OSSHunt

Checked 2026-10-21

Zendesk vs Chatwoot

Fit:

Migration notes

Shared support inbox and chat alternative. Community excludes voice, AI, agent capacity, SSO and SLA. Verify channel integrations and historical message import separately; no migration parity established.

Sources: www.chatwoot.com, www.chatwoot.com · checked 2026-10-21

ZendeskPaid incumbent

Entry priceUSD 19 / seat / month
Pricing modelper-seat, billed annual
OwnerInvestor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira

Support Team USD19 per agent/month billed yearly; omnichannel Suite Team starts USD55. Source

Zendesk plans reviewed
Support TeamentryUSD 228 / agent / yr
Suite ProfessionalpopularUSD 1,380 / agent / yr
Suite TeambusinessUSD 660 / agent / yr
Suite Enterprise + CopilotenterpriseQuote only

ChatwootOpen-source alternative

Fit for Zendesk
License
Paid-feature tier C
Self-host
Paid-feature limits7 noted
Chatwoot plans reviewed
Community Editionfree self-hosted coreFree
Businessvendor commercial cloudUSD 39 / agent / mo
Businessvendor commercial cloudUSD 39 / agent / mo
Enterprise Editionpaid self-host editionUSD 99 / agent / mo

What you may give up

  • Captain AI
  • Voice calls
  • Custom branding
  • Agent capacity management
  • Roles and permissions
  • SSO/SAML
  • SLA policies

Tier C: MIT applies to core outside enterprise/; enterprise/ separately licensed and not claimed OSI. Official self-hosted matrix gates voice, AI and capacity workflows as well as enterprise controls. License source

What running it takes

  • Ruby on Rails web application
  • Sidekiq workers
  • Postfix

Hover or focus an icon for its name. Dashed means not established; struck through means no; grouped icons are alternatives.

Production web+worker+PostgreSQL+Redis stack; native build needs Node24/pnpm10 for frontend assets. SMTP/local Postfix are mail alternatives; object storage optional. Infrastructure and staff time are not priced here; this page does not compare total cost.