Chatwoot

What it is

Chatwoot pulls customer conversations into one shared inbox: website live chat on every plan, plus email, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram and Line, with voice on Business and above. Instead of five apps with five notification badges, your team works a single queue.

Captain AI is the automated layer, with monthly credits included per plan and extra credits at $20 per 1,000. Teams and automation rules arrive on Business, and SSO and audit logs on Enterprise. There is also a self-hosted route for organizations that want the software on their own infrastructure.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

It fits small teams whose customers message on several channels, particularly outside the English-speaking Shopify world where WhatsApp and Telegram carry real volume. The free Hacker plan covers up to 2 agents, which is enough for a founder plus one to run proper support.

It is a weaker fit for teams needing formal helpdesk structure: SLA management, deep ticketing workflows and enterprise reporting are Zendesk territory. And if per-seat pricing is the problem you are solving, Crisp prices per workspace instead, which is a different shape entirely.

Pricing

Chatwoot is freemium, billed annually per agent. Hacker is $0 per agent per month for up to 2 agents. Startups is $19, Business is $39 and Enterprise is $99 per agent per month. Captain AI credits are included per plan, 300 on Startups, 500 on Business and 800 on Enterprise, with additional credits at $20 per 1,000.

Check data retention as well as price: it runs from 30 days on Hacker to 3 years on Enterprise, and a support history that expires is a limitation you feel later rather than at signup.

Set it up

Official guide: Lesson 1: Your first Chatwoot conversation

1. Create a Chatwoot account on the Hacker plan, which costs $0 per agent per month for up to 2 agents (an agent is a person who answers customers). Use a business email address, because Chatwoot asks for one. These steps use Chatwoot Cloud, not the self-hosted version. Step 4 needs a site whose page code you can edit. WordPress sites need a different route, which these steps do not cover. Your account is now ready.

1. Go to Settings, then Inboxes, then Add Inbox. An inbox is the place where messages from one channel arrive, and a channel is a way customers reach you. Click the "Website" icon in the channel grid. You now see a form for your website chat.

1. Fill in "Website Name", "Website Domain", "Widget Color" and "Welcome Heading & Tagline". The widget is the small chat window that appears on your site. If you work alone, choose yourself as the teammate who can reply in this inbox, then create the inbox. Chatwoot now gives you a code snippet for your site.

1. Copy the code snippet and paste it into your site's page code, either inside the head section or just before the closing body tag. A snippet is a short piece of code. Reload your site. You now see a chat bubble.

1. Click the chat bubble on your site, type a message and send it, as a customer would. Your message is now in your Chatwoot inbox.

1. In your Chatwoot dashboard, open the new conversation at the top of the list, which has an unread badge. Type your reply in the chat box and send it. You now see your reply in the conversation.

1. Click "Resolve" at the top of the conversation to close it. A customer who writes again reopens it by itself. The conversation now moves to Resolved.

When this works, a customer can message you from your website and you answer from one dashboard.

Strengths and limitations

The strength is channel coverage plus an escape route. Many channels in one inbox at $19 per agent per month is competitive, and the self-hosted option means you are not permanently dependent on the vendor's pricing or data location.

The limitations are per-agent pricing and retention. Costs scale with team size in a way flat-priced competitors avoid, AI credits are a second meter, and 30-day retention on the free plan makes it unsuitable as a record. Self-hosting removes the licence cost and replaces it with maintenance, which is a trade rather than a saving.