Chatwoot
Open source support inbox for site chat, email, WhatsApp and social channels, in the cloud or on your own server.
- Price
- Startups at $19/agent/month in the cloud, with all channels.
- Free plan
- Yes
- Setup
- A little code
- Up and running
- Cloud site chat in 15 minutes; self-hosting takes a day for someone used to servers; WhatsApp adds Meta's verification on top.
What Chatwoot is for
Chatwoot is an open source support inbox: site chat, email, WhatsApp and Instagram land in one place your team shares. You can use it in their cloud, paying per agent, or install it on your own server for free and keep the data with you.
How it plugs into your product
- 1Pick cloud (sign up) or self-hosted (install with Docker on a server with at least 2 CPUs and 4 GB of RAM).
- 2Paste the chat widget script on your site and invite your agents.
- 3For WhatsApp, create a Meta app with the WhatsApp Cloud API, then paste the number ID and a permanent token into Chatwoot.
- 4Wait for Meta to verify your business and approve templates before messaging customers who haven't written first.
Does it fit your idea?
It fits if
- A SaaS that wants the official WhatsApp API in a shared inbox, paying Meta's rate with no markup per message.
- A team with a developer who already runs servers and wants to avoid per-agent fees as support grows.
- A health or finance product that needs customer conversations stored on its own infrastructure.
Look elsewhere if
- Nobody on the team wants to run servers and you'd still need WhatsApp: Crisp handles it without infrastructure.
- You want a polished AI agent resolving most tickets: Intercom's Fin goes further.
- You only need a chat bubble for a landing page: a free widget from Crisp does it with less setup.
What people only find out after building
Read this before you build on it. Each item links to the official page that says so.
The free cloud plan (Hacker) only has site chat, 500 conversations a month and 30 days of history. WhatsApp starts at $19 per agent.
Official source: chatwoot.comSelf-hosting means running PostgreSQL and Redis on a server with at least 4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended), and updates on a Linux VM are manual.
Official source: developers.chatwoot.comThe free self-hosted Community edition has no Captain AI, roles and permissions or custom branding; those cost $19 per agent per month.
Official source: chatwoot.comOn self-hosted, WhatsApp's quick signup only works after an admin sets up your own Meta app credentials; otherwise you connect each number by hand.
Official source: developers.chatwoot.com
Price
Startups at $19/agent/month in the cloud, with all channels.
Cloud Hacker plan free for 2 agents and 500 conversations/month (site chat only); self-hosted Community edition free.
- Free tier
- 2 agents, 500 conversations/month
- First paid plan
- $19/agent/month
- Channels
- Chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram
Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing
What it costs in practice
SaaS with 3 agents on the cloud Startups plan: 3 × $19 = $57/month, plus Meta's WhatsApp rate. Self-hosted Community: $0 in licenses, you pay only the server and Meta. Estimated.
Estimate from the official price. Check it before you decide.
At a glance
- Free plan: yes
- Open source: yes
“Not stated” means the official site doesn’t say.
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