Zopim

What is zopim

Zopim is a web-based live chat product originally launched as a standalone chat widget and later integrated into the Zendesk family of support tools. It provides an embeddable chat widget for websites, agent consoles for support teams, routing and queue rules, chat transcripts and basic analytics. Organizations use Zopim to engage website visitors, qualify leads, and provide real-time technical or sales support without forcing users to call or email.

Zopim is built for teams that need immediate conversational touchpoints on web pages: customer support teams handling product questions, sales teams qualifying inbound visitors, and operators who need a low-friction way to capture contact details. It runs in the browser and offers SDKs and APIs to integrate chat into custom web apps and mobile apps.

Because Zopim was acquired and folded into Zendesk’s chat and messaging offerings, it now sits alongside broader Zendesk products for ticketing and omnichannel messaging. That integration means teams can choose to run Zopim as a standalone chat solution or connect it to a wider Zendesk support workflow for ticketing, knowledge base linking, and agent reporting.

Zopim features

Zopim bundles a set of features focused on session-based chat and agent-to-customer conversations. The core capabilities include visitor monitoring, chat widgets, routing rules, basic automation and reporting. Below are the principal feature areas and what they enable.

Chat widget and visitor experience: Zopim provides an embeddable chat widget that supports proactive greetings, custom branding, file upload, and pre-chat forms to collect visitor context such as email or topic. Widgets can be configured per site section and localized for multiple languages.

Agent console and routing: Agents use a browser-based console to accept, transfer and escalate chats. Features include agent availability states, skill-based routing, queueing, and canned responses to speed replies. Supervisors can monitor live chats and join conversations when needed.

Automation and workflows: Zopim includes automated triggers for proactive messages based on page behavior (time on page, URL path, or visited pages), simple auto-responders for after-hours, and the ability to capture leads into CRM or ticketing systems.

Reporting and transcripts: The product stores chat transcripts for later review, and offers dashboards for metrics such as average response time, chat volume, first contact resolution and CSAT when configured. Transcripts can be exported for compliance or training.

Integrations and extensibility: Zopim integrates with CRM and help-desk systems (especially Zendesk products), supports webhook callbacks, and offers developer APIs and SDKs to embed chat in single-page apps or mobile applications. Integration points include creating tickets from chats, syncing visitor data to CRMs, and connecting chatbots or third-party analytics.

What does Zopim do?

Zopim lets websites accept and manage live conversations with visitors in real time. It places a chat control on web pages, captures visitor context, routes the chat to available agents, and records the conversation. For support teams, it acts as a real-time front door that captures technical issues and routes them into longer-term ticket workflows when necessary.

Zopim also helps qualify leads for sales by allowing agents to ask qualifying questions during a session and attach contact details or lead scores to the transcript. Proactive messaging rules enable teams to programmatically reach out to high-value visitors based on behavior, which raises conversion potential when used alongside knowledge of visitor source and session history.

From an operational viewpoint, Zopim reduces response friction by centralizing chat sessions in a single console, providing canned replies and internal notes, and enabling supervisors to monitor and coach agents. Its transcript and reporting capabilities make it possible to track KPIs like response time and chat-to-conversion ratios.

Zopim pricing

Zopim offers these pricing plans:

• Free Plan: $0/month with limitations on concurrent chats and basic features
• Starter: $19/month per agent (billed monthly) or $15/month per agent (billed annually) with expanded concurrent chats and basic routing
• Professional: $49/month per agent (billed monthly) or $39/month per agent (billed annually) including advanced routing, analytics, and integration options
• Enterprise: $99/month per agent (billed monthly) or custom annual pricing for large deployments with SLA, SSO and advanced security

The above tiers reflect typical packaging for standalone chat products historically marketed under the Zopim and Zendesk Chat names. Feature caps such as the number of concurrent chats, history retention, and integration limits vary by plan. Check Zopim's current pricing for the latest rates, annual discounts and enterprise options.

How much is zopim per month

Zopim starts at $0/month with the Free Plan, which is suitable for testing the widget and handling a limited number of simultaneous chats. For production teams that require predictable agent seats and advanced features, the Starter and Professional plans start at $19/month per agent and $49/month per agent respectively when billed monthly.

Monthly billing allows teams to scale agent counts up and down more flexibly, but annual billing typically reduces the effective per-agent monthly cost. Monthly charges usually include seat-based billing where each active agent account counts as one unit toward the monthly invoice.

When evaluating the monthly cost, include any add-ons you may need (such as extra message volume, SMS handoffs, or premium integrations) because these can change the final monthly bill substantially.

How much is zopim per year

Zopim costs $180/year per agent for the Starter plan when billed annually at $15/month per agent (billed annually). The Professional plan billed annually typically falls around $468/year per agent based on $39/month per agent (billed annually).

Annual billing provides a predictable yearly commitment and is often the way larger teams secure discounted rates. Enterprise customers commonly negotiate multi-year agreements with customized pricing, volume discounts and service-level guarantees.

If you have a variable agent roster, calculate the annual commitment carefully: some vendors bill for total seats enabled during the year, while others bill only for seats actively used each month.

How much is zopim in general

Zopim pricing ranges from $0 (free) to $99+/month per agent. Small teams and individual site owners can start on the Free Plan or Starter level; teams that need high concurrency, advanced routing, workstation management and enterprise security typically pay at or above the Professional tier.

Total cost depends on the number of agents, add-on modules (such as advanced analytics or bot connectors), and whether the product is used standalone or as part of a wider Zendesk suite. When budgeting, include training, potential CRM connectors, and any costs to migrate existing chat histories.

What is Zopim used for

Zopim is used primarily for real-time customer engagement on websites and web applications. It covers multiple operational use cases: first-response support for technical questions, live sales support for conversion, and pre-qualification of leads. Because it captures visitor context like page URL and referral source, agents get immediate context to resolve issues or move leads forward.

In support workflows, Zopim serves as the immediate triage mechanism: agents answer quick questions, escalate issues into support tickets when a deeper investigation is needed, and use transcripts to populate ticket descriptions. This reduces email back-and-forth and shortens time-to-resolution for simple queries.

For sales and conversion use cases, Zopim supports proactive outreach to visitors showing buying signals (high session time, repeated visits to pricing pages), enabling agents or SDRs to offer demos, coupon codes, or schedule calls. It can also hand off captured leads to CRMs for nurturing workflows.

For operations and product teams, Zopim is a source of qualitative feedback. Chat transcripts reveal frequent friction points in the user journey and often surface feature requests or usability issues faster than analytics alone.

Pros and cons of Zopim

Zopim provides a compact, easy-to-deploy chat widget that gets teams communicating with visitors quickly. The lightweight agent console and straightforward embedding make it a good fit for small to mid-size teams that need immediate, contextual conversations without a complex setup.

However, as a focused chat product, Zopim has limits compared with full omnichannel platforms. Advanced automation, sophisticated bot orchestration, and enterprise-grade analytics are often available only at higher tiers or through integration with wider Zendesk suites. Large enterprises may find they need additional tooling for unified customer histories across email, voice, and social.

Other trade-offs include vendor consolidation: since Zopim's functionality is now part of Zendesk's broader offering, customers who need separate, independent chat software may prefer alternatives that remain specialist chat platforms. On the upside, tight integration with Zendesk improves ticket handoff and agent workflow when the broader Zendesk stack is already in use.

Operationally, advantages include rapid installation, mobile SDKs for in-app chat, and straightforward supervisor features for monitoring. Downsides include per-agent seat pricing models that can be costly for large chat teams and possible limits on historical storage or API calls at lower price tiers.

Zopim free trial

Zopim historically offered a Free Plan that functions as both a perpetual free tier and a way to trial features before upgrading. The free plan typically includes a branded widget, a small limit of concurrent chats and basic reporting, which is sufficient to test widget placement and initial agent workflows.

Paid plans often include time-limited trials or month-to-month subscriptions so teams can validate higher-tier features like advanced routing, chat history retention and analytics before a long-term commitment. If you need to test integrations (CRM or ticketing), use an isolated staging site and a small set of trial agent seats to validate data flows.

When running a trial, track KPIs such as average response time, conversion rate from chat to lead, and CSAT scores if available. Those metrics will help determine whether to upgrade to a paid tier or integrate Zopim with a CRM or knowledge base.

Is zopim free

Yes, Zopim offers a Free Plan that allows basic live chat on a site with a limited number of concurrent chats and reduced feature access. The Free Plan is intended for evaluation and small sites, while production teams typically upgrade to Starter or Professional for higher concurrency and richer integrations.

The Free Plan usually includes basic chat transcripts, a branded widget, and simple proactive triggers, but excludes advanced analytics, guaranteed SLAs, and enterprise security features that paid plans provide. For an enterprise deployment, compare the free tier’s limits with expected traffic and agent demands.

Zopim API

Zopim exposes programmatic access to many chat capabilities through webhooks, RESTful endpoints and web SDKs. Common API capabilities include starting and ending chat sessions, retrieving chat transcripts, fetching visitor metadata, and receiving asynchronous events through webhooks for chat lifecycle events.

Developers can embed the chat widget into single-page applications using the Zopim/Zendesk web SDKs and mobile SDKs for iOS and Android to enable in-app messaging. The APIs also support sending automated messages, creating support tickets from chats, and enriching visitor profiles with CRM data.

For automation, webhooks allow teams to connect chat events to backend systems—examples include creating a support ticket when a chat escalates, forwarding chat transcripts to a knowledge base indexing pipeline, or invoking a bot to handle routine queries. To review the canonical technical details and method signatures, consult the official Zopim (Zendesk Chat) API documentation.

10 Zopim alternatives

• Zendesk Chat — Broader Zendesk-branded chat product with deep ticketing integration
• Intercom — Conversational marketing and support platform focused on lead qualification and product messaging
• LiveChat — Specialist chat product with robust enterprise features and integrations
• Drift — Conversational marketing platform with bot-first workflows and account-based routing
• Freshchat — Messaging product from Freshworks with multi-channel support and automation
• Olark — Simple live chat with a focus on ease of use and reporting for small teams
• Tidio — Chat and bot product aimed at small e-commerce sites with built-in automation
• HelpCrunch — Combined live chat, knowledge base and email campaigns for customer engagement
• Kayako — Unified customer service platform with live chat and shared inboxes
• SnapEngage — Enterprise-focused chat with integrations for healthcare and regulated industries

Paid alternatives to Zopim

• Intercom: A full conversational platform that pairs live chat with product messaging, user segmentation and bots. Intercom targets product-led growth teams who want in-app messages and a unified user timeline.

• LiveChat: Offers a mature agent interface, multichannel workflows, and a marketplace of integrations. LiveChat is suitable for teams that need enterprise features like session routing and SLA management.

• Drift: Focused on revenue teams, Drift uses bots and playbooks to qualify leads and route high-value conversations to sales reps. It integrates with major CRMs for immediate lead capture.

• Freshchat: Part of the Freshworks suite, Freshchat supports messaging across web, mobile and social channels with automation and bot frameworks. It appeals to teams using Freshdesk or other Freshworks products.

• HelpCrunch: Combines chat, email automation and an on-site knowledge base. It’s designed for small-to-medium businesses that want an integrated customer communication tool without stitching multiple vendors together.

Open source alternatives to Zopim

• Rocket.Chat: An open source team messaging and chat server that can be adapted for customer-facing chat. It supports live chat plugins, hosting control, and full data ownership.

• Chatwoot: Open source customer engagement platform with inbuilt live chat, multi-channel inbox and automation. Chatwoot is designed to be self-hosted and extensible.

• Live Helper Chat: A PHP-based open source live support chat with real-time visitor tracking, canned messages and extensive customization.

• Mibew Messenger: Lightweight open source live support system focused on simplicity and low resource usage. Good for small deployments and self-hosting.

• Zammad: Primarily a help desk with chat integrations; while not a pure chat widget, it provides chat capabilities within a self-hosted support platform.

Frequently asked questions about Zopim

What is Zopim used for?

Zopim is used for live web chat and real-time visitor engagement. It enables support and sales teams to converse with site visitors, capture leads, and escalate issues into ticketing systems. Teams use it to shorten response times and obtain contextual session data for troubleshooting or qualification.

Does Zopim integrate with Zendesk Support?

Yes, Zopim integrates with Zendesk Support to convert chats into tickets, attach transcripts to existing tickets, and synchronize visitor data with user profiles. The integration helps teams that already use Zendesk unify chat activity with their support workflows.

How much does Zopim cost per agent?

Zopim starts at $0/month for the Free Plan; paid plans begin at $19/month per agent when billed monthly for the Starter tier, with annual discounts available that lower the per-agent monthly rate. Enterprise pricing is available for large deployments.

Is there a free version of Zopim?

Yes, Zopim offers a Free Plan that provides a basic embeddable chat widget and limited concurrent chats for evaluation or low-volume sites. The Free Plan typically has reduced history retention and fewer integrations than paid tiers.

Can Zopim be used for sales lead qualification?

Yes, Zopim is commonly used for sales qualification. Agents can trigger proactive messages, collect contact information with pre-chat forms, and hand off qualified leads to CRM systems for follow-up. Proactive outreach can be configured by URL patterns and visitor behavior.

Does Zopim provide mobile SDKs?

Yes, Zopim provides mobile SDKs and web SDKs to embed chat into iOS, Android and single-page web applications. SDKs allow in-app messaging, session management and richer context like device info and app version.

How secure is Zopim?

Zopim uses standard transport encryption and role-based access controls in its platform; enterprise plans add options for single sign-on (SSO), data retention controls and compliance features. For regulated industries, confirm specific security certifications and data residency options with the vendor.

Can I automate responses with Zopim?

Yes, Zopim supports basic automation and bot integrations. You can configure proactive and automated messages based on visitor behavior, and integrate external bots via webhooks or SDKs to handle routine questions before escalating to agents.

Does Zopim store chat transcripts?

Yes, Zopim stores chat transcripts which can be reviewed, exported or attached to support tickets. Storage limits depend on the plan; higher tiers typically offer longer retention windows and larger export options.

Where can I get technical documentation for Zopim APIs?

Developer documentation for Zopim (Zendesk Chat) is available through Zendesk’s developer portal. The API docs describe endpoints, webhooks and SDK usage for embedding chat and automating workflows. Review the Zopim (Zendesk Chat) API documentation to integrate chat programmatically.

zopim careers

Zopim as an independent company was acquired and its engineering and product roles were integrated into Zendesk. If you are interested in careers working on chat and messaging products, search for roles at Zendesk that cover chat, messaging and real-time support engineering. Typical positions include product manager for messaging, front-end engineer for widget development, and site reliability engineer for chat services.

Career listings and job descriptions for roles that touch Zopim functionality are published on the parent company’s careers site and usually describe work on real-time systems, SDKs, and integrations with support platforms. When evaluating roles, look for required experience with WebSocket-based messaging, data privacy requirements, and SaaS operations at scale.

zopim affiliate

Affiliate or partner programs for Zopim functionality are generally run through Zendesk’s broader partner and reseller ecosystem. Agencies and technology partners may be eligible to resell chat services, bundle chat with support contracts, or build integrations via certified partner programs.

If you plan to promote Zopim functionality commercially, investigate Zendesk’s partner program terms, commission structures and co-marketing options. Partner registration typically requires business verification and adherence to branding and deployment guidelines.

Where to find zopim reviews

To read user reviews and product comparisons for Zopim and Zendesk Chat, consult software review sites such as G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius where customers rate usability, support, and value. For industry-level analysis, look for analyst reports that cover chat and messaging platforms, which compare conversational capabilities and enterprise readiness.

Examples of where to read vendor and user feedback include G2’s Zopim/Zendesk Chat listings and Capterra’s chat software comparisons. For technical community perspectives, search developer forums and Stack Overflow threads about embedding and customizing the Zopim widget.