Is Chatwoot or Groove better?

Neither clearly leads. Chatwoot starts at Free and Groove at $12/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Chatwoot or Groove?

Chatwoot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chatwoot and $12/month for Groove.

Does Chatwoot or Groove run on more platforms?

Chatwoot runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted. Groove runs on Web, Ios, Android.

Can I use Chatwoot for free?

Yes. Chatwoot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Groove starts at $12/month.

What is Chatwoot best used for?

Chatwoot is most often used for self-hosted support, privacy-first chat, multi-channel support. Of those, self-hosted support and privacy-first chat are not what Groove is typically brought in for.

What can Chatwoot do that Groove cannot?

Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Social channels, Chatbots, Reports. Groove covers Shared inbox, Automation rules, Reporting, Collision detection. Both handle Live chat, Knowledge base, Slack, GDPR.

Customer Support · head to head

Chatwoot vs Groove

Chatwoot

Customer Support

Open-source customer engagement platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Groove

Customer Support

Simple, powerful support for growing businesses

From: $12/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Chatwoot has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Chatwoot free plan limited to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month; Groove billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch
They diverge on capability: Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Groove covers Shared inbox.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chatwoot and Groove actually diverge.

Attributes where Chatwoot and Groove differ
Attribute	Chatwoot	Groove
Starting price	Free	$12/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Cloud, Self-hosted	Web, Ios, Android
Founded	2017	2011

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Customer Support).

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 Chatwoot

Email inbox
Social channels
Chatbots
Reports
WhatsApp
Telegram
Line
Facebook

Only in Groove

Shared inbox
Automation rules
Reporting
Collision detection
Salesforce
Zapier
Trello
Jira

Both cover

Live chat
Knowledge base
Slack
GDPR
SSL
Web support
Ios support
Android support

What people use each for

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

Chatwoot

Self-hosted supportnot Groove
Privacy-first chatnot Groove
Multi-channel supportnot Groove

Groove

Shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teamsnot Chatwoot
Handling email, chat and messaging support in one queuenot Chatwoot

Where each one falls short

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

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

Groove

Billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch
A minimum of 250 tickets a month applies, which is a $3,000 annual commitment before any usage
A quiet month still pays the 250 ticket floor
No mailbox limit is published

Pricing, plan by plan

Chatwoot

Free

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

Groove

$12/month

Standard$12/month
- 1 mailbox
- Knowledge base
- Live chat
Plus$20/month
- 5 mailboxes
- Full reporting
- Rules
Pro$35/month
- 25 mailboxes
- Salesforce
- Enterprise SSO

Which should you pick?

Choose Chatwoot if

You need email inbox.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
You also want social channels.

Chatwoot review

Choose Groove if

You need shared inbox.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want automation rules.

Groove review

Questions people ask

Is Chatwoot or Groove better?: Neither clearly leads. Chatwoot starts at Free and Groove at $12/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chatwoot or Groove?: Chatwoot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chatwoot and $12/month for Groove.
Does Chatwoot or Groove run on more platforms?: Chatwoot runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted. Groove runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Chatwoot for free?: Yes. Chatwoot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Groove starts at $12/month.
What is Chatwoot best used for?: Chatwoot is most often used for self-hosted support, privacy-first chat, multi-channel support. Of those, self-hosted support and privacy-first chat are not what Groove is typically brought in for.
What can Chatwoot do that Groove cannot?: Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Social channels, Chatbots, Reports. Groove covers Shared inbox, Automation rules, Reporting, Collision detection. Both handle Live chat, Knowledge base, Slack, GDPR.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

Groove: How is Helply priced?

Helply uses per-ticket pricing at 1 dollar per ticket. This single price covers all features including resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, and documentation.

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

Groove: Do I need to pay per team member for Helply?

No, Helply charges per ticket, not per seat. You can bring your entire team, AEs, PMs, and integrations without additional per-person charges.

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

Groove: What's included in Helply's per-ticket price?

The per-ticket price of 1 dollar includes resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, documentation, and all AI capabilities with no separate add-on charges.

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

Groove: Is there a free trial for Helply?

Helply offers a free 12-minute demo walkthrough. Enterprise plans are also available for larger organizations.

Source

Chatwoot vs Groove

Chatwoot

Groove

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Chatwoot

Only in Groove

Both cover

What people use each for

Chatwoot

Groove

Where each one falls short

Chatwoot

Groove

Pricing, plan by plan

Chatwoot

Groove

Which should you pick?

Choose Chatwoot if

Choose Groove if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Chatwoot

More on Groove

Keep looking

Other head to heads