# Chatwoot

> Chatwoot is a free, open-source app you can self-host in the team chat category. Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk). It has 37,569 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and ships a Docker image. It is a self-hosted alternative to Zendesk, Intercom and Freshdesk.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot |
| Website | https://www.chatwoot.com/ |
| GitHub stars | 37,569 |
| Forks | 9,143 |
| Open issues | 1,062 |
| License | MIT |
| License type | Open source |
| Language | Ruby |
| Docker image | Yes |
| Platforms | Ruby, Docker, K8S |
| Categories | Team Chat |
| Commits, last 12 months | 1,379 |
| Last commit | Oct 6, 2026 |
| Latest release | v4.18.0 (Sep 18, 2026) |
| Created | Aug 14, 2019 |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained |
| Archived | No |

Topics: vuejs, intercom, zendesk, rails, design, sass, actioncable, opensource, livechat, javascript

## Install

Chatwoot ships a Docker image; follow the README at https://github.com/chatwoot/chatwoot for the image name and environment variables.

Need it installed for you? [appsgit installation help](https://appsgit.com/services/install): a fixed quote by email, single app installs from $79.

## Chatwoot replaces

- [Zendesk alternatives](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/zendesk): A customer support suite with ticketing, help center and live chat.
- [Intercom alternatives](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/intercom): A customer messaging platform for live chat, support and onboarding.
- [Freshdesk alternatives](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/freshdesk): Freshworks' customer support software with ticketing, a help center and an omnichannel inbox.

## Comparisons

- [Chatwoot vs Zammad](https://appsgit.com/compare/chatwoot-vs-zammad): Pick Chatwoot for omnichannel live chat and social messaging support with mobile apps; pick Zammad for classic email-centred ticketing with SLAs, a knowledge base and reporting.

## Similar apps in Team Chat

- [Rocket.Chat](https://appsgit.com/apps/rocket-chat): Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack). (46,213 stars, MIT, TypeScript, Docker)
- [Novu](https://appsgit.com/apps/novu): Notification infrastructure for developers. (40,118 stars, MIT, TypeScript, Docker)
- [Mattermost](https://appsgit.com/apps/mattermost): Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack). (39,271 stars, AGPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker)
- [ntfy](https://appsgit.com/apps/ntfy): Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify. (34,644 stars, Apache-2.0, Go, Docker)
- [Zulip](https://appsgit.com/apps/zulip): Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application. (25,998 stars, Apache-2.0, Python)
- [SimpleX Chat](https://appsgit.com/apps/simplex-chat): The most private and secure chat and applications platform - now with double ratchet E2E encryption. (19,521 stars, AGPL-3.0, Haskell)
- [Apprise](https://appsgit.com/apps/apprise): Apprise allows you to send a notification to almost all of the most popular notification services available to us today such as: Telegram, Discord, Slack, Amazon SNS, Gotify, etc. (17,531 stars, BSD-2-Clause, Python, Docker)
- [Gotify](https://appsgit.com/apps/gotify): Notification server with Android and CLI clients (alternative to PushBullet). (16,036 stars, MIT, Go, Docker)

---

Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/apps/chatwoot
Source: appsgit (https://appsgit.com), the app store for github. Data from the GitHub API, refreshed nightly.
Machine access: JSON API https://appsgit.com/api/v1/apps (OpenAPI: https://appsgit.com/openapi.json), MCP server https://mcp.appsgit.com/mcp, full index https://appsgit.com/llms-full.txt.