Chatwoot

✓ Verified FOSSMIT

Top open-source alternative to Intercom

Open-source live-chat, email support, omni-channel desk. An alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud etc. 🔥💬

Tech StackRuby, Rails, Vue

Self-Host DifficultyMedium

License ModelMIT

GitHub Repositorychatwoot/chatwoot

Recommended VPS & Hardware Sizing

Estimated Hosting: $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode)

Min RAM:2 GB

Rec RAM:4 GB

Compute:2 vCPU

Disk Space:25 GB SSD

Chatwoot vs Intercom Comparison Matrix

Evaluation Criteria	Chatwoot (Open Source)	Intercom (Proprietary)
Support Agent Seats	Unlimited team agents for $0	$99+ / agent / month base paywall
Omnichannel Inboxes	Web chat, WhatsApp, Twitter, Email, Telegram	Requires separate add-on subscriptions
Customer Data Privacy	Full GDPR sovereignty on private database	Customer conversations hosted in US cloud

INTERACTIVE TCO MODELEstimated Rate: $69/user/mo

Financial Impact: Migrating from Intercom to Self-Hosted Chatwoot

Detailed Stack Calculator →

Active Team Members / Seats: 25 Users

5 Users (Early Startup)50 Users (Scaleup)200 Users (Enterprise Org)

Intercom (Cloud SaaS)Per-Seat Tax

$20,700per year ($1,725/mo)

3-Year Spend:$62,100

* Excludes enterprise SSO add-ons & usage overages

Chatwoot (Self-Hosted)Zero Per-Seat Fee

$120per year ($10/mo Linux VPS)

3-Year Compute:$360

* Commodity Hetzner / DigitalOcean compute instance

Cumulative 3-Year ROI+$61,740Net savings across 36 months (99% reduction)

Annual Free Cash:+$20,580/yr

Need C-Level Buy-In? Generate an instant ROI proposal memo to present to your CTO or CFO.

HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLES // SIDE-BY-SIDE AUDIT

Compare Chatwoot Head-to-Head

Custom Comparison Engine →

★ PRIMARY REPLACEMENTFOSS vs SaaS

Chatwootvs

Intercom

Comprehensive benchmark comparing Chatwoot against proprietary Intercom licensing and features.

View Full Battle Report→

CommunicationPEER BENCHMARK

Listmonkvs

Mailchimp

Self-Hosted High-Speed Newsletter Server vs $350+/Mo Mailchimp Tier

Inspect Comparison→

CommunicationPEER BENCHMARK

Novuvs

Twilio / Courier

Unified Notification Infrastructure (In-App, Push, Email, SMS) vs High Platform Fees

Inspect Comparison→

Core Capabilities & Features

✓Omnichannel Live Chat Widget

✓WhatsApp, Twitter, Email Channels

✓Canned Responses & Bots

✓Mobile Agent Apps

Self-Host Chatwoot with Docker Compose

Tweak configuration ports, secrets, and volumes live. Download or copy your ready-to-run container file:

1-Click Docker Compose Generator

Generate production-ready container definitions with customizable ports and volumes.

Select Open-Source Project:

ChatwootMIT

Open-source customer engagement suite and live chat alternative to Intercom

Difficulty: Medium37,735 ⭐

Configure Parameters

Web Inbox Port (PORT)

Domain URL (FRONTEND_URL)

docker-compose.chatwoot.yml

version: "3.8"
services:
  chatwoot:
    image: chatwoot/chatwoot:latest
    ports:
      - "${PORT:-3000}:3000"
    environment:
      SECRET_KEY_BASE: ${SECRET_KEY:-chatwoot_secret_base}
      FRONTEND_URL: "${FRONTEND_URL:-http://localhost:3000}"

Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Hosting Chatwoot

How do I self-host Chatwoot using Docker Compose?

You can deploy Chatwoot (chatwoot/chatwoot) on any Linux server by copying the docker-compose.yml template on this page, configuring your desired host port and persistent volume directory, and running 'docker compose up -d'.

How does Chatwoot compare to Intercom?

Chatwoot is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Intercom built with Ruby, Rails, Vue. Unlike Intercom ($39 - $99 / seat / month + $0.99 per AI bot answer), Chatwoot has zero per-user licensing fees and keeps 100% of your data on your own infrastructure.

What are the minimum VPS RAM and CPU requirements for Chatwoot?

For production self-hosting (Medium difficulty tier), we recommend at least 4 GB RAM (minimum 2 GB), 2 vCPU, and 25 GB SSD storage, which typically costs $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode).

Is Chatwoot free for commercial business use under the MIT license?

Yes. Distributed under the MIT license, Chatwoot can be self-hosted internally by businesses and engineering teams of any size without per-seat royalties.

README INTEGRATION // REPO EMBED

Embed Official Chatwoot Badge in GitHub README

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Live Preview:

Markdown Embed (GitHub / GitLab)

[![OSSMatrix Alternative](https://ossmatrix.com/api/badge/chatwoot)](https://ossmatrix.com/project/chatwoot)

HTML Embed (Docs / Landing Pages)

<a href="https://ossmatrix.com/project/chatwoot" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://ossmatrix.com/api/badge/chatwoot" alt="Chatwoot on OSSMatrix" /></a>

SIMILAR REPOSITORIES // PEER COMPARISON