Olark vs Sendbird
Converge Team
Side-by-side comparison for 2026
| Feature | Olark | Sendbird |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $29/seat/mo | From $399/mo |
| Best For | Small to medium businesses needing basic live chat | Developers building custom in-app messaging experiences |
| Standout Feature | Visitor insights and chat targeting | Comprehensive SDK with voice, video, and messaging |
| Free Plan | ✗ | ✓ |
| G2 Rating | 4.2 | 4.3 |
Olark and Sendbird serve different segments of the customer communication market. Olark focuses on website live chat for customer support teams, while Sendbird provides in-app messaging infrastructure for developers building chat into their applications.
The choice between them depends on whether you need a ready-to-use chat widget or developer tools to build custom messaging experiences.
Feature Comparison
Olark provides a complete live chat solution with pre-built widgets, agent dashboards, and customer support workflows. Features include chat transcripts, visitor tracking, and integration with help desk systems.
Sendbird offers messaging APIs and SDKs for developers, including group chat, push notifications, moderation tools, and real-time messaging infrastructure. It's designed for building custom chat experiences within mobile apps and web applications.
The fundamental difference is target user: Olark serves support teams who want immediate deployment, while Sendbird serves developers who need building blocks for custom solutions.
Pricing Comparison
Olark charges $29-$39 per agent monthly with all features included, making it straightforward for support teams to budget and scale.
Sendbird offers a freemium model starting free for basic usage, scaling from $399 to $999+ monthly based on monthly active users and advanced features. This developer-focused pricing can be cost-effective for apps with built-in messaging needs.
Olark
Pros
- ✓ Easy setup and customization
- ✓ Good visitor tracking
- ✓ Reliable uptime
Cons
- ✗ Per-agent pricing gets expensive
- ✗ Limited mobile app functionality
- ✗ No social media integration
Sendbird
Pros
- ✓ Comprehensive SDK suite
- ✓ Excellent developer documentation
- ✓ Scalable infrastructure
Cons
- ✗ Expensive for small businesses
- ✗ Complex pricing structure
- ✗ Limited social media integrations
Verdict
Choose Olark if you want plug-and-play live chat for customer support. Choose Sendbird if you're building custom messaging features into your application and need developer-focused APIs.
Choose Olark if: You need customer support chat that works immediately at $29-$39 per agent monthly, with no development required.
Choose Sendbird if: You're building custom messaging into your application and need developer APIs, starting free with usage-based scaling.
For support teams wanting both simplicity and value, Converge delivers comprehensive customer communication at $49/month flat rate, eliminating per-agent costs while providing enterprise features.
Looking for more options? Browse all 750+ platform comparisons, or see all Olark comparisons and all Sendbird comparisons.