Chatwoot

Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform that brings customer conversations into a shared inbox and pairs them with a knowledge base. It combines website chat, email, messaging, social, voice, SMS, and API conversations, with WhatsApp among its supported channels. Teams can assign conversations, add private notes and labels, and use canned replies and activity logs to coordinate work. Its Captain AI assistant can answer questions, suggest replies, summarize conversations, and use help-center content. The customizable help center supports multiple portals and multilingual content, while the API and webhooks allow custom integrations. Chatwoot is available on web, Android, iOS, and Linux, and can also be self-hosted. The free Hacker plan allows up to two agents and 500 conversations per month, with 30-day data retention. Cloud plans start at $19/mo (annual) per agent; Business is $39 per agent monthly, billed annually, and Enterprise is $99 per agent monthly, billed annually. Chatwoot states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant.

Chatwoot combines shared-inbox support, knowledge-base tools, and AI assistance, with both cloud and self-hosted options. Check the free plan's conversation limit and compare its cloud and self-hosted plan details before choosing.

It suits support, sales, and engagement teams that want to manage customer conversations across channels. Self-hosting is an option for teams that want to run it on their own infrastructure.

Overview

Chatwoot is a customer-support workspace for teams that want to bring sales, service, and engagement conversations into one shared operation. It suits organizations juggling several channels or needing to host support software themselves. Its breadth is a clear advantage, but the free cloud plan’s monthly conversation cap and paid plans’ per-agent pricing make scale worth checking early.

Key features

One inbox across channels

The inbox brings website chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, TikTok, X, SMS, voice, and API conversations together. That gives agents one place to manage varied queues, while private notes, assignments, labels, canned responses, mentions, typing indicators, and activity logs help coordinate replies. WhatsApp rich-content messages are supported, and the live-chat widget can be customized for color, language, text, and design.

AI and self-service

Captain can answer customer questions, suggest replies, summarize conversations, and use help-center content. This makes it useful for teams looking to support agents and customers with the same knowledge base, though AI capacity is metered: the paid cloud tiers include different credit allowances, and additional Captain AI credits cost $20 per 1,000.

Help Center portals support multilingual content and AI-powered search. Teams can create separate portals for different brands, products, or customer segments, and cloud customers using a custom portal domain receive SSL certificates. That flexibility is valuable for multi-brand support, but may be more than a small team needs.

Integration and deployment

REST API access, webhooks, and an API channel allow custom integrations and tailored support flows. The Agent Bot API can connect bots built with Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, LangChain, n8n, custom code, or Dialogflow. Chatwoot can run in its cloud service or on customer infrastructure, with deployment methods including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Docker, Kubernetes, Linux, and Heroku.

Chatwoot states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, and that it encrypts data at rest and in transit using AES-256 with AWS KMS hardware security modules. Chatwoot Cloud runs on AWS servers in the United States. Data can be exported through the API, which is useful for organizations that need access to conversations and contacts outside the platform.

Pricing

Chatwoot offers a 15-day trial and a cloud free plan. The Hacker plan costs nothing, billed monthly, and includes up to 2 agents, 500 conversations per month, and 30 days of data retention. It is a practical starting point for a very small team, but the conversation ceiling and short retention period limit its fit for growing or long-running support operations.

Cloud paid plans are priced per agent and billed annually. Startups is $19 a month, billed $19 /agent/month, and includes unlimited conversations subject to fair use, all channels, 300 Captain AI credits, and one-year data retention. It suits teams that need more room than the free tier provides, but it has less retention and fewer AI credits than higher tiers.

Business is $39 a month, billed $39 /agent/month, with unlimited conversations subject to fair use, all channels, voice, 500 Captain AI credits, and two-year retention. It is the more relevant step for teams handling voice support or needing longer records. Enterprise is $99 a month, billed $99 /agent/month, and adds SSO/SAML, audit logs, 800 Captain AI credits, and three-year retention alongside voice and all channels. Those controls and retention make it the cloud choice for organizations with stronger access and recordkeeping needs.

Self-hosters can use Community Edition for free, free forever. It includes hosting on your infrastructure and community support, but excludes Captain AI, voice calls, and SSO/SAML. Premium Support is $19 a month, billed $19 /agent/month annually, adding Captain AI, voice calls, custom branding, agent capacity, and priority support. Enterprise Edition is $99 a month, billed $99 /agent/month annually, and adds SSO/SAML and SLA policies along with those capabilities. These tiers suit teams that want control of their own infrastructure but need more support or enterprise controls than the free edition provides.

Additional Captain AI credits cost $20 a month for 1,000 credits. Cloud plans are refundable based on cancellation date and unused time. Teams should compare the per-agent annual commitment and the included credits against their expected staffing and AI use.

Platforms

Chatwoot supports Android, iOS, Linux, web, API, and self-hosted deployment. That range accommodates both agents working through mobile or browser access and organizations deploying the service on their own infrastructure.

Who it's for

Chatwoot is best suited to support, sales, and engagement teams that need a shared inbox across messaging, social, web, and traditional channels, particularly those pairing agent workflows with branded help centers. It is also a strong fit for operators who need API-based customization or self-hosting. A small team with light volume can begin on Hacker, but teams expecting to exceed 500 conversations monthly should plan for a paid tier; buyers who need a free self-hosted option should also accept the absence of AI, voice, and SSO/SAML in Community Edition.

Pros and cons

• Broad channel coverage: Web, messaging, social, voice, SMS, and API conversations share an inbox, reducing the need to manage each as a separate queue.
• Flexible self-service: Multiple multilingual portals and AI-powered search can support distinct brands or customer groups.
• Deployment choice: Cloud hosting and self-hosting serve teams with different infrastructure preferences.
• Free cloud plan is tightly capped: Two agents, 500 monthly conversations, and 30-day retention constrain the no-cost option.
• Paid pricing scales by agent: Annual per-agent billing means costs rise with team size.
• AI capacity has a separate ceiling: Included credits vary by tier, and extra credits are an additional charge.

Alternatives

For a more WhatsApp-centered comparison, consider WhatsApp Business API Providers or WhatsApp Customer Service Software; for broader social-channel needs, compare Social Media Customer Service Software. Teams focused on ticket handling or web chat can also compare Help desk software and Live chat software.

AiSensy is another freemium option, with a free plan that sets fair-use limits for agents, tags, attributes, and segments. DoubleTick is a paid option with a team inbox, bulk broadcasts, segmentation, and product and catalogue sharing. Interakt has a paid Starter plan at $12 a month for Instagram, with unlimited agents in the owner role and unlimited Instagram DMs and comments. QuickReply.ai is a paid alternative with popup and AI-agent plan options.

Rasayel starts at $30 a month per user with a five-member minimum, three WhatsApp numbers, 10K messages per month, and 100 REST API requests per minute. Respond.io is a paid option whose Starter plan is $79 a month billed yearly, for five users, unlimited monthly active contacts, and 5,000 AI credits. WhatsApp Now offers a pay-as-you-go approach with no subscription fee and charges per conversation at rates that vary by category and recipient country. WATI is another paid alternative, with pay-as-you-go and Growth plans.

Verdict

Choose Chatwoot if your team needs a shared, multi-channel support desk with knowledge-base tools and the option to self-host or customize through APIs. Its combination of channel breadth and deployment flexibility is the main reason to pick it; the main reasons to look elsewhere are the free plan’s 500-conversation cap, per-agent annual pricing, or a need for more AI capacity without additional credit costs.