Comparison
TGLiveChat vs Elfsight
These two products are both sold as a Telegram chat widget and they do genuinely different things. Elfsight gives you a button that opens Telegram, where the conversation happens and where your visitor needs an account. TGLiveChat gives you a chat window that stays on your website, with the messages routed to your Telegram in the background. Which is better depends entirely on who visits your site.
The short verdict
Pick Elfsight if your visitors already use Telegram, if you want the conversation to keep going after they leave your site, or if you need lots of different widgets and would use their 96-app pack.
Pick TGLiveChat if you want to talk to every visitor rather than only the ones with a Telegram account, if you want the chat to stay on your page, or if you want a real support tool with threads, an AI agent and conversation history.
We build TGLiveChat, so weigh this accordingly. Everything said about Elfsight below is taken from their own public pages and quoted directly so you can check it.
The difference nobody puts in the feature table
Elfsight is admirably clear about how their widget works, and the answer is in their own FAQ rather than buried in terms of service. Two sentences decide whether this product suits you:
“Yes, users must be logged into Telegram to start a conversation, since all messages are sent through Telegram's official messaging system.”
Elfsight, Telegram Chat Widget FAQ
“On mobile devices, the chat opens in the Telegram app, while desktop users are redirected to Telegram Web or the desktop client.”
Elfsight, Telegram Chat Widget FAQ
So the click does not open a chat on your website. It hands the visitor to Telegram. If they have it, that is a smooth handoff into a conversation they keep forever. If they do not, they hit a signup wall at the exact moment they wanted to ask you a question.
TGLiveChat works the other way round. The visitor types into a normal chat box on your page. The message arrives in your Telegram, you reply there, and your answer appears back in their chat window. Telegram is on your side of the glass only. That is the whole comparison, and everything below follows from it.
Side by side
| Elfsight | TGLiveChat | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the conversation happens | Inside Telegram | On your website |
| Visitor needs a Telegram account | Yes | No |
| Visitor leaves your site to chat | Yes | No |
| Chat continues after they leave | Yes, it lives in Telegram | Only if they leave an email |
| You reply from Telegram | Yes | Yes |
| Metered by | Widget loads (views) | Conversations |
| Free tier | 200 views a month | 100 chats a month |
| Thread per visitor | No | Yes, via forum topics |
| Conversation history you own | No, only in Telegram | Yes, dashboard plus Telegram |
| Visitor page, referrer, country | No | Yes |
| AI agent on your docs | No | Yes |
| Pre-chat form for name and email | Pre-filled message only | Yes |
| Themes | Colour and icon customisation | 32 themes including RTL |
| Proactive triggers | Yes, time, scroll, exit intent | Yes, plus URL, country, device |
| Other widget types | 96 apps in one pack | Live chat only |
Pricing, and what a view means
Elfsight is inexpensive, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. What deserves attention is not the price but the meter, because the two products count completely different things. Elfsight defines a view like this:
“The number of times a widget loads on a webpage or via a share link.”
Elfsight pricing page
A load, not a click and not a conversation. So every page view where the button appears spends one, including the visitors who never notice it. That makes the free tier of 200 views roughly a day or two of traffic for a small site, and it means your bill tracks your traffic rather than your support workload. TGLiveChat counts conversations, so a page can be seen a million times and cost nothing until somebody actually talks to you.
Elfsight, single app
| Free | $0 | 200 views1 widgetElfsight branding shown |
| Basic | $4 ($6) | 5,000 views3 widgetsBranding removed |
| Pro | $8 ($12) | 50,000 views9 widgetsBranding removed |
| Premium | $16 ($24) | 150,000 views21 widgetsBranding removed |
TGLiveChat
| Free | $0 | 100 chats1 widgetTGLiveChat branding shown |
| Pro | $12 | Unlimited chatsUnlimited widgetsWhite label, AI agent |
| Agency | $29 | Unlimited chats10 client workspacesWhite label, AI agent |
| Lifetime | $149 once | Unlimited chatsUnlimited widgetsFirst 100 customers |
Elfsight figures read from their pricing page on 31 July 2026. Prices in brackets are the regular rate, the first figure is the promotional rate that was running at the time. They also sell a pack covering 96 apps from 12 dollars a month, which is a different and often better deal if you want more than a chat button. Check their site before deciding, because these numbers move.
Where Elfsight is genuinely the better product
A comparison page written by one of the two products is worth very little if it cannot say this part out loud. There are real situations where we are the wrong answer.
Your audience is already on Telegram
If you run a crypto project, or you sell in a market where Telegram is the default messenger, the deep link is not friction. It is one tap into a conversation your customer keeps. Asking that audience to type in a web widget instead is arguably worse.
You want the chat to outlive the visit
This is the strongest argument for the button approach and we cannot match it. A Telegram thread persists. Someone can ask a question, close your site, and get your answer two hours later on their phone. Our widget cannot do that unless they leave an email address.
You need more than chat
Their pack covers 96 widgets: forms, galleries, reviews, countdowns, maps, all under one subscription from 12 dollars a month. If you were going to buy three or four widget types anyway, that is very good value and we sell exactly one thing.
You want the simplest possible setup
Elfsight needs a username. No bot to create, no BotFather, no group to configure. Ours takes a few minutes longer because there is more to connect.
You want a large, established vendor
Elfsight claims over 3,000,000 customers. We are considerably smaller. If vendor longevity is a big factor for you, that is a fair thing to weigh, and you should weigh it against us.
You only need a contact shortcut
If all you want is an obvious way for people to reach you on Telegram, and you do not care about transcripts, threads or visitor context, a button is the right size of tool. Do not buy a support platform for that.
Where we are the better fit
You want to hear from everyone
The majority of a typical western website audience does not have Telegram installed. A widget that requires it filters your enquiries down to the subset who do, and you never find out what the rest wanted to ask.
You want a record of what was said
Elfsight stores no conversation history because it never handles the conversation. Ours keeps a searchable transcript with the page they were on, their referrer, browser and country, which matters when somebody says the checkout is broken.
You want threads, not one inbox
Connect a Telegram supergroup with Topics enabled and each visitor gets their own thread. Any teammate can answer in it. It behaves like a ticket queue without buying a ticketing system.
You want questions answered while you sleep
The AI agent reads your docs, handles the routine questions on its own and escalates to your Telegram when it cannot help. A link button cannot do this because there is nothing in the middle to do it with.
You care about page weight
Our core is 14.8KB gzipped with themes loaded as separate chunks. Widget weight matters if you run paid traffic or live on search.
You do not want your handle public
Deep-link widgets point at your personal username. Ours relays through a bot, so visitors never see your personal Telegram identity.
A quick way to decide
One question settles it for most people. Look at your analytics and ask what share of your visitors plausibly has Telegram installed.
Use a deep-link button. Elfsight is cheap, quick and the persistent thread is a real benefit. We would be adding a layer you do not need.
Use an on-page widget. You will hear from the ones who have Telegram anyway, and also from everyone else.
Use an on-page widget, and pick whichever one you like. The important part is that the visitor is not asked to install anything.
Switching over
There is nothing to migrate, which makes this unusually painless. Elfsight never stored your conversations, so there is no export to worry about. Those chats are already in your Telegram account and they stay there whatever you do next.
- Remove the Elfsight embed code from your site or delete the widget in their editor.
- Create a free TGLiveChat widget and paste the script before your closing body tag.
- Connect your Telegram, ideally a group with Topics on so each visitor gets a thread.
- Send yourself a test message from a private window and confirm it reaches your phone.
If you want to hedge, run both for a fortnight. Keep the Elfsight button for the Telegram natives and add the widget for everyone else, then look at where the messages actually came from. That is a better answer than anything on this page.
Questions people ask
Does Elfsight’s Telegram widget put a chat on my website?
No. It puts a button on your website. Elfsight’s own FAQ states that on mobile the chat opens in the Telegram app, and desktop users are redirected to Telegram Web or the desktop client. The conversation happens inside Telegram, not on your page.
Do visitors need a Telegram account to use the Elfsight widget?
Yes. Elfsight says so plainly: users must be logged into Telegram to start a conversation, because all messages go through Telegram’s own messaging system. With TGLiveChat the visitor types into a chat box on your website and needs no account, because Telegram is only used on your side.
What counts as a view on Elfsight’s pricing?
Elfsight defines a view as the number of times a widget loads on a webpage or via a share link. That means every page view where the button appears consumes one, whether or not anyone clicks it. The free plan allows 200 a month, which a modest site can use up in a couple of days.
Is Elfsight cheaper than TGLiveChat?
At the entry tier, yes. Elfsight Basic is 4 US dollars a month on their current promotion, against 12 for TGLiveChat Pro. The comparison is not like for like though: Elfsight is metering widget loads for a button, while TGLiveChat Pro is unlimited conversations with an AI agent, white labelling and unlimited teammates.
When is Elfsight the better choice?
When your audience already lives in Telegram, which is common in crypto and in markets where Telegram is the default messenger. Also when you want many kinds of widget, since their apps pack covers 96 of them for one subscription, or when you specifically want the conversation to continue in Telegram after the visitor leaves your site.
Can conversations continue after the visitor closes my website?
With Elfsight, yes, because the conversation lives in Telegram and the visitor keeps the thread. With TGLiveChat, not unless they leave an email, because the chat is tied to your site. This is a genuine advantage of the deep link approach and worth weighing honestly.
How do I switch from Elfsight to TGLiveChat?
Remove the Elfsight embed code from your site and paste the TGLiveChat script tag before the closing body tag. It takes about two minutes. There is no conversation history to migrate, because Elfsight never stored any: those chats live in your Telegram account and stay there.
Is TGLiveChat affiliated with Elfsight or Telegram?
No. TGLiveChat is independent of both. Elfsight is a separate company and its trademarks belong to it. TGLiveChat is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Telegram Messenger or Telegram FZ LLC.
Related reading
What a Telegram chat widget actually is
The full explanation of buttons versus real two-way chat, with install steps.
Compare against Tawk.to
Free until you want your own branding, then 348 dollars a year per site.
Compare against Crisp
Dashboard support versus Telegram support.
We weighed 10 chat widgets
Measured JavaScript weight, and how to test your own site.
Try it against your own traffic
The free plan covers 100 conversations a month with no card. Run it alongside whatever you have now and let the messages decide.
Create a free widgetElfsight figures on this page were taken from elfsight.com on 31 July 2026 and may have changed since. Elfsight is a trademark of its owner and this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. TGLiveChat is likewise not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Telegram Messenger or Telegram FZ LLC.