POWR versus OpenWidget

POWR offers a complete suite of no-code eCommerce solutions with more than 60 apps and plugins, mostly aimed at platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify.

Their live chat plugin connects through Facebook Messenger. Meaning, POWR may not be a good choice for businesses that have concerns about Facebook’s policies and reputation.

The customization tool for the chat widget is easy to use but constrained, even with their more expensive plans.

POWR’s commercial approach is different from their competitors’. They have a dual pricing system for their products that may seem simple at first but can get complicated and costly quickly.

Firstly, they offer complete suites that are billed by a maximum amount of traffic on your website. The plugins will stop working if this amount is exceeded. A free suite with a restricted number of apps is available for sites with traffic up to 250 views per month.

Secondly, they offer subscriptions per app or plugin for a set price. This applies to their live chat plugin as well. A free plan with limited features is available. Their paid plans starts at $5.49 per month. There are no free trials available.

Customers of POWR are mostly small businesses. A few of them share their success stories on the POWR.io website.

OpenWidget is a free eCommerce widget launched in November 2022 by LiveChat.inc. It is not a real-time live chat but has 4 important features.

• Contact form (email)
• Product cards to promote deals
• FAQ section
• Widget customization

It is easy to set up but offers limited customization options, as can be expected for such a free tool. There is no option to upload images, they have to be linked to a URL. All changes are applied to the widget on your website in real time without the need to replace the script.

It has plugins for popular eCommerce platforms like:

• BigCommerce
• Google Tag Manager
• OpenCart
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• Woocommerce
• WordPress