Chatwoot
Chatwoot.ai is an open-source AI-powered customer support platform that offers an alternative to Intercom. Its main goal is to enhance the ...
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What is Chatwoot?
Chatwoot is an open-source, omnichannel customer support platform that centralizes conversations from live chat, email, social media, and messaging apps into a single workspace, and provides built-in AI assistance to speed responses and reduce support volume. It offers a self-hosted option for teams that want data ownership and compliance, plus a managed Cloud offering that includes additional conveniences like SOC 2 compliance and built-in SSL for custom help-center domains. Key features include Captain (an AI conversational agent and Copilot for agent suggestions), a customizable website live-chat widget, WhatsApp and social messaging integrations, and a knowledge base with AI-powered search and multi-portal support. The product targets customer support teams at startups, SMBs, and enterprises who need an affordable, extensible alternative to closed-source helpdesks and who value data control, developer extensibility, and AI-driven automation. Implementation options suit technical teams that can self-host as well as non-technical teams that prefer Chatwoot Cloud with managed features and usage-based AI responses.
Chatwoot pricing
Pricing model: Free
Chatwoot offers both self-hosted (open-source) and Chatwoot Cloud managed plans. The self-hosted option is free to run (you host and pay infrastructure costs) with access to core features like omnichannel inbox, live chat widget, knowledge base, and developer APIs. Chatwoot Cloud provides paid tiers (including Startup, Business, Enterprise) that add managed hosting, SOC 2 compliance, custom domain SSL, and bundled Captain usage; Cloud plans include some free monthly Captain responses per tier (for example Startups 100, Business 300, Enterprise 500) and an optional Captain add-on (e.g., $200/month for up to 10,000 responses) for additional AI volume. Exact monthly prices for Cloud tiers, agent-seat limits, and add-on costs are published on the site and vary by plan; a free trial or free-tier usage is available to evaluate the product.
Chatwoot pros
- Open-source codebase for full transparency and customizability
- Self-hosting option to own customer data and meet compliance needs
- Built-in AI agent (Captain) to automate frequently asked questions
- Copilot provides smart reply suggestions for agents
- Omnichannel support: live chat, email, social, messaging apps
- WhatsApp integration with rich message support
- Customizable live-chat widget to match brand
- Knowledge base (Help Center) with AI-powered search
- Support for multiple portals and localized content
- Developer APIs and webhooks for custom integrations
- SOC 2 Type II compliance for cloud customers
- Free trial and community edition availability
- Active GitHub community with many contributors
- Detailed user guide and developer docs
- Ability to enable Captain and Copilot from the sidebar
- Captain includes monthly free responses on paid cloud tiers
Chatwoot cons
- Advanced AI features (Captain) limited on free/self-hosted tier without paid add-ons
- Cloud AI usage quotas require paid plan or add-on for high volumes
- Self-hosting requires technical resources to deploy and maintain
- Some enterprise features (SAML, advanced security controls) gated to paid plans
- Captain add-on for very high response volumes is an extra cost
- Certain channel connectors or managed conveniences may be limited to Cloud plans
- On-prem deployments require you to manage backups, scaling, and upgrades
- Pricing and quotas for AI responses may be confusing for high-scale customers
Frequently asked questions about Chatwoot
What is Captain and how does it work?
Captain is Chatwoot’s built-in AI agent that automates conversations by learning from your help center content, past chats, and FAQs to answer common customer questions; it can be enabled from the Captain console and provides both autonomous responses and agent-assist suggestions (Copilot) to speed resolution.
Can I host Chatwoot on my own servers?
Yes — Chatwoot is open-source and designed to be self-hosted so you can run it on your infrastructure, retain full control of customer data, and meet regulatory or compliance requirements while using core features free of Cloud plan restrictions.
What channels does Chatwoot support?
Chatwoot supports website live chat (customizable widget), email, social channels such as Facebook and Instagram, messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, and other channels via APIs and webhooks so you can manage conversations from a single omnichannel inbox.
How does pricing for Captain AI usage work?
On Chatwoot Cloud, each paid tier includes a set number of free Captain responses per month (examples: Startup, Business, Enterprise tiers with increasing free allowances), and if you exceed the included quota you can purchase a Captain add-on (priced for blocks of responses) to expand monthly AI capacity.
Is Chatwoot secure and compliant?
Chatwoot Cloud maintains SOC 2 Type II compliance and provides managed security practices for cloud customers; self-hosted customers are responsible for their own security controls, though the project emphasizes secure development practices and provides guidance in documentation.
Can I customize the chat widget to match my brand?
Yes — the live chat widget is highly customizable (colors, language, copy and design) so it can be tailored to fit brand guidelines and provide a seamless experience on your website or help center portals.
Does Chatwoot provide a knowledge base or help center?
Chatwoot includes a Help Center feature for self-service support where you can create multiple portals, write rich articles, and use AI-powered search to improve content discovery and reduce inbound support volume.
What developer tools and integrations are available?
Chatwoot exposes developer APIs, webhooks, and an extensible platform that enables custom integrations, automation, and workflows, plus developer documentation and SDKs to connect external systems or build tailored support tooling.
Which features are different between self-hosted and Cloud?
Core product features (inbox, chat widget, knowledge base, APIs) are available self-hosted, while Cloud adds managed hosting, compliance certifications, automated SSL for custom domains, built-in backups and scaling, and bundled Captain usage with tiered quotas and optional add-ons.
How do I scale Chatwoot for high-volume support?
For high-volume support, you can self-host with scalable infrastructure (containerized deployments, managed databases, and load balancing) or choose Chatwoot Cloud for managed scaling and bundled AI quotas; additionally, Captain and Copilot can reduce agent load by automating common queries and surfacing suggested replies.