Side by side

Cerb vs Chatwoot

Both stand on help desk software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Cerb

Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

Choose Cerb if your support team needs shared inbox workflows with SLA management, automation, and customer-facing help tools. Compare the plan billing and slot allowances to find a fit, especially if choosing Cerb Cloud, which bills per seat and per slot.

Visit Cerb

Chatwoot

Free plan Open source AndroidAPIiPhone+3

Chatwoot brings customer conversations, team coordination, and knowledge-base tools together, with cloud and self-hosted options. Compare agent, conversation, and retention limits with the features you need.

Visit Chatwoot

The facts

	Cerb	Chatwoot
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes	Yes
Runs on	API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web	Android, API, iPhone, Linux, Self-hosted, Web
Lowest paid plan	Cerb Cloud: $40 per seat a month	Startups: $19 per agent a month
Plans published	5	9
Maker	Cerb	Chatwoot
Website	cerb.ai	chatwoot.com
On help desk software	#2 of 101	#1 of 101

Cerb: what it does well

Shared inbox with SLA management.
Includes help center and customer portal capabilities.
Ticket automation and API access are available.
Community plan has unlimited workers and seats.
Self-hosted and cloud paid plans are offered.

What to know first

Cerb Cloud pricing adds a per-slot charge to per-seat billing.
Community includes three concurrency slots.
Community includes two AI agent turns per slot.

Chatwoot: what it does well

Combines multiple channels in a shared inbox
Includes help-center portals and AI-powered search
Offers API access, webhooks, and bot connections
Can be deployed on customer infrastructure

What to know first

Free Hacker plan limits use to 500 conversations monthly
Community Edition excludes Captain AI and voice calls
Cloud Startups is $19 per agent monthly, billed annually

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