I was considering getting cometchat but I was wondering if it would be to much for my server, I am just on a shared hosting plan from host gator. Has anyone used cometchat and know how much resources it uses. Thanks

I've been using it on my own site (not IPS hosted) extensively for years and never had issues with it.

I've used cometchat number of times before (not on forum), but all I can certainly say is that it depends on how many people you except them to chat.

But, do understand that cometchat and any other ajax chat requires a lot of polling. (Cometchat's defaults are 6 to 12 seconds varying as activity of the user chages). So, you're going to skyrocket your resource requirements and a shared hosting isn't really going to appreciate that. I haven't run on shared hosting environment in years (except some really basic stuff), so, at what limit they'll tell you to get out... I don't know.

You can also opt for something like chatango which will requires 0 of your resource or setup an irc chatroom -- again which won't cost you anything.

PS. It will drastically kill your forum posts as people will start chatting instead of posting.

Alright guys thanks for the tips