Chatwoot Cloud API Paywall: Migrate to Self-Hosted in 2026

What changed at Chatwoot Cloud in July 2026

What is blocked on the free Chatwoot Cloud plan

• REST API calls: all /api/v1/… routes return HTTP 401 for tokens issued by a Free plan account
• Outbound webhooks: conversation and message events are no longer sent to configured URLs
• n8n integrations: Chatwoot nodes and direct HTTP calls to the Cloud API fail silently or return an authentication error
• Activepieces integrations: any trigger or action consuming a Chatwoot Cloud API token is inoperative
• CRM synchronisation: connectors that push Chatwoot conversations to a CRM via the API are cut off
• Automated reports: scripts that aggregate support statistics via the API can no longer authenticate

Free Cloud plan vs self-hosted: comparison table

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Exporting your data from Chatwoot Cloud

Export procedure from Chatwoot Cloud

1. 01

   Export contacts

   In the Chatwoot Cloud dashboard, go to Contacts → download icon (top right). Chatwoot generates a CSV file with each contact's first name, last name, email, phone and labels. Keep this file — it will be used for import on your self-hosted instance.

2. 02

   Export conversations via the API (if your plan still allows it)

   If you still have API access or are on a paid plan being terminated, export conversations with:

   curl -H "api_access_token: <YOUR_TOKEN>" \
     "https://app.chatwoot.com/api/v1/accounts/<ACCOUNT_ID>/conversations" \
     -o conversations-export.json

   Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> and <ACCOUNT_ID> with your values. Repeat with ?page=2, ?page=3… until you get an empty array.

3. 03

   Download attachments

   Files attached to conversations are served from the Chatwoot Cloud CDN. Note the URLs of the form https://app.chatwoot.com/rails/active_storage/… in the exported JSON. A wget or curl script can download them in bulk if your access quota still permits.

4. 04

   Export agent profiles

   In Settings → Agents, note the email address of each agent. You will need them to recreate accounts on your self-hosted instance. CSV export is available from the same page.

5. 05

   Export inboxes and their settings

   In Settings → Inboxes, document each configuration: channel type (email, web widget, WhatsApp Business, etc.), SMTP settings, channel API keys. This data is not automatically exportable — a screenshot or copy-paste is sufficient.

6. 06

   Export labels and canned responses

   In Settings → Labels and Canned Responses, export or copy the entries. Canned responses are not natively exportable as CSV — copy them manually or via the API if you still have access: GET /api/v1/accounts/<ID>/canned_responses.

7. 07

   Archive your Cloud account

   Once the data is retrieved, you can deactivate your Chatwoot Cloud account from Account Settings → Danger zone → Delete account. This action is irreversible.

Deploying Chatwoot self-hosted on a ServOrbit VPS

Deployment from the ServOrbit Marketplace

1. 08

   Choose the right VPS

   Chatwoot requires at least 2 vCPU and 4 GB of RAM for everyday use (a few agents, a few hundred active conversations). For a team of 10 or more agents, plan for 4 vCPU / 8 GB. The PostgreSQL database is the most memory-intensive component.

   In your ServOrbit client area, select a VPS with these specs and choose Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12 as the base image.

2. 09

   Activate the Chatwoot template from the Marketplace

   In the ServOrbit client area, go to Marketplace → Collaboration → Chatwoot (or use the direct link at /marketplace/collaboration/chatwoot). Select your target VPS and launch the deployment. The template installs Docker, Docker Compose, nginx and Certbot, then configures Chatwoot via docker-compose.yml.

3. 10

   Configure environment variables

   After deployment, SSH into your VPS and edit the generated .env file in /opt/chatwoot/:

   SECRET_KEY_BASE=<generate with openssl rand -hex 64>
   FRONTEND_URL=https://chat.your-domain.com
   DEFAULT_LOCALE=en
   [email protected]
   SMTP_ADDRESS=<your-smtp>
   SMTP_USERNAME=<login>
   SMTP_PASSWORD=<password>

   Then restart the containers: docker compose down && docker compose up -d.

4. 11

   Point your domain and activate TLS

   In Cloudflare (or your DNS manager), add an A record for chat.your-domain.com pointing to your VPS IP. The nginx template includes a Certbot configuration: run certbot --nginx -d chat.your-domain.com to obtain and automatically renew your Let's Encrypt certificate.

5. 12

   Create the first administrator account

   Go to https://chat.your-domain.com and follow the initial setup wizard. Create your administrator account, then import agents via Settings → Agents → Invite agents. Use the email addresses exported in the previous step.

6. 13

   Import contacts

   In Contacts → Import, upload the CSV file exported from Chatwoot Cloud. Chatwoot recognises the name, email, phone_number and identifier columns. Duplicates are detected during import.

Restoring an n8n or Activepieces integration

Example — n8n workflow with the self-hosted Chatwoot API

1. 14

   Generate an API token on your instance

   In Chatwoot self-hosted, go to Profile Settings → API Access. Copy the generated token. This token does not expire and grants access to all REST routes on your instance.

2. 15

   Configure Chatwoot credentials in n8n

   In n8n, add credentials of type Chatwoot API. Fill in:
   - Base URL: https://chat.your-domain.com
   - Access Token: the token copied in the previous step

   Validate the connection — n8n should respond with HTTP 200 and your account profile.

3. 16

   Reconfigure webhook triggers

   In Chatwoot self-hosted, go to Settings → Integrations → Webhooks and add the n8n webhook URL (of the form https://n8n.your-domain.com/webhook/<uuid>). Check the events to listen to: conversation_created, message_created, conversation_status_changed.

   Trigger a test conversation and verify in n8n that the execution is received.

4. 17

   Adapt Activepieces workflows

   Activepieces has a native Chatwoot connector. In the Activepieces dashboard, edit each flow that used Chatwoot Cloud and update the connection: replace app.chatwoot.com with chat.your-domain.com and regenerate credentials with the new token. Webhook triggers follow the same procedure as for n8n.

Troubleshooting — common errors after migration

Common errors and solutions

• HTTP 401 on the API: the token was generated on the old Cloud instance. Regenerate a token from Profile → API Access on your self-hosted instance and update all your n8n / Activepieces credentials.
• HTTP 422 Unprocessable Entity when creating a conversation: the target inbox does not yet exist on the self-hosted instance. Recreate inboxes in Settings → Inboxes before importing conversations.
• Webhook not received: check that the n8n or Activepieces webhook URL is reachable from your VPS (curl -I <webhook-url>). If your n8n is behind a reverse proxy, ensure port 443 is open and the TLS certificate is valid.
• SMTP error on startup: if Chatwoot cannot send confirmation emails, check the SMTP_ADDRESS, SMTP_PORT (587 for STARTTLS, 465 for SSL) and SMTP_AUTHENTICATION variables in your .env. Restart the containers after any change.
• Interface in English despite DEFAULT_LOCALE=en: the environment variable applies to the default locale for new accounts. Each agent can change their own language in Profile → Language. To force a locale on all existing accounts, update the locale column directly in PostgreSQL via docker compose exec postgres psql -U chatwoot -c "UPDATE users SET locale='en';" — back up the database before any direct modification.

Regaining control of your customer support