the price stays the same. Compare against Intercom at $1,400-5,000 a year, LiveChat at $720-2,500, Olark at $1,000-3,500. Auto Form CRM is $149 a year flat, and the savings compound every year your team grows.
A real visitor intelligence sidebar
Most chat tools show a name and a thread. Auto Form CRM ships an entire sidebar that opens with every conversation — CRM contact card with status, engagement stats, session info, device, traffic source and UTMs, feedback. You answer with full context of who they are, where they came from, and what they’ve done before.
Native WordPress, no iframe SaaS
The widget script loads natively from your WordPress install. No third-party cloud, no iframe, no external JavaScript bloating your page or breaking when your CDN changes. It integrates with your Media Library, your WordPress timezone, your user permissions. A WordPress feature, not a plugin gluing to a SaaS.
Auto contact creation, every chat
When a visitor provides their email, Auto Form CRM creates a new contact (or matches an existing one). The conversation links to the contact, history appears on the record, phone syncs. The chat fires the Contact Created workflow trigger so your automation runs — welcome email, tags, deal creation, rep notification — like any other contact source.
The Sidebar That Turns Every Chat Into a Briefed Conversation
This is what separates Auto Form CRM's live chat from every other chat tool. The visitor intelligence sidebar opens automatically the moment you click into a conversation — every piece of context your agents need, already loaded.
Sarah Johnson
Online · last seen nowCRM Contact
CustomerView full contact profile →
Engagement
8
Chats
46
Messages
1m
Avg Resp
Session
/pricing
Device
macOS · Chrome 124
Source
google / cpc · spring-sale
Feedback
👍 PositiveProfile
Avatar and name, last-seen timestamp, and online/away/offline status. The agent knows immediately whether the visitor is actively reading or has stepped away.
CRM Contact
A real-time card with CRM status (Lead, Customer, VIP, or your custom statuses), phone, and a "View full contact profile →" link that opens the complete record — every meeting, deal, email, field, tag.
Engagement
Total Chats, Total Messages, and Average Response — three numbers that tell your agent instantly whether this is a brand-new visitor or a returning customer with eight previous chats.
Session
The exact page the visitor is on right now and the path they entered from. Pricing page vs demo request vs support docs — that context shapes the answer.
Device
Browser, operating system, mobile vs desktop. Useful when troubleshooting — "you’re on iOS Safari 17, that’s where the bug shows up."
Traffic source & UTM
Source, medium, campaign, content, term — every UTM that brought the visitor in. Google Ads? Facebook retargeting? Email newsletter? The agent sees the acquisition path and adjusts.
Feedback
Past thumbs-up / thumbs-down ratings appear here, so you know if this visitor previously had a great or poor experience with your team.
Returning visitor badges
The header shows badges at a glance — "Returning visitor (8 chats)", "Customer #4". Your agent opens the chat already calibrated to who they’re talking to.
Every Visual Detail Configurable, Live Preview Included
The chat widget your visitors see should match your brand, not a third-party SaaS's. Auto Form CRM gives you fine-grained control over every visual element, with a live preview that updates as you adjust settings.
Position
Bottom Right (default) or Bottom Left. The bubble appears in the chosen corner of every enabled page.
Widget title
"Chat with Us." "Talk to Support." "How Can We Help?" Up to about 50 characters of header text.
Widget logo
Upload from the WordPress Media Library or paste a URL. 48×48 recommended — branded as your team, not a generic tool.
Primary color
Color picker with hex input plus six presets (Pink, Blue, Green, Amber, Purple, Rose). Drives the bubble, agent bubbles, and accents.
Widget size
Small (340×460), Medium (392×520, default), Large (440×580). Minimal presence on dense pages or front-and-center on chat-heavy sites.
Border radius
A 0–32px slider. Sharp corners for modern minimal brands, rounded for friendly ones — applied consistently across the widget.
Bubble animation
None, Bounce (default), Pulse, or Shake. Triggers when the widget is closed and a new message arrives, drawing attention back.
Live preview in settings
Every appearance change updates a live mock widget in the settings page — bubble, open window, and a sample exchange. Confirm the look before deploying.
Chat with Us
We typically reply in a minute
Every Chat Captures a Real Contact Record
The most valuable thing about live chat isn't the support delivery — it's the lead capture. Every visitor who starts a conversation is showing high intent. Auto Form CRM treats every chat as a contact opportunity by default.
Optional pre-chat form
Ask for email (and optionally phone) before the conversation starts. Configure it Required or Optional with a Skip button. Visitors who provide their email become tracked CRM contacts immediately.
Optional GDPR consent
Enable a GDPR consent checkbox with your own consent text (up to ~300 characters). The consent is stored alongside the conversation for compliance records.
Auto-create contact, automatic
When a visitor provides their email, Auto Form CRM matches an existing contact or creates a new one with name, email, and phone — tagged as a Lead by default.
Phone capture and sync
A phone number from the pre-chat form syncs to the contact’s phone field automatically. Use it for follow-up calls, SMS workflows, or any other channel.
Workflow automation fires
Every captured chat creates a contact, so the Contact Created trigger fires. Welcome emails, page-based tags, UTM-based routing, follow-up tasks — the chat becomes the entry point to your automation stack.
Anonymous chat for low friction
Allow anonymous conversations (no email, Skip enabled) for high-volume support. They don’t become contacts, but the chat still appears in your inbox — and links to a contact if they provide an email later.
Canned Replies, Merge Tags, and Keyboard Shortcuts
A live chat tool is only as effective as the agents using it. Auto Form CRM ships the productivity features that make agents fast.
/greetingHi {{visitor_name}}! Thanks for reaching out. How can I help?/pricingPricing is flat per site — from $149/year, unlimited agents./shippingOrders ship within 1 business day. Tracking follows by email.Merge tags auto-fill on insert: {{visitor_name}} → Sarah
Canned replies via slash commands
Save pre-written responses with a shortcut like /greeting or /pricing. Type "/" in the reply field and the menu appears — pick one and the full text drops in, ready to send or customize.
Merge tags in canned replies
{{visitor_name}}, {{visitor_email}}, and {{visitor_phone}} pull from the CRM contact. "Hi {{visitor_name}}!" auto-fills the visitor’s actual name on insert. Scaled personalization without typing.
Reply and internal notes
Two tabs in the input — Reply (sent to the visitor) and Note (internal, team-only). Notes flag context for the next agent and appear in the thread with distinct styling, never confused with public messages.
Keyboard shortcuts
Navigate with arrow keys or j/k Vim-style. R or Enter focuses the reply field. Escape deselects. Built for keyboard-driven agents who don’t want to touch the mouse during busy hours.
Smart filtering
Open and Closed filter tabs. Search by name or email with 300ms debounce. 20 conversations per page with pagination for high-volume inboxes.
Read receipts & date separators
Double checkmarks show which agent messages the visitor has read. Date headers ("Sunday, Apr 5") separate messages from different days for easy scanning.
Configurable Hours, Pages, and Behavior
Not every page should show the chat widget. Not every hour should accept live conversations. Auto Form CRM gives you precise control over when and where the chat appears.
Business hours
Per-day open and close times Mon–Sun, days marked closed entirely, and quick presets (Weekdays 9–5, 24/7, Clear All). Uses your WordPress site timezone.
Live online/offline preview
The settings page shows a real-time Online or Offline badge with the next opening time, so you confirm the configuration before deploying.
Offline message
Outside hours, visitors see your offline message and can leave a message that becomes a new conversation — no missed leads when your team is away.
Page rules
Three modes: Show on all pages, Show only on specific pages, or Hide on specific pages.
Path matching patterns
Starts-with (/shop/), exact with the = prefix, and contains with the * prefix. Combine to build precise visibility rules.
Quick-add page buttons
One-click buttons for Home, Contact, Pricing, Blog, Shop, Cart, and Checkout add pages to your inclusion or exclusion list instantly.
Trigger a Greeting Before They Have to Click
The hardest moment in chat is the first one — the visitor has a question but hasn't clicked the bubble yet. Proactive engagement triggers nudge the conversation before the visitor leaves.
Proactive greeting delay
A delay in seconds before a greeting bubble appears next to the closed widget. 30 seconds for a gentle invite, 60–120 for higher-engagement signals, 0 to disable. Range 0–300 seconds.
Proactive scroll depth
A scroll percentage at which the greeting appears. 50% catches engaged readers, 75% targets higher intent, 0 disables it. Range 0–100 percent.
Both triggers together
Use delay and scroll depth in combination — the greeting appears when either condition is met first. Fast scrollers get the scroll trigger; slow readers get the delay trigger.
Dismissible greeting bubble
Fully dismissible. Visitors who aren’t interested can close it, and it won’t reappear during the same session. Respect their choice while still capturing visitors who want to engage.
Greeting message customization
"Hi! How can we help you today?" by default — customize per your tone. The text appears in the proactive bubble and as the first message when the visitor opens the chat.
Lives on the closed widget
The greeting appears as a bubble right next to the closed chat widget — visitors notice it without the full chat window taking over the page. One unobtrusive nudge, exactly where they already expect to find chat.
Email Alerts, In-App Bell, Visitor Feedback
A great chat tool is only useful if your agents actually see the conversations as they happen. Auto Form CRM ships multiple notification channels and built-in feedback collection.
Email notifications on new chat
A new conversation fires an email to your company address with visitor name, email, page, and opening message. Your team is notified the moment a chat begins, even when not watching the inbox.
Rate limiting prevents flood
The new-chat email is rate-limited to one per visitor per 60 seconds. Ten rapid messages send one email, not ten. Your inbox stays clean under high volume.
In-app notification bell
The inbox header bell increments with every new conversation and message. Click to see unread items; visiting a conversation clears its count.
Inbox sound on new message
While viewing the inbox, a sound plays for every new visitor message in any open conversation — so your team hears every message even while replying elsewhere.
Live count in the header
The "X conversations" counter updates in real time as conversations open, so your team sees the current workload at a glance.
Visitor feedback ratings
A thumbs-up / thumbs-down button lets visitors rate their experience in one click. Ratings appear on the sidebar in future conversations for instant context.
Transcript email to visitors
Visitors can request a transcript (up to 200 messages) emailed to them, with agent and visitor messages clearly labeled — useful for keeping a record of the session.
Routed to your company email
New-chat alerts go to the company email address configured in your CRM general settings, so notifications always land in the right inbox — no per-agent address juggling.
Per-conversation unread markers
Every thread in the inbox list carries an unread indicator, so agents can see at a glance which conversations have new messages waiting and which are already handled.
I Built This Because Intercom Was $150 a Month for Two Seats
I ran my support through Intercom for a while. It was excellent. The widget looked good, the agent inbox was polished, the integrations were broad. Then I added a second seat and my bill became $150 a month — $1,800 a year for chat alone. I evaluated LiveChat, Olark, Crisp, Tidio. Cheaper than Intercom but the same structural problem — every agent I added cost more, every month, forever.
The deeper issue wasn't the price. It was the disconnection. My WordPress CRM held every customer record. My chat tool held every conversation. The two sat side by side, unaware of each other. When a customer chatted, my CRM didn't know. When my agent answered, they didn't know whether the visitor was a brand-new lead or a five-year customer who'd already had four chats with us. The chat tool showed a name and a thread. That was it.
Then there was the embed problem. The widget loaded JavaScript from the SaaS cloud, bloating my page weight by 200KB. The iframe broke when I updated my theme. The styling fought with my CSS. The chat appeared on pages where I didn't want it and was missing from pages where I did — and the "show on specific pages" rule was buried three menus deep.
So I built it the way it should have been from the start. A native WordPress chat. No iframe. No third-party JavaScript bloating my pages. A real agent inbox with a visitor intelligence sidebar that opens with every conversation — CRM contact card, engagement stats, session, UTM source, device, feedback. Auto contact creation when visitors provide their email. Workflow automation that fires the moment a chat creates a contact. Canned replies with merge tags. Business hours that respect WordPress timezone. Page rules with pattern matching. Proactive greeting triggers. All built into Auto Form CRM at flat per-site pricing.
The math is the punchline. The 3-person support team that costs $1,400 to $5,000 a year on Intercom costs $149 a year flat on Auto Form CRM. The 10-person team that costs $4,700 to $16,700 a year still costs $149. Grow to whatever size your business needs — the price stays the same.
Ali
Founder of Auto Form CRM
How Auto Form CRM's WordPress Live Chat Stacks Up
| Auto Form CRM | Intercom | LiveChat | Olark | Crisp | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat, per site | Per seat / mo | Per agent / mo | Per operator / mo | Tiered | Per month |
| 3-agent team / year | $149 | $1,400-5,000 | $720-2,484 | $1,044-3,564 | $300-1,140 | $348-4,728 |
| 10-agent team / year | $149 | $4,680-16,680 | $2,400-8,280 | $3,480-11,880 | $300-1,140 | Variable |
| WordPress native | ||||||
| Visitor intelligence sidebar | Yes (built-in) | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| Auto-create CRM contact | Native | Native | Integration | Integration | Integration | Integration |
| Canned replies + merge tags | ||||||
| Pre-chat with GDPR | ||||||
| Business hours | ||||||
| Page rules | Pattern match | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Proactive greeting | Delay + scroll | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Your data, your server | ||||||
| Workflow integration | Native trigger | Via API | Via Zapier | Via Zapier | Via Zapier | Via Zapier |
*Crisp tier limits constrain agent count at the lower tiers.
Auto Form CRM vs Intercom
Intercom is dominant for SaaS and enterprise — polished inbox, vast integrations. The pricing reflects that: $39-139 per seat per month, with the most useful features behind higher tiers. For most WordPress businesses, you’re paying $1,400-5,000 a year for a tool that lives outside your CRM. Auto Form CRM gives you a comparable inbox and sidebar plus native CRM integration for $149 a year flat.
Auto Form CRM vs LiveChat
LiveChat is a category veteran with a clean inbox and broad integrations. At $20-69 per agent per month, a small team runs $720-2,500 a year. Visitor data lives in LiveChat’s cloud and syncs to your CRM through Zapier. Auto Form CRM eliminates the per-agent fee, the middleware, and lives natively on your server.
Auto Form CRM vs Olark, Crisp, Tidio
All three are excellent — Olark for ecommerce and SMB, Crisp for multi-channel inboxes, Tidio for bundled automation. All charge per agent or per month and live in their own clouds. Auto Form CRM is the WordPress-native option that runs on your server with no per-agent fees.
Auto Form CRM vs other WordPress chat plugins
Tawk.to, 3CX, and vendor WP plugins exist. The differentiation is depth and CRM integration: a visitor intelligence sidebar, native contact auto-creation, business hours, page rules with pattern matching, proactive greeting (delay AND scroll), canned replies with merge tags, and workflow integration — in one plugin that also handles contacts, campaigns, deals, and WooCommerce.
Unlimited agents for $149/year here. The same team on Intercom runs up to $16,680.
Per-site pricing means your support chat never gets more expensive when you hire. Unlimited agents, unlimited conversations, your data on your own server.
Built for Teams Tired of Per-Agent Chat Bills
WordPress site owners with growing support volume
You’ve outgrown the basic chat plugin you started with. You need a real inbox, visitor intelligence, and CRM integration — without paying Intercom $150 a month for two seats. Personal at $149 a year replaces it.
E-commerce stores running customer support
WooCommerce stores need chat that knows whether the visitor is a customer (and what they bought) before answering. CRM auto-linking plus WooCommerce CRM shows the agent every order and interaction — without leaving the inbox.
SaaS founders running technical support
Your team needs to see who the visitor is before answering. The sidebar shows account status, license tier, past chats, and average response history. The agent answers with full context, not a name and a question.
Agencies deploying chat across client sites
Deploy chat on every client install and standardize the support experience across every client brand. Bill for setup and ongoing management as a service line.
Service businesses converting consultations
Lawyers, accountants, consultants. Prospects ask qualifying questions before booking. Chat in real time, auto-create the contact, and fire workflows that send booking links, follow-ups, and intake forms.
Solo founders running their own support
You handle support yourself between other work. A $39/month Intercom subscription feels excessive for one user. Personal at $149 a year covers chat plus everything else.
The Questions Buyers Actually Ask About WordPress Live Chat
Live Chat Connects to Your Whole CRM
The Live Chat feature is wired into every other module. Every conversation creates or updates CRM data that other features read and respond to.
Contact Management
Every chat that captures an email creates or matches a CRM contact carrying the full conversation history.
Workflow Automation
Chat-created contacts fire the Contact Created trigger. Build workflows that respond to every new chat lead.
Tags
Tag contacts by chat behavior — visitors from your pricing page differently from your blog.
Custom Fields
Capture custom data through pre-chat questions; it flows into the contact’s custom fields automatically.
WooCommerce CRM
When a chatting visitor is a customer, the sidebar shows purchase history, lifecycle stage, and RFM segment.
Deal Pipeline
High-value chats can auto-create deals through workflows triggered by Contact Created.
Email Campaigns
Segment campaigns to chat-captured contacts. Build a "Chatted but didn’t convert" re-engagement segment.
Meeting Scheduling
Send chat visitors directly to your booking link mid-conversation for higher-intent prospects.
Dashboard
The Activity Feed widget surfaces chat conversations alongside the rest of your CRM activity.
Live Chat That Actually Lives Inside Your CRM
One WordPress plugin price. Unlimited agents and conversations. Native WordPress widget. Visitor intelligence sidebar. Auto-create CRM contacts. Pre-chat capture with GDPR. Business hours and page rules. Proactive greeting triggers. Canned replies with merge tags. Internal notes, read receipts, feedback ratings, email transcripts, and workflow integration. All included, all yours, all on your own server.
Install in minutes. Cancel anytime — though your chat history, visitor records, canned replies, and contact data all stay in your WordPress database where they always did.
Read the DocsBuilt by Amora Digital (KVK 99536811) in the Netherlands. Made for WordPress. Designed by an operator who got tired of paying $150 a month for two seats on Intercom.