Hiver vs Olark

Hiver and Olark serve distinctly different customer support needs. Hiver transforms Gmail into a collaborative help desk, allowing teams to manage customer support directly within their familiar email interface. Olark focuses exclusively on live chat functionality with advanced visitor tracking and real-time engagement capabilities.

The choice between these platforms depends on whether your team prefers email-centric support workflows or prioritizes immediate customer interaction through live chat channels.

Hiver integrates directly with Gmail, providing shared inboxes, email assignments, collision detection, and SLA tracking without leaving the Gmail interface. It includes email templates, internal notes, and analytics for email-based support workflows.

Olark specializes in live chat with features like visitor monitoring, chat routing, automated greetings, and detailed chat analytics. Its customizable chat widget includes proactive chat triggers and comprehensive reporting on chat performance metrics.

Hiver excels in email collaboration and integrates with Google Workspace, Slack, and various CRMs, while Olark focuses on website integration with APIs for custom chat implementations and third-party tool connections.

Hiver starts at $15/user/month for basic shared inbox functionality, scaling to $59/user/month for advanced features including automation, analytics, and integrations. All plans work within existing Gmail accounts.

Olark begins at $29/agent/month for standard chat features, reaching $59/agent/month for enterprise capabilities including advanced reporting and integrations. Pricing includes unlimited chats and visitor tracking.

Hiver offers more affordable entry-level pricing for email-focused teams, while Olark's specialized chat features justify higher costs for chat-centric support strategies.

Choose Hiver if your team lives in Gmail and you want collaborative email management with shared inboxes and collision detection. Choose Olark if live chat is essential to your customer experience and you need comprehensive visitor analytics.

Choose Hiver if: Your team uses Gmail extensively and you want to transform email into a collaborative support platform without changing existing workflows.

Choose Olark if: Live chat is crucial to your customer engagement and you need sophisticated visitor tracking with real-time interaction capabilities.

Teams seeking modern unified communication might explore Converge at $49/month flat rate, offering integrated messaging without per-agent pricing constraints.