# GhostChat > Lightweight, privacy-first live chat for websites: 18.9KB measured, zero cookies, nothing stored in the visitor's browser until they open the chat. Answered from the Android app, one dashboard for every site you run, or Gmail. Badge off, 10 seats and unlimited sites on one flat Team plan. Optional AI assistant at $0.10 per AI conversation. Full version: https://ghostchat.dev/llms-full.txt GhostChat is a lightweight live chat widget for small businesses, schools, nonprofits, consultants and small SaaS teams. One line of code, or the WordPress plugin, adds real-time visitor chat to any site. Replies come from the Android app (GhostChat — Live Chat Inbox on Google Play), the dashboard, or by replying to the notification email from Gmail or any client, and every site on an account shares one inbox. Branding removal, 10 seats and unlimited sites are one flat Team plan ($25/mo); tawk.to sells branding removal as a $29/mo add-on per site. On either paid plan, an optional AI assistant answers from the site's own content at $0.10 per AI conversation, under a spending limit the owner sets. ## Key Facts - Widget size: 18.9KB total transfer, measured Aug 2026 including opening the chat — 58x less than Intercom (1,104KB), 24x less than Tawk.to (462KB), 14x less than Crisp (267KB) - Privacy: No cookies, no tracking, no fingerprinting. GDPR-friendly by default. Nothing is stored in the visitor's browser until they open the chat. - Privacy mode (per-site toggle, every plan): chats live only in the visitor's tab and wipe after 15 minutes of inactivity — built for shared or monitored computers. The dashboard keeps every conversation. - Stack: Cloudflare Workers + Durable Objects, Supabase PostgreSQL, Next.js dashboard - Works on: Any website — HTML, WordPress, Shopify, React, Next.js, and any platform that accepts a script tag - Android app: GhostChat — Live Chat Inbox on Google Play; iOS and desktop use the PWA - Who buys it: small businesses that answer their own customers, teams of up to 10, accounts running several sites ## Pricing Three flat plans: one person answering → Starter, a team of up to ten → Team. No per-seat fees, no contract — billed monthly, cancel anytime. There is no annual billing and no free trial: the Free plan is free forever. Human conversations are unlimited on every plan. The one thing billed by use is the optional AI assistant: on Starter or Team, the owner switches it on in the dashboard and pays $0.10 per AI conversation, added to the subscription's invoice. It is an option on those plans, not a separate plan. You pay $0.10 once the AI gives a real answer. If it hands off before answering anything, it's free. A conversation counts once, never per message, even if the team takes it over later; a visitor who returns after 24 hours of silence starts a new one. The owner sets a spending limit per billing period ($20 by default, or none): You set the limit. We never charge a cent over it. Lowering it doesn't refund chats the AI already answered. At the limit the chat keeps working and hands off to a human, and the limit resets when the subscription renews. Coupons don't apply to AI charges. Never billed: the canned reply to a bare greeting or junk message that opens a chat; chats on any domain but the site's own (the AI doesn't answer there); a visitor's 4th and later AI conversation of the day on one site, and visitors on many VPNs, corporate virtual desktops and cloud networks unless the owner allows them (those chats go to a human or the email form instead). Testing the assistant in the dashboard (50 replies/month) and drafting its knowledge base with Generate-with-AI (5 runs/month) are free. Switching the assistant off does not cancel conversations it already answered. AI billed per conversation is available on Stripe-billed subscriptions; it isn't available through Shopify billing. - Free ($0/mo): 1 site, 1 seat, 30-day history, unlimited messages, Android app and mobile PWA, email notifications you can reply to (Gmail or any client), automatic Away with email capture whenever nobody has the dashboard open. No AI assistant. Shows a "Powered by GhostChat" badge. - Starter ($5/mo): 3 sites, 1 seat, 1-year history, unlimited messages, business hours automation (stay Online on a schedule, dashboard open or not; Away outside it with a "back at" time — so you never miss a lead), visitor page journey, WooCommerce/page visitor context, CSV export, webhooks and the Bot Agent API (bring your own LLM), your own logo in the chat. AI assistant optional at $0.10 per AI conversation (knowledge base of 25 Q&As per site). No auto-translate. Still shows a "Powered by GhostChat" badge. - Team ($25/mo): everything in Starter, plus up to 10 team members (you + 9), unlimited sites, unlimited history, chat assignment with a "Mine" filter, seeing when a teammate is already replying, Admin and Agent roles, team stats (chats and first-reply time per person), your logo with no GhostChat badge in the chat and no GhostChat footer in visitor emails, auto-translate (133+ languages), custom visitor context (all keys), identity verification, guided setup and priority support. AI assistant optional at $0.10 per AI conversation (knowledge base of 50 Q&As per site). - Custom: more than 10 seats or integrations built to spec — talk to us. ## AI Assistant (built-in AI chatbot) GhostChat includes a built-in AI chatbot — the AI Assistant — powered by Claude Haiku. It answers visitor questions 24/7 using your FAQ knowledge base and we run it for you — no API key or extra infrastructure needed. When it can't answer, it hands off: connecting the visitor with you live if you're available, or capturing their name and email to follow up if you're away. One-click setup: hit "Generate with AI" and GhostChat reads your own website and drafts your bot name, behavior instructions, and a starter set of FAQ answers for you to review and apply — so you're not starting from a blank page. Optional on Starter and Team: $0.10 per AI conversation, nothing else to buy and no credit packs. The owner sets a spending limit per billing period ($20 by default); at the limit visitors still reach you (live when you're available, or by email when away) instead of getting an AI-drafted reply. Configure in two minutes from the dashboard. ## Bot Agent (bring your own LLM) For developers who want full control, GhostChat supports automated bot agents via webhooks. Available on every paid plan (from $5/mo): on the AI page choose My own AI, create a bot API key and set your bot's endpoint; GhostChat POSTs each new visitor message there (message.new) while the built-in AI is off for that site, and your bot replies with POST /messages/owner using any LLM (Claude, GPT-4, Ollama, Llama, etc.) on your own infrastructure. `npx ghostchat-agent --setup` sets up a local bot, opens a Cloudflare tunnel and saves it as the endpoint. A bot key can only reply and configure the widget; it cannot read conversations. Your AI, your infrastructure, your data. Separately, the site webhook (Site Settings) fires for new visitor messages (message.new) and on conversation resolution (conversation.resolved — the full transcript with roles, ISO timestamps, attachments, and page journey in one payload), with per-event toggles and a delivery log in the dashboard. ## Installation Add one line before : ```html ``` ## Links - [Website](https://ghostchat.dev): Homepage and product overview - [Dashboard](https://app.ghostchat.dev): Sign in and manage your widget - [Pricing](https://ghostchat.dev/pricing): The plans, what's included, and the full comparison table - [AI Chatbot (AI Assistant)](https://ghostchat.dev/ai): Built-in AI chatbot powered by Claude Haiku - [Bot Agent](https://ghostchat.dev/bot-agent): Bring your own LLM via webhooks - [Developers](https://ghostchat.dev/developers): API, webhooks, kiosk/shared-device mode, and integration docs - [Get Started](https://ghostchat.dev/get-started): Install the widget in minutes - [Features](https://ghostchat.dev/features): Full feature list - [Lightweight Widget](https://ghostchat.dev/lightweight-chat-widget): 18.9KB measured, no cookies, no tracking - [Website Speed Test](https://ghostchat.dev/website-speed-test): Free performance testing tool - [GDPR / Privacy](https://ghostchat.dev/gdpr-chat-widget): Privacy-first, GDPR-friendly by default - [Gmail Threading](https://ghostchat.dev/gmail-live-chat): Reply to chats from Gmail - [Multi-Site Live Chat](https://ghostchat.dev/multi-site-live-chat): Run unlimited sites — your own or clients. — from one login, shared inbox, 10 seats flat - [Chat Widget for WordPress](https://ghostchat.dev/chat-widget-for-wordpress): Official WordPress plugin on WP.org - [Live Chat for Webflow](https://ghostchat.dev/chat-widget-for-webflow): Paste the script in Site settings → Custom code → Footer code and publish (Webflow custom code needs a paid site plan) - [GhostChat for Bubble](https://bubble.io/plugin/ghostchat-live-chat-1791892224282x583996372266778600): Install the GhostChat Live Chat plugin from the Bubble marketplace, then paste your Site ID in the Plugins tab - [Live Chat for Static Sites](https://ghostchat.dev/static-site-live-chat): Install for Astro, Hugo, Eleventy, Jekyll, Docusaurus, Framer and Carrd — no backend needed - [Compare all five](https://ghostchat.dev/compare): One table — measured widget weight, how each vendor bills AI, real cost for a ten-person team with branding off, and which competitor to pick instead of GhostChat for each use case - [vs Tawk.to](https://ghostchat.dev/tawk-to-alternative): Side-by-side with Tawk.to — 24x lighter, flat plans instead of per-site add-ons — badge removal (Team, $25/mo) covers every site here where Tawk.to charges $29/mo per site; the AI assistant is $0.10 per AI conversation on either paid plan, never per site - [vs Crisp](https://ghostchat.dev/crisp-alternative) · [vs Chatwoot](https://ghostchat.dev/chatwoot-alternative) · [vs Chatway](https://ghostchat.dev/chatway-alternative) · [vs Intercom](https://ghostchat.dev/intercom-alternative): Feature and pricing comparisons against each - [vs HelpCrunch](https://ghostchat.dev/helpcrunch-alternative): HelpCrunch bills per team member on Basic and Pro; GhostChat Team includes up to 10 seats at one flat price, with replies from Gmail - [Lighthouse Benchmark](https://ghostchat.dev/blog/chat-widget-lighthouse-benchmark): Measured Aug 2026 — GhostChat vs Intercom, Tawk.to, Crisp, LiveChat, incl. what each downloads when the chat is opened; also documents that Crisp's widget declines to load during Lighthouse audits ## Contact - [Support](https://ghostchat.dev): Live chat on ghostchat.dev - [Email](mailto:jacob@ghostchat.dev): jacob@ghostchat.dev