Finding Chat Software That Doesn't Suck

[light.House]

Hey Everyone,

It's been almost 3 years since I've last posted... I've had my head down (and sometimes up my own ass) building out my own personal brand. I've been focusing more on the product side than affiliate side, but am looking for help.

I run an options trading service and we have a chat room during the day where we go over short term trades.

Problem is, I can't find any good chat software that doesn't suck.

Let me step through some of the solutions I've used:

Chatroll. This is my current solution, and they are OK. The main problem is that they only allow 20 "chats" on the screen at any given time. Oh sure, you can get more than that if you purchase their "Enterprise" solution for only $199 a month. Unbelievable.

phpfreechat. This is technically free although they require you to purchase a license for commercial/white label use. I was using this for a while but the design aspect sucks. It's like they tried to show you what 1999 looked like on the web. This has to be self-hosted which has its advantages, but it's very difficult to protect the content there.

mibbit. Been around for a while, uses java and an irc interface. Problem with this is the lack of content protection and it doesn't always work on mobile devices.

node.js. I tried for a while to create my own node.js server and somehow embed it onto my site but my coding skills are not up to snuff. Modifying twich would be a cool solution if they did something with it.

So does anyone know of good chat solutions?

Ideally they have these features:
- easily embeds into wordpress
- integrates with infusionsoft (this feature probably doesn't exist)
- privacy protection so only paying users are on the site


Any ideas out there? Having an inadequate chat platform has been a significant business hurdle for me for years so I could really use some help.

 

[fcreature]

I'm not sure if this meets your exact requirements, but it does embed into wordpress and I've built websites that have used this software and have really liked it. It probably won't suit your needs if you don't want personal IM chat. My favorite thing about the service is you can purchase an additional hosting service to offload the server stress it may cause and to deliver faster messaging.

PHP chat software, Footer chat, In-page chat software | CometChat

 

[guerilla]

I use Envolve. It's not super featured, but it does the job for web based text chats.

https://www.envolve.com/

 

[dchuk]

been using Zopim for a bit, it's pretty nice. Their web interface is good.

 

[light.House]

I'm not sure if this meets your exact requirements, but it does embed into wordpress and I've built websites that have used this software and have really liked it. It probably won't suit your needs if you don't want personal IM chat. My favorite thing about the service is you can purchase an additional hosting service to offload the server stress it may cause and to deliver faster messaging.

PHP chat software, Footer chat, In-page chat software | CometChat

I believe I've looked at cometchat or something like it in the past-- it's good for overall site interaction, but I wasn't a fan of the lower toolbar as the way to access it. Ideally the chat would be something directly embedded onto a wordpress page.

Thanks for the idea.

 

[light.House]

I use Envolve. It's not super featured, but it does the job for web based text chats.

https://www.envolve.com/

Envolve has the same issue as cometchat, it's made specifically as a toolbar to engage all customers rather than paying ones.

 

[guerilla]

Envolve has the same issue as cometchat, it's made specifically as a toolbar to engage all customers rather than paying ones.

Just wrap the code with authentication.

if Loggedin() {
echo CHAT CODE
}

 

[daseoman]

We use Zopim as well and i like it alot..

 

[guerilla]

Just wrap the code with authentication.

if Loggedin() {
echo CHAT CODE
}

To expand, a programmer with modest talent can write this in about 2 minutes.

 

[justo_tx]

^^ what he said.

I'm surprised you couldn't get something going with node.js, chat apps are pretty much the Hello World equivalent in node.

Any ideas out there? Having an inadequate chat platform has been a significant business hurdle for me for years so I could really use some help.

I'm don't mean to bust your balls, just offering perspective... you charge members $79/mo and you indicate you need capabilities to talk to more than 20 people simultaneously a day at times, indicating a decent customer base, but you're sweating $199/mo and it's been a hinder on your business for multiple years? The phrase "penny wise, pound foolish" springs to mind. 2.5 customers covers the cost for a solution you already have integrated, maybe re-evaluate if the cost isn't worth it vs the time and cost of ripping it out and putting in something new.