Chatwoot
Chatwoot
Open source, self-hostable and covers the common channels in one inbox; Captain AI and some advanced features need a paid plan, and there is no built-in Zalo channel.
Open-source customer support platform: brings website chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and email into one shared inbox, with an AI agent and a help center.
Overview
Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform (MIT license). Messages from your website chat widget, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, email (Gmail, Outlook or any IMAP/SMTP inbox) and an API channel land in one shared inbox, so the whole team can reply, label, assign and see each customer's history.
It comes with Captain, an AI agent that learns from your help center, PDFs and website to answer routine questions and hand off to a person when needed; Copilot, which drafts replies for agents to review; a multi-portal Help Center with custom domains; and macros and automation rules for repetitive work.
You can use the cloud version run by Chatwoot or host it yourself with Docker, Kubernetes (Helm) or one-click deploys on DigitalOcean and Heroku. The self-hosted Community edition is free, but some features such as Captain AI, voice calls, custom branding and fine-grained roles are in paid plans.
Highlights
Shared omnichannel inbox
Website, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, email and API channels answered in one place by the whole team.
Open source and self-hostable
MIT licensed and runs on your own server with Docker, so customer data stays with you.
Captain and Copilot AI
Answers routine questions from your docs on its own, or drafts replies for agents to review and send.
Help Center
Guides and FAQ pages on your own domain, with AI-powered search.
What it's for
One inbox for every channel
A shop selling through its website, Facebook and Instagram answers every channel in one inbox and misses nothing.
Split work across the support team
Labels, assignment and private notes let several agents handle one customer without overlap.
Automate repeated questions
Use Captain or macros for opening hours, shipping fees and returns, then hand off to a person for deeper advice.
Connect to your stack
Use the API channel and webhooks to push conversations into your CRM or an n8n workflow.
How to use it
- 1
Choose cloud or self-hosted
Sign up for the cloud version on chatwoot.com to start right away, or self-host with Docker to keep data on your own server.
$https://www.chatwoot.com - 2
Install Docker on a VPS
The official guide asks for Docker 20.10.10 and Docker Compose v2.14.1 or newer.
$curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sudo sh get-docker.sh - 3
Download the config files
Get the sample environment file and the production docker-compose file.
$wget -O .env https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chatwoot/chatwoot/develop/.env.example && wget -O docker-compose.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chatwoot/chatwoot/develop/docker-compose.production.yaml - 4
Set database passwords
Edit .env to set the Redis and Postgres passwords, then put the same Postgres password in docker-compose.yaml.
- 5
Prepare and start
Prepare the database, then start the services; the app listens on port 3000.
$docker compose run --rm rails bundle exec rails db:chatwoot_prepare && docker compose up -d - 6
Add a domain and channels
Put Nginx in front as an HTTPS reverse proxy, create the admin account, then add inboxes: website chat, email, Messenger, WhatsApp…
Real-world example
A cosmetics shop sells through its website, Facebook and Instagram, with 3 staff answering messages. With Chatwoot every message lands in one shared inbox: questions about shipping and returns get a ready-made macro reply, skin-care questions are labelled and assigned to the specialist, and the manager checks response-time reports to see which shift is overloaded.
Tips & notes
Start on the free plan
The cloud Hacker plan gives 2 agents and 500 conversations a month, enough to test your workflow before self-hosting.
Check features per plan
Self-hosted Community is free but lacks Captain AI, voice calls and fine-grained roles; compare with the paid plans if you need them.
No built-in Zalo channel
Zalo is not in the official channel list; to bring in a Zalo OA you have to connect it through the API channel.
Write your help center first
Captain answers better once it has clear guides and FAQs to learn from.
FAQ
Is Chatwoot free?
Yes. The self-hosted Community edition is free, and the cloud has a free Hacker plan for up to 2 agents and 500 conversations a month. Other plans are priced per agent per month.
What license does Chatwoot use?
The GitHub repository is released under the MIT License.
Which channels does Chatwoot support?
Website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, email (Gmail, Outlook, IMAP/SMTP), an API channel, and voice via Twilio Voice and WhatsApp calling.
Can it connect to Zalo?
Chatwoot has no built-in Zalo channel; you can connect it yourself through the API channel if someone builds the integration.
Useful links
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