Helpin vs Chatwoot at a glance
Chatwoot and Helpin are both open-source customer support platforms you can run on your own servers. They differ in license, in what the free edition includes, and in how far each goes beyond the inbox.
Chatwoot is a mature, widely used support inbox with a long list of channels, from WhatsApp to LINE and voice. Its core is MIT-licensed, and features such as the Captain AI agent, SSO and SLAs need a paid enterprise edition, even when self-hosted.
Helpin is a newer platform under AGPL-3.0 that connects support to projects, CRM, meetings and docs. Its Community edition, currently a 0.1 beta, includes the AI agents at no cost.
This guide compares Helpin and Chatwoot feature by feature, with list prices checked in September 2026, so you can decide which fits the way your team works.
- Chatwoot is built around channels: one inbox for every way customers reach you, backed by a large open-source community.
- Helpin is built around the customer history: support, projects, CRM and meetings in one place, with agents working across them.
Here’s how the two compare across the capabilities teams ask about most. A check means included, a dash means partly or on some plans, and a cross means not available.
| Capability |  HelpinCloud or self-hosted | ChatwootOpen-source support |
|---|---|---|
| Open source and pricing | ||
| License | AGPL-3.0 for every product feature | MIT core, with a separate paid enterprise edition |
| Self-hosted AI agent | Included; connect your own AI provider | Captain needs a paid plan from $19 an agent |
| Cloud price model | Per workspace | Per agent: $19, $39 or $99 a month |
| Cloud AI | AI usage allowance included in every Cloud plan | Captain credits, then $20 per 1,000 |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 15 days |
| Support | ||
| Channels | Web chat and email | Chat, email, WhatsApp, social, Telegram, LINE, SMS, voice |
| Help center | Custom domain, AI answers, API reference | Built in, with search and locales |
| Widget SDKs | Web: JavaScript, React, Next.js, Vue | Web, React Native, Flutter |
| Support reporting | Knowledge-gap and project reports | Agent, team, inbox and CSAT reports |
| SLA policies and SSO | Enterprise plan | |
| Beyond support | ||
| Project management | Roadmaps, sprints, objectives, epics | Through the Linear integration |
| CRM with deals | Contacts, companies, deals | Contacts, companies and segments |
| Meeting notes | Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex | |
| Coding agents | Helpin Cloud; coming to Community in 0.2 | |
| MCP server | Hosted and self-hosted (beta) | Community-built only |
Comparison data verified September 2026.
Core feature comparison
Feature names can sound alike across tools. What matters is how each product handles the work, and what your team does next.
Inbox and channels
Chatwoot’s inbox covers website chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, LINE and SMS, with voice calls in beta. On Cloud, automation rules, teams and voice need the Business plan.
HelpinHelpin handles web chat and email in one shared inbox, with team inboxes, tags, saved replies, internal notes, business hours and CSAT surveys. AI conversation routing and round-robin assignment are part of the Growth plan. It doesn’t offer phone, WhatsApp or social channels today.
The difference: Chatwoot covers far more channels. If chat and email are enough, both handle the inbox well.
AI agents
Captain is Chatwoot’s AI agent and copilot. On Cloud it runs on monthly credits, with more at $20 per 1,000. Self-hosted, it needs a paid plan and your own OpenAI-compatible key.
HelpinHelpin’s AI agents answer from your docs and the customer’s history, and hand off to your team with what they found. They can also go further: plan the work, open a pull request for review and prepare the follow-up. You choose each agent’s tools and which actions need approval, and usage comes from an allowance included in every Cloud plan. Self-hosted, the agents are part of the free Community edition; coding agents arrive there with the 0.2 release.
The difference: Both let you bring your own model when self-hosting. Helpin includes its agents in the free edition, and they go beyond the inbox.
Help center and knowledge
Chatwoot includes a help center with a documentation-style layout, search and per-locale branding, which Captain can use to answer.
HelpinHelpin Knowledge publishes help articles, product guides and interactive API reference docs on a Helpin address, your own domain, or a path like /docs through a reverse proxy. Agents draft updates from unanswered questions and shipped changes, and nothing goes live until your team publishes it.
The difference: Both include a help center. Helpin adds API reference docs and agent-drafted updates.
From conversation to fix
Chatwoot links conversations to issues through its Linear integration, so planning and engineering happen in another tool.
HelpinHelpin includes projects with roadmaps, sprints, objectives and epics. A conversation can become a task with the customer’s history attached, a coding agent can open a GitHub pull request or GitLab merge request for review, and the team can follow up in the original conversation when the fix ships.
The difference: If conversations turn into product work, Helpin keeps the request, the task and the follow-up together.
Customer records, CRM and meetings
Chatwoot keeps contacts, custom attributes, segments and companies. It doesn’t include a deals pipeline or meeting notes.
HelpinHelpin includes a CRM with contacts, companies, deals and pipelines, and a meeting notetaker for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex. Decisions and action items from calls stay on the same customer record as the conversations and tasks.
The difference: If you need deals and meeting notes next to support, Helpin has them built in.
Developers and integrations
Chatwoot offers application, platform and client APIs, webhooks, a CLI, and React Native and Flutter SDKs. MCP servers for Chatwoot are community-built.
HelpinHelpin offers web SDKs for JavaScript, React, Next.js and Vue, a Helpin MCP server (in beta, hosted or self-hosted), connections to external MCP servers for agents, and GitHub and GitLab integrations. It doesn’t have native mobile SDKs or a large app marketplace yet.
The difference: Chatwoot has mobile SDKs and a mature API. Helpin ships its own MCP server and connects agents to external tools.
Why teams look beyond Chatwoot
Four common reasons teams give for looking elsewhere, and how Helpin handles each one.
- MIT core
- Paid enterprise edition
Helpin- Every product feature
- AGPL-3.0
Key features sit in a paid edition
Chatwoot’s core is MIT-licensed, while the Captain AI agent, SSO and SLAs sit in a paid enterprise edition, even when self-hosted. Every Helpin product feature is open source under AGPL-3.0; only Cloud billing code is separate.
- Conversation
- Linear integration
Helpin- Conversation
- Task
- Pull request
- Follow-up
The fix happens in another tool
Chatwoot links issues to Linear. Helpin includes roadmaps, sprints and objectives, so the request, the task and the follow-up share one history. Coding agents open pull requests on Helpin Cloud today and arrive in the Community edition with 0.2.
- Contacts
- Companies
- Segments
Helpin- Contacts
- Companies
- Deals
- Meetings
No deals or meeting notes
Chatwoot has contacts, companies and segments. Helpin adds deals and pipelines, plus meeting notes from Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex, attached to the same account.
- $19–$99 per agent
Helpin- Workspace price
- Unlimited teammates
Cloud pricing grows per agent
Chatwoot Cloud charges per agent, with AI metered in credits. Helpin Cloud charges one price per workspace with an AI usage allowance included.
Pricing and value
Chatwoot Cloud charges per agent: $19, $39 or $99 a month, with Captain credits included and extra credits at $20 per 1,000. Self-hosted, the Community edition is free, and the Premium plan that adds Captain costs $19 per agent.
HelpinHelpin charges one price per workspace, with unlimited teammates. Starter is $79 and Growth $239 a month billed annually ($99 and $299 billed monthly), and each includes an AI usage allowance. The self-hosted Community edition is free.
Estimate what your team would pay
Change the team size, plans and AI volume to match your team. The estimate uses list prices and says plainly when Chatwoot costs less. See Helpin pricing.
Estimated at list prices · 8 agents · billed annually
Helpin costs $876 less a year than Chatwoot.
HelpinGrowth$239/moHelpinGrowth, billed annually
- Growth plan, one workspace
- $239
- 8 agents
- Included
- AI usage allowance
- $239 included
- Per month
- $239
- Per year
- $2,868
Heavy AI use can go past the allowance; overage is metered.
ChatwootBusiness, billed annually
- 8 × Business at $39
- $312
- Per month
- $312
- Per year
- $3,744
- Chatwoot’s Captain AI uses credits: 300 to 800 are included each month depending on the plan, then $20 per 1,000. Credit use per conversation isn’t published, so AI isn’t included here.
- Helpin measures AI usage in tokens, not resolutions. Paid plans can turn on metered overage beyond the allowance.
Hosting and data
Chatwoot is open source and can be deployed with Docker, Kubernetes, a Linux installer or cloud marketplace images. Features in its enterprise edition need a paid subscription for production use.
HelpinHelpin is open source under AGPL-3.0. Use Helpin Cloud, or run the Community edition (0.1 beta) on your own infrastructure with Docker Compose and your own AI provider. Nothing leaves your servers unless you connect it.
Switching and onboarding
Chatwoot offers a 15-day Cloud trial and a free Hacker plan for up to two agents, and can import from Intercom and Freshdesk. There’s no Chatwoot importer in Helpin yet; both products have APIs if you need to move records yourself.
HelpinHelpin’s trial runs for 14 days on the Growth plan, with no card. Our team will help you plan the move: what to set up first, how to run both tools side by side, and when to cut over.
Moving from Chatwoot.
Start with part of your support, then move the rest when you’re ready.
Take from Chatwoot
- Contacts and conversations, through the Chatwoot API
- Help center articles
- Saved replies you want to keep
Set up in Helpin
- Chat widget on your site or app
- Support address, forwarded to Helpin
- Help center on your own domain
- Team inboxes, tags and saved replies
- AI agent guidance and approval rules
- 01
Run Helpin alongside Chatwoot
Available nowInstall the widget on a few pages and connect a support address. Move queues over when your team is ready, ideally before your next renewal.
- 02
Rebuild your help center
Available nowRecreate your articles in Helpin Knowledge and publish them on your own domain.
- 03
Import conversations
Not yetThere is no Chatwoot importer yet. Both products have APIs if you need to move records yourself.
Where Chatwoot is stronger
Chatwoot is a good product. These are the areas where it’s ahead of Helpin today.
Channels.
WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, LINE, SMS and voice. Helpin supports web chat and email.
Maturity and community.
Years of releases, tens of thousands of GitHub stars and roughly monthly releases. Helpin’s Community edition is a 0.1 beta.
Deployment options.
Official Docker, Kubernetes Helm charts, a Linux installer and cloud marketplace images.
Mobile.
An agent app for iOS and Android, and mobile widget SDKs.
Which one fits your team?
Chatwoot focuses on channels and the inbox. Helpin focuses on what happens after the conversation.
Choose Chatwoot if…
- You need many channels: WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, TikTok, SMS or voice.
- You want a mature project with years of releases and a large community.
- You need native mobile apps and SDKs today.
Choose Helpin if…
- Support questions turn into project work you want to plan and ship.
- You want CRM with deals and meeting notes alongside support.
- You want every product feature open source, with no paid self-hosted tier.
Questions about Helpin vs Chatwoot
Are Helpin and Chatwoot both open source?
Yes. Chatwoot’s core is MIT-licensed with a separate paid enterprise edition. Helpin’s product features are open source under AGPL-3.0.
Which is better for self-hosting?
Chatwoot is more mature, with more deployment options. Helpin includes AI agents, projects and CRM in the free Community edition, which is currently a 0.1 beta.
Can I use my own AI provider?
Yes, with both. Self-hosted Helpin connects to OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter or an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Chatwoot’s Captain supports your own OpenAI-compatible key on a paid plan.
Does Helpin support WhatsApp?
Not today. Helpin supports web chat and email. If WhatsApp or social channels are essential, Chatwoot covers them.
Can we run Helpin alongside Chatwoot?
Yes. Add the Helpin widget to a few pages or forward one support address, and keep Chatwoot for everything else while your team tries the workflow. Move the rest when you’re ready.
How is AI billed in Helpin?
Every Cloud plan includes a monthly AI usage allowance, measured in tokens at published rates. On an active paid plan you can turn on metered overage if you need more. Self-hosted installs use your own AI provider and pay it directly.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. The 14-day trial runs on the Growth plan, needs no card, and includes $140 of AI usage.
Will you help us switch?
Yes. Book a call and we’ll plan the move with you: what to set up first, how to run both tools side by side, and when to cut over.