![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/listing-page-75e9f1b083c4fb0834c40ebd1d586e76.png\")
The Motors plugin from Stylemix turns WordPress into a car-dealer / vehicle-classifieds platform — the most-installed automotive listing plugin on the WordPress ecosystem. Motors ships with Message Us and Make an Offer Price buttons that email the dealer; what it does not ship with is a real-time chat that keeps the conversation on-site, with persistent history, file attachments, and the option to escalate to a call. Better Messages adds that layer: a Live Chat button on every car listing, a LIVE CHAT pill on every inventory list card, a Live Chat row on the dealer profile, and a MESSAGES tab inside the dealer dashboard.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the Motors integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:
\n/author/<username>/?page=better-messages.
![\"LIVE](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/inventory-list-34987dc3ad4ec4a6fe169b80601f33b6.png\")
Buyers do not have to open each car to start a chat — the pill is on every inventory card, inline with the native Motors actions.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dealer-profile-df39baa4833905a804bce95d8d4570a7.png\")
Adds a Live Chat row to the dealer / private-seller Contact Info card. Hidden when the dealer has no published listings.
\n![\"MESSAGES](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dashboard-tab-41de65006620fac92d2b03bfcd4362b2.png\")
Dealers stay inside the Motors dashboard to read and reply to buyer inquiries. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Motors Dealer Dashboard, every internal Messages link in Better Messages routes to this tab.
\nIf you run the Motors Multi-Listing add-on with extra vehicle types (motorcycles, boats, trucks, RVs, etc.), every placement above works for those listings automatically — no extra configuration needed.
\n![\"Motors](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-5e1eb737654e19a78c919d0e47b51132.png\")
For custom Elementor templates, sidebar widgets, or theme overrides, place buttons manually:
\n[better_messages_motors_listing_button]
[better_messages_motors_dealer_button]
| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat button on listing, inventory cards, dealer profile | yes | yes |
| MESSAGES tab inside the dealer dashboard | yes | yes |
| Listing info card inside the conversation | yes | yes |
| Motors author profile links and theme accent | yes | yes |
| Multi-listing add-on support | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat (buyer stays on the car listing) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (e.g. buyer + multiple dealership reps) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For car dealerships running paid Motors listings, the WebSocket version's web push and instant delivery are the difference between a hot lead that converts the same day and a lead that goes cold while the dealer waits for an email notification. The mini-widget popup keeps the buyer on the car page they were considering instead of redirecting them to a separate messages page.
Yes — Better Messages works with the standard Motors plugin regardless of which Stylemix theme you use. The Live Chat buttons inherit the active theme's accent colors automatically.
\nYes — every placement (listing, inventory card, dealer profile, dashboard) works for motorcycles, boats, trucks, RVs, and any custom vehicle type the Multi-Listing add-on registers.
\nOptional. With Guest Chat enabled, an unregistered buyer can start a thread by typing a name and email.
\nThe Live Chat button is hidden when the listing is not published. Existing threads remain readable on both sides.
\nThe pill is rendered inline with Motors' standard inventory-card action row. Position is controlled by the order of the Motors action hooks; a custom filter can reorder if needed. For more drastic layout changes, disable the auto-injection toggle and place the button manually via shortcode.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/motors-car-dealer-chat/", "title": "Motors Car Dealer Chat: Real-Time Buyer ↔ Dealer Messaging", "summary": "Add real-time chat to a Motors car-dealer / classifieds site — Live Chat button on the car listing, LIVE CHAT pill on inventory cards, button on dealer profiles, and a Messages tab inside the dealer dashboard.", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Motors", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/classified-listing-chat/", "content_html": "Classified Listing (RTCL — Radius Theme Classified Listing) is the best-known classifieds plugin on WordPress, used for everything from local for-sale boards to country-wide listings sites. Better Messages adds a WordPress-native real-time chat layer to RTCL sites — running on its own WebSocket cloud, with the messenger hooking into every RTCL surface: the listing page, archive cards, author / store pages, the My Account dashboard, plus a floating header chat icon with live unread badge.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the Classified Listing integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/listing-page-a90c20acda28be71cda4ff2d486998fa.png\")
![\"Floating](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/header-icon-dd3efb76abc5f13a83eccca399a07465.png\"){kind=icon}
Inserts a chat-bubble icon into the site header next to My Account and (when Pro is active) the native Chat icon. Inherits the theme's header-icon styling and shows a live unread count that updates in real time. Opt-in via the Header Chat Icon toggle.
\n![\"Messages](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dashboard-tab-cb377d394a35c39a783befcbef05c6ae.png\")
Embeds the full Better Messages inbox inside the RTCL My Account layout. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Classified Listing Account, every internal Messages link routes here.
\nAfter enabling the dashboard tab for the first time, visit Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to register the new endpoint. Without that step the tab will appear in the sidebar but the URL will 404.
![\"Conversation](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/thread-info-b96a7a39e159e1325c463807e4e0550e.png\")
The card removes the \"which listing is this about\" question — the seller sees the listing image, title, and price at the top of the thread.
\nIf you are running Classified Listing Pro with its built-in chat enabled, Better Messages coexists with it — both buttons render side by side on the listing page, both inboxes work independently.
\nFor the cleanest experience, disable Pro's built-in chat under Classified Listing → Settings → Chat → uncheck Enable Chat so visitors only see one Live Chat button.
![\"Classified](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-648547a3f8aff510eb619f55b672b8a0.png\")
| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat buttons on listing, archive cards, author / store pages | yes | yes |
| Floating header chat icon with unread badge | yes | yes |
| Messages tab inside RTCL My Account | yes | yes |
| Listing info card inside the thread | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat (buyer stays on the listing) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For classified sites where the time-to-first-reply is the conversion metric, the WebSocket version's web push notifications close the gap dramatically — sellers see and reply to inquiries within minutes, not hours. The mini-widget popup keeps the buyer on the listing page they were considering.
Yes. Pro is optional — Better Messages works with the free RTCL plugin too. With Pro, the Better Messages buttons render next to (or instead of) the Pro chat depending on whether you disable Pro's chat.
\nYes — the Messages tab is added through RTCL's My Account endpoint registration, which commercial themes respect. The archive-card button is the only piece that depends on RTCL's default loop templates (some commercial themes replace those, and the archive button does not auto-render on those themes — listing page and header icon still work).
\nOptional. With Guest Chat enabled, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing by typing a name and email.
\nYes — the icon inherits the theme's native header-icon styling, so dark-mode flips and RTL layouts are handled by the theme automatically.
\nYes — use the shortcode [better_messages_classified_listing_header_button] inside a page-builder block or a custom header template.
Install Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/classified-listing-chat/", "title": "Classified Listing (RTCL) Chat: Real-Time Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat between Classified Listing (RTCL) sellers and buyers — Live Chat button on listings and archive cards, floating header chat icon, Messages tab inside the RTCL My Account dashboard.", "date_modified": "2026-05-14T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Classified Listing", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-lms-chat-plugin/", "content_html": "WordPress LMS plugins compete on course-builder UX, certificates, and quizzes — but none of them ship with real-time student ↔ instructor messaging out of the box. Students who hit a roadblock either drop the question in a forum that may or may not be monitored, email the instructor and wait, or abandon the course. The fix is a chat layer that lives inside the course page, knows which students are enrolled, and stays in sync as enrollment changes.
\nBetter Messages adds that layer to LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses — from one install. This post compares what the integration looks like across the five LMS plugins.
\n| LMS plugin | Active installs (approx.) | Message Instructor button on course page | Auto-managed course group chat | Instructor profile Send Message button |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LearnDash | 100,000+ | yes | yes | yes (Instructor Role add-on) |
| LearnPress | 70,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| Tutor LMS | 90,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| MasterStudy LMS | 30,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| FluentCommunity Courses | 5,000+ | — (course-driven via FC) | yes (Courses widget) | — |
All five share the same Better Messages course-info card, shared course settings (info card / email / push toggles), and the dedicated Courses widget on the messenger's Mini Widgets bar — separate from the social Groups widget so academic chats and friend cohorts do not mix.
\n![\"Better](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/courses-widget-9753ef12210f53a81f66ba4dafe3186b.png\")
The most-installed LMS on WordPress. Better Messages adds a Message Instructor button on every course page, an auto-managed Course Group Chat that mirrors enrollment, a LearnDash Group cohort chat, and a Send Message button on the LearnDash Instructor Role profile.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/learndash-course-button-5fbb266e759d7e6b4134bbd0b19e132a.png\")
Full write-up: LearnDash student messaging plugin. Reference: LearnDash integration documentation.
\nLearnPress's structure (Courses, Lessons, Quizzes) maps directly to Better Messages: each course gets its own group chat, the instructor's user gets a Send Message button on their profile, and the Courses widget surfaces every course the student is enrolled in.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/learnpress-course-button-ae07fa6cef5d83f5a566d221664986c9.png\")
Reference: LearnPress integration documentation.
\nTutor LMS has its own student / instructor dashboards. Better Messages adds a Messages tab to the Tutor LMS dashboard and a Message Instructor button on the course page; the integration also adds a student-profile Send Message button so instructors can reach out to specific students.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/tutor-lms-course-button-a5810ef99d7a27e05dcd836b890c6c43.png\")
Reference: Tutor LMS integration documentation.
\nMasterStudy ships with its own account-messages tab. Better Messages takes it over and embeds the full messenger inside the MasterStudy account layout — students never leave the LMS UI to chat.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/masterstudy-course-button-8d57484a22c9d896792894a81187c5a1.png\")
Reference: MasterStudy LMS integration documentation.
\nFluentCommunity has its own community + course product. Better Messages integrates with FluentCommunity Spaces (community side) and FluentCommunity Courses (LMS side); the Courses widget lists every FC course a student is enrolled in, and each course gets its paired group chat.
\nReference: FluentCommunity integration documentation.
\n| Student → instructor flow | LearnDash | LearnPress | Tutor LMS | MasterStudy | FC Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course page → DM the instructor | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes (via FC) |
| Course → shared group chat with all enrolled students | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Group chat enrollment auto-sync | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Cohort / group-leader chat | yes (LearnDash Groups) | — | — | — | yes (FC Spaces) |
| Instructor profile Send Message button | yes (Inst. Role) | yes | yes | yes | — |
| Courses widget in the messenger | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Course info card above the conversation | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
The core experience — Message Instructor + course group chat + Courses widget — is identical across all five. Differences are in dashboard placement (each LMS has its own conventions) and a couple of advanced surfaces (LearnDash Groups, FluentCommunity Spaces).
\nThree toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across every LMS integration:
\nChanging any toggle propagates across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses.
\nSites running more than one LMS plugin (rare, but it happens) can enable multiple integrations simultaneously — each appears as its own section in the Courses widget.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Message Instructor button on course page | yes | yes |
| Auto-managed Course Group Chat | yes | yes |
| Cohort / Group chat (LearnDash Groups, FC Spaces) | yes | yes |
| Courses widget on the Mini Widgets bar | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside course threads (private office hours) | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls inside course threads (cohort office hours, study sessions) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Integration-level real-time push for course-chat events | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
The WebSocket version turns course threads into a Discord-style space for the cohort: instant delivery, group voice / video calls for office hours and study sessions, and web push notifications that reach students when the LMS tab is closed. For paid courses and structured cohorts, this is the difference between a passive course library and an active learning community.
No — each course has its own group chat. Students enrolled in multiple courses see one thread per course in the Courses widget.
\nBetter Messages listens to each LMS plugin's enrollment hooks (learndash_update_course_access, learn-press/user-enrolled-course, tutor_after_enrolled, etc.) and removes the student from the course chat. Their previous messages remain in history.
Yes — Better Messages detects each active LMS and wires the integration in independently. The Courses widget surfaces courses from every LMS.
\nYes — the shared Email Notifications toggle controls the standard new-message email for every LMS course chat. Toggle it off if your students prefer not to receive email per message.
\nYes — each LearnDash Group gets its own chat, separate from the per-course chat. Group Leaders are auto-joined as instructors.
\nBetter Messages adds a real-time chat layer to FluentCommunity, with paired group chats for FluentCommunity Spaces and FC Courses. If you are using Fluent Messaging, deactivate it after installing Better Messages to avoid a double-messenger conflict.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-lms-chat-plugin/", "title": "WordPress LMS Chat: Student & Instructor Messaging Compared", "summary": "Adding real-time chat to LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses — one plugin covers all five, with course group chats, instructor DMs, and cohort office hours.", "date_modified": "2026-05-13T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "LearnDash", "LMS", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/learndash-student-messaging/", "content_html": "LearnDash is the most-installed LMS plugin on WordPress. Students who have a question for an instructor often open a support ticket on a separate system, drop a note in a forum that may or may not be monitored, or — most often — abandon the question. Better Messages adds a real-time messenger that hooks into LearnDash at every level: a Message Instructor button on every course page, an auto-managed Course Group Chat that mirrors course enrollment, a LearnDash Group cohort chat, and a Send Message button on the LearnDash Instructor Role public profile.
\nThis guide walks through what Better Messages adds to a LearnDash site, how the auto-managed chats stay in sync with enrollment changes, and what the differences are between the free and WebSocket versions.
\nOnce LearnDash is detected and the integration is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS, three independent features come online:
\nA fourth toggle adds a Send Message button to the public profile generated by the paid LearnDash Instructor Role add-on.
\n![\"LearnDash](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-lms-1016e59260e907123be1a90f61d6370e.png\")
Adds a Message Instructor button to every LearnDash course page. The button targets the user listed as the course author, and is hidden on the instructor's own course.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/course-page-button-5fbb266e759d7e6b4134bbd0b19e132a.png\")
Clicking it opens a private one-to-one conversation with the instructor — no group, no other students.
\nIf your site uses a custom layout, page builder, or block theme that breaks the auto-injected button, place it manually with a shortcode:
\n[better_messages_learndash_course_button]
[better_messages_learndash_course_button course_id=\"123\"]
[better_messages_learndash_course_button text=\"Ask the instructor\"]
The shortcode auto-detects the current course on a course page, and supports per-instance overrides for course, recipient, label, and CSS classes.
\nWhen Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course in the messenger creates a group conversation that the course author and every enrolled student can join. Students are added on enrollment and removed when their access is revoked.
\n![\"LearnDash](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/course-group-chat-7ab30fd961c29e6ac45fbc09300700ff.png\")
The conversation header shows the course thumbnail, title, and instructor name — so students always know which course the discussion belongs to. The card is rendered automatically above the conversation, including on private DMs opened through the Message Instructor button.
\nThe enrollment sync is driven by LearnDash's learndash_update_course_access hook, which Better Messages listens to for both adds and removes — including the ones LearnDash performs automatically when a student is enrolled into a course via a LearnDash Group.
To hide the course info card across all LMS conversations, toggle off Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings → Course Info Card.
\nLearnDash Groups are cohorts of students sharing access to one or more courses, managed by users with the Group Leader role. Better Messages mirrors that organization by creating a dedicated chat for each LearnDash Group.
\n![\"LearnDash](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/learndash-group-chat-415a105a0323c771e2a39849ea04ac13.png\")
Group members are kept in sync via LearnDash's ld_added_group_access and ld_removed_group_access hooks, and every Group Leader assigned to the cohort is auto-joined as an instructor of the chat.
If you run the paid LearnDash Instructor Role add-on, every instructor gets a public profile at /instructor/<username>/. With Send Message Button on Instructor Profile enabled, Better Messages adds a Send Message button to that profile, right under the instructor's name.
![\"Send](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/instructor-role-profile-button-3ceae7b954cd48ea8c7f2d59a09362b0.png\")
Clicking it opens a private DM with that instructor — the same flow as the Message Instructor button on a course page, but available anywhere the instructor's profile is linked.
\nThe LearnDash Instructor Role add-on is a separate paid LearnDash extension and is not bundled with Better Messages. The toggle is hidden on sites without it.
Once Course Group Chat or LearnDash Group Chat is enabled, the user's enrolled courses and LearnDash Group cohorts surface in the dedicated Courses widget on the messenger's Mini Widgets bar, Side Panel, and Mobile bar — separate from the social Groups widget so academic chats and friend cohorts do not mix.
\n
The widget icon, role restrictions, and \"Hide Tab When Empty\" behavior are configurable under Better Messages → Settings → Mini Widgets → Courses.
\nThree toggles under Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply to every LMS course conversation across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses:
\nChanging any of these toggles propagates across all four LMS integrations.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Message Instructor button on course pages | yes | yes |
| Auto-managed Course Group Chat | yes | yes |
| LearnDash Group Chat with auto-joined Group Leaders | yes | yes |
| Instructor Role profile Send Message button | yes | yes |
| Courses widget on the Mini Widgets bar | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Push notifications for course messages (integration-level real-time push) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside course threads | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls inside course threads (cohort office hours, study sessions) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
The WebSocket version turns course threads into something close to a course Discord — instant message delivery, push notifications when an instructor posts an update, and one-click voice / video calls for office hours, all inside the course's own conversation thread.
No — each course has its own Course Group Chat. Students enrolled in multiple courses see multiple separate threads, one per course.
\nLearnDash fires learndash_update_course_access on revoke, which Better Messages listens to. The student is removed from the Course Group Chat immediately. Their previous messages remain in the thread history.
Yes — Group Leaders are auto-joined as instructors of the LearnDash Group Chat. Assistant instructors on a course can be added to the Course Group Chat manually or through a custom filter.
\nThe Course Group Chat is shared — students can post to each other inside it. For private student-to-student DMs, that depends on whether your site allows the messenger globally; with WordPress role-based access on, you can restrict who can start one-to-one threads.
\nYes — the two surfaces address different intents. Forums are asynchronous and threaded; Better Messages course chats are real-time and one-room-per-course. Many LearnDash sites use both — forums for long-form questions, chats for real-time discussion.
\nYes — Better Messages has matching integrations for LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses, and they share the Course Info Card / email / push settings. A site running LearnDash plus another LMS will see Course Group Chats from both, surfaced together in the Courses widget.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/learndash-student-messaging/", "title": "LearnDash Student & Instructor Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add private messaging to LearnDash — Message Instructor button on every course, auto-managed Course Group Chat that mirrors enrollment, LearnDash Group cohort chats, Instructor Role profile button.", "date_modified": "2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "LearnDash", "LMS", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/geodirectory-listing-chat/", "content_html": "GeoDirectory is the location-aware directory plugin for WordPress — restaurants, gyms, professionals, real estate, anywhere people search \"near me.\" Each listing has an owner; the visitor's natural next step after finding a listing is to ask a question. Better Messages adds a real-time Send Message button to every GeoDirectory listing page, with the listing's image / title / address / price showing as a context card inside the conversation.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the GeoDirectory integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:
\n![\"Send](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/listing-page-0a905e82e82bfdad26f793ba53c31fa3.png\")
![\"Conversation](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/thread-info-6001770125fd024c2206f73ba0dc3fec.png\")
The listing owner sees exactly which listing the visitor is asking about — no \"which listing was this?\" question. The card is rendered automatically above the conversation.
\n![\"GeoDirectory](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-b97c876406133939b10f8d7dd1016fe4.png\")
For custom layouts or theme overrides, place the button manually:
\n[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button]
[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button listing_id=\"123\"]
[better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button text=\"Contact owner\"]
| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Send Message button on listing pages | yes | yes |
| Listing info card inside the conversation | yes | yes |
| GeoDirectory author profile links | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (e.g. listing owner + assistants) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For GeoDirectory sites running paid listings, the WebSocket version's web push notifications close the response-time gap that paid-listing customers complain about — owners see and reply within minutes even when their dashboard tab is closed.
Yes — the integration uses GeoDirectory's core listing hooks, which paid add-ons extend rather than replace.
\nOptional. With Guest Chat enabled in Better Messages → Settings → Guest Chat, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing.
\nThe Send Message button is hidden when the listing is not published, and existing threads remain readable on both sides.
\nThe button auto-renders on standard layouts. For custom themes, the shortcode [better_messages_geodirectory_listing_button] works inside any page builder.
Yes — Better Messages' standard email-notification system applies. Owners can adjust their per-thread email preferences in their account settings.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/geodirectory-listing-chat/", "title": "GeoDirectory Chat: Real-Time Messaging for GeoDirectory Listings", "summary": "Add real-time chat between GeoDirectory listing owners and visitors — Send Message button on every listing page, with listing info card inside the conversation.", "date_modified": "2026-05-08T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "GeoDirectory", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/directorist-listing-chat/", "content_html": "Directorist turns WordPress into a directory site — a YellowPages, a restaurant guide, a coworking-space finder, a marketplace of services. Each listing has an author; the obvious bridge between a visitor and that author is a one-click Send Message button. Better Messages adds a real-time chat layer that hooks into every Directorist surface: the listing page, archive cards, the author profile, and a Messages tab inside the Directorist user dashboard.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the Directorist integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → Directories:
\n![\"Send](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/listing-page-356b23a2a303a45a1c27d773d614e2fb.png\")
![\"Messages](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dashboard-tab-3e995e3b6415ba97a430bf61d788f269.png\")
Visitors and listing owners read and reply to conversations without leaving the Directorist dashboard. Combined with Messages Location → Show in Directorist Dashboard, every internal Messages link routes to this tab.
\n![\"Conversation](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/thread-info-08a2615bddd1cf7dd82e9f3891196de6.png\")
The card removes the \"what listing is this about\" question — the owner sees exactly which listing the visitor is asking about, with the image and price visible at the top of the thread.
\n![\"Directorist](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-0b949b8c8edf953a8adbe43f6d4ba8a4.png\")
For custom layouts, manual placement is supported via shortcodes:
\n[better_messages_directorist_listing_button]
[better_messages_directorist_author_button]
| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Send Message buttons on listing, archive cards, author profile | yes | yes |
| Messages tab inside the Directorist dashboard | yes | yes |
| Listing info card inside the conversation | yes | yes |
| Author profile links from Directorist | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (e.g. multi-owner business team) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For Directorist sites monetizing paid listings, the WebSocket version's web push notifications mean listing owners see and reply to inquiries within minutes, not hours — the engagement signal that paid-listing customers expect.
Yes — the integration listens to Directorist's core listing and author hooks, which Pro extensions extend rather than replace. Booking, claim-listing, and review extensions all coexist.
\nOptional. With Guest Chat enabled, unregistered visitors can start a thread from a listing by typing a name and email. The thread is preserved if they later register.
\nYes — each placement has its own toggle in the integration settings. Enable archive cards, disable the listing page button (or vice versa).
\nYes — Better Messages does not care which Directorist directory a listing belongs to. The button appears for every listing regardless of directory.
\nMost Directorist themes use the standard template hooks; the integration auto-renders the buttons. For heavily customized themes, place the buttons manually via shortcode (each placement has a matching shortcode).
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/directorist-listing-chat/", "title": "Directorist Chat: Real-Time Messaging for Directory Listings", "summary": "Add real-time chat between Directorist listing owners and visitors — Send Message button on the listing, archive cards, author profile, plus a Messages tab inside the Directorist user dashboard.", "date_modified": "2026-05-07T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Directorist", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/masterstudy-lms-student-messaging/", "content_html": "Better Messages adds a modern real-time messenger to MasterStudy LMS sites. The integration takes over the MasterStudy account Messages tab, adds a Message Instructor button on every course, auto-manages Course Group Chats, and adds Send Message buttons on both the public instructor and student profiles. MasterStudy's built-in chat can be hidden with one toggle so members see only Better Messages.
\nOnce MasterStudy LMS is detected and the integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS:
\n/account/messages/) embedding the full Better Messages inbox.![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/course-page-button-8d57484a22c9d896792894a81187c5a1.png\")
Sits next to MasterStudy's enrol/buy button so the student can ask before they enrol. Hidden for the instructor on their own course. For custom layouts, use the shortcode:
\n[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button]
[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button course_id=\"123\"]
[better_messages_masterstudy_course_button text=\"Ask the instructor\"]
![\"MasterStudy](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/group-thread-4eae11f0f5efc92a8178b105378be6e7.png\")
When Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course creates a group conversation. Students are added on enrollment, removed when their enrollment is deleted. The course info card (thumbnail, title, instructor) appears above the conversation and on private DMs opened from the Message Instructor button.
\n![\"Better](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/account-messages-tab-2a4ea4f161ddac448d094714a0f88a26.png\")
Embeds the full Better Messages inbox inside the MasterStudy account sidebar. Combined with Messages Location → Show in MasterStudy LMS Account, every internal Messages link routes here.
\nWith Disable MasterStudy Messages toggled on, MasterStudy's built-in Messages entry in the account sidebar and the Send message buttons on the public instructor and student profiles are hidden so visitors only see Better Messages. The native page is still reachable at /account/chat/ for anyone who has it bookmarked, but nothing in the UI links to it.
Three toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across every LMS integration: Course Info Card, Email Notifications, and Push Notifications (WebSocket version). Changing any propagates across LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, and FluentCommunity Courses.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Message Instructor button on course page | yes | yes |
| Auto-managed Course Group Chat | yes | yes |
| Messages Account Tab inside MasterStudy | yes | yes |
| Send Message buttons on instructor / student profiles | yes | yes |
| Disable native MasterStudy Messages | yes | yes |
| Courses widget on the Mini Widgets bar | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside course threads | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (cohort office hours, study sessions) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Push notifications for course messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
For MasterStudy LMS academies running paid cohorts, the WebSocket version's group calls turn the course chat into a live office-hours room — students drop in for a question, the instructor jumps on a group video call, then drops back to async chat. The MasterStudy account becomes a full learning hub instead of a course library plus a separate Zoom link.
Yes — the Disable MasterStudy Messages toggle is optional. Keep it off to show both, on to show only Better Messages. Most sites pick one to avoid confusing students with two Messages tabs.
\nMasterStudy fires its standard enrollment hooks; Better Messages listens and removes the student from the Course Group Chat. Their previous messages stay in history.
\nYes — Better Messages reads MasterStudy's core hooks, which Pro features extend rather than replace. WooCommerce-based enrollments, subscriptions, and certificates are all compatible.
\nNot automatically — the two messengers store data differently. For sites with active history in the native chat, run both side by side for a transition period, then enable Disable MasterStudy Messages when students have moved over.
\nYes — sites running MasterStudy alongside LearnDash, LearnPress, or Tutor LMS see all course chats together in the Courses widget. Each integration loads independently.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/masterstudy-lms-student-messaging/", "title": "MasterStudy LMS Student & Instructor Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat to MasterStudy LMS — Message Instructor button on courses, embedded Messages tab in the MasterStudy account, course group chats. Optionally replace the native MasterStudy chat.", "date_modified": "2026-05-06T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "MasterStudy LMS", "LMS", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/learnpress-student-messaging/", "content_html": "LearnPress is one of the most-installed free LMS plugins on WordPress, with a course/lesson/quiz model used by tens of thousands of online schools. Students with a question for the instructor need a fast on-site way to reach them — email is slow, forums get unmonitored. Better Messages adds a real-time chat layer to LearnPress with a Message Instructor button on every course, an auto-managed Course Group Chat, a Send Message button on the LearnPress instructor profile, and a Messages tab inside the LearnPress profile.
\nWhen LearnPress is detected and the integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS:
\n/instructor/<slug>/)./lp-profile/<slug>/messages/) so students read and reply to conversations without leaving their profile.![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/course-page-button-ae07fa6cef5d83f5a566d221664986c9.png\")
Styled to match LearnPress's native course buttons. Hidden for the instructor on their own course. For custom layouts, use the shortcode:
\n[better_messages_learnpress_course_button]
[better_messages_learnpress_course_button course_id=\"123\"]
[better_messages_learnpress_course_button text=\"Ask the instructor\"]
When Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course creates a group conversation. Students are added on enrollment and removed when their enrollment ends.
\n![\"LearnPress](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/group-thread-6d4edd01e997612b0993f3d711ec8128.png\")
The conversation header shows the course thumbnail, title, and instructor name — students always know which course they are in. The card also appears on private DMs opened through the Message Instructor button so the recipient knows which course the student is asking about.
\n![\"Messages](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/profile-messages-tab-3b8736e26e579985631765b58e8ec102.png\")
Adds a Messages tab to the LearnPress user profile that embeds the full Better Messages inbox. Combined with Messages Location → Show in LearnPress Profile, every internal Messages link routes here.
\nThree toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across all LMS integrations:
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Message Instructor button on course page | yes | yes |
| Auto-managed Course Group Chat | yes | yes |
| Messages Profile Tab inside LearnPress | yes | yes |
| Courses widget on the Mini Widgets bar | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside course threads | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (cohort office hours, study sessions) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Push notifications for course messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
For LearnPress sites running paid courses, the WebSocket version's group calls and web push are the difference between students who check the course once a week and a cohort that engages daily — instant delivery for questions, group office hours inside the thread, push notifications that pull students in.
Yes — Better Messages reads LearnPress's enrollment state, which is set by the same hooks regardless of payment method.
\nLearnPress fires its standard enrollment-end hooks; Better Messages removes the student from the Course Group Chat. Their previous messages stay in history.
\nThe course author is auto-joined as the primary instructor. Additional instructors can be added manually to the chat, or via a custom filter for sites with multi-instructor course models.
\nYes — sites running LearnPress alongside another LMS (LearnDash, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS) see all course chats together in the Courses widget. Each integration loads independently.
\nNo — Better Messages stores threads in its own tables, independent of any LMS. Migrating LMS plugins keeps the chat history; only the LMS-specific surfaces (course page button, profile tab) re-bind.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/learnpress-student-messaging/", "title": "LearnPress Student & Instructor Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat to LearnPress — Message Instructor button on courses, Messages tab inside the LearnPress profile, auto-managed course group chats that mirror enrollment.", "date_modified": "2026-05-05T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "LearnPress", "LMS", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/tutor-lms-student-messaging/", "content_html": "Better Messages adds a real-time chat layer to Tutor LMS sites — students and instructors message each other directly from the course page, the dashboard, or the public profile. The integration hooks into every Tutor LMS surface: a Message Instructor button on every course page, a Messages tab inside the Tutor LMS dashboard, auto-managed Course Group Chat, and Send Message buttons on both the public instructor and student profiles.
\nThis guide covers what Better Messages adds to a Tutor LMS site, how the auto-managed course chats stay in sync with enrollment, and what the difference is between the free and WebSocket versions.
\nOnce Tutor LMS is detected and the integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS, the following become available:
\n/profile/<username>/?view=instructor)./dashboard/messages/) for both students and instructors.Adds a Message Instructor button to every Tutor LMS course page, styled to match the native Tutor LMS course buttons. The button is hidden for the instructor on their own course.
\n![\"Message](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/course-page-button-a5810ef99d7a27e05dcd836b890c6c43.png\")
For sites with a custom course template that breaks the auto-injection, the same button can be placed manually:
\n[better_messages_tutorlms_course_button]
[better_messages_tutorlms_course_button course_id=\"123\"]
[better_messages_tutorlms_course_button text=\"Ask the instructor\"]
When Course Group Chat is enabled, opening a course in the messenger creates a group conversation that the instructor and every enrolled student can join. Students are added on enrollment and removed when their enrollment ends or is cancelled.
\n![\"Tutor](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/group-thread-911572d57777141fcc89a819ee451ac3.png\")
The conversation header shows the course thumbnail, title, and instructor name. The card is rendered automatically above every course conversation, including private DMs opened through the Message Instructor button. Co-instructors are auto-joined as instructors of the chat.
\nTo hide the course info card across all LMS conversations, toggle off Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings → Course Info Card.
\nAdds a Messages tab to the Tutor LMS dashboard for both students and instructors. The tab embeds the full Better Messages inbox so users can read and reply to conversations without leaving the dashboard.
\n![\"Messages](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dashboard-messages-tab-412e50a875d0d8adaccb0d6603cc8e40.png\")
If you want every internal Messages link (notification emails, the All messages link in mini-chats, etc.) to route to the dashboard tab, set Better Messages → Settings → General → Messages Location to Show in Tutor LMS Dashboard. The Messages Dashboard Tab toggle is then locked on automatically — without it the redirect would have no destination.
\nThree toggles under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → LMS → Shared Course Settings apply across every LMS integration (LearnDash, LearnPress, Tutor LMS, MasterStudy LMS, FluentCommunity Courses):
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Message Instructor button on course page | yes | yes |
| Auto-managed Course Group Chat | yes | yes |
| Send Message button on instructor / student profiles | yes | yes |
| Messages Dashboard Tab inside Tutor LMS | yes | yes |
| Courses widget on the Mini Widgets bar | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside course threads | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls inside course threads (cohort office hours, study sessions) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Push notifications for course messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
The WebSocket version turns each course thread into a Discord-style space for the cohort: instant message delivery, group voice / video calls for office hours, and web push that reaches students when their Tutor LMS dashboard tab is closed.
No — each Tutor LMS course has its own Course Group Chat. Students enrolled in multiple courses see multiple separate threads.
\nTutor LMS fires its standard enrollment hooks; Better Messages listens and removes the student from the Course Group Chat. Their previous messages stay in history.
\nYes — the integration listens to Tutor LMS core hooks, which Pro features extend rather than replace. WooCommerce-based payments, subscriptions, and certificates are all compatible.
\nYes — anyone marked as a co-instructor on the Tutor LMS course is auto-joined as an instructor of the matching course chat.
\nYes — sites running multiple LMS plugins (rare but it happens) see all course chats together inside the Courses widget. Each LMS integration loads independently.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/tutor-lms-student-messaging/", "title": "Tutor LMS Student & Instructor Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat to Tutor LMS — Message Instructor button on courses, Messages tab inside the Tutor dashboard, auto-managed course group chats that mirror enrollment.", "date_modified": "2026-05-04T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Tutor LMS", "LMS", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-chat-stickers/", "content_html": "Stickers are how casual conversation actually happens in 2026 — a sticker sends a feeling in one tap where typing the same sentiment takes a sentence. Better Messages 2.14.16 introduced a built-in sticker pack system with a curated catalog (one-click install from the Better Messages library), multi-language support, role-based access per pack, inline typing suggestions, and the ability to upload your own custom packs. The legacy Stipop provider is still around but the built-in system is the recommended option.
\nTwo ways for members to send a sticker:
\nThe picker simplifies when only one pack is installed: pack tabs disappear, sticker grid + search appear immediately.
\nThe Better Messages library publishes a growing catalog of free sticker packs. Each pack:
\nreaction (text-based stickers like \"LOL\", \"THANKS\") or character (illustrated characters like cute animals).One-click install from Settings → Integrations → Stickers. Multiple packs can install simultaneously with their own progress indicators.
\nTwo distinct localization shapes:
\nStickers like \"LOL\", \"THANKS\", \"GG\" have text baked into the image. These packs ship separate image sets per language. When installing, select which image languages you want (English, Spanish, French, Japanese, etc.). Each language has its own sticker images, cover, and translated keywords. Members on locale es_ES see Spanish sticker images; members on locale ja see Japanese ones.
Stickers like cute character art (\"Whiskers\", \"Mochi\", \"Bruno\") have no language-baked-in text. These packs use one image set globally but ship translated sticker names and keywords for many languages automatically. A Spanish-speaking member searching \"gato\" finds the cat sticker; an English speaker searching \"cat\" finds the same one.
\nEach pack has an Allowed roles setting:
\nIf a user has no access to any enabled pack, the sticker button is hidden from their chat composer entirely. Useful for tier-gating: free members get the basic reaction pack, Pro members get the premium character packs, guests get nothing.
\nClick + New pack in Settings → Integrations → Stickers → Installed sticker packs to create a pack from scratch. Upload PNG / WebP / animated WebP images, assign keywords for search, set the cover, configure allowed roles, optionally add per-language translations.
\nCustom packs work exactly like catalog packs — same picker, same translation pipeline, same role access.
\nToggle the global Inline suggestions setting on, then opt in per-pack. Behavior:
\nThe sticker manifest loads lazily on the first keystroke — no impact on chat-page load time.
\nThe pack editor's locale tabs let you:
\nStickers work on both versions:
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in sticker catalog | yes | yes |
| Multi-language packs | yes | yes |
| Custom upload packs | yes | yes |
| Role-based access per pack | yes | yes |
| Inline typing suggestions | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery of sticker messages | polling | instant |
| Animated WebP stickers | yes | yes |
Yes — GIPHY GIFs and Stickers are separate features. GIPHY GIFs come from the GIPHY library; stickers come from the BM catalog (or your custom uploads). Members can use both in the same conversation.
\nYes — animated WebP is supported for both catalog and custom stickers. PNG and static WebP are also supported.
\nIn your WordPress uploads directory.
\nStipop is a third-party sticker service that Better Messages integrated with historically. Its free plan has been reduced to 20 monthly active users, so the built-in catalog is now the recommended provider. Stipop still works for sites that already use it.
\nThe plugin does not have a built-in sticker store. For \"paid stickers\", combine role-based access on a pack with a membership plugin: gate the pack to a paid role, sell access to the role via your membership plugin.
\nYes — search runs against the language-specific keyword set per pack. Japanese / Chinese / Cyrillic / Arabic search all work for packs that ship those translations.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-chat-stickers/", "title": "Stickers for WordPress Chat: Built-In Sticker Packs", "summary": "Add stickers to WordPress chat — built-in sticker pack catalog, multi-language packs (translated text + universal characters), role-based access, inline typing suggestions, custom uploaded packs.", "date_modified": "2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Community", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/ai-voice-message-transcription-wordpress/", "content_html": "Voice messages are the right tool for chat moments when typing is slow or the relationship is personal — but they have one universal problem: the recipient cannot always listen. They are in a meeting, on a noisy train, or simply prefer text. Better Messages adds AI voice-message transcription to bridge the gap: any participant in a thread can click the transcribe button on a voice message and a text version appears below it, in any of 99+ languages, with results cached so the next viewer sees the text instantly. Two providers — Better Messages Cloud AI (included with the WebSocket license, no third-party key) or OpenAI (free with your own OpenAI key).
\nThe on-demand model means transcription costs only happen when someone actually needs the text, not on every voice message sent. Members who prefer audio do not trigger transcription; members who need text get it per-message.
\nFor most sites, Better Messages Cloud AI is the default — no API key to manage, no separate billing, no third-party data flow.
\nBy default, the AI auto-detects the language from the audio. For sites where every user speaks the same language, set a specific language code (en, es, ru, ja, etc.) in the settings — this is faster and more accurate than auto-detection for known-language sites.
For multilingual communities, leave auto-detection on. The transcription picks up Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, and 90+ other languages seamlessly.
\nVoice messages themselves work on both versions (the Voice Messages add-on is a separate plugin compatible with both AJAX and WebSocket Better Messages). Transcription requires the WebSocket version — the Cloud AI provider depends on the WebSocket cloud, and the OpenAI provider also requires PHP 8.1+ and the WebSocket relay for callback delivery.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Voice message recording / playback | yes | yes |
| Voice message transcription (Better Messages Cloud AI) | — | yes |
| Voice message transcription (OpenAI Whisper) | — | yes |
| Auto-detect language vs explicit language setting | — | yes |
| Cached transcriptions | — | yes |
| 99+ language support | — | yes |
Transcription costs only happen when someone clicks the transcribe button — not on every voice message sent. Cached results make subsequent views instant. For sites with heavy voice-message usage and budget concerns on the OpenAI provider, this on-demand model keeps costs proportional to actual need.
| Use case | Why transcription helps |
|---|---|
| Coaching businesses | Coach sends a 2-minute voice note; client wants to revisit specific advice quickly via text search |
| LMS instructor chats | Student gets a voice answer; can read the transcript later when reviewing |
| Multilingual community | Voice in one language, recipient toggles transcription and uses AI Message Translation to read in their language |
| Accessibility | Members with hearing impairment get the text version |
| Marketplaces / vendor chat | Vendor sends a voice product description; buyer transcribes for sharing or copying details |
| Quote / agreement audit | Voice agreement transcribed for written record |
Cloud AI transcription uses a callback URL to deliver results from Better Messages Cloud to your site. The plugin includes a Test Callback URL button in the Voice Messages settings to verify the cloud can reach your endpoint. If your firewall / WAF blocks external requests, whitelist:
\nhttps://yoursite.com/wp-json/better-messages/v1/ai/task-result
Without a reachable callback, transcription falls back to a cron-based retry that still delivers results, just slower.
\nVoice message audio is sent to the configured provider over HTTPS:
\nFor sites with strict data-residency requirements, consider upgrading to the self-hosted plan so transcription processing stays inside your infrastructure.
\nModern AI speech recognition handles clean speech in well-supported languages at ~95% accuracy. Background noise, accents, technical jargon, and overlapping speakers reduce accuracy. For mission-critical transcription (legal, medical), treat AI output as a starting draft, not a final transcript.
\nThe provider configuration is site-wide. Whether the transcribe button appears on a voice message is controlled by whether transcription is enabled — there is no per-thread toggle in the default UI. A custom filter can hide the button on specific threads if needed.
\nNo — E2E threads are decrypted only in the participants' browsers. Server-side AI cannot access the encrypted audio. This is the standard trade-off for E2E threads (also applies to AI translation and moderation). See End-to-end encrypted messaging on WordPress.
\nYes — combine with GamiPress pay-to-message or MyCred pay-to-message. The user spends N points per transcription request. Useful for sites where transcription cost is meaningful.
\nWebM (the Voice Messages add-on's primary codec) and MP3 (the legacy codec) are both supported. Other audio formats uploaded as file attachments are not auto-transcribed — only voice messages from the add-on get the transcribe button.
\nYes — once transcribed and cached, the text is searchable through the standard message search (WordPress chat search). Voice messages without a transcription are not searchable by content.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/ai-voice-message-transcription-wordpress/", "title": "AI Voice Message Transcription for WordPress Chat", "summary": "Auto-transcribe voice messages in WordPress chat — Better Messages Cloud AI or OpenAI, 99+ languages with auto-detection, cached results, per-thread on-demand transcription.", "date_modified": "2026-04-20T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "WebSocket", "Guides", "Voice messages" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/woocommerce-customer-chat/", "content_html": "WooCommerce ships with the Contact form on the store page but no way for a shopper to ask a question about a specific product, ask whether items still fit in the cart, or follow up about an order they already placed. Better Messages adds a Contact button on each of those pages — product, cart, checkout, and order — and posts the cart contents or order details into the conversation as a rich context card so the support agent immediately sees what the customer is looking at.
\nThis post covers what the WooCommerce integration adds, where each button shows up, and what the difference is between the free and WebSocket versions.
\nEach button is independent — enable any combination, choose where it appears, and pick a different support recipient for each.
\nA Contact us about this product button on the single product page. When clicked, a thread opens with the recipient you have selected, and the product name, image, and price appear as a context card at the top of the conversation. Your agent immediately knows which product the customer is asking about.
\n![\"Contact](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/product-aa5235e6a18c9d31abc7d0828a5d1c80.png\")
Four placements are supported (above summary, above add-to-cart, below add-to-cart, below summary) plus a manual [better_messages_woocommerce_product_button] shortcode for custom builders. A per-product override on the product edit screen lets you route specific products to different agents.
A Need help? Chat with us button on the cart and checkout pages. When the customer opens the chat, the contents of their cart are automatically posted as the first message — a rich card with each item, price, and a link back to its product page.
\n![\"Chat](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/chat-with-cart-info-1976d25d13fc26d1abfd5ca59f78ec6b.png\")
The cart snapshot is content-aware: if the cart changes and the customer reopens the chat, a new snapshot is posted; if the cart has not changed, no duplicate message is sent.
\nFive placements on cart, four on checkout, plus a [better_messages_woocommerce_pre_purchase_button] shortcode for manual placement.
A Contact us about this order button on the My Account → View Order page. Only the customer who placed the order sees the button; the thread is tagged with the order, and the support agent sees order details (number, status, total, items) as a context card.
\n![\"Contact](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/order-0f984448334b37aef8f5969a9aeee7b0.png\")
The thread sidebar also includes a View order link that is role-aware: admins and shop managers are routed to the wp-admin order edit screen, customers to their My Account → View Order page.
\nA Messages item is added to the WooCommerce My Account menu, linking to the customer's inbox. Optionally, the entire Better Messages inbox can be rendered as a tab inside My Account instead:
\n![\"Better](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/my-account-inbox-embedded-e8cc22935d7a3e69e892b65d84cf19ba.png\")
This is enabled at Better Messages → Settings → General → Messages Location → Show in WooCommerce My Account.
\nEvery WooCommerce integration setting lives at Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → WooCommerce.
\n![\"Better](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-35ce3f61984595f222a7c7b6cf09ff1f.png\")
Each button has its own toggle, placement options, and recipient. A button is silently hidden if no recipient is assigned to it.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Product / Cart / Checkout / Order buttons | yes | yes |
| Cart snapshot as a rich message | yes | yes |
| Per-product recipient override | yes | yes |
| Rich product cards from pasted URLs | yes | yes |
| HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage) compatibility | yes | yes |
| Real-time replies | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup (chat appears as an overlay; the cart / checkout page stays visible) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls from the support thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (e.g. customer + multiple agents) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Guest fallback to mini widget when Messages Location is My Account | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional per thread) | — | yes |
The mini-widget popup is the single biggest UX change with the WebSocket version on WooCommerce. Without it, every click on a Contact button navigates to the messages page — useful, but it interrupts the shopping flow. With it, the conversation pops up as an overlay and the customer keeps their cart, checkout, or product page visible while chatting with support.
If guest checkout is enabled and Messages Location is set to Show in WooCommerce My Account (a logged-in-only page), the WebSocket version automatically falls back to the popup mini chat for guests — they get a clean inline chat experience without being redirected to wp-login. The free version requires you to either put the messages page on a public WordPress page or disable Guest Chat.
Yes — set a global recipient in WooCommerce integration settings, then override it per product from the product edit screen using the Better Messages Contact sidebar metabox. Useful when different product categories are handled by different teams.
\nYes — High-Performance Order Storage is supported. Orders are read through WooCommerce's CRUD layer, so HPOS sites work without any extra configuration.
\nYes — both the legacy [woocommerce_cart] / [woocommerce_checkout] shortcodes and the modern WooCommerce Cart and Checkout blocks are supported.
Yes — when a customer chats from the order page, the thread is tagged with the order and is reachable from the order screen via the View order sidebar link.
\nYes — Guest Chat must be enabled in Better Messages → Settings → General. Guests enter a name and email, then chat with support. The thread is preserved if they later register and place an order.
\nIt can — Better Messages handles on-site customer-to-support chat, and external live-chat widgets handle anonymous visitors. The two do not conflict, though most stores standardize on one to avoid two chat bubbles competing for the customer's attention.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/woocommerce-customer-chat/", "title": "WooCommerce Customer Chat: Pre-Sales and Order Support", "summary": "Add a Contact button to WooCommerce product, cart, checkout, and order pages — customers chat with your support team in one click, cart contents and order details posted as a rich card.", "date_modified": "2026-04-15T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "WooCommerce", "Marketplace", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/end-to-end-encrypted-wordpress-messaging/", "content_html": "Most WordPress messaging plugins store every message in plaintext in the database. Anyone with access to the database — a site admin, a host's support engineer, an attacker who exfiltrates a database backup — can read every conversation. For most sites that is acceptable. For some sites — therapists with clients, lawyers with opposing parties, journalists with sources, founders discussing acquisition terms — it is not. Better Messages 2.13 introduced optional per-thread end-to-end encryption: messages are encrypted in the sender's browser, stay encrypted at rest, and are decrypted in the recipient's browser. The database holds ciphertext only.
\nThis post covers how the encryption works, what stays encrypted versus what does not, the trade-offs, and how to enable it.
\nEnd-to-end encryption means the encryption keys never leave the participants' browsers. The server stores ciphertext and public keys; it has no way to decrypt messages.
\nConcretely for a Better Messages thread with E2E enabled:
\nThe database stores: ciphertext message bodies, encrypted per-participant copies of the thread key, public keys. The database does not store: any private key, any cleartext message body for an encrypted thread.
\n| Data | Encrypted at rest |
|---|---|
| Message body text | yes |
| File attachments uploaded inside the encrypted thread | yes |
| Reactions, replies, edits, mentions | yes |
| Thread participant list | no |
| Thread title / subject | no |
| Timestamps | no |
| User identities | no |
| Read state | no |
The trade-off: an admin with database access can still see who talked to whom and when. They cannot see what was said.
\nEnd-to-end encryption is a trade-off. Some features have to be turned off for an E2E thread because they require the server to read message content:
\nFor most threads on most sites, none of these trade-offs matter. For the threads that need encryption, those compromises are usually exactly what you want.
\nE2E is enabled per thread, not per site. The same Better Messages installation can host:
\nA user starts an E2E-encrypted thread the same way they start a regular thread, then toggles encryption on for that thread. The toggle is one-way: once a thread is encrypted you cannot unencrypt the historical messages (the server never had the cleartext).
\nEncryption is available on the WebSocket version. Two things to configure:
\nOnce both are configured, the thread sidebar shows a lock icon that users toggle to encrypt the thread.
\nEncryption adds CPU work on the sender and receiver, not on the server. For typical text messages on modern devices the overhead is imperceptible. For large attachments the encryption pass is noticeable but still under a second.
\nThe plugin lazy-loads the crypto bundle on the first encrypted thread interaction, so the page-weight cost is only paid by users who actually use the feature.
\nE2E is the right tool when:
\nE2E is over-engineering when:
\nIf only some threads in a community fit the first category, that is exactly the right shape: leave E2E disabled by default and let the relevant roles toggle it on per thread.
\nNo — by design. If a user clears browser storage on every device, their private key is lost and any encrypted thread they participate in becomes unreadable for them. This is the trade-off of true end-to-end encryption.
\nYes — the mobile app generates and stores the private key on the device. Switching devices requires a key transfer.
\nThe browser's Web Crypto API uses NIST-standard primitives (P-256, AES-GCM). It is not FIPS-validated as a cryptographic module. If FIPS validation is a contractual requirement, talk to support before relying on Better Messages E2E.
\nYes — participants in the thread can export the decrypted thread from their browser. The server cannot perform the export, by design.
\nWhen a new participant joins, every existing participant's browser re-encrypts the thread key to the new participant's public key. The new member can read messages sent after their join, not historical ones — unless an existing participant explicitly shares historical content.
\nYes — file attachments in an E2E thread are encrypted before upload. The server stores ciphertext; recipients decrypt the file on download.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/end-to-end-encrypted-wordpress-messaging/", "title": "End-to-End Encrypted Messaging on WordPress", "summary": "Optional per-thread end-to-end encryption for Better Messages — encryption keys never leave the participants' browsers, database row contents are unreadable to admins, and the rest of the messenger keeps working unchanged.", "date_modified": "2026-03-08T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Encryption", "WebSocket", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/suredash-messaging-plugin/", "content_html": "SureDash is the SureCart team's portal / community platform — a Discord-style hub built around discussions, with sidebar nav, profiles, and a clean modern UI. It does not ship with a real-time messenger. Better Messages adds one that hooks into every SureDash surface: a Messages page embedded inside the portal, a Private Message button on every profile, audio and video call buttons, a compact message icon next to post authors in discussions, and a sidebar Messages link with a live unread counter.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the SureDash integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → SureDash:
\nThe SureDash integration tab only appears when the SureDash plugin is active.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Messages embedded inside the SureDash portal | yes | yes |
| Private Message button on profiles | yes | yes |
| Message icon next to post / comment authors | yes | yes |
| Sidebar Messages link + unread counter | yes | yes |
| Profile dropdown Messages link + unread counter | yes | yes |
| SureDash avatars and profile links | yes | yes |
| Dark / light mode mirror from SureDash | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Audio and Video Call buttons on profiles | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls inside threads | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
SureDash is built for active portal communities — the WebSocket version's audio / video call buttons turn member profiles into a one-click meetup surface, and web push pulls members back into the portal when the tab is closed.
SureDash does not ship with a separate messenger — Better Messages adds the layer cleanly without a conflict.
\nYes — Better Messages mirrors the SureDash portal's active mode (light / dark / system). When SureDash flips, Better Messages flips with it.
\nSureDash Spaces map to WordPress roles or to SureDash's own community capability flags, which Better Messages reads via its permissions layer. Configure restrictions in Better Messages → Settings → Permissions.
\nThe Audio and Video Call buttons have a friends-only option in Better Messages → Settings → Calls — when enabled, the buttons are hidden for users who are not connected.
\nYes — the link is registered through SureDash's standard sidebar API. Reordering and theming follow SureDash's conventions.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/suredash-messaging-plugin/", "title": "SureDash Messaging Plugin: Real-Time Chat for SureDash Portals", "summary": "Add real-time chat to a SureDash portal — Messages embedded in the portal, Private Message button on every profile, video and audio call buttons, sidebar nav with unread counter, dark mode mirror.", "date_modified": "2026-03-01T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "SureDash", "Community", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wc-vendors-chat/", "content_html": "WC Vendors is the classic-ecommerce multi-vendor option for WooCommerce — a smaller plugin footprint than Dokan or WCFM, focused on the storefront rather than a full vendor portal. The free version of WC Vendors gives vendors a shop with no chat. The Pro version adds a vendor dashboard but no built-in messenger. Better Messages adds buyer ↔ vendor chat on top of both: a Live Chat button on every vendor product page, on the vendor store page on classic themes, and a Messages tab on the WC Vendors Pro Vendor Dashboard.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the WC Vendors integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → WooCommerce:
\nwcvendors_after_main_header; block themes via shortcode).![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/product-page-fb73493665bdd48f249ec34793edecfe.png\")
| Surface | Free WC Vendors | WC Vendors Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat button on product pages | yes | yes |
| Live Chat button on store pages (classic themes) | yes | yes |
| Live Chat button on store pages (block themes, shortcode) | yes | yes |
| Vendor Dashboard Messages tab | — | yes |
| Per-vendor Live Chat toggle | yes (Shop Settings) | yes (Shop Settings) |
Free WC Vendors does not provide a custom vendor dashboard — vendors handle store admin from wp-admin. With Pro, the dedicated Messages tab keeps vendors inside the storefront when replying.
\nThe button auto-renders on classic theme storefronts (such as Storefront) via the wcvendors_after_main_header template hook. Block themes do not fire this hook — on those, place the button manually with the shortcode:
[better_messages_wc_vendors_store_button]
[better_messages_wc_vendors_product_button]
![\"WC](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-e6fae68e333e2556f6e278aa060073cf.png\")
Vendors then enable Live Chat for their store under Shop Settings → Live Chats.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat button on product / store pages | yes | yes |
| Messages tab in WC Vendors Pro dashboard | yes | yes |
| Per-vendor enable / disable | yes | yes |
| Product card context in threads | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (vendor team) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For WC Vendors stores running on the free plugin (no vendor dashboard), the WebSocket version's mini-widget popup is the difference between losing the customer when they click Live Chat (navigated away) and keeping them on the product page where they were considering checkout.
Yes — Better Messages reads vendor capability flags, which Pro Memberships sets the same way as Pro itself.
\nYes — the Better Messages inbox is a full messenger. Vendors can also be added to group conversations for marketplace-wide announcements.
\nThe store-page button needs a manual shortcode placement on block themes (block themes do not fire the legacy wcvendors_after_main_header hook). Product-page buttons render on both classic and block themes.
Yes — the integration listens to WC Vendors' core vendor capability flags, which payment add-ons extend rather than replace.
\nYes if Guest Chat is enabled in Better Messages → Settings → Guest Chat. Guest checkout customers can chat with vendors and the thread is preserved if they later register.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wc-vendors-chat/", "title": "WC Vendors Chat: Buyer ↔ Vendor Messaging Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat between WC Vendors marketplace vendors and customers — Live Chat button on every vendor product, vendor store page, and Messages tab on WC Vendors Pro dashboards.", "date_modified": "2026-02-27T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "WC Vendors", "Marketplace", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wcfm-marketplace-chat/", "content_html": "WCFM Marketplace is the most-customizable multi-vendor plugin for WooCommerce — it ships with its own front-end dashboard, store-builder, and vendor membership system. Better Messages adds a modern real-time buyer ↔ vendor chat to WCFM: a Live Chat button on every WCFM vendor product page, a Messages menu inside the WCFM Vendor Dashboard with a live unread counter, and product-card context inside threads started from product pages.
\nOnce Better Messages is installed and the WCFM Marketplace integration is enabled under Better Messages → Settings → Integrations → WooCommerce:
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/product-page-68a69bc2305f0b45e88b30e8e9aaeec8.png\")
![\"Messages](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/vendor-dashboard-e722513dc804106e81da6338a588d5a2.png\")
The Messages menu integrates with the WCFM Vendor Dashboard layout — vendors stay inside the dashboard to reply, no jumping to a separate inbox. The unread counter updates as new messages arrive.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/shop-page-dc2cee03058f8a45b4b277db695d6b65.png\")
Customers browsing a vendor's full catalog can start a conversation without first selecting a product. The button auto-renders on standard WCFM store layouts; for custom themes use the shortcode:
\n[better_messages_wcfm_store_button]
Same for product pages:
\n[better_messages_wcfm_product_button]
![\"WCFM](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/settings-571955c7bda9dd3804f9dd4ded1375fb.png\")
Vendors then enable Live Chat for their store in WCFM Vendor Dashboard → Settings → Live Chats.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat button on product / store pages | yes | yes |
| Messages menu inside the WCFM Vendor Dashboard | yes | yes |
| Per-vendor enable / disable in WCFM settings | yes | yes |
| Product card context in threads | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat (buyer stays on the product page) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (vendor team huddles) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For WCFM marketplaces where vendors compete on customer service, the WebSocket version's mini-widget popup is the difference between a buyer who clicks Live Chat and stays on the product page (good) and a buyer who clicks Live Chat and is navigated away to the messages page (less good). The popup keeps the cart and product context visible while the buyer chats.
Yes — Better Messages reads WordPress roles and WCFM's vendor capability flags. Live Chat can be enabled for all vendors or restricted to specific WCFM membership tiers.
\nOptional. Enable Guest Chat in Better Messages → Settings → Guest Chat. Guest checkout customers can start a thread by typing a name and email; the thread is preserved if they later register.
\nOn the free version the counter polls (a few seconds delay). On the WebSocket version it updates instantly when a new message arrives.
\nYes — WCFM's vendor-to-admin messaging is a separate system and is not affected by Better Messages. Better Messages adds buyer ↔ vendor chat on the storefront and inside the vendor dashboard.
\nThe integration works regardless of which WCFM add-ons are active — the Live Chat button is added based on the WCFM product type, not the WCFM add-ons in use.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wcfm-marketplace-chat/", "title": "WCFM Marketplace Chat: Vendor Live Chat Plugin", "summary": "Add real-time chat between WCFM Marketplace vendors and customers — Live Chat button on every product, Messages tab in the WCFM Vendor Dashboard, product-card context.", "date_modified": "2026-02-26T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "WCFM", "Marketplace", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-marketplace-chat/", "content_html": "If you run a WordPress marketplace, the single biggest conversion gap is the moment a buyer wants to ask a vendor a question before checkout. Email is too slow, contact forms feel formal, and pushing buyers off-site to WhatsApp or Telegram is a leak in the funnel.
\nBetter Messages adds a Live Chat button on every product page, vendor shop page, and vendor dashboard across all four marketplace plugins, from a single install. This post compares what each integration looks like and what to expect.
\n| Marketplace | Active installs (approx.) | Live Chat button on product page | Live Chat tab in vendor dashboard | Live Chat button on shop page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dokan | 80,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| WCFM Marketplace | 40,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| MultiVendorX | 20,000+ | yes | yes | yes |
| WC Vendors | 10,000+ | yes | yes (Pro) | — |
All four use the same Better Messages core, so feature parity outside the marketplace-specific touch-points (cart snapshot in WooCommerce chat, role-aware order links, etc.) is identical.
\nDokan is the most-installed multi-vendor plugin on WordPress and was the first marketplace Better Messages integrated with natively.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/dokan-dashboard-72d15e4e8b35c76980a17c7f795f12a6.png\")
What you get: Live Chat tab in the vendor dashboard, Live Chat button on every product page, Live Chat button on the vendor shop page, and automatic use of Dokan vendor avatars / shop profile links inside the messenger. Full write-up: Dokan vendor chat plugin.
\nBetter Messages adds buyer ↔ vendor chat to WCFM Marketplace — Live Chat tab in the WCFM Vendor Dashboard, Live Chat button on every product page and store page, product-card context inside threads, and WebSocket-version features like one-on-one and group calls and live unread badges.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/wcfm-dashboard-e722513dc804106e81da6338a588d5a2.png\")
WCFM's vendor dashboard layout is more customizable than Dokan's, and the Live Chat tab slots into the standard WCFM navigation. Full reference: WCFM integration documentation.
\nMultiVendorX (formerly WC Marketplace) supports both v4.x and v5.0+ — Better Messages ships separate integrations for each so you do not have to migrate to the new MultiVendorX version just to get vendor chat.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/multivendorx-product-e8909240b4e814b9c38be3b82b91daf4.png\")
Reference: MultiVendorX integration documentation.
\nWC Vendors is the most \"ecommerce-classic\" of the four — a simpler marketplace model with a smaller plugin footprint. Better Messages adds the product-page Live Chat button automatically; the vendor-dashboard tab is available on WC Vendors Pro.
\n![\"Live](\"https://www.better-messages.com/assets/images/wc-vendors-product-fb73493665bdd48f249ec34793edecfe.png\")
Reference: WC Vendors integration documentation.
\n| Customer journey step | Dokan | WCFM | MultiVendorX | WC Vendors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discover product → ask before buying (product-page chat) | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Browse vendor catalog → start a thread (shop-page chat) | yes | yes | yes | — |
| Buyer-initiated thread routed to the correct vendor | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Vendor sees inbox inside their own dashboard | yes | yes | yes | Pro |
| Vendor avatar / link in messenger = marketplace profile | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| One-click voice / video call (WebSocket version) | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Mini-widget popup chat (WebSocket version) | yes | yes | yes | yes |
The marketplace-specific behavior is identical across all four integrations — what changes is whether your marketplace plugin supports the surface (e.g. WC Vendors shop pages do not have a chat injection point in the free plugin).
\nBetter Messages supports all four, so chat is not the variable. The marketplace decision comes down to vendor-experience defaults, payout flexibility, and your tolerance for upsell modules. The chat layer is the same regardless of which one you pick.
\nThat is the entire setup. The same installation works regardless of which of the four marketplaces you run — Better Messages detects the active plugin and wires itself in.
\n| Feature | Free (AJAX) version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| Live Chat button on product / shop / dashboard | yes | yes |
| Per-vendor inbox in the dashboard | yes | yes |
| Real-time delivery between buyer and vendor | polling | instant |
| Mini-widget popup chat (buyer never leaves the product) | — | yes |
| One-on-one voice and video calls inside the thread | — | yes |
| Group voice and video calls (vendor team huddles, buyer + multiple agents) | — | yes |
| Web push notifications for new messages | — | yes |
| Read receipts | — | yes |
| End-to-end encryption (optional) | — | yes |
For marketplaces where vendors actively use chat as a competitive advantage, the WebSocket version's instant delivery and mini-widget popup are the difference between a buyer who walks away and a buyer who finishes checkout — the chat opens as an overlay and the buyer stays on the product page they were considering.
Better Messages supports having multiple marketplace plugins active simultaneously — each integration loads independently. This is rare in practice but works.
\nYes — Better Messages stores its threads in its own tables, not in the marketplace plugin's. If you migrate from Dokan to WCFM, the threads survive; only the marketplace-specific surfaces re-bind.
\nYes — the vendor dashboard chat is a full messenger. Vendors can also be added to group conversations for marketplace-wide announcements.
\nOptional. If you enable Guest Chat in Better Messages → Settings → Guest Chat, an unregistered buyer can start a thread by typing a name and email. Their history is preserved if they later register and place an order.
\nYes — the integration listens to WooCommerce product / order hooks, not subscription-specific ones, so subscription products are handled the same way as regular products.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/wordpress-marketplace-chat/", "title": "WordPress Marketplace Chat: Buyer ↔ Vendor Messaging Compared", "summary": "A side-by-side look at how to add buyer ↔ vendor messaging to Dokan, WCFM, WC Vendors, and MultiVendorX — one plugin covers all four with a Live Chat button on every product, shop page, and vendor dashboard.", "date_modified": "2026-02-25T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Dokan", "Marketplace", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/add-chat-room-to-wordpress/", "content_html": "A chat room is a single persistent conversation that any number of people can join, leave, and come back to — unlike a private message, which is bound to a specific pair of users. On a WordPress site, a chat room is the right tool for live event lobbies, course cohorts, paid-membership lounges, support rooms, and any case where you want one URL where people congregate.
\nThis guide walks through the fastest way to add a chat room to a WordPress page, what access-control options matter, and the trade-offs versus a Discord or Slack embed.
\nWith Better Messages installed, every chat room is a WordPress custom post type — you create one in the admin and embed it anywhere with a shortcode.
\n[better_messages_chat_room id=\"123\"]
That is the whole setup. The page now renders a full chat room — message history, file uploads, reactions, mentions, an online-users sidebar, the works.
\nThe two access-control levers cover almost every case:
\nCommon combinations:
\n| Use case | Allowed roles | Guest access |
|---|---|---|
| Public live-event lobby | all (or none with guests enabled) | on |
| Members-only lounge | members / subscribers | off |
| Paid-course cohort | students + instructors | off |
| Public support room | all | on |
| Vendor-only operations room | vendors + admin | off |
A few patterns sites use for chat-room functionality on WordPress:
\nFor the on-site, role-gated, account-tied pattern, a chat-room plugin like Better Messages is the right tool.
\nA WordPress chat room plugin is the only path that keeps the conversation inside the site, tied to WordPress user accounts and roles.
\nA chat room only feels like a chat room if new messages arrive within a second or two. Better Messages offers two delivery modes:
\nIf you expect more than ~20 simultaneously active participants in a single room, go straight to the WebSocket version. The polling load on a busy room outweighs the license cost quickly.
A chat room with 500 silent members and 5 active ones feels dead. Better Messages includes an Auto-remove inactive users option on each room with three triggers:
\nYou can scope this to a specific role — for example, ticking only Guests prunes silent unregistered visitors but leaves members alone. Pin specific users (admins, room owners) via a filter so they are never removed:
\nadd_filter( 'better_messages_clean_inactive_chat_users_exclude_user_ids', function( $ids ) {
return array( 1, 42, 7 );
} );
A chat room is the right tool when there is one shared space everyone joins. If you need:
\nYes — the shortcode works in any builder that accepts WordPress shortcodes (Elementor, Bricks, Oxygen, Beaver Builder, the block editor's Shortcode block).
\nWith the WebSocket version, yes — group voice and video calls work inside the chat room. With the free version, the call button is hidden.
\nYes, if you allow it. Guest permissions are configured per chat room and again globally under Better Messages → Settings → Guest Chat.
\nThere is no hard limit. The plugin has been used with rooms of several thousand members. Past a few hundred actively-typing participants, the WebSocket version's instant delivery becomes meaningful.
\nThe container page is indexable, but the messages themselves load via REST API and are not in the initial HTML, so Google does not index message content. This is usually the desired behavior — chat room conversations are ephemeral, not canonical content.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/add-chat-room-to-wordpress/", "title": "How to Add a Chat Room to Your WordPress Site (2026 Guide)", "summary": "Add a public or members-only chat room to any WordPress page in five minutes — guest access, role-based permissions, mobile-friendly, no third-party service.", "date_modified": "2026-02-23T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Chat rooms", "Guides", "Community" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/ai-content-moderation-wordpress-chat/", "content_html": "Public chat surfaces — community lobbies, vendor support inboxes, course cohort chats — get spam, harassment, and inappropriate content the way any open input does. Manual moderation does not scale beyond a few hundred members. Better Messages adds AI-powered content moderation that automatically detects harmful messages and either flags them for admin review or holds them until approved. Two providers are supported: Better Messages Moderation AI (no API key required, included with the WebSocket license) and OpenAI Moderation API (free with your own OpenAI key).
\nFor most sites, Better Messages Moderation AI is the default — it has more categories, supports custom rules, and does not require an external API account. OpenAI is the right pick if you have an existing OpenAI workflow and prefer to consolidate.
\nTwo actions per flagged message:
\nModerators review flagged / held messages in the Better Messages → Administration screen.
\nBoth providers detect the base OpenAI categories:
\nBetter Messages Moderation AI adds extended categories that OpenAI does not cover:
\nSelecting a parent category covers its subcategories.
\nBeyond categories, Better Messages Moderation AI supports plain-text custom rules. One rule per line:
\nBlock contact info (phones, emails, social handles) and off-platform moves
Block promotions, affiliate links, recruitment
Block discussion of competitor platforms
The AI applies each rule per message and per conversation context. Categories and custom rules work independently — use one, the other, or both.
\nThe conversation-context setting controls how many previous messages the AI considers for the moderation decision (0–20, default 5–10). This is how the AI catches patterns split across messages — a phone number broken into two messages, or a leading sentence in one message that makes the next message harmful.
\nAdmins, moderators, instructors, and other trusted roles can bypass moderation. Configure in Settings → Moderation → Bypass Roles. Moderation does not run for messages from these roles.
\n| Feature | Free version | WebSocket version |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI Moderation API (with your OpenAI key) | yes | yes |
| Better Messages Moderation AI (no API key, BM Cloud) | — | yes |
| Custom moderation rules | — | yes |
| Conversation context awareness | — | yes |
| Extended categories (spam, contact sharing, doxxing, etc.) | — | yes |
| Text + image moderation | yes (OpenAI) | yes (both providers) |
Better Messages Moderation AI is the substantial WebSocket-version perk on the moderation side. The extended categories (especially Spam, Contact Sharing, Doxxing, Impersonation, Commercial Promotion) are exactly what community admins moderate most often — and OpenAI's standard moderation API does not flag those.
Message content is sent to the selected provider for analysis. Better Messages Cloud does not store any message data — content is analyzed in real time and immediately discarded. If using OpenAI, review OpenAI's data-usage policy. AI moderation does not run on end-to-end encrypted threads (the server cannot see the ciphertext).
\nNo — no AI moderation is 100% accurate. The recommended Flag Only mode delivers messages normally and asks an admin to review flagged ones, so false negatives still get a human-review pass and false positives do not block legitimate conversations.
\nYes — moderation runs on every message at send time. With Flag Only, the message is delivered immediately; the flag is applied in parallel. With Hold for Review, the send blocks until the moderation decision returns (typically under a second).
\nYes — both providers handle the major Western, CJK, and Indic languages. Coverage of less-common languages depends on the underlying AI provider.
\nThe AI providers are tuned to avoid false positives on common technical content. If you see false positives, the Flag Only mode lets you build a feel for the model's behavior before switching to Hold for Review.
\nYes — the Moderate Images toggle is separate from text moderation. Disable it on sites where users only share documents and PDFs.
\nThe two are independent. AI Chat Bots are conversation participants; AI Content Moderation is a pre-delivery check on every message. A bot's responses can be moderation-checked too — useful for guarding against AI hallucinations of harmful content.
\nInstall Better Messages from WordPress.org →
", "url": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/ai-content-moderation-wordpress-chat/", "title": "AI Content Moderation for WordPress Chat", "summary": "Automatically detect harmful content in WordPress private messages and chat rooms — Better Messages Moderation AI (no API key, included with WebSocket) or OpenAI Moderation. Flag or hold for review.", "date_modified": "2026-01-20T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Andrij Tkachenko", "url": "/docs/getting-started/about" }, "tags": [ "Community", "WebSocket", "Guides" ] }, { "id": "https://www.better-messages.com/blog/ai-message-translation-wordpress/", "content_html": "WordPress communities that span multiple countries hit the same wall: the chat feed becomes a polyglot mess where half the members cannot read what the other half wrote. Static translation plugins (WPML, Polylang) translate site content but not user-generated message bodies. Better Messages handles this with AI message translation: each member sets their preferred display language; messages from other members are auto-translated by an AI provider on the fly. The sender writes in their language, the recipient reads in theirs — both sides see the original on hover.
\nThe translation is per-recipient, per-message — a Spanish-speaking member reading a thread sees every message translated to Spanish; an English-speaking member sees the same thread in English.
\nTranslation has a real cost (AI tokens) and a real UX trade-off (translated text loses nuance). Most sites enable it as an opt-in per thread:
\nFor sites where most threads are multilingual, the global toggle in Better Messages → Settings → AI Translation enables it by default for every new thread.
\nAI translation tokens are charged to the configured provider. Better Messages tracks usage:
\nFor most communities the token cost is small (translations are short), but a high-traffic public site should configure rate limits before going live.
\nThe AI providers (OpenAI / Claude / Gemini) support 50+ languages between them, with Claude and GPT-4 family covering the broadest set. Specific accuracy varies by language pair — major Western languages, CJK languages, and Indic languages are all well-supported.
\nMembers then pick their preferred language in their account settings.
\nAI message translation runs on the WebSocket version — the same constraint as AI Chat Bots, because translations are dispatched off the WebSocket event fan-out.
\nYes — WPML / Polylang translate site content (posts, pages, menus). AI message translation handles user-generated chat content. They are complementary, not competing.
\nAI translation generally preserves code blocks and technical terms verbatim (they look like proper nouns to the model). For pure code chat, set the thread's translation to off — the original is always preserved underneath the translation, so members can toggle.
\nNo — AI translation is suitable for casual conversation, not for legally-binding text. For legal documents, use a certified human translator.
\nNo — E2E messages are decrypted only in the participants' browsers, so the server-side AI cannot see them. Choose between E2E and AI translation per thread.
\nTranslation fails gracefully — the message is shown in its original language with a \"translation unavailable\" indicator. The thread does not break.
\nYes — per-thread configuration. A member who chose \"auto-translate to French\" sees a thread participant writing in Italian translated to French, but a thread set to \"no translation\" shows everything in original.
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