Chatwoot review
Open-source customer support inbox you can self-host for free, with AI behind a paid tier
Unpaid review. We currently earn nothing if you sign up for Chatwoot — links here go straight to the vendor. We review it anyway because it's the honest answer, and scores never depend on commissions — how we test.
ToolsGavel verdict
Chatwoot is the only tool in this guide you can run on your own servers for $0 forever under a real MIT license, and Captain's handoff toggle is one of the clearer AI-to-human escalation designs in the category. Free and self-hosted does not stretch to free AI, though: Captain only turns on once you pay $19/agent/mo, on Chatwoot Cloud or on a self-hosted Premium Support plan, and the review base (16 on G2, none on Trustpilot or Capterra) is thin next to the vendor's claim of 15,000+ customers.
Audited price: $19/mo month-to-month (advertised: $19/agent/mo (Startups)) — verified 2026-10-23.
Best for: Teams that want to own their support infrastructure on MIT-licensed, self-hosted software, and who understand that the free tier doesn't include the AI agent
What we liked
- Self-hosts for $0 forever under a real MIT license, with no agent cap and no server-vendor lock-in (chatwoot.com/pricing)
- Captain's Assistant has an explicit admin toggle for human handoff and escalates on its own once a question is past its confidence level (chatwoot.com/captain)
- 38,133 GitHub stars and 9,310 forks show developer adoption that goes beyond the vendor's own marketing copy (api.github.com)
- Cloud pricing is posted outright at $19/$39/$99 per agent, with no sales call required for the standard tiers (chatwoot.com/pricing)
What to watch
- The free self-hosted Community Edition ships with no Captain AI at all; turning AI on costs $19/agent/mo whether you pick Chatwoot Cloud or self-hosted Premium Support (chatwoot.com/pricing)
- Captain's automation is described as basic next to dedicated workflow tools, with no self-serve visual builder for multi-step flows (eesel.ai)
- Reviewers report agents showing as offline when they aren't and an interface that takes time to learn (G2)
- Review volume is thin for the vendor's claimed scale: 16 G2 reviews and no Trustpilot or Capterra listing against a 15,000+ customer claim (G2)
How much does Chatwoot really cost?
| Advertised price | $19/agent/mo (Startups) |
|---|---|
| Real monthly cost, billed annually | No flat rate published |
| Real monthly cost, month-to-month | $19/mo |
| The billing catch | No annual discount is published, it's $19/agent/mo either way, and the free self-hosted Community Edition has no AI; Captain only turns on at this same $19/agent/mo tier. |
| Permanent free tier | Yes |
| Price last verified | 2026-10-23, against the live pricing page at chatwoot.com |
Model seats and billing cycles for Chatwoot in the true-cost calculator, or see every audited price in the Pricing Gap Index.
Price watch
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Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform covering live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and voice from one shared inbox. The company was founded in 2017 and is backed by Y Combinator and Goat Capital. Its code is MIT-licensed, so a business can run the Community Edition on its own servers for $0 forever, or pay Chatwoot to host it instead. Captain, its AI agent, answers from your help-center content and escalates when it’s stuck, but it isn’t part of that free self-hosted tier, a distinction worth getting straight before picking Chatwoot for its AI. G2 rates it 4.5 out of 5 from 16 reviews as of October 2026, a thin sample next to the vendor’s claim of 15,000+ businesses.
What Chatwoot is for
Chatwoot runs a shared inbox that routes live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, plus voice on higher tiers, to one team view, with automations, reports, and role-based permissions underneath. Captain adds four pieces on top of that inbox. Assistant answers from your help-center content and hands off to a human once it’s past its confidence level, with an explicit “allow handoff to human agents” toggle an admin can switch off if they’d rather Captain keep trying instead. Co-Pilot drafts and translates replies for agents rather than talking to customers directly. Smart FAQs flags gaps in the knowledge base. Memories carries context on a customer across separate conversations. The project backs this up with real open-source traction: 38,133 GitHub stars and 9,310 forks as of October 2026, per Chatwoot’s own GitHub repository.
Cloud versus self-hosted: two separate price tracks
| Track | Plan | Price | Agents / conversations | AI included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud | Hacker | $0/agent/mo | Up to 2 agents, 500 conv/mo, live chat only | No |
| Cloud | Startups | $19/agent/mo | Unlimited agents, unlimited conv (fair use) | Yes, 300 Captain credits/mo |
| Cloud | Business | $39/agent/mo | Unlimited agents, unlimited conv (fair use), adds voice | Yes, 500 Captain credits/mo |
| Cloud | Enterprise | $99/agent/mo | Unlimited agents, unlimited conv (fair use), adds SSO/SAML, audit logs | Yes, 800 Captain credits/mo |
| Self-hosted | Community Edition | $0 forever (MIT) | Unlimited agents, unlimited conv | No |
| Self-hosted | Premium Support | $19/agent/mo | Unlimited agents, unlimited conv, adds voice, branding, roles | Yes |
Extra Captain credits beyond any plan’s monthly allowance cost $20 per 1,000, on cloud or self-hosted Premium Support alike.
Captain AI, and the catch
The Community Edition is a complete support inbox for $0 forever: shared inbox, live chat, email, WhatsApp, social channels, automations, and reports, with no agent cap and no conversation cap. It ships with zero AI. Turning Captain on costs $19/agent/mo either way, on Chatwoot Cloud’s Startups plan or on the self-hosted Premium Support tier. Third-party reviewer eesel.ai describes Captain’s automation as basic next to dedicated workflow tools once it’s running: no self-serve visual builder for multi-step flows, only the four features above.
Running it yourself
Self-hosting under MIT means Chatwoot can’t change the license underneath an installed instance or force a migration to its cloud. It also means the business running it owns the maintenance: installing, securing, upgrading, and backing up the server falls on whoever deploys it, since Chatwoot itself describes self-hosting as free to license, not free to run. Founded in 2017 with backing from Y Combinator and Goat Capital, Chatwoot has kept the Community Edition open rather than shrinking it into a crippled trial, which is the main reason it earns the self-hosted badge in this category.
What users say in reviews
Review volume is the weak point. 
G2 shows 4.5 out of 5 from 16 reviews, and 
Product Hunt shows 4.67 from 6; 
Trustpilot has no reviews on file, and Chatwoot doesn’t appear on 
Capterra at all. That’s a thin sample set against a vendor claim of 15,000+ businesses. The reviews that do exist point to a short, consistent list: agents sometimes show as offline when they’re not, the interface takes time to learn for new users, Captain’s automation stays basic next to dedicated tools, and a minority of accounts report mobile notification delays during traffic spikes or setup friction connecting WhatsApp the first time.
Who should buy it
Buy Chatwoot if owning your support infrastructure matters more than having the deepest AI out of the box, and you have someone who can install and maintain a server. Pair that free self-hosted inbox with a human team first, then add Captain later at $19/agent/mo once you know you need it. Skip it if you want AI that takes real action inside other systems like Salesforce or Stripe: Chatbase goes further there. Skip it too if WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger need to work from day one without touching a paid tier: Watermelon bundles those into its cheapest plan. And if the goal is live chat running this afternoon with no server to manage, Tidio is the faster on-ramp. The full lineup, including how each one meters its AI, is in Best AI Customer Support Agents for Small Businesses.
Pricing note: Chatwoot splits into two separate pricing tracks: cloud, hosted by Chatwoot, and self-hosted, run on your own servers. On Chatwoot Cloud, Hacker costs $0/agent/mo for up to 2 agents, 500 conversations a month, live chat only, and 30-day data retention, with no AI. Startups runs $19/agent/mo for unlimited agents, unlimited conversations under a fair-use policy, every channel, and 300 Captain AI credits a month. Business, the plan Chatwoot badges as most popular, is $39/agent/mo and adds the voice channel plus 500 AI credits a month. Enterprise is $99/agent/mo with SSO/SAML, audit logs, and 800 AI credits a month. Extra Captain credits beyond any plan's monthly allowance cost $20 per 1,000. On your own infrastructure, the Community Edition costs $0 forever under an MIT license: unlimited agents, unlimited conversations, live chat, email, WhatsApp, and social channels, with no Captain AI, no voice, no custom branding, and no SSO. Adding Captain AI, voice, and those enterprise features to a self-hosted instance requires the Premium Support tier, also $19/agent/mo. A self-hosted business that wants Chatwoot's AI agent pays the same $19/agent/mo a cloud customer would.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chatwoot free?
Yes, in two different ways that work differently. The self-hosted Community Edition costs $0 forever under an MIT license, with no agent cap, no conversation cap, and no card required; you need a server to run it on. Chatwoot Cloud also has a free Hacker plan, but that one stops at 2 agents, 500 conversations a month, and live chat only. Neither free option includes Captain, the AI agent.
Does Chatwoot's free plan include AI?
No. Captain is not part of the free self-hosted Community Edition or the free Hacker cloud plan. Turning it on costs $19/agent/mo, either on Chatwoot Cloud's Startups tier or on the self-hosted Premium Support tier. That's the detail most buyers miss when they read 'free and self-hosted' and assume AI comes bundled in.
What does Captain do?
Captain bundles four pieces. Assistant answers customer questions from your help-center content and hands off to a human once it's stuck or unsure. Co-Pilot drafts and translates replies for your agents instead of talking to customers directly. Smart FAQs flags gaps in your knowledge base. Memories carries context on a customer across separate conversations. It's metered: 300 credits a month on Startups, 500 on Business, 800 on Enterprise, with extra credits at $20 per 1,000.
Is Chatwoot open source?
Yes, under the MIT license, a permissive license rather than a restrictive open-core model. The project has 38,133 GitHub stars and 9,310 forks as of October 2026, and a business can run the Community Edition on its own servers forever without paying Chatwoot a cent. You're still responsible for installing, securing, upgrading, and backing up the instance yourself.
How does Chatwoot compare to Chatbase, Watermelon, or Tidio?
Chatwoot is the only one of the four that runs on your own servers for free. Chatbase goes deeper on AI that takes action, like refunds and bookings. Watermelon bundles WhatsApp and social channels into its cheapest paid plan. Tidio sets up the fastest. See the full breakdown in Best AI Customer Support Agents for Small Businesses.
Bottom line
Chatwoot is the only tool in this guide you can run on your own servers for $0 forever under a real MIT license, and Captain's handoff toggle is one of the clearer AI-to-human escalation designs in the category. Free and self-hosted does not stretch to free AI, though: Captain only turns on once you pay $19/agent/mo, on Chatwoot Cloud or on a self-hosted Premium Support plan, and the review base (16 on G2, none on Trustpilot or Capterra) is thin next to the vendor's claim of 15,000+ customers.
Alternatives in AI Customer Support Software
No-code AI support agent that bundles WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger into its cheapest paid plan
Live chat and AI chatbots that capture leads
AI help desk for software teams that turns bug reports into reviewed pull requests, no free plan