Quick Answer: Chaty and Elfsight are the two most-searched “free” WhatsApp widgets, and both cap the free tier exactly where it counts. Chaty keeps leads-to-email and multiple agents behind Basic ($15/mo) and caps free at 500 visitors/month. Elfsight caps free at 200 widget views/month with its own branding. Toran gives you routing, lead capture, and AI lead scoring on a free plan with no view or visitor cap — 2 agents at $0, $19/mo flat for 10, and a widget at about 100 KB gzipped.
TL;DR
Chaty is a polished multi-channel button that meters by visitors and paywalls team features. Elfsight is a platform-agnostic widget builder that meters by views and starts branded. Toran is a WhatsApp lead-routing layer with a free plan that does not cap views or visitors. If you work alone and want a simple button, Chaty or Elfsight are fine. If you have a team and want capture + routing for free, Toran is the better fit.
Search “free WhatsApp widget” and you will land on the same two names again and again: Chaty and Elfsight. Both are genuinely good at what they do. But “free” means something different for each of them, and the difference is exactly the part a growing team needs. This is an honest three-way — what each does well, where the free plan runs out, and who should pick which. Every competitor number below was re-verified against the vendor's live pricing page on 2026-07-23.
What Chaty does well
Chaty (by Premio) is a mature WordPress-first floating button used on hundreds of thousands of sites. Its strengths are real:
- Multi-channel in one button — WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, and 20+ more.
- Unlimited widgets and channels on the free plan, plus a contact form and rich customization.
- Display triggers — show on exit intent, after a delay, or on scroll.
- Clean setup — install the plugin, pick channels, done.
For a solo operator who wants a good-looking button, Chaty is a sensible pick.
What Elfsight does well
Elfsight is not a WhatsApp plugin — it is a widget platform with 80+ widget types, of which the WhatsApp chat widget is one. Its strengths:
- Works on almost any platform — Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, WordPress, raw HTML.
- Visual, no-code editor with drag-and-drop configuration.
- One account, many widget types — handy if you also want reviews, forms, or an Instagram feed.
For a site on a builder without a native WhatsApp plugin, Elfsight fills a real gap.
Where each free plan runs out
This is the part that matters for a business that actually wants leads.
Chaty meters by visitors, and paywalls the team features
Chaty's free plan is capped at 500 unique visitors per month. More importantly, the two features most teams reach for are not on the free plan: getting leads delivered to your email and showing multiple agents both start on the Basic plan at $15/mo (up to 10,000 visitors). Cross the free cap and Chaty asks you to upgrade or wait for the billing period to reset. It is an honest free tier — just a narrow one for anyone who wants to capture and route inbound leads.
Elfsight meters by views, and starts branded
Elfsight's free WhatsApp widget is capped at 200 widget views per month on a single widget, with the Elfsight badge displayed. “Views” here means widget loads, not unique visitors — a single visitor bouncing across a few pages can spend several. Elfsight's own pricing page states the app is temporarily deactivated once you exceed the monthly view limit (verified live 2026-07-23). Paid tiers ($6/mo Basic, then Pro and Premium, billed yearly) raise the view ceiling but keep pricing tied to how much traffic the widget sees. And because the widget loads from Elfsight's servers, it is a third-party dependency on your conversion funnel.
Toran does not meter views or visitors
Toran's free plan has no view cap and no visitor cap. It includes 2 agents with round-robin routing, lead capture with plain-language scoring (Hot / Warm / Cold), and 2 AI conversations a day — at $0, with no time limit. The widget weighs about 100 KB gzipped and loads asynchronously, so it does not sit on your page the way a heavier embed does.
Three-way comparison
| Feature | Toran | Chaty | Elfsight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No view or visitor cap | 500 visitors/mo | 200 views/mo, 1 widget |
| Leads to email | Free | Basic ($15/mo) | View-limited |
| Multiple agents | 2 free (25 on Business) | Basic ($15/mo) | One number only |
| Round-robin routing | Free | No | No |
| AI lead scoring (Hot/Warm/Cold) | Free | No | No |
| Free-tier branding | Toran badge (removable on paid) | Chaty badge | Elfsight badge |
| Widget weight | About 100 KB gz | Third-party button | Third-party embed |
| Pricing meter | Flat per plan | Per visitor | Per widget view |
| Entry price | $0 | $15/mo | $6/mo |
Who should pick which
Pick Chaty if you are a solo operator or a one-location shop that wants a clean multi-channel button, you are comfortable on WordPress, and you do not need leads routed to a team or delivered to email.
Pick Elfsight if you are on Squarespace, Wix, or another builder without a native WhatsApp plugin, your traffic is low enough that 200 free views is genuinely enough, or you already run other Elfsight widgets and want everything in one account.
Pick Toran if you have two or more agents, you want inbound leads captured and routed for free, you care about page speed, or you sell in more than one language — the entire visitor journey (greeting, AI chat, contact ask, WhatsApp prefill) runs in 7 languages with a built-in switcher.
Try it
Remove the old embed, add one script tag, paste your WhatsApp number. Live in about 60 seconds, no credit card. Start your free Toran account.
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