The best live chat software with built in payments in 2026

Plenty of chat tools say they help you sell. Far fewer let the customer actually pay while the conversation is still open. This roundup looks only at that one question: which live chat software has payments built in, how the payment really works in each, and where each tool fits. We make ZenTalk, so we put it first, and we stick to what each vendor documents about its own product.

What counts as built in payments

For this list a tool qualifies when the customer can pay from the conversation itself, not from an invoice emailed later. Four things matter when you compare them.

• Where the card is entered. The safe pattern is a hosted page from the payment processor, so card numbers never pass through the chat.
• Whose account gets paid. Your own processor account, or a platform account that pays you out later.
• Whether the chat knows it was paid. A confirmation back in the thread saves the awkward did it go through message.
• Native or an extra app. Marketplace apps work, but they are one more subscription and one more thing to maintain.

1. ZenTalk, best for an AI that quotes and collects in the same chat

In ZenTalk, payments are part of the chat, not an app bolted on. You connect your own Stripe or Authorize.Net account once. From then on an agent, or the AI sales agent on its own, can send a payment request inside the conversation. The customer sees a payment card with a Pay securely now button, your processor's hosted payment page opens in a new tab, and once the charge clears the chat shows a payment confirmation and the request is marked Paid. The money goes straight to your account and ZenTalk takes no cut.

What makes it different is that the AI can do the whole job. It answers from your own information, quotes your real price, sends the request, and hands off to a person when a deal needs one. The same workspace covers voice calls, proposals, projects, and a customer portal, so the paid conversation carries straight on into delivery. See the in chat payments page or the step by step guide on how to take payments in live chat.

• Pricing: a flat $50 per agent per month, per workspace, with the AI included and a one week free trial.
• Watch out: payments run through Stripe or Authorize.Net only. If your business is built on another processor, check that first.

2. LiveChat, best if you already run LiveChat

LiveChat does not take payments out of the box, but its marketplace has a Stripe app that lets agents send one time and recurring payments as rich messages the customer pays inside the chat, and a separate PayPal app. Each is its own monthly charge on top of LiveChat seats, so price the full stack before you commit. If your team already lives in LiveChat, it is the shortest path to payments.

3. HubSpot, best for teams already selling in HubSpot

HubSpot payment links come with Commerce Hub, and HubSpot documents sharing them in an email, a chat, or a quote. Its customer agent can also be set up to hand out payment links. It works well when your products, deals, and contacts already sit in HubSpot. It is a link you share rather than a payment step built into the chat flow, so the agent or bot has to drop it in at the right moment.

4. ManyChat, best for selling in Messenger and Instagram

ManyChat connects to Stripe or PayPal and adds a Buy Button to automated flows in Facebook Messenger and Instagram direct messages. If your customers find you on social and buy in the DMs, it is a natural fit. It is a social messaging automation tool first, not a live chat widget for your own website, so it solves a different part of the problem.

5. Podium, best for text to pay

Podium's text to pay sends the customer an SMS with a short link to a payment page that takes cards, wallets, and bank payments. For local service businesses that already run on text messages this is a proven pattern. The payment lives in the SMS thread rather than a website chat widget.

6. Shopify Inbox and Gorgias, best inside Shopify

Shopify Inbox is free for Shopify stores and lets you send product links and discount codes that apply to the shopper's cart, with payment happening at the normal Shopify checkout. Gorgias lets support agents create Shopify orders and draft orders from a ticket and send the invoice from Shopify. Both are strong when Shopify is your whole world. Neither is a general way to take a payment for a service in a website chat.

Popular tools that did not make this list

Some big names come up in this search but do not let the customer pay in the chat today. Intercom's Stripe app shows agents a customer's billing data and gives its AI access to subscription details, and Intercom notes that paying inside the Messenger is no longer supported by that app from December 2025. Crisp's Stripe integration lets agents view subscriptions and payments, but changes and payments happen in Stripe. Tidio can send Shopify product cards into a chat. Each is a good tool for what it does; payment collection in the conversation is just not its job.

How to choose

1. Start with your processor. If you are on Stripe or Authorize.Net, more tools fit. If you sell through Shopify checkout, stay with the Shopify native options.
2. Decide who sends the request. If you want an AI to quote and collect while your team sleeps, you need a tool where the AI can send the payment itself, not just a human pasting a link.
3. Check the confirmation. Ask whether the chat shows the payment as paid on its own. Without it, someone ends up checking the processor dashboard by hand.
4. Add up the real cost. Seats, marketplace apps, and any per resolution AI fees. A flat seat with payments included is easier to forecast.