Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Agent |
One test tells you: reload the page mid-conversation and see whether it is still there. Messaging keeps it, live chat does not.
Chat or messaging: which do I choose?
Two ways to settle it. The quick one is the account's age: live chat through Web Widget (Classic) only exists on accounts created before 5 June 2023, so a newer account is on messaging whatever anyone tells you.
Otherwise, start a conversation in your own widget and refresh the page.
- The conversation is still there: messaging.
- It has gone: live chat.
Other signals
- A visitor list showing who is browsing your site is chat.
- Departments rather than groups is chat.
- WhatsApp or social channels in the same place is messaging.
- Conversations waiting when nobody is online is messaging.
If the answer is live chat, you have a date. Zendesk retires Zendesk Chat on 31 January 2028, so an account still on it has a migration to plan rather than a choice to weigh.
Why does the choice matter?
Documentation, forum answers and code examples are written for one or the other and do not transfer. Half an hour following instructions for the wrong product is the usual cost of not checking.
The settings live in different places too, which is why people report not being able to find something that is genuinely not there.
You can have both, on different brands
One brand on chat and another on messaging is possible, which makes this question worth asking per brand rather than per account.
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