Introduction
Chatvia is a free, self-hosted platform for AI chat agents. Think Intercom, Chatbase and other AI agent services that can cost thousands of dollars a month. Chatvia does what they do, and goes further with more features and many optimizations.
It is built for companies and individuals alike, with security and care at every step. You run it on your own server, give each agent your files, web pages and notes, and it answers from them.
You can also connect it to services such as Google Drive and Notion, or to your own MCP servers. On top of that, agents can call functions on your own server, so they can look things up and take action for you.
Chatvia is the result of hundreds of hours of work across two years.
Each agent can show up in three places:
- Hosted chat: its own chat page at
yoursite.com/chat/{agent}. - Widget: a chat bubble you add to any website with one
<script>tag. - Bar: a search bar that opens a full-screen chat inside your app.
Why Chatvia
Many companies pay thousands of dollars a month for AI agents. And they have no control over their data: their chats, files and customer details live on someone else's servers.
Chatvia was built to fix that. It is a privacy-first, self-hosted AI agent platform for websites:
- You own your data. Chatvia runs on your own server. Your files, chats and chatter details are stored there, not with us.
- Pick any model. Use frontier models such as Claude, GPT and Gemini, or open-weight models such as Llama and Qwen. Each agent can use a different one. See Model & generation.
- Use the features you want. Turn on only what you need. And because you get the source code, you can change it.
- No big monthly bill. Chatvia is free to use under the Chatvia license. You only pay for your server and the AI models you use. A license key removes the "Powered by Chatvia" credit.
This matters for companies and individuals alike. A large team gets full control and lower costs. A small team or a single person gets the same tools, without the price tag.
How Chatvia compares
Most tools do one part well. Hosted AI chatbots, such as Chatbase and Intercom Fin, keep your data on their servers. Open-source AI builders, such as Dify and Flowise, run on your server but stop at your website. Open-source support desks, such as Chatwoot, have the channels but charge extra for the AI. Chatvia does all of it, on your own server.
| What you get | Chatvia | Hosted AI chatbots | Open-source AI builders | Open-source support desks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on your own server, so your data stays with you | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Source code you can read and change | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free, with no fee per message or per seat | ✓ | — | ✓ | AI is a paid plan |
| Answers from your files and web pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Paid plan |
| Use any AI model, including open-weight models | ✓ | A few choices | ✓ | Paid plan |
| WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Slack, Teams and Telegram | All six | Most | Add-ons or your own code | Most |
| Hand a chat over to a person | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Connect any MCP server, plus ready-made connectors | ✓ | Limited | ✓ | Limited |
| Ask before a risky tool call, and log every call | ✓ | Varies | Build it into a workflow | — |
| Guardrails on from the start | ✓ | Varies | Set it up yourself | Paid plan |
| Forms and lead capture inside the chat | ✓ | ✓ | Build it into a workflow | Pre-chat form only |
This table is based on popular products in each group in October 2026. Each product is different, and they change often, so check the details before you choose.
What's in this guide
- Installation: run Chatvia on your own server.
- Quick start: create your first agent and share it.
- Core concepts: the words these docs use.
- How Chatvia works: what happens from adding a source to answering a chatter.
- Agents: persona, model, appearance and where an agent shows up.
- Knowledge sources: files, web pages, text and Q&A pairs.
- Tools: let an agent call your own APIs or MCP connectors.
- Embed: put the widget or the bar on your site.
Need help?
- Ask a question or report a bug on GitHub.
- For API questions, your install documents its REST API at
yoursite.com/docs/api.