What is the difference between Chatwoot and Gleap?

Chatwoot is best for Teams wanting open-source customer engagement, while Gleap is best for Product teams wanting visual bug reporting + support. Chatwoot starts at Free and Gleap starts at $25/mo.

Is Chatwoot or Gleap cheaper?

Chatwoot starts at Free and is free. Gleap starts at $25/mo with a free tier.

Is there a free alternative to Gleap?

Both Chatwoot and Gleap offer free tiers.

Chatwoot vs Gleap

Chatwoot is open-source customer engagement platform with live chat, email, social channels, and chatbots, while Gleap is customer feedback and bug reporting tool with visual annotations and live chat. The biggest difference up front: Chatwoot is free, while Gleap starts at $25/mo. Chatwoot is built for teams wanting open-source customer engagement, whereas Gleap targets product teams wanting visual bug reporting + support.

At a glance

	Chatwoot	Gleap
Best for	Teams wanting open-source customer engagement	Product teams wanting visual bug reporting + support
Starting price	Free	$25/mo
Free tier	✓	✓
Open source	✓	—
Free tier available	✓	✓
Open source	✓	—
Bug Reports	—	✓
Chatbots	✓	—
Feedback	—	✓
Live Chat	✓	✓
Omnichannel	✓	—
Self-Hosted	✓	—
Surveys	—	✓

Chatwoot

Strengths

Open source and transparent
Includes Live Chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Fully open-source — you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in
The core product is free with no paywalled essentials

Weaknesses

May lack some advanced features
Self-hosting is free but requires server maintenance and DevOps knowledge
Self-hosting requires Linux admin skills and ongoing server maintenance
Ticket volume can quickly overwhelm small teams without triage automation

Try Chatwoot → Full review

Gleap

Strengths

Includes Bug Reports as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Includes Live Chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Free for 1 project — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done
Includes feedback alongside the core feature set — fewer separate tools needed

Weaknesses

Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Ticket volume can quickly overwhelm small teams without triage automation
Limited team/admin features if your organization eventually scales up

Try Gleap → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Chatwoot is completely free, which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Gleap starts at $25/mo, but Free for 1 project. That cost buys you a more polished or feature-rich experience, so it comes down to whether the extras justify the spend.

Feature gaps: Chatwoot offers Chatbots, Omnichannel and Self-Hosted that Gleap lacks. Gleap brings Bug Reports, Feedback and Surveys that Chatwoot does not have. Both share Live Chat.

Team fit: Both tools target small teams teams, so the decision hinges on features and workflow fit rather than scale.

Open source: Chatwoot is open source, meaning you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in. Gleap is proprietary — you are trusting the vendor with your data and uptime.

Where each tool shines: Chatwoot's biggest strengths are: open source and transparent. includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows. Gleap's biggest strengths are: includes bug reports as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows. includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows.

Watch out for: With Chatwoot, users commonly note that may lack some advanced features. With Gleap, the main complaint is that free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade.

Choose Chatwoot if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: teams wanting open-source customer engagement
Budget is a hard constraint — Chatwoot is free, Gleap is not
You need self-hosting, data sovereignty, or the ability to audit source code
You specifically need Chatbots and Omnichannel
You care about includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows

Choose Gleap if...

You need a tool built for product teams wanting visual bug reporting + support
You specifically need Bug Reports and Feedback
You care about includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
The free tier works for you: free for 1 project