Chatwoot

Overview

Chatwoot brings customer conversations and self-service support into a shared workspace, with cloud and self-hosted deployment options. It suits teams that need to handle several channels together; the main trade-off is choosing between a tightly capped free cloud plan and paid, per-agent plans.

Its inbox spans website chat, email, social and messaging channels, voice, SMS, and API conversations. Teams can also create help-center portals, while developers can use REST APIs, webhooks, and bot integrations to tailor support workflows.

Key features

Shared inbox and channel coverage

Agents can handle conversations from channels including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, TikTok, X, SMS, voice, and website chat in one inbox. Private notes, assignments, labels, canned replies, mentions, typing indicators, and activity logs support coordination without mixing internal discussion into customer-facing replies. WhatsApp rich-content messaging is supported, making Chatwoot relevant to teams already using that channel.

AI and self-service

Captain can answer customer questions, suggest replies, summarize conversations, and draw on help-center content. That can reduce repetitive work, but included credits vary by plan and extra credits cost $20 per 1,000, so teams with heavy AI use should account for that cost. Customizable help centers support multiple branded or segmented portals, multilingual content, and AI-powered search. Widget colors, language, text, and design can also be customized.

Integration and deployment

The REST API, webhooks, API channel, and Agent Bot API allow custom integrations and bots built with services such as Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, LangChain, n8n, or Dialogflow. Chatwoot can run in its cloud service or on customer infrastructure, with deployment methods including Docker and Kubernetes. That flexibility is useful for teams with specific hosting requirements, though Community Edition does not include Captain AI or voice calls.

Chatwoot states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant, and that data is encrypted at rest and in transit with AES-256 using AWS KMS hardware security modules. Its cloud service runs on AWS servers in the United States. Cloud customers using custom portal domains receive SSL certificates; data can be exported through the API.

Pricing

The Hacker cloud plan is free and includes up to 2 agents, 500 conversations per month, and 30-day data retention. That is a meaningful starting point for a small team, but the conversation cap and short retention make it a poor fit for growing or long-running support queues.

Startups costs $19 /agent/month, billed annually, and includes unlimited conversations subject to fair use, all channels, 300 Captain AI credits, and one-year retention. Business is $39 /agent/month, billed annually, with the same fair-use conversation terms, all channels, voice, 500 AI credits, and two-year retention. Enterprise is $99 /agent/month, billed annually, adding SSO/SAML, audit logs, 800 AI credits, and three-year retention. All three paid cloud plans are priced per agent, so costs rise with team size; unlimited conversations remain subject to fair use.

Self-hosters can use Community Edition free forever, but it omits Captain AI, voice calls, and SSO/SAML and relies on community support. Premium Support costs $19 /agent/month, billed annually, and adds Captain AI, voice calls, custom branding, agent capacity, and priority support. Enterprise Edition costs $99 /agent/month, billed annually, and adds SSO/SAML, SLA policies, and priority support alongside those capabilities. Additional Captain AI credits cost $20 per 1,000 credits. A 15-day trial is offered; cloud plans are refundable based on cancellation date and unused time.

Platforms

Chatwoot is available on web, Android, iOS, Linux, through an API, and as a self-hosted deployment. Its self-hosting options span cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

Who it's for

Chatwoot is a strong fit for customer support, sales, and engagement teams that want one inbox for multiple channels and a customizable help center. Its APIs and self-hosting options also suit operators who need custom integrations or control over infrastructure. Teams needing long retention, voice, or enterprise access controls should budget for a paid tier; very small teams with limited volume can start with Hacker.

Pros and cons

• Broad channel coverage: Website, email, social, messaging, voice, SMS, and API conversations can be handled together.
• Useful collaboration tools: Private notes, assignments, tags, canned replies, and activity logs support shared ownership of customer conversations.
• Flexible deployment: Teams can choose cloud hosting or deploy on their own infrastructure.
• Free plan has tight bounds: Two agents, 500 monthly conversations, and 30-day retention limit its usefulness as queues grow.
• Community Edition leaves out key functions: Self-hosters need a paid edition for Captain AI and voice, and SSO/SAML requires Enterprise Edition.
• Per-agent annual pricing: Paid cloud and self-hosted editions can become a significant commitment as staffing expands.

Alternatives

For a focused channel or workflow, consider AiSensy, BotSailor, Clickatell SMS API, Gupshup, Landbot, Interakt, DoubleTick, or Respond.io. AiSensy is a freemium option with Android, iOS, web, and API platforms and a free tier with fair-use limits for agents, tags, attributes, and segments. BotSailor offers a free plan with an AI agent, visual flow builder, and omnichannel shared inbox, with limits of 200 subscribers and 200K AI tokens per month. Clickatell SMS API suits teams seeking prepaid outgoing SMS through an API, with message charges varying by destination and type. Gupshup is a paid messaging option with a standard 0.001 USD per-message fee and WhatsApp fees billed at actuals. Landbot has a free web plan capped at 100 chats per month and one seat, while its Starter plan is €32 a month, billed annually. Interakt's Starter plan is $12 a month and focuses on Instagram, with unlimited agents in the owner role and unlimited Instagram DMs and comments. DoubleTick offers a team inbox with five included agents, bulk broadcasts, segmentation, and product and catalogue sharing. Respond.io's Starter plan is $79 a month, billed yearly, with five users, unlimited monthly active contacts, and 5,000 AI credits.

Readers comparing narrower categories can browse WhatsApp Business API Providers, Social Media Customer Service Software, WhatsApp Customer Service Software, Help desk software, or Live chat software.

Verdict

Choose Chatwoot if your team needs a shared inbox across many customer channels, a customizable knowledge base, and the option to self-host. Its free cloud tier is useful for a small team, but the 500-conversation cap is restrictive; look elsewhere if you need generous free volume, or expect to pay per agent for longer retention, voice, AI, and enterprise controls.