Chatwoot
Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk).
Chatwoot vs Rocket.Chat
Two self-hosted Communication - Custom Communication Systems apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.
Side by side
| Chatwoot | Rocket.Chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Customer communication platform (alternative to Intercom and Zendesk). | Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack). |
| GitHub stars | 39,906 | 46,508 |
| Forks | 9.7k | 14.1k |
| Open issues (incl. PRs) | 1.6k | 4.4k |
| Commits (12 months) | 1.5k | 2.5k |
| Last activity | 2026-11-10 | 2026-11-10 |
| Latest release | v4.19.1 (2026-10-24) | 9.0.0-rc.8 (2026-11-07) |
| Maintenance health | Active | Active |
| License | ⊘ Proprietary | MIT |
| Language / platform | Ruby, Docker, K8S | Nodejs, Docker, K8S |
| Docker Hub image | chatwoot/chatwoot | – |
| Docker pulls | 11552k | – |
| Est. server size | ~2 GB, 1 vCPU | ~2 GB, 1 vCPU |
| Est. hosting from | $10/mo | $10/mo |
| Categories | Communication - Custom Communication Systems | Communication - Custom Communication Systems |
| Links | Website · Source | Website · Source |
What the numbers say
- Chatwoot and Rocket.Chat have a similar number of GitHub stars (39.9k vs 46.5k).
- Rocket.Chat had more commits in the last 12 months (2,487 vs 1,508).
- Rocket.Chat published a release more recently (9.0.0-rc.8 on 2026-11-07; Chatwoot's latest is v4.19.1 on 2026-10-24).
- Chatwoot is licensed under ⊘ Proprietary, Rocket.Chat under MIT.
- Chatwoot is written in Ruby; Rocket.Chat in Nodejs.
- Deployment options listed upstream: Chatwoot: Docker, K8S; Rocket.Chat: Docker, K8S.
- Only Chatwoot has a Docker Hub image that we detected (chatwoot/chatwoot).
Summary: Chatwoot leads on Docker Hub availability; Rocket.Chat leads on commit activity. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.
This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-15. It does not rate features or quality.
Get the Docker images
Chatwoot
docker pull chatwoot/chatwootImage on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chatwoot or Rocket.Chat more popular?
They are close: Chatwoot has 39,906 GitHub stars and Rocket.Chat has 46,508 (as of 2026-11-15).
Which is more actively maintained, Chatwoot or Rocket.Chat?
Rocket.Chat had more commits over the last 12 months (2,487 vs 1,508). Both had repository activity on 2026-11-10. Our health labels: Chatwoot is “Active”, Rocket.Chat is “Active”.
What licenses do Chatwoot and Rocket.Chat use?
Chatwoot: ⊘ Proprietary. Rocket.Chat: MIT. Note: Chatwoot includes a non-free license component.
Can I run Chatwoot and Rocket.Chat with Docker?
Chatwoot has a Docker Hub image (chatwoot/chatwoot). We did not find one for Rocket.Chat, though the upstream listing mentions Docker as a deployment option.
Read more
Rocket.Chat
Communications platform that puts data protection first (alternative to Gitter.im and Slack).
Browse all self-hosted Communication - Custom Communication Systems apps.