Audyense
Chatwoot
Customer Support · www.chatwoot.com
Overview
Chatwoot is an open-source, omnichannel customer engagement and support platform that unifies live chat, email, and social/messaging channels into a shared team inbox. It is available both as a managed cloud service and as a free, self-hostable Community edition under the MIT license, giving teams full control over their customer data. The platform adds a help center/knowledge base, automation, CSAT, reporting, and a Captain AI assistant for automating conversations.
The problem Chatwoot solves
Startups that need a real support inbox but can't justify Zendesk or Intercom's per-agent pricing — or need to keep customer data on infrastructure they control — use Chatwoot as an open-source, self-hostable alternative that still covers omnichannel messaging and automation.
Decision context
Use these points to test whether the product fits your operation, not just whether it has a long feature list.
- Published starting price: Free. Confirm user, usage, and feature limits for the plan you would actually buy.
- Deployment: cloud, on_premise. Check security, data-residency, and access requirements for every team that will use it.
- Verified integrations include Slack, Dialogflow, Shopify, Google Translate, Linear, WhatsApp. Validate sync direction and plan limits for the connections that matter.
- This record was last checked on 7/20/2026; pricing and features can change.
How to evaluate Chatwoot
A listing helps create a shortlist; a trial with the team’s real workflow decides whether the tool fits. Use this reading with the structured facts and confirm changes with the vendor.
Workflow fit
The record describes it as a fit for Startups and SMBs wanting an affordable omnichannel support desk, Teams needing data control or self-hosting for privacy/compliance reasons, Developers who want an extensible, API-first, open-source platform. Check that this context matches the volume, roles, and processes your team needs it to support.
Pilot questions
- Can Chatwoot complete the critical workflow without manual work outside the product?
- Do the recorded connections (Slack, Dialogflow, Shopify, Google Translate) support the sync direction, permissions, and volume we need?
- What user, usage, storage, support, or security limits appear after the headline starting price?
Evidence and freshness
This record was checked on 7/20/2026. That date tells you when the record was reviewed, not that the vendor has left its terms unchanged since then.
Best for
- Startups and SMBs wanting an affordable omnichannel support desk
- Teams needing data control or self-hosting for privacy/compliance reasons
- Developers who want an extensible, API-first, open-source platform
Not a fit if
- Teams without engineering resources to run and maintain a self-hosted deployment
- Buyers needing deep, enterprise-grade analytics out of the box
Why it’s listed
- Leading open-source, self-hostable alternative to Intercom and Zendesk
- Omnichannel shared inbox with a genuine free tier and free Community edition
- SOC 2 Type II certified with strong developer/community traction (34k+ GitHub stars)
Pricing
Community (Self-hosted)
FreeFree, MIT-licensed self-hosted edition you run on your own infrastructure.
- Omnichannel shared inbox
- Live chat widget
- Help center/knowledge base
- Automation and canned responses
- Full data control / self-hosting
- Public API and webhooks
Hacker
FreeFree cloud tier for up to 2 agents with core live chat and collaboration features.
- Up to 2 agents
- Live chat
- Private notes and @mentions
- Canned responses and labels
- Auto-assignment
- Slack integration
Startups
$19 per agent/month (billed annually)Adds all channels, help center, and reporting for growing support teams.
- All channels (email, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, Telegram, etc.)
- Help center
- Custom views and filters
- Business hours and auto-responder
- CSAT and downloadable reports
- Captain AI (300 credits)
Business
$39 per agent/month (billed annually)Adds voice channel, teams, advanced automation, and SLAs for scaling operations.
- Voice channel
- Teams
- Automation rules
- Custom attributes and pre-chat forms
- Campaigns and SLA management
- Captain AI (500 credits)
Enterprise
$99 per agent/month (billed annually)Adds SSO/SAML, audit logs, and branding removal for larger organizations.
- SSO/SAML
- Audit logs
- Agent capacity management
- Remove branding
- Dedicated account manager (20+ agents)
- Captain AI (800 credits)
Features
Integrations
Security & compliance
Pros & cons
Pros
- Open-source and self-hostable, giving full control over customer data and lower cost
- Effective omnichannel shared inbox with private notes, assignment, tagging, and canned responses
- Automation rules and workflow triggers reduce manual, repetitive support work
- Strong value versus Intercom/Zendesk, with a free tier and free Community edition
Cons
- Self-hosted setup and ongoing maintenance require real engineering effort and can be finicky
- Reporting and analytics are considered basic by some reviewers
- UI/UX could be more polished in places
- AI/automation capabilities are less advanced than some competitors
What we found
Rated about 4.5/5 on G2 across roughly 16 verified reviews; broader adoption is signaled by 34k+ GitHub stars and active community discussion on Reddit and Product Hunt, where users praise it as a cost-effective open-source alternative to Zendesk/Intercom.
Ratings and review counts come from public review platforms. We link to the original source and keep the underlying review text out of this profile.
User reviews
Written by Audyense accounts · moderated before publishing
No user reviews yet.
Used Chatwoot? Be the first to tell other buyers what actually worked.