Compare
A brain, live chat and chatbots.
Chat tools answer from help pages or set flows, in text. A brain answers from sources approved with you, the way your best person would, and says when a question is outside them.
| Compared on | Live chat or chatbot | A brain |
|---|---|---|
| What the visitor experiences | Typing in a text window | A conversation with your best person's brain, spoken or typed |
| How the conversation goes | Typed replies, often from set flows or help pages | It listens, asks what it needs to, and answers the way your best person would |
| Answers questions | Yes | Yes, from what you've approved |
| Where answers come from | Help pages, set flows or staff; varies by product | Only the sources approved with you |
| When a question is outside its remit | Varies by product | Says so, and the question reaches your team with the conversation |
| After hours | Varies by product | Yes, at any hour |
| What your team receives | A transcript | The whole conversation: what they asked, what they were told, what still needs a person |
| Best for | Simple questions with written answers | Important questions your best people answer every week |
Categories, not product reviews. Features vary by product and change over time.
What it does well
Simple questions with written answers, and visitors who prefer to type.
Using both
If your chat already handles first inquiries well, you may not need another tool. Try a brain on the questions it struggles with: the ones nobody wrote an answer for.
When it is enough on its own
If your questions are simple and already answered on your help pages, a chat tool may be all you need.
When a brain fits
- The same important questions reach your best people every week, often outside working hours.
- A slow or wrong answer costs you the person asking.
- The answers change with your business, and you want to govern them.
Tell us who needs to reach you, and what it should answer first.
Four fields to start. A person reads it, and you hear back within two business days.