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Chatwoot

Open-source customer engagement platform combining live chat, helpdesk, and CRM in one tool

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Overview

Chatwoot is an open-source customer engagement platform that brings live chat, email, social media messages, and helpdesk features into a single inbox. Think of it as a self-hosted Intercom — your support team sees all customer conversations in one place, regardless of the channel.

With 22K+ GitHub stars and an active community, Chatwoot is one of the most mature open-source support tools available. Self-hosted, it’s free for unlimited agents — a significant cost saving over Intercom’s $19-99/agent/month pricing.

Key Features

  • Omnichannel Inbox — Live chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram
  • CRM — Contact management with custom attributes and notes
  • Automation — Rules for auto-assignment, labels, and canned responses
  • Team Collaboration — Internal notes, @mentions, and assignment rules
  • Knowledge Base — Built-in help center for self-service
  • Reporting — CSAT scores, response times, and agent performance

Pricing: Self-Hosted vs Intercom

Users Intercom Chatwoot (self-hosted) Savings
5 agents $95/mo (Intercom) $10/mo (VPS) $85/mo
10 agents $190/mo (Intercom) $10/mo (VPS) $180/mo
25 agents $475/mo (Intercom) $20/mo (VPS) $455/mo
50 agents $950/mo (Intercom) $20/mo (VPS) $930/mo

Pros

  • + Omnichannel — website chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram
  • + Built-in CRM with contact management
  • + Canned responses and automation rules
  • + API and webhook integrations
  • + Active community with 22K+ GitHub stars

Cons

  • - UI can feel overwhelming with many features
  • - Requires Ruby on Rails knowledge for customization
  • - Resource-hungry — needs 4GB+ RAM
  • - Enterprise features (CSAT, SLA) behind paid plan

Deployment Options for Chatwoot

🐳

Docker

Self-host with Docker Compose

🚀

Coolify

One-click via Coolify panel

☁️

Elestio

Managed hosting from $9/mo

🫛

PikaPods

Simple managed hosting

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Chatwoot replace Intercom?
For customer support, yes. Chatwoot covers live chat, email, social media, and helpdesk. Intercom's product tours, in-app messaging, and advanced automation are more mature.
What channels does Chatwoot support?
Website live chat, email, WhatsApp (via Twilio or WhatsApp Cloud API), Facebook Messenger, Twitter DMs, Telegram, Line, and SMS.
Is WhatsApp integration free?
The integration is free. You'll need a WhatsApp Business API account via Twilio ($0.005-0.08/message) or WhatsApp Cloud API (free for first 1,000 conversations/month).
What are the server requirements?
Minimum 4GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, 20GB storage. Requires PostgreSQL and Redis. Docker Compose deployment is recommended.

Our Verdict

Chatwoot is an open-source customer engagement platform that brings live chat, email, social media messages, and helpdesk features into a single inbox. Think of it as a self-hosted Intercom — your sup...

Best for: Support teams that need Intercom-level omnichannel support without per-agent pricing