8 Best Live Chat Plugins for Squarespace in 2026 (Free and AI Options)

Key takeaways

Squarespace does not ship a chat window for your visitors. You add one from a third-party tool, either by pasting its script into Code Injection or, for one vendor, by connecting an extension. Most of them have a free plan. They differ on who answers, what the free plan stops at, and whether your Squarespace plan lets you paste the script at all. For a small site, Tidio is the pick for live chat plus an AI agent, tawk.to is the free pick with no agent limit, and LiveChat is the only one here with a native Squarespace connection. We compared eight tools on their own install guides and pricing pages in October 2026. Tidio is one of the eight and gets the same template as the rest.

Does Squarespace have built-in live chat?

No. Squarespace's pricing page lists no live chat feature, and it describes code injection as the place to add "live chat services" from other providers. The chat window on Squarespace's own help center is its support assistant for account holders, not a tool for your visitors. A chat plugin puts a button on your pages and lets visitors message you instantly, and on Squarespace it comes from one of three routes.

• An extension. Squarespace Extensions are third-party tools that connect to your site. The marketplace features a live chat extension, and Squarespace does not charge for extensions or control their pricing.
• Code Injection. You paste the vendor's script once, and it loads on every page. This is how seven of the eight tools below install.
• A Code block. You paste the script into one page only.

The second and third routes need a Squarespace plan that allows custom code, which we cover in the install section.

The best Squarespace chat plugins at a glance

Plugin	Best for	Free plan / trial	Paid from	G2 rating
Tidio	Small sites and stores that want live chat and AI	Free plan (50 conversations a month) · 7-day trial	$24.17/mo billed annually ($29 monthly)	4.6 (1,995)[1]
LiveChat	Connecting without code	14-day trial, no free plan	$19/user/mo billed annually ($25 monthly)	4.5 (813)[2]
tawk.to	A free chat with unlimited agents	Free plan	No paid plans; add-ons from $29/mo	4.5 (202)[3]
Crisp	Small teams that want flat pricing	Free plan (2 seats) · 14-day trial	$45/mo per workspace	4.5 (204)[4]
Elfsight	A free AI chatbot widget with no inbox	Free plan (200 views a month)	From $5/mo	4.8 (920)[5]
POWR	Sending chats to Messenger or WhatsApp	Free plan (1 channel)	See the pricing page	4.4 (131)[6]
Pure Chat	A plain chat for a small team	30-day trial, no free plan	$39/mo billed annually ($49 monthly)	4.4 (207)[7]
Olark	An AI agent with flat pricing	14-day trial, no free plan	$29/agent/mo for human chat; AI agent $400/mo	4.3 (224)[8]

How we chose these plugins

We started with the eight tools in the previous edition and the options Squarespace site owners compare today. We kept a tool only if it still sells a chat product, publishes a price, and has an install guide or extension for Squarespace. That removed Tolstoy: it is now a shoppable-video and AI e-commerce platform, and its old Squarespace help article no longer loads. We added Crisp, which publishes current Squarespace install steps. We also checked Smartsupp and left it out: its help center lists no Squarespace install guide.

For each of the eight we read the vendor's Squarespace guide and pricing page, and recorded how it installs, where you reply, what the free plan limits, and which AI options it sells. The list is ordered by fit for small Squarespace sites, not by rating, which is why Tidio is first. We did not benchmark page speed or AI answer quality, and we did not test every install on a live site. Vendor claims are quoted as claims.

The 8 best chat plugins for Squarespace

Tidio

Best for: small Squarespace sites and online stores that want live chat and an AI agent in one app

Tidio combines live chat, a shared inbox for chat, email and social messages, an AI agent called Lyro, and no-code automations called Flows. It is not in Squarespace's Extensions marketplace. You install it by copying one JavaScript snippet from the Tidio panel into Squarespace's Code Injection footer, and you answer visitors from the Tidio panel or its iOS and Android app.

What it does on Squarespace:

• Lyro answers visitor questions from your help content, and Lyro can resolve up to 75% of support requests.
• Flows send proactive messages, such as a greeting on a pricing page or a prompt to book a call.
• One inbox covers website chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Tidio fits these teams best:

• Service businesses, studios and shops that answer the same booking questions every week.
• Small teams that want automation and AI without hiring a support agent.

Pros

• A free plan with 10 seats, enough to test chat on a live site.
• Live chat, AI and email share one inbox, so a handoff from Lyro keeps the full conversation.
• A 71-second Tidio video and a Help Center article walk through the Squarespace install.

Cons

• Lyro is priced separately, so you only pay for the AI you use, but its free quota is 50 conversations once, not every month.
• Larger volumes move to the Plus plan with custom limits, so teams above Growth work out pricing with Tidio's sales team.
• The install is a pasted snippet, so you need a Squarespace plan that allows custom code, and your Squarespace editor may not show the widget until you open the site as a visitor.

Pricing (October 2026, from the pricing page, which leads with annual prices; monthly in brackets):

• Free: $0, 50 billable conversations a month, up to 10 seats.
• Starter: $24.17 a month ($29), 100 conversations.
• Growth: from $49.17 a month ($59), advanced analytics and macros.
• Lyro AI agent: sold on top, from $32.50 a month ($39) for 50 AI conversations. One conversation counts once, however many replies Lyro sends.
• 7-day free trial with all features, no card; the account then drops to Free.

G2 rating: 4.6 from 1,995 reviews.^[1]

Read more: Tidio on Squarespace.

LiveChat

Best for: Squarespace stores whose team wants to connect without pasting code

LiveChat is the only tool in this list that installs from Squarespace's Extensions: in Squarespace, you go to Settings > Third Party Tools > Extensions, find LiveChat and connect your site, with no script to paste. The LiveChat panel then shows a visitor's cart contents and total value during a chat. The vendor pitches the extension at stores, and it says your site still needs the Squarespace commerce features of the store you run. LiveChat's pricing page now sells new trials as "Text" plans, and existing LiveChat accounts continue as before.

Key features:

• Native extension with cart view for Squarespace stores.
• Desktop, mobile and web apps, an omnichannel inbox and ticketing.
• AI agents on every plan, with a monthly cap on AI resolutions.
• Chat groups to show different widgets on different storefronts.

Pros

• No code, and Squarespace allows extension connections on all plans.
• Cart contents visible next to the conversation.
• An inbox, ticketing and apps in the base plans.

Cons

• No free plan, only a 14-day trial.
• Pricing is per user, so cost rises with each agent.
• AI is capped: 10 resolutions a month on Essential, 200 on Growth, and 50 more cost $49.50.

Pricing: Essential is $19 per user a month billed annually ($25 monthly), and Growth is $79 ($99 monthly). Enterprise is custom, and the white-label widget is listed there. LiveChat's help center still shows the older plan names Starter, Team and Business, so check the plan name on the day you buy.

G2 rating: 4.5 from 813 reviews.^[2]

Read more: LiveChat review.

tawk.to

Best for: a free chat with live agents and no agent limit

tawk.to gives you live chat with human agents for free, with no cap on agents. It publishes a Squarespace guide: copy the widget code from Channels > Chat Widget in the tawk.to dashboard, then paste it into Squarespace's Code Injection footer and save. The guide covers desktops and laptops. The tawk.to apps cover iOS, Android, macOS and Windows, and the dashboard includes an inbox with email, Facebook, WhatsApp and SMS.

Pros

• Free for life, with the badge in place.
• Native desktop and mobile apps.
• Chat, email and social messages in one inbox.

Cons

• Removing the "Powered by tawk.to" badge costs $29 a month.
• Reviewers on G2 call the reporting and analytics basic and mention occasional mobile notification delays.
• Its AI Assist is a paid add-on from $29 a month, and the page does not say whether that price is billed monthly or annually.

Pricing: the live chat is free. The branding removal is $29 a month, AI Assist is from $29 a month with a forever-free plan for low chat volume, and hired agents cost $1 an hour.

G2 rating: 4.5 from 202 reviews.^[3]

Read more: tawk.to review.

Crisp

Best for: small teams that want one flat price per workspace

Crisp installs on Squarespace through Code Injection: you paste its chatbox script into the footer field. Its help article, updated this month, notes that Code Injection depends on your Squarespace plan. Crisp bills per workspace, not per seat, and its AI agent, Hugo, is billed in AI credits.

Pros

• A free plan with 2 seats.
• Flat workspace pricing: you pay the same however many conversations come in.
• Mobile apps and chat SDKs on the free plan.

Cons

• The "We run on Crisp" watermark comes off only on the $295 Plus plan.
• The free plan has no AI credits and 100 customer profiles.
• AI is metered: the Mini plan includes about 90 automated conversations.

Pricing: Free is $0 with 2 seats. Mini is $45 a month per workspace with 4 seats, Essentials is $95 with 10 seats, and Plus is $295 with 20 or more seats. Extra agents cost $10 a month. Crisp lists these as monthly prices and does not state its yearly discount. There is a 14-day trial.

G2 rating: 4.5 from 204 reviews.^[4]

Read more: Crisp review.

Elfsight

Best for: a free AI chatbot widget where an inbox is not needed

Elfsight is a library of widgets, and its chat products are an AI Chatbot and a WhatsApp Chat button. Both install by pasting code: into a Code block for one page, or into the Code Injection footer for the whole site. The vendor says you need a Squarespace plan that allows custom code, and that the chatbot works on both Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1. The chatbot trains on your files and pages and hands off to a person by email, phone or WhatsApp. It has no agent inbox, and we found no mobile app.

Key features:

• A free AI chatbot trained on your PDFs, documents and site content.
• Lead capture and chat transcripts by email.
• A WhatsApp Chat widget that opens WhatsApp on the visitor's phone or computer.

Pros

• A free plan with no time limit.
• Free installation help on every plan.
• The chatbot works on Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1.

Cons

• Usage is capped in views: 200 a month on Free, and exceeding the limit turns the widget off.
• AI messages are capped too: 50 a month on Free and 300 on Basic.
• There is no live agent inbox, so human replies happen by email, phone or WhatsApp.

Pricing: Free is $0 with 200 views a month and Elfsight branding. Paid plans start at $5 a month (Basic, 5,000 views), then $10 (Pro) and $20 (Premium). Each paid plan shows a second, higher price beside "Billed yearly", so the $5 is most likely the annual-billing price.

G2 rating: 4.8 from 920 reviews.^[5]

POWR

Best for: sending website chats to Messenger, WhatsApp or Telegram

POWR's Live Chat is a launcher. It connects your site to Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Telegram, so you answer in the app you already use. It has welcome and away messages and chat triggers. We found no AI chatbot, inbox or mobile app. The vendor's Squarespace page was empty when we checked, so confirm the install steps in your POWR account before you start.

Key features:

• A chat button that connects to Messenger, WhatsApp or Telegram.
• Automated welcome and away messages.
• Style settings for colors, fonts and borders.

Pros

• A free plan.
• No design or coding skill needed.
• Replies arrive in apps your team already uses.

Cons

• It is a messenger launcher, not an on-site chat inbox.
• The free plan connects one channel.
• G2 reviewers note the plugin can occasionally affect page loading speed.

Pricing: there is a free plan, and paid plans are on the pricing page. The page shows two prices per paid plan without saying which is monthly, and its yearly discount is stated two ways, so we do not print a figure.

G2 rating: 4.4 from 131 reviews, for POWR overall.^[6]

Pure Chat

Best for: a small team that wants a plain chat widget with a trial

Pure Chat is still sold and still simple: a chat box, an operator dashboard and iOS and Android apps. Its Squarespace guide is dated 2023 and uses Code Injection. We found no AI agent on its pages.

Pros

• A 30-day trial of the top plan and a money-back guarantee.
• Easy setup: sign up, install the code and start chatting.
• Unlimited chats and chat history.

Cons

• No free plan and no AI agent.
• The Growth plan covers one website and 4 users, and extra users cost $13 to $15 a month.
• The pricing page was last updated in January 2025, and the Squarespace guide in 2023.

Pricing: Growth is $39 a month billed annually ($49 monthly) for 1 website and 4 users. PRO is $79 ($99 monthly) for unlimited websites and 10 users. The features page ties logo removal to PRO.

G2 rating: 4.4 from 207 reviews.^[7]

Olark

Best for: teams that want an AI agent at a flat price, and can pay for it

Olark now leads with an AI agent that trains on your site, though it still sells human-only live chat at $29 per agent a month. Its Squarespace guide uses Code Injection in the Header, and the help page says it is being updated. We found no mobile app on its pages.

Pros

• Flat AI pricing with no overages.
• Handoff happens in the same thread, so visitors do not restart.
• A cheap human-only seat at $29 a month.

Cons

• The AI plan starts at $400 a month billed annually, which is a lot for a small Squarespace site.
• No free plan, only a 14-day trial.
• The Squarespace help article dates from an older Squarespace version.

Pricing: the Standard AI website agent is $400 a month billed annually, with one human seat included and extra seats at $29. Human-only live chat is $29 per agent a month, and the page does not state the billing basis.

G2 rating: 4.3 from 224 reviews.^[8]

Which chat plugin should you choose?

Pick by who answers and how much code you want to touch.

Your situation	Pick	Why
You want live chat plus an AI agent on a small site	Tidio	A free plan to test, Lyro for AI answers, and a Squarespace install guide and video.
You run a Squarespace store and want no code	LiveChat	Installs from Extensions and shows the cart during a chat.
You want free chat with any number of agents	tawk.to	No agent limit; the badge stays unless you pay.
You want flat pricing for a small team	Crisp	Per workspace, not per seat.
You only want a free AI answer box	Elfsight	A free chatbot with view and message caps, and no inbox.
Your team answers in WhatsApp or Messenger	POWR	A launcher that opens the apps you already use.
You want an AI agent at a flat price and have budget	Olark	$400 a month, billed annually, with unlimited conversations.

If you run a Squarespace store, start with Tidio's Growth plan with Lyro: your customers get fast answers to shipping and order questions, and the same inbox covers chat, email and social messages. Pick LiveChat if connecting without code matters more than a free plan. For a wider view of free tools, see free live chat software, and for the widget's look and position, chat widgets for websites. If you also run a WordPress site, the same comparison is in our guide to WordPress chat plugins.

How to add live chat to Squarespace

The steps below use Tidio as the example, and they are the same for most tools in this list.

Step 1: Check your Squarespace plan

Open your Squarespace plan and confirm it is Core, Plus or Advanced. Squarespace lists Code Injection as included on those three and not included on Basic, and a Code block that runs JavaScript also needs Core or higher. If you are on Basic, upgrade first, or use LiveChat's extension, which Squarespace allows on all plans.

Step 2: Copy the script from your chat tool

Create a Tidio account, and Tidio shows your personal JavaScript snippet at the end of sign-up. You can find it again in Settings > Channels > Live Chat > Installation in the Tidio panel. Copy it. Every tool in this list has a similar screen with a script or widget code.

Step 3: Paste it into Code Injection

Open the Code Injection panel in Squarespace. Squarespace's help center links to it directly. In the current editor it sits under Website Tools, and older guides, like the screenshot below, place it under Settings > Advanced. Paste the script into the Footer field, which loads it before the closing </body> tag on every page, and click Save. If the script is plain JavaScript without tags, wrap it in <script></script>.

To show the chat on one page only, use that page's settings: hover over the page in the Pages panel, click the gear icon, then Advanced. Page Header Code Injection adds code to the head of that page. Or add a Code block to the page, set the mode to HTML and wrap JavaScript in <script> tags.

Step 4: Test it as a visitor

Squarespace says injected code sometimes does not appear while you are logged in. Open your site in a private or incognito window, or use Preview in Safe Mode, and send yourself a test message. Check that the reply arrives where you expect, in the Tidio panel or its app.

Two things trip people up:

• Index pages and Ajax loading. Custom code might not render on an index page, or when Ajax loading is on.
• Checkout. You can't add custom code to checkout pages, so chat will not load there.

If you prefer to watch, Tidio has a 71-second video on adding live chat to Squarespace, and a Help Center article with the same steps.

Will a chat plugin slow down your Squarespace site?

It can add some load, and the amount depends on the vendor's script, not on Squarespace. A chat tool loads its widget as an extra script on every page. We have not measured the speed of any tool here, and vendor speed claims are claims. One of POWR's G2 reviewers says the plugin can occasionally affect page loading speed.

Test your own site before and after. Run PageSpeed Insights on a key page, install one tool, and run it again. Three habits keep the cost down: install one chat tool at a time, load it only on pages that need chat, and remove old chat scripts from Code Injection when you switch tools.

What to look for in a Squarespace chat plugin

Check	What to look for	Why it matters
Install route	Extension, Code Injection or Code block	Only LiveChat connects without code; the others need Core or higher.
Where you reply	A dashboard and apps, or Messenger and WhatsApp	POWR and Elfsight have no agent inbox.
Free plan limits	Conversations, seats, views	Elfsight caps views at 200; tawk.to has no cap.
Branding	Cost to remove the "Powered by" badge	$29 a month on tawk.to, $295 on Crisp, paid plans on Elfsight.
AI pricing	The unit: conversation, resolution, credit or flat	Tidio bills per AI conversation, LiveChat per resolution, Olark a flat $400.
E-commerce	Cart and order views	LiveChat shows the cart; Tidio documents native actions on Shopify.
Upkeep	Last update of the install guide	Pure Chat's guide is from 2023, Olark's is being updated.

Install one and see where the replies land

Pick one tool, paste its script into Code Injection and send yourself a test message from an incognito window. Watch where the reply arrives: a vendor dashboard, an app or Messenger. If you want live chat and an AI agent in one app, Tidio's free plan covers 50 billable conversations a month.

Frequently asked questions