About Live Helper Chat
Live Helper Chat is an open-source application that brings live customer support to your website. It is written in PHP and released under the Apache-2.0 license. The project says it is used in production serving over 10,000 chats a day with dozens of operators working at once.
Beyond text chat, it offers voice and video calls and screen sharing, web and mobile operator apps, and channels including Telegram, WhatsApp through Twilio, and Facebook Messenger. A bot builder lets you automate parts of the conversation, and topics point to AI chatbots, with a demo that features ChatGPT and streaming support.
Installation is by cloning the repository and installing Composer dependencies on PHP 8.2 or later, or by downloading a release package that already includes them. Documentation, forum discussions, and a Discord channel provide support. It suits small and large businesses that want a self-hosted chat widget and help desk tool, and developers who want to extend it.
Key features
- Live chat widget for websites
- Voice, video, and screen sharing
- Web and mobile operator apps
- Telegram, WhatsApp via Twilio, and Messenger channels
- Bot builder and AI chatbot support
- Release packages for quick installation
Good fit for
- →Website live support with a team of operators
- →Bot-assisted customer service across messaging apps
- Built with
- PHP
- Tags
- live-chat
- customer-support
- helpdesk
- php
- chatbot
- video-call
- self-hosted
Live Helper Chat: questions and answers
- What is Live Helper Chat used for?
- Live Helper Chat is an open-source live support system for websites with web and mobile apps, voice, video, and screen sharing, plus Telegram, WhatsApp, and Messenger integrations. It is a good fit for website live support with a team of operators and bot-assisted customer service across messaging apps.
- Is Live Helper Chat open source?
- Yes. Live Helper Chat is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at LiveHelperChat/livehelperchat and is written mainly in PHP.
- Is Live Helper Chat free?
- Yes. Live Helper Chat is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at €6 per month.
- Can I self-host Live Helper Chat?
- Yes. Live Helper Chat can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
- What is Live Helper Chat an alternative to?
- Live Helper Chat is an open-source alternative to LiveChat, Tawk.to, Tidio and Intercom. Other open-source alternatives to LiveChat include Chatwoot, Bytedesk and GoFly Live Chat.
- Is Live Helper Chat actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to Live Helper Chat was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is 4.94v, published on 30 September 2026. The project has 2.2k stars on GitHub.
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