What is the difference between Crisp and Chatwoot?

Crisp is best for Startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk, while Chatwoot is best for Teams wanting open-source customer engagement. Crisp starts at Free and Chatwoot starts at Free.

Is Crisp or Chatwoot cheaper?

Crisp starts at Free and is free. Chatwoot starts at Free and is free.

Is there a free alternative to Chatwoot?

Both Crisp and Chatwoot offer free tiers.

Crisp vs Chatwoot

Crisp is all-in-one business messaging platform with live chat, chatbot, help desk, and CRM, while Chatwoot is open-source customer engagement platform with live chat, email, social channels, and chatbots. Chatwoot is open source and can be self-hosted, giving you full control over your data. Crisp is built for startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk, whereas Chatwoot targets teams wanting open-source customer engagement.

At a glance

	Crisp	Chatwoot
Best for	Startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk	Teams wanting open-source customer engagement
Starting price	Free	Free
Free tier	✓	✓
Open source	—	✓
Free tier available	✓	✓
Open source	—	✓
CRM	✓	—
Chatbot	✓	—
Chatbots	—	✓
Help Desk	✓	—
Live Chat	✓	✓
Omnichannel	—	✓
Self-Hosted	—	✓
Shared Inbox	✓	—

Crisp

Strengths

Generous free tier for basic live chat
Much cheaper than Intercom
All-in-one: chat, bot, help desk, CRM
Clean, modern interface

Weaknesses

Less powerful AI than Intercom's Fin
Fewer integrations
Reporting less detailed than enterprise tools
Some features less polished

Try Crisp → Full review

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

The bottom line

Pricing: Both Crisp and Chatwoot are free, so this decision comes down to features and philosophy rather than budget.

Feature gaps: Crisp offers CRM, Chatbot and Help Desk that Chatwoot lacks. Chatwoot brings Chatbots, Omnichannel and Self-Hosted that Crisp 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. Crisp is proprietary — you are trusting the vendor with your data and uptime.

Where each tool shines: Crisp's biggest strengths are: generous free tier for basic live chat. much cheaper than intercom. Chatwoot's biggest strengths are: open source and transparent. includes live chat as a core feature, purpose-built for customer support workflows.

Watch out for: With Crisp, users commonly note that less powerful ai than intercom's fin. With Chatwoot, the main complaint is that may lack some advanced features.

Choose Crisp if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: startups and small businesses that want affordable live chat + help desk
You specifically need CRM and Chatbot
You care about much cheaper than intercom

Choose Chatwoot if...

Your profile matches its sweet spot: teams wanting open-source customer engagement
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