---
title: Chatwoot (open source)
description: Open-source omnichannel support desk built as a self-hostable alternative to Intercom and Zendesk, with live chat, email, WhatsApp, and a built-in AI
canonical: "https://10xgtm.ai/oss/chatwoot"
type: open-source-review
license: MIT (Expat) core; enterprise/ files commercial
repo: "https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot"
language: Ruby
---

# Chatwoot

Open-source omnichannel support desk built as a self-hostable alternative to Intercom and Zendesk, with live chat, email, WhatsApp, and a built-in AI agent.

The most adopted open-source help desk by a wide margin, **MIT at the core** so the self-hosted build carries no seat or conversation caps, and it folds live chat, email, and every social channel into one inbox. The catches: it is a **hungry Rails, Sidekiq, Postgres, and Redis stack** that is real ops work to run and upgrade, and the features enterprises reach for, **SSO, audit logs, and custom roles**, sit behind the commercial enterprise edition or the paid cloud.

## Project facts

- **License:** MIT (Expat) core; enterprise/ files commercial
- **Repo:** https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot
- **Stars:** 36.3k
- **Language:** Ruby

## What it does

- Unifies live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, SMS, and Line into one shared agent inbox, so every channel lands on a single thread with full customer context
- Drops an embeddable website chat widget onto your site with one script tag, plus pre-chat forms, canned responses, labels, and private notes for internal team discussion
- Ships Captain, a built-in AI agent that learns from your help center and past conversations to draft or auto-answer routine queries
- Publishes a help center portal of articles and FAQs, with SEO-friendly public pages that deflect repeat tickets
- Routes and batches work with automation rules, auto-assignment, teams, business hours, and one-click macros
- Reports on conversations, agents, inboxes, labels, and CSAT, and exposes a full REST API plus webhooks for custom integrations

## What it can't do

- Give you SSO, SAML, audit logs, and custom agent roles on the free build; those live in the commercial enterprise edition or the paid cloud
- Run itself; self-hosting is a real Rails, Sidekiq, Postgres, and Redis deployment you patch, back up, and monitor
- Sip resources; the stack is memory-hungry and a 2 GB box struggles, with 4 GB the practical floor
- Handle email deliverability, WhatsApp Business API approval, and channel credentials for you; that setup and its upkeep stay yours
- Match Intercom or Zendesk on the deepest reporting, SLAs, and mature integrations without extra configuration and paid tiers

---
Full review: https://10xgtm.ai/oss/chatwoot