Guide

How to add live chat to WordPress

Adding live chat to WordPress does not require a hosted plugin that keeps your conversations in someone else's cloud. With a self-hosted server like ZChat you run the chat backend yourself and add it to WordPress with a single snippet, the same way you would on any other site.

Download Free Evaluation General Setup Guide

Step 1. Install the chat server

The chat backend runs separately from WordPress. Install the ZChat server on your own infrastructure, Windows with IIS, Linux with Nginx, or Docker, and run the included SQL scripts against your database. You can rehearse the whole thing on the free localhost evaluation first.

Step 2. Create your widget

Sign in to the dashboard, set the widget colors and greeting to match your WordPress theme, choose the pre-chat fields you want, and copy the generated script snippet. If you want an AI chatbot to answer first, load a few knowledge-base articles and enable it here.

Step 3. Add the snippet to WordPress

Paste the snippet so it loads on every page, just before the closing body tag. The simplest way is a header-and-footer plugin: add the snippet to the footer section. If you maintain your own theme, add it to footer.php before the closing body tag, or enqueue it from your theme functions. No dedicated chat plugin is required.

Step 4. Test on your site

Open your WordPress site, click the chat launcher, and start a conversation as a visitor. Answer it from the dashboard or the Windows desktop console, then confirm the transcript and satisfaction rating land in your own database. Once that works, you are live.

Works with any CMS

One snippet, not a plugin dependency

Because the widget is a single script tag, the same setup works on WordPress, a static site, or a custom app. You own the server and the data, and there is no chat plugin to keep updated or to trust with your conversations.

Download ZChat Add an AI chatbot

Owned customer support software

Deploy live chat on your own terms, not on someone else's pricing model.

ZChat gives you the installable server, web dashboard, website widget, and desktop agent tools in one self-hosted product you buy once and keep. Run it on infrastructure you trust and connect AI only if and how you want it.

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Deployment

Install on Windows or Linux, behind IIS or Nginx, in a VM, or in Docker if that fits your stack.

Commercial model

One-time purchase, perpetual license, and no monthly per-agent bill attached to growth.

AI Flexibility

Use Ollama locally or connect OpenAI and Anthropic with your own provider accounts.