Looking for a Chatwoot alternative?
Last updated July 3, 2026
Chatwoot is the open-source answer to Intercom and Zendesk: a full customer support platform, email, live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more, unified in one inbox, and you can run the entire thing on your own server if you want to. It’s a genuinely capable product with an active open-source community behind it.
The tradeoff is operational, not financial. Self-hosting Chatwoot means running Docker containers, a Postgres database, and Redis, and keeping all three patched and backed up. That’s a real, ongoing responsibility that a $10/mo hosted tool doesn’t ask of you.
The TL;DR
Chatwoot is the strongest option here if you want full control over your support data and don’t mind running infrastructure to get it. Bubblegram is the opposite bet: no server, no dashboard, just a script tag and a Telegram group.
If running a server isn’t something you want to add to your plate, you can try Bubblegram free at dash.bubblegram.co. No credit card needed.
Why people switch
Self-hosting has a real time cost. Reddit threads on r/selfhosted and r/opensource regularly mention Chatwoot as “worth it but not trivial.” Setting up Docker Compose, configuring Postgres and Redis, handling SSL, and staying on top of version upgrades is a recurring task, not a one-time setup. Teams that just wanted a chat widget often find they’ve taken on a small ops project.
Telegram is one channel among many, not the focus. Chatwoot’s Telegram inbox works, but it’s built to sit alongside email, WhatsApp, and SMS in a unified interface. If Telegram is the only channel you actually use, you’re running (or paying for) a multichannel platform to access one channel, and still replying from Chatwoot’s dashboard rather than from Telegram itself.
Cloud pricing scales per agent. If self-hosting isn’t appealing, Chatwoot Cloud starts at $19/agent/mo for the Startups tier and climbs to $39/agent/mo on Business, the tier most teams actually need for automation and SLAs. A 5-person team lands at $195/mo before adding any AI credits.
No vendor support on self-hosted deployments. If something breaks in a self-hosted instance, you’re debugging it yourself or searching the community forum. There’s no support line included the way there is with a paid SaaS product.
What Chatwoot does better
If data ownership matters to you, self-hosted Chatwoot is hard to beat: nothing leaves your own infrastructure, and the open-source codebase means you can audit exactly what it does. It also genuinely supports more channels than a Telegram-focused tool ever will, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, and an AI assistant (Captain) for drafting replies.
Bubblegram doesn’t try to compete on any of that. It doesn’t self-host, doesn’t do email or WhatsApp, and has no AI. It does one thing: routes widget messages to a Telegram group so you can reply from an app you already have open.
Also considering Tawk.to, Crisp, or Tidio? We compared those too.
Pricing at a glance
See the full breakdown on our pricing page.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Bubblegram | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|
| Reply directly from Telegram | ||
| Self-hosting option | ||
| Open-source / auditable | ||
| No server to maintain | ||
| Multichannel inbox (email, WhatsApp, SMS) | ||
| Free tier available | ||
| Flat pricing, not per-agent | ||
| Setup under 5 minutes | ||
| AI-assisted replies (Captain) | ||
| Widget customization |
What people like about Chatwoot
- Fully open-source, self-hostable with no per-agent fee
- Full data ownership, nothing leaves your own infrastructure
- Broad channel support: email, WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, Telegram, and more
- Cloud tier available if you don't want to run the server yourself
Common complaints about Chatwoot
- Self-hosting requires setting up and maintaining Docker, Postgres, and Redis
- Telegram is one inbox channel among many, not the product's focus
- Cloud pricing is per-agent, and jumps quickly at the Business/Enterprise tiers
- Self-hosted deployments don't get vendor support if something breaks
Switch to Bubblegram if
You want replies routed to Telegram without running or maintaining a server. You don't need email, WhatsApp, or SMS in the same inbox, and you'd rather pay $10/mo flat than take on infrastructure to save an agent fee.
Stay with Chatwoot if
You want full data ownership, need multichannel support beyond Telegram, or already have the ops capacity to run Docker, Postgres, and Redis yourself. Chatwoot gives you a genuinely complete, self-hostable support platform for that.
Common questions
Is Chatwoot really free if I self-host it?
Yes, the self-hosted, open-source version has no license fee and no agent limit. You still pay for the server it runs on (a small VPS is usually enough for low volume) and the time it takes to set up and maintain Docker, Postgres, and Redis.
Does self-hosted Chatwoot support Telegram?
Yes, Telegram is one of the supported inbox channels on both self-hosted and Cloud Chatwoot. You still reply from Chatwoot's own dashboard though, not from Telegram itself.
What does Chatwoot Cloud cost?
Startups is $19/agent/mo billed annually with unlimited conversations and all channels. Business is $39/agent/mo, adding automation and SLAs. Enterprise is $99/agent/mo, adding SSO and dedicated support.
How does Chatwoot's pricing compare to Bubblegram's?
Self-hosted Chatwoot has no license fee but real setup and maintenance time. Chatwoot Cloud starts at $19/agent/mo. Bubblegram Pro is $10/mo flat for up to 10 sites, with no server to run and no per-agent multiplier.
What does Bubblegram not do that Chatwoot does?
Bubblegram doesn't handle email, WhatsApp, SMS, or other channels, and it has no AI chatbot, help center, or automation rules. It routes one thing: chat widget messages to Telegram.
Reply from Telegram.
Skip the dashboard.
Most support tools are overkill. Bubblegram routes messages to Telegram and gets out of the way.
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