Chatvia vs Chatwoot: the AI is free
Chatwoot is one of the best open-source inboxes you can run on your own server, but its AI agent, Captain, needs a paid plan even when you self-host. In Chatvia the AI agent is the product, and it is free. I think many teams should run both, and I explain why.
My short answer
Pick Chatvia if you want the AI agent to answer most chats: from your own knowledge, with any model, with tools and guardrails, and with no paid plan for the AI.
Pick Chatwoot if you mainly need a team inbox where people answer email, chat and social messages. Many teams run both.
What Chatwoot is
Chatwoot is an open-source support desk. Your team answers website chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, SMS and more from one shared inbox. You can host it yourself, and the inbox is free. Some Enterprise parts are paid.
Its AI agent is called Captain. Captain needs a paid plan, priced per agent (each person on your support team), and it runs on credits. That is true even when you host Chatwoot yourself.
What Chatvia is
Chatvia is a free, self-hosted platform for AI chat agents. You install it on your own server with one command. Your agents answer from your files, websites and Q&A, and they work on your website, in Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and more.
You get the full source code. There are no plans and no seats.
Where Chatwoot is as good, or better
Both run on your own server, and both let a person take over a chat. On those points, Chatwoot is as good as Chatvia.
And as a pure inbox for people, Chatwoot is better. It is a full help desk, with email and SMS, made for agents who answer tickets all day. I did not build Chatvia to replace that.
Paying for the AI
In Chatwoot, the AI sits on top of the inbox, and you pay for it per support agent, with credits on top.
In Chatvia, the AI agent is the product, and it is free. You pay your AI provider for what the model uses, at their price, with nothing added on top. A typical answer from a fast model costs a fraction of a cent. Run an open-weight model on your own hardware and the AI cost can be zero.
Chatvia has no limits on agents, teams or replies, with or without a key. A Pro license key adds more workspaces, the API, capabilities and forms and hides the "Powered by Chatvia" line, for $199 a year.
AI models
Reviews say Captain runs on OpenAI models.
Chatvia lets you choose any model: OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, or your own server with Ollama or vLLM. If your data must never reach an outside AI company, run the model on your own hardware and it never leaves.
Finding the right answer
Chatvia is built to find the right answer in your knowledge:
- Many sources. Files like PDF, Word, Excel and slides, websites that refresh on a schedule, and Q&A pairs.
- Hybrid search. Vector search and keyword search side by side, then a reranker puts the best passages first.
- Citations. Answers show the sources they came from, and how sure the agent is.
- Evaluations. Test questions scored by an AI judge, so you know the answers are right before people see them.
Tools and safety
Chatwoot's AI tools and guardrails are limited.
Chatvia agents can use 24 ready-made connectors, like GitHub, HubSpot, Salesforce, Notion and Zendesk, or any MCP server. For each tool you choose: it runs, it waits for a person's OK, or it never runs. Every call is logged with its input and result.
Guardrails are on from the start. They catch prompt injection, mask personal data like card numbers, keep the agent on topic, and stop abusive language.
Channels
Chatwoot covers a widget, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, SMS and more.
Chatvia covers a chat widget, a hosted chat page, voice chats, Slack and Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and a REST API.
Put simply: Chatwoot is stronger on email and SMS. Chatvia is stronger inside your team's own tools, like Slack and Teams, and for voice.
Running both
You do not have to pick one. Many teams can run both, side by side, on their own servers:
- Chatvia answers on your website, in your chat apps and inside Slack or Teams, and your team takes over a widget chat when needed.
- Chatwoot stays the inbox for email and tickets.
Both are self-hosted, so your data stays with you either way.
When I would pick Chatwoot
Chatwoot is the better choice if:
- you mainly need a team inbox where people answer chat, email and SMS,
- AI is a small helper for your human agents, and
- you are fine paying per agent for that AI.
Verdict
Chatwoot is one of the best open-source inboxes for people. Chatvia is the stronger AI agent, and its AI is free: any model, a full knowledge base, tools with approvals, guardrails and evaluations, all built in. If the AI should do most of the answering, start with Chatvia. If you also need a big human inbox, add Chatwoot next to it.
| Chatvia | Chatwoot | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on your own server | Yes | Yes |
| Source code | Yes | Yes, with paid Enterprise parts |
| Price of the AI | Free. You pay your AI provider at cost | A paid plan per agent, with credits |
| Choice of AI model | Any, including local models | OpenAI, as reported |
| MCP tools and approvals | Yes | Limited |
| Email and SMS inbox | No | Yes |
| Hand a chat to a person | Yes | Yes, it is a help desk |
Start with the agent: install Chatvia on your own server, and keep your inbox where it is.
Prices are from Chatwoot's pages and public reviews in October 2026. They change often, so check them before you choose.