head to head · open source
Rocket.Chat vs Chatwoot
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars, 14,076 forks, 4,023 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Chatwoot has 38,752 stars, 9,429 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Rocket.Chat leads on adoption by 20% (46,361 vs 38,752 stars). Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Chatwoot is written in Ruby under a custom or non-standard licence. Rocket.Chat has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, Chatwoot 24%. Rocket.Chat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Rocket.Chat | Chatwoot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 39K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 9.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Rocket.Chat if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Chatwoot if
- You want the Chatwoot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and Chatwoot fits your workflow better
About Rocket.Chat
The ultimate secure open source solution for team communications Rocket.Chat is an open source, secure, fully customizable communications platform developed in TypeScript for organizations with high standards of data protection. We are the ultimate solution for team communications, enabling real time conversations between colleagues, with other companies, and with your customers or citizens, regardless of how they connect with you. The result is an increase in productivity and user satisfaction rates. Every day, tens of millions of users in over 150 countries and in organizations such as Deutsche Bahn, The US…
read the full Rocket.Chat overview →
About Chatwoot
Chatwoot The modern customer support platform, an open source alternative to Intercom, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud etc. Chatwoot is the modern, open source, and self hosted customer support platform designed to help businesses deliver exceptional customer support experience. Built for scale and flexibility, Chatwoot gives you full control over your customer data while providing powerful tools to manage conversations across channels. ✨ Captain – AI Agent for Support Supercharge your support with Captain, Chatwoot’s AI agent. Captain helps automate responses, handle common queries, and reduce agent…
read the full Chatwoot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket.Chat or Chatwoot more popular?
Rocket.Chat has 46,361 GitHub stars and Chatwoot has 38,752. Rocket.Chat has the larger community by that measure.
Are Rocket.Chat and Chatwoot free?
Neither Rocket.Chat nor Chatwoot declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Rocket.Chat and Chatwoot?
Rocket.Chat is written in TypeScript and Chatwoot in Ruby. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Rocket.Chat or Chatwoot?
Choose Rocket.Chat if you want the larger community (46,361 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Chatwoot if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.