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CRM · head to head

Affinity vs Chatwoot

Affinity logo

Affinity

CRM

Relationship intelligence platform for professionals

From
$2000/year
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Chatwoot logo

Chatwoot

Customer Support

Open-source customer engagement platform

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Chatwoot has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Affinity enterprise tier requires custom quote, pricing not transparent; Chatwoot free plan limited to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month
  • They diverge on capability: Affinity covers Contact management, Chatwoot covers Live chat.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Affinity and Chatwoot actually diverge.

Attributes where Affinity and Chatwoot differ
AttributeAffinityChatwoot
Starting price$2000/yearFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted
CategoryCRMCustomer Support
Founded20132017

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Affinity

  • Contact management
  • Deal tracking
  • Intelligence engine
  • Relationship mapping
  • Integration aggregation
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • LinkedIn

Only in Chatwoot

  • Live chat
  • Email inbox
  • Social channels
  • Knowledge base
  • Chatbots
  • Reports
  • Slack
  • WhatsApp

Both cover

  • GDPR
  • Web support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Affinity

  • Deal sourcing and pipeline management for venture capital and private equitynot Chatwoot
  • Automatic capture of email and meeting activity into relationship recordsnot Chatwoot
  • Finding warm introductions through existing relationship networksnot Chatwoot
  • Investor relations and fundraising trackingnot Chatwoot
  • Portfolio company support and reportingnot Chatwoot

Chatwoot

  • Self-hosted supportnot Affinity
  • Privacy-first chatnot Affinity
  • Multi-channel supportnot Affinity

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Affinity

  • Enterprise tier requires custom quote, pricing not transparent
  • Scale tier API calls capped at 100000 per month
  • All plans charge per user annually

Chatwoot

  • Free plan limited to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month
  • Self-hosted option requires managing infrastructure, updates, and external messaging costs
  • Smaller ecosystem and community compared to Zendesk or Intercom
  • AI features require credit consumption and additional configuration

Pricing, plan by plan

Affinity

$2000/year
  • Essential$2000/year
    • Activity capture (email and calendar)
    • Relationship scoring and interaction history
    • Deal pipeline tracking
  • Scale$2300/year
    • Automatic meeting capture (Notetaker)
    • AI Chat conversational access
    • Affinity Ascend agent platform
  • Advanced$2700/year
    • Third-party data enrichment (PitchBook, Dealroom, Crunchbase)
    • Company growth insights
    • Packaged integrations (Slack, Salesforce, Box)
  • Enterprise$null/year
    • Fund-level permissions
    • Enterprise SSO
    • Custom data retention

Chatwoot

Free
  • HackerFree
    • 2 agents
    • 500 conversations per month
    • 1 live chat channel
  • Startups$19/month
    • Unlimited agents
    • Unlimited conversations

Which should you pick?

Choose Affinity if

  • You need contact management.
  • You also want deal tracking.
Affinity review

Choose Chatwoot if

  • You need live chat.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
  • You also want email inbox.
Chatwoot review

Questions people ask

Is Affinity or Chatwoot better?
Neither clearly leads. Affinity starts at $2000/year and Chatwoot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Affinity or Chatwoot?
Chatwoot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2000/year for Affinity and Free for Chatwoot.
Does Affinity or Chatwoot run on more platforms?
Affinity runs on Web. Chatwoot runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
Can I use Chatwoot for free?
Yes. Chatwoot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Affinity starts at $2000/year.
What is Affinity best used for?
Affinity is most often used for deal sourcing and pipeline management for venture capital and private equity, automatic capture of email and meeting activity into relationship records, finding warm introductions through existing relationship networks, investor relations and fundraising tracking. Of those, deal sourcing and pipeline management for venture capital and private equity and automatic capture of email and meeting activity into relationship records are not what Chatwoot is typically brought in for.
What can Affinity do that Chatwoot cannot?
Affinity covers Contact management, Deal tracking, Intelligence engine, Relationship mapping. Chatwoot covers Live chat, Email inbox, Social channels, Knowledge base. Both handle GDPR, Web support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Affinity: How much does Affinity CRM cost per user?

Affinity CRM pricing starts at 2000 USD per user per year for the Essential plan, 2300 USD for Scale, and 2700 USD for Advanced. Enterprise tier requires custom pricing.

Source
Chatwoot: Does Chatwoot offer a self-hosted option?

Yes. Chatwoot provides both cloud-hosted and self-hosted versions. Self-hosting is free with the open-source version, though you handle infrastructure, maintenance, and external messaging costs.

Source
Affinity: What is the API call limit on Affinity's Scale tier?

The Scale and Advanced tiers provide 100000 API calls per month. Enterprise tier customers receive unlimited API access.

Source
Chatwoot: What communication channels does Chatwoot support?

Chatwoot supports email, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media channels consolidated into a single inbox.

Source
Affinity: Which Affinity tier includes Notetaker and MCP integration?

The Scale tier (2300 USD per user per year) includes automatic meeting capture via Notetaker and Model Context Protocol server integration for AI tool connections.

Source
Chatwoot: Is there a free plan for Chatwoot?

Yes. Chatwoot offers a free Hacker plan supporting up to 2 agents, 500 conversations per month, and one live chat channel.

Source
Affinity: When does Affinity offer Enterprise SSO capabilities?

Enterprise SSO (single sign-on) capability is included only in the Enterprise tier, which requires custom pricing and is designed for established firms with multi-fund complexity.

Source
Chatwoot: What AI features does Chatwoot include?

Chatwoot includes Captain AI agent for automated responses, Copilot for smart reply suggestions, and live translation features.

Source
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