Which is the best live chat solution for multiple websites?

[spiritualseo]

I have around 10 high quality product websites that need live chat support. I have the following queries:

1.) Which is the cheapest and the best software available?
2.) Is a hosted solution better or is it better to host the software on your own server?

I would like to software to help me keep track of chat conversations based on the websites.

[Corey Bryant]

Who's on by Parker Software is what I use and it is great

-Corey

[bcolflesh]

Cheapest would be free:

The various live chats seem to have different features, you'll have to figure out what you need and compare - the one above works fine for my purposes.

[edited by: minnapple at 3:25 am (utc) on Aug. 7, 2007]
[edit reason] No URL's please [/edit]

[spiritualseo]

I am a mac person, so who's on is not the software for me. And Again, who's on has the a really bad support system and they don't respond to your queries either. Boldchat seems to be the best option so far.

[Frida]

go to the top ten reviews web site. The statistics they provide is awesome.

[justgowithit]

Being a big fan of open source software and apps I've always liked CraftySyntax.

The price is right (free), the features are really pretty good, the support is there (user contributed forum), and you can customize it using templates or depending on your ability skin it and create you own look.

[Jack_Hughes]

@justgowithit: thanks for that. I used a site using that last week and I wanted to know who made it.

[arubin]

Other than the cheap requirement, liveperson fits the bill.
Their support for multiple websites is excellent, you have each website be a skill and can assign different operators to have only certain skills and different operators sharing skills.
Having said that there are far cheaper solutions.

[radix]

2.) Is a hosted solution better or is it better to host the software on your own server?

Once I installed a free chat program on one of my sites. Not long after my server was rooted. I could not substantiate that it happened because of the chat software, but it made me suspicious.

So, from a security perspective, a hosted solution might be a better choice. You wouldn't have to deal with upgrades and patches.

[justgowithit]

So, from a security perspective, a hosted solution might be a better choice.

That all depends on what your site is running on and your server admin ability. If you're running on a shared server where others have easier access to your root and you have limited access to vital config files then this may be true.

Dedicated, VPS, etc. with greater flexibility and security give you greater power to handle any issue and deflect them in the first place through configuration - don't you agree?

Anyway, that's another reason why I like the open source suites for applications such as this. If you've got tens of thousands of people using an app the security holes are going to shine through more quickly than with a paid development.