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Chatwoot

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Chatwoot is an AI-powered, open-source customer support platform for managing conversations across channels like live chat, email, WhatsApp, and social messaging. It can be self-hosted or used as a cloud service and includes a shared inbox, Help Center, and AI-assisted agent tools.

Chatwoot preview

Overview

Chatwoot is an AI-powered, open-source customer support platform for teams that want to manage customer conversations in one place. It supports both self-hosted deployment on your own infrastructure and a cloud option, so organizations can choose how they want to run the system.

The product combines an omnichannel support desk, a Help Center, and the Captain AI assistant. The support desk is built to bring together live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels, while Captain helps with reply suggestions, thread summaries, translations, and automated answers based on help-center content, chats, and FAQs.

Core features

Omnichannel shared inbox

Bring chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels into one collaborative inbox so agents can see the full conversation history in a single place.

AI-assisted responses

Use Captain to draft replies, summarize long threads, suggest help-center articles, translate messages, and answer common questions with content from help articles, chats, and FAQs.

Smart routing and SLAs

Assign conversations by language, plan, sentiment, or region and use SLA timers and escalation paths to keep ownership clear.

Team collaboration tools

Work together with private notes, @mentions, shared context, and keyboard shortcuts to resolve complex issues without leaving the inbox.

Help Center and knowledge base

Offer a branded self-service experience with a flexible Help Center, multiple portals, custom domains, and AI-powered search.

API and extensibility

Extend the platform with developer APIs and an API channel for custom support workflows and integrations.

Common use cases

  • Centralize omnichannel support

    Unify customer messages from live chat, email, WhatsApp, and social channels in one inbox so agents can work from a single timeline instead of switching tools.

  • Speed up agent replies

    Use Captain to draft responses, summarize long conversations, translate messages, and suggest help-center content when agents need to respond faster.

  • Manage support operations

    Route conversations to the right people based on language, region, sentiment, or account needs and keep teams accountable with SLAs and escalation paths.

  • Offer self-service help

    Publish self-service content through a branded Help Center with portals and AI-powered search so customers can find answers without opening a ticket.

  • Support custom integrations

    Build custom support flows with the API or API channel when a standard inbox setup is not enough for a specific workflow.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Supports both cloud and self-hosted deployment.
  • Combines multiple support channels into a single shared inbox.
  • Includes AI assistance for replies, summaries, translations, and common questions.
  • Adds team workflow features such as private notes, @mentions, SLAs, and auto-assignment.
  • Includes a Help Center with multiple portals and AI-powered search.

Cons

  • The pricing and feature pages show meaningful differences between plans, so some capabilities are reserved for higher tiers.
  • The source material does not provide detailed implementation or onboarding specifics for every channel and integration.

FAQ

What is Chatwoot?

Chatwoot is an AI-powered, open-source customer support platform that can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure or used through Chatwoot Cloud. It is designed to manage conversations across channels such as live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and more.

Does Chatwoot offer a free plan or trial?

The source shows a 15-day free trial on the pricing page. Chatwoot also offers a free Hacker plan for up to 2 agents, with paid plans for larger teams.

How does the support desk workflow work?

Chatwoot’s support desk brings chat, email, WhatsApp, and social messages into a shared inbox. The product page also describes smart routing, AI-assisted replies, private notes, @mentions, and shared context for team collaboration.

Can Chatwoot be self-hosted?

The product is available as a cloud service or as a self-hosted deployment. The pricing pages separate cloud plans from self-hosted plans, and the home page emphasizes self-host or cloud options.

Quick Facts

Category
Customer support platform
Deployment
Cloud or self-hosted
Primary users
Support teams and customer-facing teams
Source domain
chatwoot.com
Pricing
Free trial plus free and paid plans
Notable workflow
Shared inbox with AI assistance and routing