HelpCrunch – Live Chat, Chatbot & Knowledge Base for Customer Service vs Akukita Chat with AI Translation

Turn your WordPress site into a global community. Got visitors from different countries who don’t share a common language? With Akukita Chat, an English speaker and a Spanish speaker hold a perfectly natural conversation — each one reads and writes in their own language. The translation happens in between, instantly and invisibly. No API keys, no monthly fees, no configuration. Activate the plugin, answer two questions in the setup wizard, and you have a multilingual chat running in under a minute. What’s new: direct messages, moderation and reactions are now free The 1.5 release moved three of the biggest add-on features into the free plugin. They are not trials or teasers — they are complete and yours to keep: ✉️ Direct messages — Private one-to-one conversations with the same automatic translation as the rooms. Conversation list, user search, unread badges and a slide-out sidebar you can open from any page. 🛡 Moderation — Ban or temporarily mute anyone, delete messages, straight from the chat with a right-click or from the admin panel. It works on guests too, which is where spam actually comes from. 😊 Emoji reactions — React to any message with 👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 😢 🔥. Guests included. Everything you get 🌍 70+ languages, zero configuration — Works out of the box with the free MyMemory engine. No registration, no credit card, no API key. 🧙 Guided setup in 60 seconds — A wizard runs the moment you activate: pick a translation engine and get a ready-to-use chat page created for you. 👥 Open the chat to anyone — Guest mode lets visitors join with just a display name and a language, no account needed. Spam protection (rate limiting, length limits and a honeypot) is always on. 💬 Multi-room chat — As many topic-based rooms as you want, each with its own shortcode. ✉️ Direct messages — Private translated conversations between registered users. 🛡 Moderation — Ban, mute and delete, for members and guests alike. 😊 Emoji reactions — Lightweight engagement on every message. ⚡ Real-time — Messages appear as they are sent, with no page reload. 🧠 3 translation engines — Free (MyMemory), high quality (DeepL), or state of the art (OpenAI GPT-4o-mini). Switch any time without losing history. 🚀 Smart caching — Each phrase is translated once and then served instantly to everyone, which saves your quota and your server. 📱 Looks right on mobile — Responsive dark-glass interface built for phones as much as desktops. 🇪🇺 GDPR-ready — Privacy text generated for you, configurable retention, and nothing leaves your database except the sentence being translated. Perfect for International communities and forums Language exchange and learning sites Multilingual e-commerce stores with WooCommerce Travel, expat and digital-nomad communities Online courses with students from multiple countries SaaS support chats serving customers worldwide How it works Install and activate the plugin. The setup wizard opens automatically and asks two quick questions: which translation engine you want and where to place the chat. It then creates a ready-to-use chat page for you. (Optional) Decide who can chat in Akukita Chat → Settings → Who can chat: only logged-in users (default), anyone with a display name (guest mode), or visitors who first create a WordPress account. Share the chat URL with your audience. That’s it. Shortcodes [akukita_chat] Full chat widget with room sidebar [akukita_chat height="700"] Custom height in pixels [akukita_chat_room id="1"] Embed a specific room [akukita_dm] Standalone direct-messages page Translation Providers You choose which one to use, and you can switch any time without losing your chat history: MyMemory (default) — 100% free, no API key. 5,000 words/day per IP, or 50,000/day if you add your email in Settings. DeepL Free — Best European-language quality. 500,000 characters/month with a free DeepL API key. OpenAI GPT-4o-mini — State-of-the-art translation quality including idiomatic and informal language. Requires a paid OpenAI API key. Costs are minimal (~$0.15 per 1M input tokens). If the API ever goes down, the original message is shown as-is — your chat keeps working. Optional premium add-on The free plugin above is complete — you never need to buy anything to run a fully working multilingual chat with rooms, direct messages, moderation and reactions. If you run a business on top of it, the optional add-on at akukita.es adds: 📎 File attachments — Share images and files in rooms and DMs 🎨 6 themes + custom CSS — Match the chat to your brand 📊 Analytics dashboard — Messages per room, active users, peak hours 🔔 DM email alerts — Notify people by email when they get a message 📤 History export — Download a room’s history as CSV or JSON ⚡ Priority translation — Your messages go to the front of the queue 🔗 Webhooks — Send chat events to Zapier, Make or Slack 🛒 WooCommerce rooms — Unlock a room when a customer buys a product 🏷 White label — Remove the “Powered by” attribution One licence unlocks all of it; the packs differ only in how many sites you may activate on. Built by Akukita Akukita is a Spanish software studio focused on building tools that connect people across languages. Mario Simón Melchor leads development. The plugin is actively maintained — bug reports and feature requests get a response within 48 hours on the support forum. External services Akukita Chat connects to third-party translation APIs to translate chat messages. Each provider is opt-in and configured by you in Akukita Chat → Settings. No data is sent unless you enable a provider and a user posts a message. 1. MyMemory / Translated.net (default — no API key needed) Only the text of each chat message is sent. No user identifiers, emails or WordPress data are transmitted. Service URL: https://mymemory.translated.net Terms of Service: https://mymemory.translated.net/terms-and-conditions Privacy Policy: https://translated.com/confidentiality 2. DeepL API (optional — requires API key) Only message text is sent. Service URL: https://www.deepl.com Terms of Service: https://www.deepl.com/pro-license Privacy Policy: https://www.deepl.com/privacy 3. OpenAI API (optional — requires API key) Only message text is sent to the GPT model. Service URL: https://openai.com Terms of Service: https://openai.com/policies/row-terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://openai.com/policies/row-privacy-policy/ 4. Deactivation feedback (optional — only when you submit it) When you deactivate the plugin, an optional form asks why. If — and only if — you fill it in and click “Submit & deactivate”, the reason you select, any comment you type, and a reply email (only if you choose to provide one) are emailed to the plugin developer at akukita.es. Choosing “Skip & deactivate” sends nothing. No site URL beyond the standard email signature, and no other site or admin data, is collected. Developer: https://akukita.es Privacy Akukita Chat stores all chat messages in your own WordPress database. The plugin uses wp_add_privacy_policy_content() to automatically suggest privacy text for your site’s policy page (visible in Settings → Privacy). You control the message retention period from the plugin settings.

Take your customer support to the next level with the HelpCrunch WordPress plugin. Do you think it’s a tough nut to crack? Not at all! Thanks to our full-house solution, you can: Deliver second-to-none customer service Chat with website visitors in real time Automate routine tasks with chatbot Manage conversations from Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, or Viber by integrating them with HelpCrunch Catch valuable leads’ attention Encourage customer self-service with a multilingual knowledge base But that’s just scratching the surface. Let’s take a deeper look at HelpCrunch’s advanced toolset. 💬 LIVE CHAT Being the platform’s flagship feature, live chat helps you solve customers’ queries like a pro, acquire more clients and process requests in the nick of time. Auto messages for reaching out to clients proactively based on their behavior, e.g. exit intent time, time on page, last visit, etc. In-app messages for targeting users and educating them about your product or service, for instance during onboarding, upselling, feedback gathering, etc. Canned messages for streamlining service reps’ workflow. Create answers for FAQs beforehand and use them in live chat or chatbot conversations any time you need to be more productive. Knowledge base integration for making clients’ lives easier. They can search for the information without waiting for a rep’s reply, or you can send them a knowledge base article right from the live chat window. Live chat widget customization for sticking to your brand’s identity. Tweak the live chat button, choose its color scheme, add agent avatars, and do so much more. Reports for tracking team’s performance, customer satisfaction rate, first resolution time, and other metrics. Assignment rules for automating and assigning chats or tags for easier workflow. Round-robin chat assignment for distributing new chats between your team members equally. Live chat transcripts for sending the entire conversation to clients so that they have everything at their fingertips. LIVE CHAT INSTALLATION PROCESS You don’t have to be a mastermind to add the HelpCrunch live chat on your WordPress-powered website. Just follow this step-by-step instruction: STEP 1. Log into your WordPress account. STEP 2. Find the Plugins section and press Add new. STEP 3. In the Search box, type in HelpCrunch. STEP 4. Hit Install and Activate. STEP 5. Log in to your HelpCrunch account in a separate browser tab. STEP 6. Go to Settings → Channels → Website Widgets and choose the widget you’d like to install on your WordPress website. STEP 7. You will be redirected to the Installation page. Select WordPress installation guide and copy the code snippet from the HTML box. STEP 8. Go back to your WordPress account and find the HelpCrunch live chat widget under installed plugins. Open plugin Settings. STEP 9. Paste the copied HelpCrunch code snippet into the HelpCrunch Code field and save changes. Now our live chat widget is displayed in the bottom right corner of your website. If you have any problems with the setup, please check the installation guide. If you have any questions, just log in to your HelpCrunch account and chat with us. We’ll help you with everything 🤗 📱 MESSENGERS INTEGRATION Your customer service can be a great differentiator and help you stand out from the competition. Delighting your customers should be a top priority, and one of the best ways to achieve this is by communicating with them in the most convenient way possible. Luckily, HelpCrunch integrates with a range of popular messaging applications, such as: Facebook Messenger Instagram Telegram Viber WhatsApp (coming soon) Such integration can help you provide a seamless customer experience. No matter which channels your customers are using to interact with your business, you will be providing the best possible customer service. Furthermore, HelpCrunch can help your team save a lot of time and effort. Our shared inbox provides an intuitive interface for managing all customer requests from multiple channels in one place, without having to switch between different tools. 🤖 CHATBOT The new feature will ease the burden of your groovy tasks. Our chatbot is called HelpBot and has the power to support users 24/7, catch and qualify valuable leads, and encourage customer self-service. Do all chatbots have a seamless installation process? The one from HelpCrunch does! Our chatbot builder is completely code-free, so you can set it up on your website in minutes. Thanks to the pre-made templates, you can decide on the goal your bot will pursue: Collect contact details Qualify leads Offer a special discount Collect details about issues upfront Route new chats to the dedicated team Or create your own template from scratch! HelpCrunch’s chatbot is really cool because it works not only in the live chat widget, but also in popular messengers such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and Viber. You might think that chatbots are a tricky feature to install. Check out our article where we shared all the ins and outs of creating your first flow. Trust us: implementing chatbots has never been that easy! 📚 KNOWLEDGE BASE Knowledge base software from HelpCrunch allows you to build a resource hub of your dreams without much hassle. Not only is it SEO-optimized but also feature-rich and multilanguage. With just a few clicks, you can create a well-oiled information hierarchy with a user-friendly WYSIWYG editor: draft new articles, add categories, and develop sections in your knowledge base. All articles are marked as “Draft” by default at the editing stage, so you can decide when it goes public. A “Preview” option is also available here: check your article first and post it! 📨 EMAIL AUTOMATION Whether you have a newsletter coming up or a one-time offer – take advantage of email marketing feature from HelpCrunch: Share company news and product announcements with your clients via perfectly built emails. Automate your marketing campaigns with email auto messages, engage existing users, and re-engage inactive ones. Create your own custom email templates or leverage ours. Monitor campaign performance with in-depth analytics. Set up email notifications not to miss a single letter when your team is offline. Send manual or auto follow-ups every time your message is unseen. Set up email forwarding to put an end to unread messages once and for all. 💁🏻‍♂️ SHARED INBOX Multi-channel customer support is now becoming a reality with the HelpCrunch shared inbox solution. No matter the size of your team, you can ease its life with a shared inbox. Owing to this helpful feature, everything is gathered under the same roof. Have your staff manage incoming conversations from live chat, social media, chatbots, and email together, leave dialogue private notes for each other, and more. Detailed customer profiles won’t let you forget a single detail about a client because such data as phone number, location, or device is safely kept. With our shared inbox, one customer service agent can handle up to 5 chats simultaneously thanks to such powerful options as tagging, rich customer data, private notes, snoozing chats for later, or assigning conversations (both manually and automatically). Live reports & analytics let you gauge your team’s productivity at a glance. Just choose a period of time and see where you need to improve your strategy. By the way, to always keep your finger on the pulse, use conversation rating to assess customer experience after closing a live chat. 🖼 POPUPS Do you want to catch your website visitors’ attention in a smarter way though have no clue how? HelpCrunch has! With our popup builder, you can be sure that no information will slip through the cracks. It offers everything you have ever wished for a perfect engagement action plan: Full customization including the opportunity to change popup appearance (popup templates, texts, animations, color schemes, and more) so that your popup is more noticeable. Popup display options: there are rules to choose from, such as browser language, current URL, number of page views, etc. Set them up and shoot a popup at the right time for the right audience to get maximum results. Live reports for optimizing popup real-time performance as people click on it. 🔗 OTHER INTEGRATIONS There is also a massive integration list to integrate HelpCrunch with your favorite tools (more integrations are on their way, so stay tuned!): Zapier Slack Google Tag Manager Google Analytics Shopify Squarespace Jimdo 3DCart Big Cartel SOUNDS INTRIGUING? BOOK A DEMO TO DISCUSS THE DETAILS AND START YOUR JOURNEY WITH HELPCRUNCH! CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS ABOUT HELPCRUNCH – THE ONE-STOP PLATFORM FOR BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS “HelpCrunch enabled us to manage our customer support and email automation via one platform which led to improving customer support performance by 40%.” — Valery Kurilov, CEO @ SE Ranking “We had a call info line we wanted to get rid of and have everything online in the live chat. So, that was the reason why we switched to HelpCrunch.” — Jan Střecha, Marketing Manager @ Rekola “Once we started using HelpCrunch software, we were able to return €14.8 euros on each €1 paid for HelpCrunch.” — Fitlap “Nobody’s doing the GDPR preparations the right way. We wanted to make sure we’re ready for it, so it was crucial for us to choose a compliant tool and not to worry about legal complications afterward.” — Max Bondarenko, CMO @ Revenue Grid