Chatwoot is a well-loved open-source customer support platform you can self-host. SimpleSupport solves the same job but as a managed, edge-hosted service — no VPS, no upgrades, no on-call — with AI replies built in.
| SimpleSupport | Chatwoot | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting model | Hosted, edge-native | Self-hosted (free) or Chatwoot Cloud |
| Self-hosted cost | Not offered | Free software + your VPS bill, ops time, backups |
| Cloud Starter | Free forever (100 tickets/mo) | Free trial → ~$19/agent/mo Hacker → ~$39 Startup |
| Pro plan | €15/mo flat (5 agents, 1,000 tickets) | Per agent on Cloud |
| Real ticketing (open / in-progress / resolved) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email gateway | ✓ Pro (replies become tickets) | ✓ |
| AI replies | Pro: drafts; Business: 24/7 auto from your knowledge doc | Captain AI / Copilot, paid tiers or self-managed |
| Maintenance burden | None — managed | You run upgrades, DB backups, Redis, Sidekiq, postfix |
| GDPR by default | ✓ No cookies, no consent banner | Self-hosted: yours to configure; Cloud: standard |
| Edge performance | ✓ <50ms globally | Single-region (your VPS or Cloud region) |
Chatwoot pricing as published on chatwoot.com — verify with their current page.
Self-hosted Chatwoot means you keep a Rails + Postgres + Redis + Sidekiq stack alive — upgrades, database backups, queue workers, postfix for inbound mail. SimpleSupport hands you the same job done, edge-hosted, with no ops surface.
Chatwoot Cloud bills per agent. SimpleSupport's Pro plan covers 5 agents at €15/mo flat — predictable for small teams, no negotiation when you hire.
Captain AI (Chatwoot's AI) is a paid tier on Cloud or your problem to wire up self-hosted. SimpleSupport's AI is in Pro (drafts) and Business (24/7 auto-send) at no extra cost.
2 minutes to install. Free forever for 100 tickets/month.