Is Chatwoot or Kayako better?

Neither clearly leads. Chatwoot starts at Free and Kayako at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Chatwoot or Kayako?

Chatwoot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chatwoot and $30/month for Kayako.

Does Chatwoot or Kayako run on more platforms?

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

Can I use Chatwoot for free?

Yes. Chatwoot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Kayako starts at $30/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 Kayako is typically brought in for.

What can Chatwoot do that Kayako cannot?

Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Social channels, Knowledge base, Chatbots. Kayako covers Unified inbox, Help center, Customer journey, Automation. Both handle Live chat, Slack, GDPR, SSL.

Customer Support · head to head

Chatwoot vs Kayako

Chatwoot

Customer Support

Open-source customer engagement platform

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

Kayako

Live Chat

Effortless customer service

From: $30/month
Free plan: No

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; Kayako the AI agent is billed at $1 per resolved ticket, so support cost scales with ticket volume rather than being a fixed subscription
They diverge on capability: Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Kayako covers Unified inbox.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Chatwoot and Kayako actually diverge.

Attributes where Chatwoot and Kayako differ
Attribute	Chatwoot	Kayako
Starting price	Free	$30/month
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Cloud, Self-hosted	Web, Ios, Android
Category	Customer Support	Live Chat
Founded	2017	2001

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 Chatwoot

Email inbox
Social channels
Knowledge base
Chatbots
Reports
WhatsApp
Telegram
Line

Only in Kayako

Unified inbox
Help center
Customer journey
Automation
Reporting
Salesforce
Zapier
Stripe

Both cover

Live chat
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 Kayako
Privacy-first chatnot Kayako
Multi-channel supportnot Kayako

Kayako

Help desk ticketing with a unified inbox and knowledge basenot Chatwoot
Resolving support tickets automatically with an AI agentnot 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

Kayako

The AI agent is billed at $1 per resolved ticket, so support cost scales with ticket volume rather than being a fixed subscription
A resolution counts when the AI solves the issue without human involvement, so the definition of a billable event is set by the vendor's own system
No per agent monthly price is published for the full Kayako One platform
Full platform pricing requires talking to an expert

Pricing, plan by plan

Chatwoot

Free

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

Kayako

$30/month

Inbox$30/month
- Email & live chat
- Help center
- Basic automation
Growth$60/month
- Everything in Inbox
- Customer journey
- SLA management
Scale$100/month
- Everything in Growth
- Advanced reporting
- Custom roles

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 Kayako if

You need unified inbox.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want help center.

Kayako review

Questions people ask

Is Chatwoot or Kayako better?: Neither clearly leads. Chatwoot starts at Free and Kayako at $30/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Chatwoot or Kayako?: Chatwoot has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Chatwoot and $30/month for Kayako.
Does Chatwoot or Kayako run on more platforms?: Chatwoot runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted. Kayako runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Chatwoot for free?: Yes. Chatwoot has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Kayako starts at $30/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 Kayako is typically brought in for.
What can Chatwoot do that Kayako cannot?: Chatwoot covers Email inbox, Social channels, Knowledge base, Chatbots. Kayako covers Unified inbox, Help center, Customer journey, Automation. Both handle Live chat, Slack, GDPR, SSL.

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

Kayako: How much does Kayako charge?

Kayako uses results-based pricing where customers pay $1 per resolved ticket when Kay AI Agent solves the issue without human intervention. There are no seat fees or setup fees. Kayako One helpdesk platform pricing requires contacting sales.

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

Kayako: What counts as a resolved ticket for Kayako pricing?

A resolution occurs when Kay solves the customer's issue without human agent involvement, whether by taking action or providing an answer the customer confirms solves their problem. Escalations to humans and simple deflections do not count.

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

Kayako: What is Kayako's AI resolution rate?

Kayako reports a 68 percent AI resolution rate for Kay AI Agent. The platform claims a cost advantage of $1 per resolution versus $4.60 for competitors, with reported CSAT improvement of 14 points.

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

Chatwoot vs Kayako

Chatwoot

Kayako

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Chatwoot

Only in Kayako

Both cover

What people use each for

Chatwoot

Kayako

Where each one falls short

Chatwoot

Kayako

Pricing, plan by plan

Chatwoot

Kayako

Which should you pick?

Choose Chatwoot if

Choose Kayako if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Chatwoot

More on Kayako

Keep looking

Other head to heads