LiveChat is built around people answering chats. Campaigns start the conversation and Copilot helps agents reply faster, but a person is still doing the talking. Darwin flips that: the AI does the answering and the booking, and it keeps rewriting its own openings to book more. Here's how they compare.
DarwinAI website chat focused on answering buying questions, booking meetings, and improving chat openings.Best for
Less suited to
Staffing a human live-chat team.
LiveChatLive chat for support and sales teams from Text, with agent-assist AI and campaigns.Best for
Less suited to
An AI that answers visitors and books meetings on its own.
| Side by side | Darwin | LiveChat |
|---|---|---|
| Self-improvementHow each product improves the openings that start sales conversations. | ||
| Self-improves to book more meetings | Yes Creates tests. Promotes qualifying winners. Tests again. 1 With automation enabled, on eligible pages within your plan. Tests need enough traffic; a lift is not guaranteed. | Manual tests Manual campaign tests; an autonomous opening loop is not documented. 2 The campaigns guide suggests setting up several campaigns for the same conditions and testing one type each month. |
| Writes new openings for each page | Yes Creates opening variants from page context. 1 For pages with automation enabled and sufficient traffic to run an experiment. Every plan includes unlimited optimized pages. | Manual setup Opening and trigger messages are written by the operator and targeted by rules. 3 Targeting conditions decide where a message shows; the copy is authored manually. |
| Tests and keeps better openings | Yes Tests opening variants and can promote a better performer. 1 Requires enough evidence; an experiment may have no winner. | Not documented Automatic promotion of a better opening is not documented. 34 The guide suggests comparing campaign conversion by hand; no automatic winner selection is described. |
| Starts the next test automatically | Yes The next opening experiment builds from the current winner. 1 Automation must be enabled and the page eligible. This does not guarantee improving results. | Not documented An automatic cycle of generating, testing and replacing openings is not documented. 3 Changes are made and published by the operator. |
| OnboardingWhat the product prepares for you before you go live. | ||
| Learns from your website | Yes Darwin discovers the relevant pages on your website and prepares its knowledge base from them. 5 Initial setup selects key pages for speed; more pages can be imported later. | Agent-assist only Website pages can be crawled as Copilot knowledge for agents. 6 Agent-facing only in LiveChat; the visitor-facing AI Agent is a separate product. |
| Drafts your sales settings | Yes Prepares business information and assistant settings from the website. 5 The user can review and refine the generated draft. | Not documented Automatic drafting of business settings from the website is not documented. 3 Campaigns and greetings are set up by the operator. |
| Matches chat to your brand | Colors & fonts Extracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design. 5 Brand detection is a draft: available fonts, contrast and source-site access affect the result. | Not documented Colors are picked manually; automatic brand import is not documented. 7 Predefined color sets or a custom hex color. |
| Writes your first chat opening | Yes Drafts the first chat opening from the business context. 8 Drafted during assisted setup; approve it, edit it (120-character limit) or ask Darwin for a revision. | Manual setup Greetings and campaigns are written by the operator. 3 Templates provide a starting point. |
| Review before going live | Yes The assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation. 8 Calendar connection, testing and website installation remain separate completion steps. | Not documented A dedicated test step before publishing a campaign is not documented. 3 The guide suggests checking a saved campaign on your site in a private window; reports show performance after launch. |
| PricingUSD before tax, monthly billing. Darwin charges per booked meeting or qualified request; LiveChat charges per agent seat, with its AI Agent sold separately. | ||
| Lowest monthly platform fee | $0/mo Free has no monthly subscription fee. 9 No card needed to start; credits are charged after the first five free ones. A credit is one booked meeting or qualified request. | $25/agent/mo LiveChat's Starter plan is $25 per person per month on monthly billing. 10 No free plan; $19 on annual billing. |
| Introductory offer | 5 free credits The first five credits are free, once. 9 A credit is one booked meeting or one request that passes your fit rules. Not a monthly allowance; a card is needed once all five are used. | 14 day trial A 14-day free trial without a card. 10 No ongoing free plan. |
| AI usage charge | $30/credit Free charges $30 per credit after the first five. 9 A confirmed booking or a request that passes the fit rules is one credit. Conversations and leads that fail the fit rules are never charged, and there is no plan fee. | Separate product The customer-facing AI Agent is a separate Text product from $19 per user per month, billed annually. 1011 Billed annually; Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month, extra 50 for $49.50; 14-day free trial. LiveChat plans include agent-assist AI only. |
| Paid plans start at | $299/mo Growth is $299 per month on monthly billing. 9 Includes 10 credits a month. Annual billing is two months free ($2,990 a year); credits and extra-credit charges stay monthly. | $25/agent/mo LiveChat's Starter plan is $25 per person per month on monthly billing. 10 No free plan; $19 on annual billing. |
| Included on paid plans | 10–25 credits/mo Growth includes 10 credits a month; Agency includes 25, pooled across up to 200 client workspaces. 9 Unused included credits roll over for one month. Growth can also be bought with 35, 60 or 110 credits a month, and Agency with 50, 75, 125, 275 or 525. | Seat-based Plans are per agent seat; no AI agent conversations are included. 1012 Seats, not bookings or AI usage. |
| Additional paid-plan usage | $8–$25/credit Extra credits cost $25 each. Choosing more credits each month lowers the rate: on Growth, $20 at 35 credits, $16 at 60 and $12 at 110; on Agency, $10 at 275 and $8 at 525. 9 Charged automatically each month at the current rate, after the monthly included credits and in addition to the plan fee. | Separate product The customer-facing AI Agent is a separate Text product from $19 per user per month, billed annually. 1011 Billed annually; Essential includes 10 AI resolutions a month, extra 50 for $49.50; 14-day free trial. LiveChat plans include agent-assist AI only. |
Your first five meetings or requests are free. After that each is $30, or Growth is $299 a month with 10 included.
Facts checked Oct 5, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026. Plans and integrations can change. Not documented means the reviewed sources don’t establish a capability; it doesn’t prove the feature is missing. Sources and method
Eighty-five seconds on what Darwin does: learns your business from your site, books the meeting inside the chat, and keeps rewriting the opening until more people talk.
Only by linking out. The welcome screen can carry custom links, including one to your scheduling page, but the booking happens on that other page. Darwin offers a time in the conversation and completes the booking in the scheduler you've connected. With both, check what your provider records as a finished booking.
1317Inside LiveChat itself, the AI helps your agents. Copilot reads your website and PDFs and suggests replies while a person handles the chat. Text sells a separate AI Agent that talks to visitors directly. Darwin's assistant answers visitors from your website content and the knowledge you give it, no agent required.
121618Published by Darwin, using the official documentation linked below. This is a comparison of documented capabilities, not a hands-on benchmark. “Not documented” means the reviewed sources do not establish that capability; it does not prove absence. LiveChat prices are per agent on monthly billing; its customer-facing AI Agent is a separate Text product priced per user. Setup means preparing a draft, not automatically installing it.
Source access and fact-check dates are recorded separately for each source below.
Darwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Explains automatic launch, automatic promotion and the next test starting from a winning opening.
Fact checked · Review dueCreates opening variants from page context.
Fact checked · Review dueTests opening variants and can promote a better performer.
Fact checked · Review dueThe next opening experiment builds from the current winner.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments the website opening optimization loop.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Template-based campaigns edited by the operator; eight targeting conditions; recommends testing one campaign type each month; displays, chats and conversion rate reporting.
Recommends manual experimentation; no A/B testing or automated winner selection is described.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Template-based campaigns edited by the operator; eight targeting conditions; recommends testing one campaign type each month; displays, chats and conversion rate reporting.
Campaigns start from templates and are edited by the operator, with up to eight targeting conditions.
Fact checked · Review dueNo automatic winner selection; the guide shows displays, chats and conversion rate per campaign and suggests running campaigns for the same conditions and testing one type each month.
Fact checked · Review dueMessages are edited and re-activated manually.
Fact checked · Review dueCampaigns are edited manually from templates.
Fact checked · Review dueTemplates are edited by the operator.
Fact checked · Review dueAfter saving (and choosing whether a recurring campaign goes live), the guide suggests testing it in a private browser window by recreating its conditions on your site. No preview or test step before it goes live is described.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Chat, campaign conversion, goals, tickets and agent reports; most on Team and above.
The campaigns conversion report says to 'do tests' to see whether changing a campaign's copy or trigger helps conversion; the comparison is manual.
Fact checked · Review dueUpdated Oct 7, 2026: reporting is available on Team and higher; it lists chat, campaign conversion, goals, tracked sales, satisfaction, queue and agent reports. Ticket reports refer to native Tickets, sunset in January 2025, with tickets now handled in HelpDesk.com.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Discovers relevant website pages and prepares the knowledge base.
Fact checked · Review duePrepares business information and assistant settings from the website.
Fact checked · Review dueExtracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Agent-facing assistant using website and PDF knowledge sources; Team plan 3 websites, Business 10.
Websites can be uploaded as knowledge sources with automatic re-checks.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Bar or bubble theme, colors, dark mode, logo, agent photo, position.
Colors are chosen from predefined sets or a custom picker.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Darwin prepares the opening from your website and shows it in a card to approve (Looks good), edit (120-character limit) or revise by message; the page no longer says it uses the experiment writer's requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueThe assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Darwin's own pricing page after the move to credits (Free, Growth, Agency): plan fees, credits included, extra-credit prices, add-ons, annual billing and what uses a credit. Read from the live page; the release script checks the page before it records the access time.
Free has no monthly fee; its first 5 credits are free, then each credit is $30.
Fact checked · Review dueThe first 5 credits on Free are free, once; a card is needed after that.
Fact checked · Review dueFree charges $30 a credit after the first five; leads that fail the fit rules are free.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth is $299 a month, or $2,990 a year, with 10 credits a month included.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth includes 10 credits a month and Agency 25, pooled; unused credits roll over one month.
Fact checked · Review dueExtra credits are $25 on Growth and Agency; choosing more credits each month lowers them to $20, $16 or $12 at 35, 60 or 110 on Growth, and to $8 at 525 on Agency.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments Free's five free credits, the credit price, what uses a credit and when a card is needed.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Starter $25 per month on monthly billing.
Fact checked · Review dueFree 14-day trial, no credit card required.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat plans include Copilot; 'Custom skills for AI Agent' is offered through Text 'From $19/user/month', and LiveChat says Text features are not included in LiveChat plans.
Fact checked · Review duePer-person seat pricing.
Fact checked · Review duePer-person plans with Text Intelligence features; the AI Agent is sold as a separate product.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Rechecked 2026-10-05. Starter $25, Team $59, Business $89 per person per month on monthly billing ($19, $49, $79 annual); 14-day trial without a card; no free plan; white-label widget on Enterprise; Text AI Agent sold separately from $19 per user per month.
/pricing/ now shows Text plans: Essential $19 per user per month billed annually ($25 monthly) with 1 AI Agent and 10 AI resolutions a month; extra packs of 50 resolutions cost $49.50; 14 days free without a card.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
(proposed additional source) FAQ: Text AI Agent features 'are not included in LiveChat plans, including legacy LiveChat subscriptions'.
Fact checked · Review due(proposed additional source) The visitor-facing Text AI Agent (website pages, help articles, files) is part of Text plans; the page states these features are not included in LiveChat plans, including legacy subscriptions.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Describes the visitor-to-meeting flow.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments public booking links, inline contact collection, embed limitations and confirmation-tracking requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Describes the included Darwin product areas.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Documents the conversion-focused reporting workflow.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Agent-facing assistant using website and PDF knowledge sources; Team plan 3 websites, Business 10.
Copilot uses full websites, specific pages and PDF files to assist agents.
Fact checked · Review dueLiveChat · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Custom links on the welcome screen, including to external scheduling pages.
Custom links on the welcome screen can point to scheduling services.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Documents website importing and management of assistant knowledge sources.
Fact checked · Review due
