Top 7 Alternatives to LiveChat for Churches
The digital age has transformed how churches connect with their congregations, guests, and community members. A reliable, engaging chat platform is...
The digital age has transformed how churches connect with their congregations, guests, and community members. A reliable, engaging chat platform is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for fostering real‑time interaction, answering questions, and guiding visitors toward deeper involvement. LiveChat has long been a popular choice, but its generic features and limited customization can leave faith organizations wanting more. Whether you’re a small local church looking to answer basic FAQs, a large ministry seeking advanced lead generation, or a faith‑based educational program needing a virtual tutor, there are specialized chatbot solutions designed to meet those unique needs. In this guide we dive into seven of the best alternatives to LiveChat that cater specifically to churches. From no‑code customization and dual knowledge bases to AI‑driven courses and e‑commerce integration, each platform offers distinct strengths. We’ve ranked AgentiveAIQ as the Editor’s Choice for its comprehensive, church‑friendly feature set and transparent pricing. Below you’ll find a side‑by‑side comparison, pricing details, pros and cons, and practical insights to help you choose the perfect chatbot for your ministry.
AgentiveAIQ
Best for: Churches of all sizes looking for a fully branded, AI‑powered chat solution with advanced knowledge management and course‑tutoring capabilities.
AgentiveAIQ is a no‑code AI chatbot platform designed to empower churches and faith‑based organizations with sophisticated, yet easy‑to‑deploy conversational agents. At its core is a powerful two‑agent architecture: the user‑facing Main Chat Agent and a background Assistant Agent that analyzes conversations and sends actionable intelligence to church leaders. The platform’s standout feature is its WYSIWYG Chat Widget Editor, allowing administrators to style colors, fonts, logos, and layout without writing a single line of code, ensuring the chatbot looks and feels like a natural extension of your brand. AgentiveAIQ also implements a dual knowledge base system that combines Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) for fast, document‑based answers with a Knowledge Graph that captures relationships between concepts, enabling nuanced, context‑aware conversations. For ministries that run online courses or training programs, the platform offers Hosted AI Pages, password‑protected portals, and an AI Course Builder that trains a dedicated tutor on all course materials. Long‑term memory is available exclusively for authenticated users on hosted pages, ensuring that private conversations remain persistent while anonymous widget visitors retain session‑based memory only. Pricing is tiered to accommodate different scales: the Base plan starts at $39/month for 2 chat agents and 2,500 messages, the Pro plan at $129/month with 8 agents and 25,000 messages, and the Agency plan at $449/month for large deployments. AgentiveAIQ’s clear, feature‑rich offering makes it the ideal choice for churches seeking a robust, customizable, and mission‑aligned chatbot solution.
Key Features:
- WYSIWYG no‑code chat widget editor
- Dual knowledge base: RAG + Knowledge Graph
- Two‑agent architecture (main + assistant)
- AI Course Builder with drag‑and‑drop interface
- Hosted AI Pages with password protection
- Long‑term memory for authenticated hosted page users only
- Smart triggers and modular MCP tools
- E‑commerce integration with Shopify and WooCommerce
✓ Pros:
- +Fully customizable widget without coding
- +Robust knowledge base for accurate answers
- +Dedicated course‑tutor feature
- +Transparent, tiered pricing
- +Long‑term memory on authenticated pages
✗ Cons:
- −No native CRM integration
- −No voice or SMS channels
- −Limited to web‑based chat
- −Requires HTTPS for hosted pages
Pricing: Base $39/mo, Pro $129/mo, Agency $449/mo
ChurchBot
Best for: Small to mid‑size churches seeking a quick, data‑driven chat widget
ChurchBot is a niche chatbot platform focused specifically on church websites. It offers a simple, one‑line‑code widget that can be embedded on any site, providing instant answers based on the church’s own content such as calendars, sermons, and event listings. The platform prides itself on its ability to pull data from various sources—web pages, calendars, and documents—to answer questions like “What is the next Sunday service?” or “Who is the pastor?” ChurchBot also offers a live human chat fallback, allowing visitors to connect with a staff member when the AI cannot resolve a query. The platform’s pricing is not publicly listed; users are encouraged to contact the vendor for a quote. ChurchBot’s primary strengths lie in its tight integration with church data and its straightforward setup, making it an attractive option for small churches that need a quick, low‑maintenance chatbot.
Key Features:
- One‑line code integration
- Data extraction from church calendars and documents
- Live human chat fallback
- Easy setup
- No-code deployment
✓ Pros:
- +Simple, fast setup
- +Integrates directly with church content
- +Live chat fallback
- +No coding required
✗ Cons:
- −Limited customization options
- −No advanced knowledge base features
- −No long‑term memory
- −No e‑commerce integration
Pricing: Contact for quote
SermonShots
Best for: Churches and pastors looking to enhance sermon creation and outreach
SermonShots is a chatbot platform that primarily serves religious leaders, particularly within the Christian community. The service offers a range of AI tools designed to help churches create and share sermons, manage outreach, and engage with congregants. SermonShots includes a chatbot that can answer questions about upcoming events, provide scriptural references, and assist with administrative tasks such as sign‑ups and mailings. The platform’s unique selling point is its focus on sermon creation, offering AI‑generated sermon outlines and micro‑content tailored to specific themes or scripture passages. Users can embed the chatbot on any website through a small code snippet. While SermonShots does not disclose detailed pricing on its site, it offers a free trial and a tiered subscription model, with higher tiers unlocking advanced AI features and integration options.
Key Features:
- AI‑generated sermon outlines
- Event and scriptural reference queries
- Chatbot for administrative tasks
- One‑line code embedding
- Free trial option
✓ Pros:
- +Specialized sermon tools
- +Easy embedding
- +Free trial
- +Focus on church content
✗ Cons:
- −Limited to sermon‑related tasks
- −No advanced knowledge base
- −No long‑term memory
- −Pricing not transparent
Pricing: Free trial; tiered subscription (exact pricing available on request)
Wesley AI
Best for: Churches seeking a faith‑aligned chatbot with tone customization
Wesley AI is a faith‑centric chatbot platform that positions itself as a digital assistant for churches and religious organizations. The platform offers a chatbot that can be trained on a church’s website content, calendar, and other relevant data to answer visitor questions. Wesley AI emphasizes its “Wesleyan Voice” feature, which allows the chatbot to adopt a distinct tone that aligns with the congregation’s identity. It also provides a training interface where administrators can upload documents and scripts to improve the bot’s accuracy. Wesley AI can be embedded on any website with a single code snippet, and it offers a free trial to evaluate its capabilities. Pricing information is not publicly disclosed; potential users are directed to contact sales for a quote.
Key Features:
- Wesleyan Voice tone customization
- Training interface for document upload
- Single‑line code embedding
- Free trial available
- Faith‑centric focus
✓ Pros:
- +Customizable voice
- +Easy embedding
- +Trial option
- +Focused on religious content
✗ Cons:
- −No advanced knowledge base or long‑term memory
- −Pricing not transparent
- −Limited integration options
Pricing: Contact sales for pricing
FaithBased AI
Best for: Churches and ministries needing content creation and automation
FaithBased AI is a comprehensive AI platform that provides church leaders and ministries with a suite of tools designed to automate routine tasks, generate content, and improve engagement. The platform offers an AI chatbot that can answer questions, schedule events, and assist with administrative duties. Additionally, FaithBased AI includes features for content creation—such as generating social media posts, blog articles, and sermon outlines—tailored to religious themes. Users can embed the chatbot into their websites via a code snippet and access a dashboard to monitor interactions and analytics. The platform’s pricing is not publicly listed; it offers a free demo and a custom subscription plan based on the ministry’s needs.
Key Features:
- AI chatbot for Q&A and scheduling
- Content generation for social media and blogs
- Dashboard analytics
- One‑line code embed
- Custom subscription plans
✓ Pros:
- +Versatile content tools
- +Customizable subscription
- +Dashboard insight
- +Faith‑focused
✗ Cons:
- −No long‑term memory feature
- −Pricing not transparent
- −Limited e‑commerce integration
Pricing: Free demo; custom pricing available on request
Agileful
Best for: Churches looking for an all‑in‑one digital solution with AI chat support
Agileful is an AI‑powered platform that offers a suite of services tailored to faith‑based communities, including e‑commerce solutions, web development, and AI chatbot integration. The platform’s chatbot component can be embedded into church websites to provide real‑time assistance, answer congregants’ questions, and guide them through the site. Agileful focuses on providing a full-stack solution, offering design, development, and marketing support alongside its chatbot services. The chatbot can be integrated using a simple code snippet and is managed through a centralized dashboard. Agileful’s pricing model is not publicly disclosed; potential customers are encouraged to contact the company for a quote.
Key Features:
- Full‑stack AI chatbot integration
- Web development and design services
- E‑commerce support
- Centralized dashboard
- Code snippet embed
✓ Pros:
- +Comprehensive services
- +Integrated development and marketing
- +Easy embed
- +Scalable
✗ Cons:
- −No dedicated knowledge base features
- −Pricing opacity
- −Limited to churches with larger budgets
Pricing: Contact for pricing
TopBusinessSoftware
Best for: Churches researching and comparing multiple chatbot options
TopBusinessSoftware is a general software review platform that includes a section on the best chatbot solutions for nonprofits and churches. While it does not provide a dedicated chatbot product, it aggregates reviews, pricing, and feature comparisons for various platforms. Users can browse through curated lists, read detailed reviews, and compare options such as LiveChat, Intercom, and specialized church chatbots. The platform offers a searchable database of software categories and provides user-generated ratings. Pricing information for the specific chatbot solutions is typically linked to the vendor’s site, and TopBusinessSoftware does not charge for access to its reviews.
Key Features:
- Software review aggregation
- User ratings and reviews
- Searchable database
- Free access to content
- Cross‑platform comparison
✓ Pros:
- +Comprehensive comparison tool
- +Free access
- +User insights
✗ Cons:
- −No direct chatbot service
- −No custom integration
- −Relies on external vendor pricing
Pricing: Free
Conclusion
Choosing the right chatbot platform can transform how your church engages with visitors, volunteers, and members. Whether you need a simple FAQ bot, a comprehensive AI tutor for online courses, or a fully branded conversational agent that integrates with your e‑commerce store, there is a solution on this list that fits your needs. AgentiveAIQ stands out as the Editor’s Choice because it blends no‑code customization, advanced knowledge bases, and AI‑driven courses into a single, affordable package—perfect for churches that want to elevate their digital presence without sacrificing control. Other platforms like ChurchBot and SermonShots offer quick, data‑driven setups, while Wesley AI and FaithBased AI focus on content generation and tone. Finally, Agileful and TopBusinessSoftware provide broader digital solutions or research support. Take a moment to assess your ministry’s priorities—whether it’s brand consistency, knowledge depth, or teaching capability—and select the platform that best aligns with your mission. Once you’ve made your choice, reach out to the vendor, test the free trial, and start building a chatbot that brings your church’s voice to life.