Written on December 15, 2008 at 12:13 pm by Chase Sagum

Open Source Live Chat Software

Open Source, Web Development, Web Tools 10 comments

Web Messenger is an open source live chat support software available under the Eclipse Public License v1.0. Basically what you can do with this software is have some sort of button or image on your website for “Live Support”, when your visitor clicks on that button up pops up a window where this open source chat messenger comes in action.  There are many services which can give your website this type of functionality, but with a high monthly charge. Finally there is an open source solution that you can customize on your own and not be bound to a contract! Here are the details you should know about this open source product:

Server requirements

A webserver or web hosting account running on any major Operating System
PHP (5.x and above) with MySQL support
MySQL 5.0 and above

Supported browsers

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0+
Mozilla Firefox 1.0+
Mozilla 1.4, 1.7
Opera 7.0+
Safari 1.2.5+
Netscape 6.0+
Google Chrome 0.2.149.29+
iPhone 1.1.4+

Main features

Unlimited operators, chats, and users
Priority queue of visitors
Chat button for email signatures
Differing buttons on same website
English and russian are supported
Reconnect automatically if the internet connection went down

Chat window

Agent and visitor “Typing Indicator”
Agent photo
Chat transcript emails
Sound and Visual alerts
“Leave a message” when you are away
Customize chat with your Logo, Name etc.
Unicode support for multiple languages
Quickly convert text to hyperlinks in chat
Not blocked by pop-up blockers

Operator abilites

Web-based Operator Console
Canned messages for speed and consistency
Track where your visitors clicked from to get to your website (refer URL)
Chat conversation history with search
Linking to previous visits, instant access to previous chats
Reassign/Transfer chat ownership
Mark/Highlight nuisance visitors
Administrator can view active chats
Information about visitor: first message, address, browser
Administrator can take over the chat

New in version 1.5

Chat Window themes support, select your default one
Generate button for specific theme
2 pre-installed themes
UI for easy theme creation and customization
UI for system translation
Geolocation link on each IP
Agents permissions

This screenshot gives you an idea of what the administration interface is like. This is the Visitors section where you can view your queue of awaiting visitors waiting to talk to you! Pretty cool stuff!

You can go to the demo page to see what the user end and admin end interfaces are like. If you have any success using this open source script let me know. I’d like to see who’s out there using this!

10 responses to " Open Source Live Chat Software"

  1. Chinese on February 16, 2009:

    Just thought that I would share what has just happened. I am using a voice recognition product and everytime I say opensource software, it opens Firefox and navigates me to your site. If this is a deliberate thing, it is just brilliant – would love to know how you do it???

  2. SaaSonhand on April 28, 2009:

    Wow there seem to be a lot of software related resources for Open source…thanks for keeping us updated.

  3. Replacement Windows Chicago on May 25, 2009:

    I use the XP voice recognition software. Somehow the opensource command takes me to your site.

  4. software store on June 6, 2009:

    I have read some of your posts about this software and they are good. Thanks for posting good information in your blog.

  5. stone sinks on August 20, 2009:

    it’s impressive,but i wonder if it’s able to be used on multi-website?

  6. Web Design Beijing on September 20, 2009:

    great, exactly what i needed for my website.
    thanks for sharing.

  7. Kent IT on November 8, 2009:

    Thanks for the software, i found it very useful and it works a treat. All the people that create and maintain open source software are doing a great service to the internet.

  8. Vladimir on February 8, 2010:

    Hi there,

    there is similar solution in wordpress with google talk!
    Install the Google Talk Chatback Widget plugin in your wordpress site and follow the instructions. Create your chatback badge at http://www.google.com/talk/service/badge/New
    and configure it to use .

    If you use google domains it is also possible but the link is different https://www.google.com/talk/service/a/yourdomain.com/badge/New

    and that is it, whenever you are on gtalk you badge shows online. If you are not on gtalk you can redirect badge to contact form.

    Regards, Vladimir

  9. Shankar on April 10, 2010:

    I need this open software

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