Chatwoot vs Crisp

Chatwoot charges $19/agent/month on cloud (Startups tier) while Crisp charges $95/month for up to 10 seats (Essentials tier) — for a 10-agent team, that is $190/month vs $95/month, making Crisp nearly half the cost at comparable feature levels. But Chatwoot has something Crisp cannot match: an MIT-licensed open-source edition with no agent limits that you can self-host for free.

Chatwoot (G2: 4.5/5, 15 reviews) is backed by Y Combinator (W21) and claims 15,000+ organizations using the platform. Crisp (G2: 4.5/5, 183 reviews) is a French-based company offering an all-in-one workspace with CRM, knowledge base, chatbot builder, and MagicBrowse co-browsing. Both target SMBs, but Chatwoot appeals to technical teams wanting self-hosting, while Crisp appeals to non-technical teams wanting bundled tools.

Chatwoot covers more channels (12 types including TikTok and LINE); Crisp bundles more built-in tools (CRM, co-browsing, video calls) at workspace pricing. Chatwoot supports website live chat, email, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, TikTok, X (Twitter), LINE, Voice (Enterprise only), and a custom API channel. Feature gating is significant: teams, automation rules, and custom attributes require the Business plan ($39/agent/month). SSO and audit logs require Enterprise ($99/agent/month).

Crisp bundles Hugo AI chatbot, MagicBrowse co-browsing, knowledge base, CRM, and video calls. WhatsApp and Instagram are gated behind Essentials ($95/month). The ticketing system requires Plus ($295/month). Hugo AI runs on credits: ~90 conversations on Mini ($5/month), ~450 on Essentials ($25/month), ~1,350 on Plus ($75/month). When credits run out, Hugo stops responding until the next billing cycle.

AI comparison: Chatwoot's Captain AI uses credit-based pricing — 300 credits on Startups, 500 on Business, 800 on Enterprise, with overages at $20/1,000 credits. Crisp's Hugo AI also uses credits but with hard caps (no overage option). Both AI systems are limited compared to enterprise alternatives, but they are included in the base subscription rather than charged per resolution.

A 5-agent team on Chatwoot Business (with automation) costs $195/month; the same team on Crisp Essentials (with Hugo AI) costs $120/month — Crisp is 38% cheaper at this scale. Chatwoot cloud tiers: Hacker ($0, 2 agents, 500 conversations, 30-day retention), Startups ($19/agent/month), Business ($39/agent/month), Enterprise ($99/agent/month). Crisp tiers: Free ($0, 2 seats), Mini ($45/month, 4 seats), Essentials ($95/month, 10 seats), Plus ($295/month, 20+ seats). All annual billing.

At 10 agents: Chatwoot Business = $390/month. Crisp Essentials = $95/month (10 seats included). At this scale, Crisp is 4.1x cheaper. When teams exceed 10 agents, Crisp jumps to Plus at ~$295 + extra seat fees. Chatwoot at 12 agents on Business: $468/month. Crisp at 12 agents on Plus: ~$315/month. Crisp stays cheaper but the gap narrows above 10 agents.

Self-hosted Chatwoot changes the calculation entirely: the Community Edition is free with no agent limits on your own server (minimum 4GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, PostgreSQL, Redis). Infrastructure costs run $20-$100+/month. For a 15-agent team, self-hosted Chatwoot at ~$50/month server cost beats both Crisp Plus ($295+) and Chatwoot Cloud Business ($585/month) — but requires ongoing maintenance, security patching, and backup management.

Choose Chatwoot if you have DevOps resources and want data sovereignty through self-hosting. The MIT-licensed Community Edition has no agent limits on your own infrastructure. Chatwoot also supports TikTok DMs, LINE, SMS, and Voice (Enterprise) — channels Crisp does not cover. For cloud users who need teams and automation, the Business plan ($39/agent/month) is required.

Choose Crisp if you want CRM, knowledge base, chatbot builder, and MagicBrowse co-browsing in one subscription without managing servers. The Essentials plan at $95/month for 10 seats offers strong value for non-technical teams. Crisp includes Telegram natively — a channel Chatwoot also supports. Both platforms lack Discord and Zalo.

Chatwoot offers open-source self-hosting, broader channel coverage (12 types), and full data sovereignty. Crisp offers bundled tools (CRM, co-browsing, knowledge base), workspace pricing that rewards teams under 10, and zero infrastructure maintenance. Technical teams with DevOps resources lean toward Chatwoot; non-technical SMBs lean toward Crisp.

For teams that want flat-rate pricing without per-agent math or seat caps, Converge offers all channels at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents — including Discord and Zalo that neither Chatwoot nor Crisp supports natively.