Chatwoot versus OpenWidget

Chatwoot is a Free Open Source Software and SaaS live chat platform. You can choose to have your live chat hosted by them or opt for self-hosting. The installation process of a self-hosted live chat has been simplified with their one-click install guides for cloud providers like AWS, DigitalOcean, and Heroku or with deployment options like Docker, Linux VM (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS), or the Chatwoot CTL.

Open Source

Chatwoot’s Community Edition is published under the MIT license. You can find SDK implementations, review the code or contribute to the projects in the Chatwoot repository. The Enterprise Edition is available under a proprietary license. You can still audit the source code. However, modification is not allowed.

OpenWidget is a free eCommerce widget launched in November 2022 by LiveChat.inc. It is not a real-time live chat but has 4 important features.

• Contact form (email)
• Product cards to promote deals
• FAQ section
• Widget customization

It is easy to set up but offers limited customization options, as can be expected for such a free tool. There is no option to upload images, they have to be linked to a URL. All changes are applied to the widget on your website in real time without the need to replace the script.

It has plugins for popular eCommerce platforms like:

• BigCommerce
• Google Tag Manager
• OpenCart
• Shopify
• Squarespace
• Woocommerce
• WordPress