Chatwoot vs Freshdesk

Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform that combines an omnichannel inbox with a knowledge base. The inbox brings website chat, email, WhatsApp, social and messaging services, voice, SMS, and API conversations together. Teams can use private notes, assignments, labels, canned replies, mentions, and activity logs to coordinate support. Captain, its built-in AI agent, can answer customer questions, suggest replies, summarize conversations, and draw on help-center content. The customizable knowledge base supports multiple portals, multilingual content, and AI-powered search. APIs, webhooks, and bot connections provide options for custom workflows, and Chatwoot can run in the cloud or on a customer’s own infrastructure. Its free Hacker plan allows up to two agents and 500 conversations per month, with 30-day data retention. Cloud plans start at $19 a month per agent, billed annually. Community Edition is free to self-host but does not include Captain AI, voice calls, or SSO/SAML. Chatwoot states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified and GDPR compliant.

Freshdesk is customer service software for organizing support requests across email, web forms, chat, social networks, and messaging channels. Its shared inbox brings conversations together, while ticket automation, case management, SLA management, and workflow actions support service teams. Customers can use a help center and portal, and service analytics can be customized. Freshdesk supports multiple languages, and Freddy AI Copilot translates conversations and replies in 60+ languages. Teams can set role-based permissions; the Enterprise plan adds audit logs, allowed domains, and IP whitelisting. Authentication includes SAML single sign-on and JWT, with API access available. The Free program covers 1–2 agents for six months. Paid plans start at $19 per agent per month, billed annually, and a 14-day trial is offered. The first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions are included; additional sessions cost $49 per 100.