What is the difference between Chatwoot and Kayako?

Chatwoot is best for Teams wanting open-source customer engagement, while Kayako is best for Support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking. Chatwoot starts at Free and Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo.

Is Chatwoot or Kayako cheaper?

Chatwoot starts at Free and is free. Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo.

Is there a free alternative to Kayako?

Yes, Chatwoot offers a free tier.

Chatwoot vs Kayako

Chatwoot is open-source customer engagement platform with live chat, email, social channels, and chatbots, while Kayako is help desk platform with journey-based customer support and multichannel inbox. The biggest difference up front: Chatwoot is free, while Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo. Chatwoot is built for teams wanting open-source customer engagement, whereas Kayako targets support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking.

At a glance

	Chatwoot	Kayako
Best for	Teams wanting open-source customer engagement	Support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking
Starting price	Free	$15/agent/mo
Free tier	✓	—
Open source	✓	—
Free tier available	✓	—
Open source	✓	—
Chatbots	✓	—
Collaborators	—	✓
Journey Tracking	—	✓
Live Chat	✓	✓
Omnichannel	✓	—
Self-Hosted	✓	—
Shared Inbox	—	✓

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

Kayako

Strengths

Includes Journey Tracking as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Includes Live Chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Pricing starts at $15/agent/mo, which includes the full customer support feature set
Established product with 25+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem

Weaknesses

Starts at $15/agent/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users
Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
Ticket volume can quickly overwhelm small teams without triage automation
Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish

Try Kayako → Full review

The bottom line

Pricing: Chatwoot is completely free, which makes it the obvious pick if budget is the top concern. Kayako starts at $15/agent/mo. 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 Kayako lacks. Kayako brings Collaborators, Journey Tracking and Shared Inbox that Chatwoot does not have. Both share Live Chat.

Team fit: Chatwoot is geared toward small teams teams, while Kayako is aimed at mid-size teams teams. Pick the one that matches where your team is today and where it is headed — migrating tools later is always painful.

Open source: Chatwoot is open source, meaning you can self-host, audit the code, and avoid vendor lock-in. Kayako 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. Kayako's biggest strengths are: includes journey tracking 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 Kayako, the main complaint is that starts at $15/agent/mo — on the expensive side, especially for small teams or solo users.

Choose Chatwoot if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: teams wanting open-source customer engagement
Budget is a hard constraint — Chatwoot is free, Kayako 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 Kayako if...

You need a tool built for support teams wanting unified customer journey tracking
You specifically need Collaborators and Journey Tracking
You care about includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows
Your team size fits the mid-size teams profile Kayako is designed for