What Chatwoot does
Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform. It brings live chat, email, WhatsApp, social media, and other channels into one shared inbox, with a help center and an AI assistant called Captain.
Chatwoot is a customer support tool that puts all customer conversations in one place. Agents answer messages from a website live chat widget, email, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, SMS, and custom API channels from a single dashboard. Voice calls are a newer channel on higher plans.
The inbox has the tools a support team needs to work together: private notes, @mentions, labels, teams, and automation rules. The live chat widget can be customized with your colors, language, and text so it fits your brand. A built-in help center lets you publish a knowledge base with multiple portals, custom domains with SSL certificates, and AI-powered search.
Captain is Chatwoot's built-in AI agent. It learns from your help center, past chats, and FAQs to answer common questions, and Captain Copilot suggests replies, finds past conversations, and translates messages for agents. Developers can extend Chatwoot with the API, and mobile apps for iOS and Android let agents reply on the go.
Chatwoot is open source and can be hosted on your own server, so you keep control of your customer data. The GitHub project has more than 25,000 stars and over 400 contributors. The free Community Edition runs on your infrastructure, and paid self-hosted editions add Captain AI, custom branding, SSO, and priority support.
The cloud version has a free Hacker plan for up to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month. Paid cloud plans start at $19 per agent per month and add all channels, the help center, and more AI credits, with a 15-day free trial. Chatwoot Inc. positions the product as an alternative to Intercom and Zendesk and states that it is SOC 2 Type II compliant.
Best for
Support teams at small and mid-sized businesses that handle customers across chat, email, and messaging apps, and companies that want to self-host their support data.
Not for
Solo users who only need a simple contact form, or teams that want a full CRM or sales pipeline tool.
Questions and answers
Is Chatwoot free?
The self-hosted Community Edition is free forever. The cloud Hacker plan is free for up to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month with live chat only.
How much do the cloud plans cost?
Startups costs $19, Business $39, and Enterprise $99 per agent per month. Each paid plan starts with a 15-day free trial.
Which channels does Chatwoot support?
Website live chat, email, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, SMS, an API channel, and voice calls on higher plans.
Can I host Chatwoot myself?
Yes. Chatwoot is open source and you can deploy it on your own infrastructure to keep full control of your data.
What is Captain?
Captain is Chatwoot's built-in AI agent. It answers common questions from your help center and past chats, and Copilot suggests replies and translations for agents.