Chatwoot Cloud vs self-hosted costs: free plans, support and operations
Compare Chatwoot Cloud Hacker, paid cloud and self-hosted Community Edition by channels, retention, support and the work of operating the service.
In this guide
Two free routes have different boundaries
The checked Chatwoot Cloud page lists Hacker at US$0 for up to two agents, 500 conversations/month, live chat and 30-day data retention. The self-hosted page describes Community Edition at US$0/agent/month on your own infrastructure.
A free cloud allowance and free software that you operate are different products for budgeting. Neither should be described as an unlimited managed support service.
Compare the missing budget lines
| Area | Cloud review | Self-hosted review |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Included service and plan limits | Infrastructure, database and storage |
| Support | Chosen cloud package | Community or paid support edition |
| Updates and recovery | Provider scope and available exports | Named operator and tested restore |
| Channels and retention | Actual plan entitlement | Edition and integration entitlement |
| AI and advanced controls | Included credits and extras | Required paid edition and applicable services |
The checked self-hosted comparison separates Community, Premium Support and Enterprise. Do not assume Community includes every advanced control displayed elsewhere on the website.
Model a three-agent team
A fictional three-person support team exceeds Cloud Hacker’s two-agent allowance. The page displays Startups at US$19/agent/month, giving a three-agent reference of US$57/month before any additional services. Confirm the applicable billing term and account proposal.
For self-hosting, obtain the actual infrastructure, maintenance and support quotations. A zero core fee does not make the operator’s work disappear. Keep internal time estimates separate from cash supplier charges, and include the people who will cover an outage or update outside normal hours.
Make recovery and retained history explicit
Define how long the business needs conversations and attachments, what it must export and who can access them. A short retention allowance may not fit a long customer-support cycle, even where current monthly conversation volume is small.
Use synthetic conversations to rehearse an export and a recovery or handover. Record whether the required content and attachments are available. Leave actual results blank until tested; having a database copy is not evidence of an accepted service restore.
Choose the service the team can maintain
Confirm channels, roles, SSO or SLA requirements on the actual edition. Keep the support owner and update process in the decision as well as the subscription rate.
Use the Chatwoot profile, open-source help-desk budget and SLA guide. Compare equivalent responsibilities before calling either route cheaper.
Frequently asked questions
Can three agents use Chatwoot Cloud Hacker within its checked allowance?
The checked Hacker allowance is up to two agents. A three-agent team needs to review another plan or deployment.
Does self-hosted Chatwoot Community Edition include managed hosting?
No. It runs on your infrastructure. Budget the operator, infrastructure, maintenance, recovery and any paid support or advanced edition.
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