Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Admin |
The chat widget can be limited by country or domain, which is how you keep chat to the markets you can serve. This is the live chat widget, which Zendesk removes on 31 January 2028.
Set the restriction
- For the messaging Web Widget: in Admin Center, click Channels, select Messaging and social > Messaging, click the widget, expand Installation and tick Only allow Web Widget to be installed on these domains.
- Add the domains. An asterisk covers every subdomain of one domain, as in
*.yourdomain.com. - For a Chat widget, the equivalent is Settings > Widget > Widget Security, where Allowed Domains is switched on and the trusted domains listed. Country restrictions live here too.
- Save and check from a normal browser.
What the allowlist does is worth being precise about: it does not stop anybody pasting your snippet into their page. It stops that snippet from working anywhere outside the list, which is the same outcome and a different mechanism.
Why restrict by country
Chat promises a person now, and that only works in hours you cover. A visitor from a time zone twelve hours away sees an invitation nobody can answer.
Restricting it there is more honest than offering a conversation and then a form.
Why restrict by domain
The widget code is public and works wherever it is pasted. A domain restriction stops it appearing on a site you do not control, and lets you keep it off a staging environment.
Country detection is approximate
It uses the visitor's apparent location, which is wrong for anyone on a corporate network routed through another country, or on a VPN. Some legitimate customers will not see chat, and you will not know.
Where that matters, make sure another channel is clearly offered on the same page.
Leave a route in
Whoever cannot see chat still needs to reach you. A visible link to your help centre or contact form on the same page means a restriction narrows the channel rather than closing the door.
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