Updated August 2026
    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    36k

    Chatwoot: Maintenance, Licence and Alternatives

    Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).

    TL;DR • Chatwoot • as of August 2026

    Chatwoot is an open-source communication project positioned as an alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat, with 36k GitHub stars and a health score of 100/100. It committed 1297 times in the last twelve months across 12 of those months, and its status is actively maintained. Licence: ⊘ Proprietary. It has real momentum, so treat it as a live competitor rather than a stale repository.

    36k
    GitHub stars
    100/100
    Health score
    1297
    Commits (12 mo)
    12/12
    Active months

    Maintenance health

    Status Actively maintained — Committed within the last 45 days.
    Last commit 2026-08-14
    Days since last commit 3
    Commits, last 3 months 428
    Commits, last 12 months 1297
    Months with activity 12 of 12
    Last release 2026-07-27
    Archived No
    Licence ⊘ Proprietary
    Category Communication
    Positioned against Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat

    Health score combines commit recency, twelve-month commit volume, months with activity, release recency and archive state. Metadata refreshed August 2026.

    What the licence lets you do

    ⊘ Proprietary

    Non-standard or mixed licensing. Check the repository before commercial use.

    This matters most when you plan to sell a hosted version. A permissive licence means anyone — including a competitor with more capital — can do the same, so your defensibility has to come from distribution, support or data, not from the code.

    What Chatwoot means for your idea

    Crowded · 77/100
    Communication category →

    Chatwoot is shipping code consistently, so a buyer comparing your product will find a maintained free option. Price and position against the total cost of self-hosting it, not against the paid incumbent's list price.

    Assume every prospect can find a free version in five minutes. Your wedge has to be something open source structurally cannot deliver: compliance, support SLAs, managed hosting at scale, or a workflow the maintainers refuse to build.

    Chatwoot: common questions

    Is Chatwoot still maintained in 2026?

    Actively maintained. Chatwoot recorded 1297 commits over the last twelve months, with activity in 12 of those months and 428 commits in the last quarter. Last commit: 2026-08-14. Last release: 2026-07-27. Committed within the last 45 days.

    Can I use Chatwoot commercially?

    Chatwoot is published under ⊘ Proprietary. Non-standard or mixed licensing. Check the repository before commercial use.

    Is Chatwoot a good Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat alternative?

    Chatwoot targets the same job as Intercom, Zendesk, Live chat and is actively shipping. Adoption sits at 36k stars. Whether it is a good replacement depends on your deployment constraints: self-hosting adds infrastructure, upgrade and security work that a commercial subscription absorbs for you.

    How crowded is the Communication category?

    177 open-source implementations, 100 of them actively maintained, led by Mastodon at 50k stars. Saturation score 77/100 — Crowded. Free, maintained alternatives already dominate this category.

    Chatwoot alternatives in Communication

    Mastodon

    Alternative to Social network/ Micro-blogging

    50k

    Federated microblogging server.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    AGPL-3.0

    Discourse

    Alternative to Tribe, Circle, Community management

    48k

    Advanced forum / community solution based on Ruby and JS.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    GPL-2.0

    Rocket.Chat

    Alternative to Slack, Team communication, Chat & Team Communication

    46k

    Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Novu

    Alternative to Courier, MagicBell, Knock, Notification infrastructure, Push notifications

    40k

    Notification infrastructure for developers.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    MIT

    Mattermost

    Communication

    39k

    Platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle, can be integrated with Gitlab (alternative to Slack).

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    ⊘ Proprietary

    ntfy

    Alternative to Notification infrastructure, Push notifications

    34k

    Push notifications to phone or desktop using HTTP PUT/POST, with Android app, CLI and web app, similar to Pushover and Gotify.

    Actively maintained
    Real momentum
    Apache-2.0, GPL-2.0

    Competing with free? Check the market first.

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