Olark vs Textline

Olark and Textline represent different approaches to customer communication channels. Olark focuses on website live chat integration, while Textline specializes in business text messaging and SMS customer support.

The choice between these platforms depends on whether your customers prefer web-based chat or mobile text messaging interactions.

Olark provides comprehensive live chat with visitor tracking, automated greetings, and team collaboration tools. It offers detailed chat analytics and integrates seamlessly with popular business tools.

Textline transforms business phone numbers into powerful SMS platforms, enabling shared team inboxes, automated responses, and customer conversation history via text messaging.

Olark excels at real-time website engagement and immediate problem resolution, while Textline leverages the ubiquity of SMS for ongoing customer relationships and support.

Olark's pricing starts at $29/agent/month with a free plan supporting one agent and 20 chats monthly. Costs increase with additional agents and advanced features.

Textline pricing begins around $30/user/month with message volume limits. Additional costs apply for higher message volumes and premium features.

Both platforms offer similar entry-level pricing, but costs diverge based on usage patterns - chat volume for Olark versus message volume for Textline.

Choose Olark if your customers primarily engage through website chat and you need traditional live support features. Choose Textline if you want to leverage SMS for customer support and engagement.

Choose Olark if: You need website-focused live chat with comprehensive visitor insights and traditional support team workflows.

Choose Textline if: You want to leverage SMS for customer support, prefer mobile-first communication, and need shared team text messaging.

For businesses wanting both chat and messaging capabilities without channel restrictions, Converge at $49/month flat rate provides unified communication tools across multiple channels.