Shutdown
Jan 2017The original Chatwoot startup shut down by the end of 2017 before the project was revived and open-sourced in 2019.
SourceThe modern, open source, self-hosted AI customer support platform
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Jul 29, 2026
Overview
Chatwoot is an open-source, AI-powered customer support platform with cloud and self-hosted options, positioned as a privacy-focused alternative to Intercom and Zendesk.
Primary product
AI-powered open-source omnichannel customer support platform
Founded
2020
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Team size
11-50
Work style
Remote
Industry
Software Development
Sub-industry
Open-source customer support software
Offices
United States
India
United Arab Emirates
Business model
cloud SaaS subscriptions
self-hosted subscriptions/licenses
open-source community edition
paid enterprise support
usage-based AI credits
Funding
People & investors
Leadership
Co-Founder & CEO
Co-Founder
Head of Engineering
Lead Product Engineer
Work & culture
Remote-first and asynchronous; the handbook says Chatwoot prefers written communication, GitHub issues and pull requests, Notion, and Discord/public channels over frequent calls or DMs.
Work style
Remote
Product & market
Pricing
Tiered per-agent pricing for cloud plans; self-hosted community edition is free; premium/enterprise self-hosted tiers are paid; AI features use included credits with overages.
Differentiators
- —Open-source MIT-licensed community edition
- —Self-hosted or cloud deployment
- —Omnichannel inbox across chat, email, WhatsApp, and social channels
- —Captain AI for replies, summaries, translation, and custom tools
- —Privacy-focused alternative to proprietary help desks
- —Dual-license model for commercial sustainability
- —Large self-hosted install base
Technology
Ruby on Rails
Vue
JavaScript
TypeScript
PostgreSQL
Redis
Sidekiq
Docker
Kubernetes
Heroku
DigitalOcean
AWS
Swagger
RSpec
FactoryBot
OpenAI/GPT
Customers
FairDee
Ponea Health
Tegrus
Converso
15,000+ businesses
Competitors
Intercom
Zendesk
Freshdesk
Salesforce Service Cloud
Help Scout
Crisp
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
≈$0.87M ARR (2024 estimate)
Estimated monthly visits
604.9K
Traffic estimate as of Apr 2026
Signals & risks
Latest news
Chatwoot Blog · Jun 2026
Announced beta voice calls for Chatwoot Cloud and self-hosted users, including regular phone calls via Twilio and WhatsApp calls via WhatsApp Calling.
Chatwoot Blog · May 2026
Released UI and help-center improvements, including a broader chatlist layout, article translation, bulk actions, and several AI/help-center updates.
Chatwoot Blog · Apr 2026
Improved the article and reply editor, added a participating conversations view, and shipped assignment and Captain AI updates.
Chatwoot Blog · Mar 2026
Released updated assignment policies and mobile search improvements, plus multiple workflow and AI-related fixes.
Chatwoot Blog · Feb 2026
Moved Captain AI directly into the reply editor and replaced the earlier OpenAI-based setup with Chatwoot’s own backend.
Jobs and careers at Chatwoot
0 jobs at Chatwoot
No open positions
Check back later for new openings