Chatwoot vs Zammad: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Zendesk. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Chatwoot | Zammad | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CRM & Support | CRM & Support |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | 23k | 8k |
| Tech stack | Ruby on Rails, Vue.js, PostgreSQL, Redis | Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch |
| Replaces | Intercom, Zendesk | Zendesk |
Chatwoot has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Chatwoot
Omnichannel support inbox, an alternative to Intercom/Zendesk.
Pros
- MIT license
- Very lightweight chat widget for your website
Things to consider
- Some AI integrations are cloud-plan only
Zammad
Support ticketing system, a self-hostable alternative to Zendesk.
Pros
- More modern interface than other open source helpdesks
Things to consider
- Elasticsearch adds one more service to maintain
Key features
Chatwoot
- Multichannel shared inbox (web, email, WhatsApp, Instagram)
- Chatbots and automated replies
- SLA and satisfaction reports
Zammad
- Multichannel ticket inbox
- Built-in knowledge base
- Automations and SLAs