Most active customers today look for secure and user-friendly chat features in every app they use. They seek to communicate with advanced functionalities whenever they send text messages, make voice calls and do video conferencing. To build these features within an app, a developer is subjected to spend a fortune and commit a great deal of time.
However, several solution providers have risen over time to fix the problems in developing advanced communication features within apps. Developers from giant organizations have chosen to integrate chat APIs and SDKs to add in-app features and functionalities offered by world-class in-app chat API providers.
To make things easy for you, we have compiled below an assorted list of Chat SDK providers that may help you build apps with best communication solutions that your customers will love!
Table of Contents
The Need for In-app Chat API & SDKs
Firstly, to build a leading app in a competitive market, you’ll need to develop features that can meet the changing requirements of your users, just right on time. At this situation, you may be left with 2 choices:
- To keep writing codes for each feature in your app-building pipeline while taking care of your business priorities in parallel
(or) - To be a step ahead of your competitors in releasing your enhanced app with instant, safe and advanced messaging API integrations.
Several smart Businesses have adopted the latter and have become pioneers in delivering one-of-a-kind apps to their customers. Therefore, it is evident that choosing to integrate APIs and SDKs might save a lot of time, energy and effort to build a top-notch app for your customers.
Secondly, Customers’ expectations are rising over time for a convenient user experience. As the saying goes, ‘Customer is the King’, it would be righteous enough to focus on what exactly the user needs from your app within a time-frame. This demand to connect users within an application leverages companies with high user engagement and retention.
More than 28% of revenue growth was witnessed by 40% of companies within one financial year, as a direct result of API integration.
A report by Mulesoft (2022) testifies
With plenty of API and SDK providers spread across the internet, choosing the right one who can meet your requirements can be a real challenge. That’s why we step in, to get you a full span coverage of the top chat API service providers worth trying this year.
List of Top In-app Chat API & SDK providers for Web & Mobile Apps
1. MirrorFly
Developer-friendly in-app chat solution provider
MirrorFly is a market leader in providing the best in-app Chat SDK in the industry. It offers both on-cloud and on-premise hosting that increases the flexibility of app control for developers.
Here are the highlights of MirrorFly’s cloud and self-managed solutions:
MirrorFly – Cloud-based Solution
MirrorFly is popularly known for providing high-end chat features and fastest average response time in the market. With its cloud solution, you can avail their feature-rich in-app chat SDKs for a monthly subscription along with hosting on their dedicated cloud servers.
With MirrorFly’s cloud-based solution, you can avail the following benefits:
- Light Weight Chat SDK
- Dedicated Cloud Servers
- Voice and video call SDKs
- One-to-one and group video calls
- SIP & VoIP calling
- Hire Integration Team
MirrorFly -Self-hosted Solution
For developers looking for 100% customizable chat solutions, MirrorFly’s self-hosted solution offers a variety of benefits. From taking full ownership of the chat features to hosting on your own premise, MirroFly ensures your user’s data and conversation and data are completely under you control.
With MirrorFly’s self-hosted solution, you can avail the following benefits:
- 100% customizable in-app chat SDKs
- White-label solution
- One-time cost for SDK license
- Hire dedicated development team
- On-premise hosting
Key Chat Features of MirrorFly
Communication: One-to-one and Group chat feature, Voice & Video Calling.
Scalability: 99.999% Uptime SLA, 100ms Avg API Response.
Security: Advanced Encryption Standard, End-to-End Encryption, GDPR & HIPAA Compatibility, Chat Moderation.
UI Kits: Components to build an interactive and user-friendly chat interface.
Hosting: On-premise/ Self-hosting solution (SaaP), Dedicated cloud hosting (SaaS).
Available Tech Stacks: Javascript, React, Kotlin, Swift, Flutter, React Native, Angular.
Use Cases: Telemedicine, Social & Dating, Online E-commerce, Telecom, FinTech, Gaming, Transportation.
What is the pricing of MirrorFly?
- One-time License Cost (SaaP), Monthly subscription (SaaS).
2. Apphitect
Best white-label chat solution provider
Apphitect is infamously known for its cross-platform in-app chat APIs and SDKs offering features that helps Developers build a complete chat application. This in-app chat solution provider helps businesses build apps with enhanced cloud, social and analytical solutions.
Key Chat Features of Apphitect
Chat Essentials: File Transfer, Spell Check, Cross Platform Messaging, Smart Response, Language Translation, Multi-Party Conferencing, Screen Sharing, White Board, Backup & Storage.
Channels: One-to-one Chat, Group Chat.
Hosting: On-cloud, On-premises.
Available Tech Stacks: Javascript, React, Kotlin, Swift, Flutter, Angular.
Use Cases: Digital Healthcare, Social community, E-commerce Marketplace, Telecommunication, Banking, Gaming, Logistics.
What is the pricing of Apphitect?
- One-time License Cost (SaaP), Monthly subscription (SaaS).
3. Cometchat
Most trusted in-app chat by 50,000+ developers
ComeChat delivers interactive communication solutions like in-app text messaging, and voice and video call solutions to business applications and websites. It is considered one of the budget-friendly API and SDK providers in the market.
Key Chat Features of Cometchat
Chat Essentials: Single Sign-On (SSO), 1-on-1 Private Chat, Group Conversations, Threaded Conversations, Document and Media Sharing, Custom Structured Messages, Tagging & Search.
Indicators: Unread messages and Counts, Online Presence Indicators, Typing Indicators & Read receipts.
Moderations: AI Moderation, Human Moderation, Rule-based Moderation, Group based Moderation.
Extended Functionality: Webhooks, Bots.
4. TalkJS
Secure, reliable, and scalable chat solution
TalkJS adds user-to-user chat features inside your app. The design and features offered by TalkJS are said to be compatible with any architectural framework making in-app development more easy and fast.
Key Chat Features of TalkJS
Chat Essentials: Channels, Groups & Topics, In-conversation search, Real-time translation, Conversation history, File sharing, Location sharing, Text formatting, Emojis.
Indicators: Typing & read indicators, Online presence indicators, Unread messages badge.
UI Components: Chat Popup, Chatbox and inbox UI, Cross Device UI, Cross Browser UX ,Multi language UI.
Moderations: Mask Contact Information, Word Blacklist, Activities and Analytics Dashboard.
5. Weavy
The most secure in-app chat solution provider
Weavy is a complete toolkit for collaboration tools with in-app chat, voice, and video APIs. They offer hassle-free integration with your new or existing apps. Their secure SDKs are end-to-end encrypted and compatible with privacy regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and OWASP.
Key Chat Features of Weavy
Chat Essentials: Channels, Groups & Topics, In-conversation search, Real-time translation, Conversation history, File sharing, Location sharing, Text formatting, Emojis.
Channels: One-to-one and group chat
Hosting: On-premise or on-cloud hosting
Available tech stacks: JavaScript, React, Kotlin, React Native, Swift, etc
Use cases: Healthcare, fitness and wellness apps, astrology, media, and entertainment.
What is the pricing of Weavy?
- Free and Paid
6. Mesibo
Fully customizable chat solution provider
Mesibo is a cloud communication platform that lets you add rich messaging features to your application. It allows you to build real-time messaging with ease and high chat security that can connect users over any device and across different locations.
Key Chat Features of Mesibo
Chat Essentials: One-to-one Messaging, Group Messaging.
Hosting: Cloud Hosting, On-Premise Deployment, Open Source.
Popular Platforms: Kotlin, Java, Objective-C, Javascript, Python.
Other Technologies: Scientific computing, Machine learning systems.
Are you Ready to Build
Your Own Chat App for Your Business!
Talk to sales 7. PubNub
Feature enriched in-app chat provider
PubNub is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) company well-known for providing APIs and SDKs for business communications. This provider builds APIs and SDKs that are compatible with mobile platforms, real-time chat apps and IoT applications.
Key Chat Features of PubNub
Chat Essentials: Unread message counts, Update message, File and image sharing, Giphy, Message reactions, Mentions.
Indicators: Push notifications, Typing indicators, Delivery and read receipts, User presence indicators.
Moderations: Spam prevention, Profanity filters, Mute/Ban users, Access controls, Delete messages.
8. Chat SDK
Instant messaging APIs and SDKs provider
Chat SDK offers developers an open-source framework where they can integrate communications APIs to their apps with Android, iOS or web compatibility and flexibility. They provide demo apps that lets developers check unique feature integration opportunities and performance.
Key Chat Features of Chat SDK
Channels: Private Chats, Group Chats, Public Rooms.
Flexibilities: Login, Search, Full Source Code.
Other Essentials: Cross Platform Functionality, Push Notifications, Multiple Message Types, User Profiles, Scalability, Message History.
9. ChatCamp
Real-time messaging APIs provider
ChatCamp makes real-time messaging more feasible for development with their multi-platform native chat SDKs and chat APIs. It helps developers integrate an advanced in-app infrastructure in simple steps of integration.
Key Chat Features of ChatCamp
Channels: Direct Channels, Open Channels, Group Channels.
Other Essentials: Push Notifications, Bot Messaging, Chat Archiving.
Indicators: Typing Indicators, Read Receipts, Online Presence.
Access Control and Moderation: User Roles, Profanity Control, User Moderation.
10. Quickblox
100% customizable chat solution
This HIPAA-compliant API and SDK provider supports chat features that can be used across different verticals in varied industries. The integrations add essential chat features that are compatible across Android, iOS and web applications.
Key Chat Features of QuickBlox
Channels: One-to-one Chat, Private group Chat, Public Group Chat.
Privacy and Security: Chat moderation tools, End‑to‑end encryption.
Indicators: Read Receipts , Delivery receipts, Typing indicators, Presence.
Other Essentials: Chatbot Integration, Multimedia Sharing, Message History, Offline messages, Extended messaging.
11. Sendbird
Leading chat API and SDK provider
Founded in 2013, SendBird has emerged as one of the most trustworthy chat API providers in the market. Their chat features cover everything needed to build a healthy in-app communication infrastructure. SendBird is one of the reliable providers, especially for startup businesses.
Key Chat Features of Sendbird
Channels: Private Chats, Group chats, Message Broadcasts.
Other Essentials: Broadcasting Message, Secure Document Sharing, Screen-sharing, Cross-platform messaging across Web, iOS and Android.
Privacy and Security: End-to-end encryption, Multiple authentication levels.
12. Agora
Highly scalable in-app messaging API provider
Agora is the leading secure in-app chat solution provider. Their APIs and SDKs are enriched with features and compatible with privacy regulations. They are most loved by developers for their high scalability and fully customizable APIs. It is well suited for medium- and large-scale enterprises.
Key features of Agora
Chat essentials: Push notifications, file sharing, read/deliver receipts, typing indicators, unread message counts, in-app and group chatting APIs, screen sharing, and more.
Other Channels: One-to-one, group calls, and chat rooms
Channels: One-to-one, group calls, and chat rooms
Hosting: On-premise ad cloud hosting
Available tech stacks: Java, Javascript, Flutter, Kotlin, Swift, etc.
Use cases: Government projects, IT projects, e-learning, banking and finance, defence, etc.
What is the price of Agora?
- Free and month-on-month subscriptions
Verticals that use in-app chat API integrations
Several verticals across industries have adapted to in-app communication strategies to make user experience better.
Here are a few industries that are enjoying the benefits of in-app chat API integration over the years.
1. Entertainment and Social Messaging Apps
In-app messaging has revolutionized the entertainment industry by bringing together audiences with similar interests and enabling interactions between them. Social messaging apps and Entertainment apps like OTT and video streaming apps enable users to comment or react with emojis during live streaming or a match. One can express opinions on a movie, argue or debate on a topic inside the app. This energizes the activity of customers within applications, bringing more interactions and ensuring user retention.
2. Gaming
Gaming has widely become popular among the younger generation in recent years. Several games these days include multiplayer options where they can play as teams towards achieving a target. For these occasions, the gaming developers provide in-app chat features where the players can communicate within themselves via text messages or voice messages and oppose a different team who are connected as a separate group. This increases the curiosity of players to interact more with the game resulting in hours of user attention to the app.
3. Online Shopping apps
Giants in the B2B industries that connect buyers and sellers look to keep conversations among the stakeholders within their app. Thereby developers ensure building a more interactive chat infrastructure that enables exploring, making queries, and placing requests and complaints directly to the authentic personnel of the brand. This cut off the need to move out of the app in order to communicate with the brand for their requirements. This makes in-app APIs an all-in-one package for the entire communication span.
4. Payment & Ticketing
Popular brands enable customers to book tickets and make payments for any of their essentials with just a click of a button in their in-app chat. They provide a vast range of options to communicate and interact within the app to fulfill almost all their needs like discovering transportation options, checking prices, receiving offer notifications, making payments for bills, booking tickets, and getting instant updates via push notifications.
Checklist to choose the best in-app Chat API
If you’ve made up your mind to select API integration as your next step in building your app, check on these feature available from the providers of your choice. Choose a provider who can deliver almost all these features for you, so you will not miss out on building an app with the necessary features your users might need.
- Direct Messaging
- Group Messaging
- Chat History
- End-to-End Encryption
- Privacy Controls
- Compliances like GDPR and HIPAA
- Push notifications
- Compatibility with platforms like iOS, Android, JavaScript, and .Net
- File & custom-data transfers
- Chat data analytics
- Webhooks
- Read receipts
- Delivery status
- Moderation filters to rule out profanity
- Data Storage
- Voice Messages
- Chat Rooms
- Desktop Notifications
- Presence indicators
Conclusion
Making the right pitch on the user requirement to achieve their satisfied and connected experience speaks about a brand’s success. As a developer building such a brand, it is necessary to deliver users the right features at the right moment. We bid our bye with the recommendation to get more into the details of building the best chat infrastructures and select the best in-app chat API provider that hits the bottom line of your app’s success.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the Best In-app Chat APIs?
The Top chat API and messaging SDK platforms include
1. MirrorFly
2. Apphitect
3. Cometchat
4. TalkJS
5. Weavy
6. Mesibo
7. PubNub
8. Chat SDK
9. ChatCamp
10. Quickblox
11. Sendbird
12. Agora
What is an API in a chat app?
Chat API is an application program interface that accesses the backend of your messaging app. It allows you to add real-time messaging capabilities within your app. It is an effective tool for developers to enable instant communication between the users in an app.
Is MirrorFly chat good?
MirrorFly Chat provides messaging SDKs that prioritizes performance and user experience. It lets you easily add messaging functionalities, making it an excellent choice for building chat apps within a short time.
Is chat API safe?
One big advantage of Chat API is its in-built end-to-end encryption. This means, the messages exchanged between the users within your app are encrypted and can be accessed only by the intended sender and receiver.
Does Google Chat have an API?
Yes, Google has a Chat API that lets your app users exchange messages between each other, add participants and create spaces for discussion.
How much does a chat API cost?
The cost of using a chat API depends on features you need and the usage volume. Pricing models for chat APIs typically include factors such as the number of messages sent, the number of active users, and the level of support or additional features you need. Some chat API providers offer free tiers with limited usage, while others have tiered pricing plans based on your needs.
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