Live chat widgets are one of the most visible technologies on modern websites. They appear as floating buttons, slide-in panels, and conversational interfaces. Detecting which live chat software a company uses is valuable for competitive research, sales prospecting (if you sell chat or support tools), and understanding a company's customer engagement strategy.
Common Live Chat Platforms and Their Signatures
Each live chat platform has distinctive loading patterns and DOM elements:
- Intercom: Loads from
widget.intercom.ioand creates an iframe with theintercom-frameclass. TheIntercomJavaScript global is always present. - Drift: Identified by scripts from
js.driftt.comand thedriftJavaScript global. The chat widget uses Drift-specific element IDs. - Zendesk Chat: Loads from
static.zdassets.comand creates elements withzopimorze-snippetidentifiers. - Crisp: Scripts from
client.crisp.chatand the$crispJavaScript global. - LiveChat: Loads from
cdn.livechatinc.comwith theLiveChatWidgetglobal. - Tawk.to: Scripts from
embed.tawk.toand theTawk_APIglobal variable.
Detection Challenges
Some live chat widgets load lazily — they only inject their scripts after a time delay or when the user scrolls. This means a basic HTML-only scan might miss them. More sophisticated detection approaches check for the widget's loader script (which is present immediately) rather than the fully rendered chat interface.
Additionally, some companies self-host or customize their chat widgets, which can obscure the platform identity. However, the core JavaScript APIs and DOM structures typically remain identifiable.
Live Chat as a Business Signal
The choice of live chat platform reveals business intelligence. Enterprise companies tend toward Intercom or Zendesk. Startups and small businesses often use Crisp, Tawk.to, or LiveChat. Drift is popular among B2B SaaS companies focused on conversational marketing. This information helps sales teams qualify leads and tailor their approach.
Automated Live Chat Detection
WhatStack detects all major live chat platforms through script URL analysis, JavaScript global detection, and DOM pattern matching. The results are categorized under the Live Chat category, making it easy to filter for this specific technology class. Scan any website with the WhatStack scanner to see which chat tool it uses.