How much RAM does Chatwoot need?

The Chatwoot stack (Rails server + Sidekiq worker + PostgreSQL + Redis) idles around 1.2 GB RAM. A 2 GB VPS is the minimum for production; 4 GB is recommended for teams with more than 10 concurrent agents or high conversation volume.

Does Chatwoot support WhatsApp?

Yes. Chatwoot integrates with the WhatsApp Cloud API (Meta for Developers) and Twilio WhatsApp. You connect your WhatsApp Business number via the Inboxes settings panel. Messages sent to your WhatsApp number appear in the shared inbox alongside live chat, email and other channels.

Can I embed a live-chat widget on my website?

Yes. After creating a Website inbox in Chatwoot, you get a two-line JavaScript snippet. Paste it into your site's and a customisable chat bubble appears for visitors. Widget colour, greeting message and team name are configurable from the Chatwoot dashboard.

Is a domain name required?

Yes. Chatwoot requires a valid FQDN set as FRONTEND_URL to correctly generate OAuth redirects, email links and the embeddable widget script URL. Without a domain, some features (email integration, OAuth, multi-device notifications) do not work correctly.

Is Chatwoot free to self-host?

Yes. Chatwoot is MIT-licensed open-source software — free to install and self-host with unlimited agents. There are no per-seat fees on the community edition. You pay only for the VPS. Enterprise features (SSO, advanced audit logs, custom roles) are available in the paid cloud plans.

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Chatwoot

Self-hosted customer support hub — live chat, email, WhatsApp and social media in one open-source inbox.

2 GB RAM 2 vCPU Port 3000 Available

Source code

Tech stack

DockerRuby on RailsPostgreSQL 15Redis 7Sidekiq

Minimum RAM2 GB

Minimum CPU2 vCPU

Default port3000

Compatible OSChoice of Linux distributions

Chatwoot is an open-source omnichannel customer support platform (MIT, 34 k+ stars, v4.16.0) that brings all your customer conversations — live chat, email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter/X DMs and Instagram — into a single shared inbox. Your support team collaborates on tickets, assigns conversations to agents, sets up automated workflows and tracks response times, all without paying per-agent SaaS fees.

Deployed on a ServOrbit VPS, Chatwoot gives your business full ownership of customer data and conversation history. The stack runs as four Docker containers: a PostgreSQL 15 database, Redis 7 cache, a Rails web server and a Sidekiq background worker. First-boot migration runs automatically; the admin account is created through the web UI on the first visit.

Chatwoot integrates natively with WhatsApp Business API, Twilio SMS, email (IMAP/SMTP), Slack, GitHub Issues and dozens of other channels via its open API. For developers, the REST and WebSocket APIs let you build custom integrations, trigger automation from external tools or embed the live-chat widget into any website with a single JavaScript snippet.

Key features

Omnichannel shared inbox — email, live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook and Twitter DMs all in one dashboard.

Embeddable live-chat widget — add a customisable chat bubble to any website with a 2-line JavaScript snippet.

Canned responses and automation rules — auto-assign conversations, send first-response templates and route by language or keyword.

Team collaboration — internal notes, conversation assignment, mentions and team queues visible to all agents in real time.

Built-in CRM — contact profiles with conversation history, custom attributes and labels.

REST API and webhooks — integrate with Zapier, n8n, Activepieces or your own backend.

MIT licence — no per-agent pricing, no data sent to a third-party cloud, full self-hosted data sovereignty.

When to use this solution?

1

Customer support for web agencies and SaaS

Replace Intercom or Zendesk with a self-hosted shared inbox. Your team answers live-chat questions from the website, email threads and WhatsApp messages from the same screen. Canned responses handle repeat questions; automation rules route conversations to the right agent by language or product area.

2

E-commerce support

Connect your WooCommerce or PrestaShop store's contact form and WhatsApp Business number to Chatwoot. Every order inquiry, refund request and complaint lands in one queue, assigned to the right team member. Response time SLAs are tracked per inbox — no message gets lost.

3

Internal helpdesk

Use Chatwoot as an internal IT or HR helpdesk. Employees submit requests via the embedded widget on the intranet; the support team manages, escalates and resolves tickets in one interface with full conversation history, notes and audit trail.

Deploy Chatwoot on your VPS

Guide optimized for ServOrbit Cloud VPS.

01

Order a ServOrbit VPS

Chatwoot's Rails server and Sidekiq worker need at least 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended for teams over 10 agents). Ubuntu 24.04 with Docker is the fastest path. Open ports 80 and 443 for the reverse proxy — Chatwoot itself listens on port 3000 internally.

02

One-click deploy from the marketplace

Open your ServOrbit control panel, go to Marketplace → Collaboration & Productivity → Chatwoot, and click Deploy. Docker pulls chatwoot/chatwoot:latest and starts the stack: PostgreSQL, Redis, the web server and the Sidekiq worker. The first boot runs database migrations automatically — allow 60–90 seconds.

03

Create your admin account

Navigate to http://:3000. Chatwoot shows a first-run setup wizard: enter your name, email and password. This account becomes the super admin. You can invite additional agents and create teams from the Settings panel.

04

Set the FRONTEND_URL and configure HTTPS

Point your domain to the VPS (A record → VPS IP). Add a reverse proxy (Nginx or Caddy) forwarding port 80/443 to localhost:3000. Set FRONTEND_URL=https://support.your-domain.com in your .env file and restart the web container. Chatwoot uses this URL for OAuth redirects, email links and the embeddable widget.

05

Add your first inbox

In Chatwoot's Settings → Inboxes, click Add Inbox. Choose Website (for live chat), Email (SMTP/IMAP) or a messaging channel like WhatsApp Cloud API or Telegram. For website chat, copy the generated JavaScript snippet and paste it into your site's . Visitors see the chat bubble immediately.

06

Invite agents and set up automation

Go to Settings → Agents and send email invites. In Settings → Automation, create rules to auto-assign conversations (e.g., WhatsApp → Morocco team, email → billing team) and send first-response messages outside business hours. Chatwoot queues the Sidekiq worker handles all async jobs — email delivery, webhook triggers and notification pushes.

Frequently asked questions

Chatwoot is an open-source omnichannel customer support platform (MIT, v4.16.0) that consolidates live chat, email, WhatsApp, Telegram and social media messages into a single shared inbox. Self-hosted on your VPS, it gives your team full data ownership and no per-agent SaaS billing.