Olark versus AcornChat

Founded in 2008, Olark has seen the rise of chat software for over a decade. After getting funding from the famous YCombinator incubator Olark launched their first live chat platform.

Olark is committed to developing accessible software and is actively testing improvements in assistive technologies. It’s awesome to see a provider care about this often-overlooked aspect of customer service.

Besides live chat, Olark also markets as a customer metrics company. Since putting a widget on your platform gives you a lot of valuable data.

To ensure that every user always gets the right answer, the chatbot can transfer to a human employee at any time. This Human Handover is possible via Live Chat or E-Mail.

AcornChat is a dedicated Live Chat integration for Slack. It is intended for companies with fewer than 15 employees. AcornChat does not have its own dashboard, all conversations are managed in your Slack workspace. If you are already a Slack power user this might be a perfect fit for you.

The app is straightforward and has one other functionality than routing all messages through Slack; you can enable the email capture function when you are not online to answer any incoming queries. Set up the chat widget and create a dedicated channel or select an existing one in Slack. A new thread is created for each visitor that contacts you, providing a clear overview.

Read more about the pros and cons of Acorn Chat in our analysis of the best live chats with Slack integration of 2023.