Chatwoot vs tawk.to Comparison 2026
Chatwoot's free hosted tier covers 500 conversations a month with 30 days of history, or the whole thing self-hosted for free with no cap at all, since it is open source. tawk.to gives away its chat widget outright, with unlimited agents and no conversation cap or expiry at any tier, and earns instead from removing its badge at $29 a month, an AI bot called AI Assist from $29, and hired human agents at $1 an hour. Both can run a support inbox for nothing; the difference is what each charges for once more is needed.
Open-source inbox for every channel at once
Live chat that is free, with paid extras
At a glance
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Chatwoot | tawk.to | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $19 | Free |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Chatwoot
Open-source inbox for every channel at once
Chatwoot collects website chat, email, Instagram, WhatsApp and the rest into one queue, and it is open source, so the version you self-host costs nothing and keeps the conversation data on your own server. That is the reason most people arrive. The hosted plans are priced per agent for anybody who would rather not run it. Setting up the self-hosted route is a real infrastructure job and the docs do not pretend otherwise.
Our note
Be honest about whether you have somebody who will keep a self-hosted deployment patched, because the free version is only free if that person already exists. If not, the hosted tier at $19 an agent is competitive on its own terms and the open source part is a nice fallback rather than the plan.
Only on this side
- Covers community platforms
- Works with Instagram
- Works with Facebook
- Works with WhatsApp
tawk.to
Live chat that is free, with paid extras
Why people weigh these two
- tawk.to instead of Chatwoot
- tawk.to gives you free live chat with paid extras, matching Chatwoot's price appeal without the self-hosting work.
- Chatwoot instead of tawk.to
- Chatwoot is open source and pulls every channel, not just website chat, into one inbox from $19, for a team that wants to self-host rather than rent the widget.
Which one should you pick
Choose Chatwoot if a support team needs channels beyond live chat, an email inbox, Instagram and WhatsApp included, in one queue, and somebody able to run the self-hosted version for a genuinely unlimited free tier. The hosted route costs $19 a person a month billed annually if self-hosting is not realistic.
Choose tawk.to if a website chat widget with no conversation cap and no seat limit, ever, is the whole requirement. Keeping its badge visible costs nothing forever; removing it is $29 a month, the same price as its own AI Assist chatbot. The $1-an-hour hired human agent service is worth reading on its own, since nothing in Chatwoot's listing offers a person answering chats on your behalf.
Common questions
- Which free tier has a conversation cap?
- Chatwoot's hosted free tier does, at 500 conversations a month with 30 days of history. tawk.to's free chat widget has no conversation cap or seat limit at any volume, and does not expire.
- Can either be self-hosted?
- Chatwoot can, for free and with no cap, since it is open source. tawk.to's listing does not mention a self-hosted option; it is a hosted product.
- Which one sells human agents to answer chats for you?
- tawk.to does, at $1 an hour, a service unlike anything else in this category. Chatwoot's listing has no equivalent; every conversation is answered by your own team or self-hosted bot.
- What does each charge for once the free plan is not enough?
- Chatwoot's hosted plans run $19 a person a month billed annually and include Captain AI credits. tawk.to keeps the widget itself free forever and charges $29 a month to remove its badge or to start its AI Assist chatbot.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.