Chatwoot
Customer Support · chatwoot.com
Chatwoot is an open source, self-hostable customer support platform that consolidates live chat, email, social and messaging channels into a shared agent inbox with reporting and AI assistance.
Switching to Help Scout saves $228 / year and covers 40% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Chatwoot alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 5 cheaper alternatives · vs Chatwoot Startups at $19/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Chatwoot’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
Chatwoot costs $19/mo on the Startups plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 5 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 0 of them cover at least 75% of the 10 compared capabilities. Chatwoot's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: App integrations, Workflow automation, SAML single sign-on, Compliance exports & audit logs, Self-hosted deployment, AI search & summaries, CSAT surveys, Canned responses / macros, SLA management | 10% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $216 / year 95% cheaper |
Which Chatwoot alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Help Scout — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 40%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 10%
- Need SAML single sign-on?
- Tidio — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need omnichannel inbox, CSAT surveys, canned responses / macros or SLA management?
- Help Scout — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Chatwoot has that the top alternatives lack.
- App integrations — Connect other apps and tools into the chat.Missing from Help Scout, Tidio, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- Workflow automation — Automate routine steps directly within chat.Missing from Help Scout, Tidio, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- SAML single sign-on — Sign in through your company's SAML single sign-on.Missing from Help Scout, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- Compliance exports & audit logs — Export message history and audit logs for compliance.Missing from Help Scout, Tidio, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- Self-hosted deployment — Run the chat platform on your own infrastructure.Missing from Help Scout, Tidio, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- AI search & summaries — Search and summarize conversations with an AI assistant.Missing from Help Scout, Tidio, Crisp, Zoho Desk.
- Canned responses / macros — Reuse saved reply templates for common questions.Missing from Zoho Desk.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Tidio, Crisp.
Feature comparison
Chatwoot vs the top alternatives, on the 10 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Chatwoot | Help Scout | Tidio | Crisp | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App integrations from Hacker | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Workflow automation from Business | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| SAML single sign-on from Enterprise | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Compliance exports & audit logs from Enterprise | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Self-hosted deployment | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI search & summaries from Startups | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel inbox | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSAT surveys | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Canned responses / macros | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| SLA management | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $19/mo Startups | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Chatwoot covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ App integrations — from Hacker
- ✓ Workflow automation — from Business
- ✓ SAML single sign-on — from Enterprise
- ✓ Compliance exports & audit logs — from Enterprise
- ✓ Self-hosted deployment
- ✓ AI search & summaries — from Startups
- ✓ Omnichannel inbox
- ✓ CSAT surveys
- ✓ Canned responses / macros
- ✓ SLA management
- ✗ Guest & external collaboration
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://chatwoot.com/pricing (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
Frequently asked
How much does Chatwoot cost?
Chatwoot's Startups plan costs $19/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Chatwoot alternative?
Yes. Help Scout has a free plan that covers 40% of the 10 capabilities we compared against Chatwoot.
What is the cheapest Chatwoot alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Help Scout is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
Does Chatwoot have a free plan?
Yes. Chatwoot's free plan is limited to 2 seats.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.