Rocket.Chat versus POWR

Rocket.Chat is a SaaS and genuine Free Open Source Software platform. They are developing an impressive range of communication and collaboration solutions for a wide variety of organizations, catering to industries like financial services, healthcare, and governments.

Open Source

Rocket.Chat, being Open Source, lets you review the code yourself or contribute to the project in their GitHub Repository. Unlike most providers, Rocket.Chat holds an MIT license, granting you full ownership and control over your code, data, privacy, and security. Detailed documentation for developers is available on the Rocket.Chat website, allowing you to build upon their framework and customize integrations.

One of their core products is Team Collaboration which you can set up as a privately hosted alternative to Slack. Of course, the use case for their software highlighted here is Customer Service and Engagement.

With Rocket.Chat you can manage live chat, email, SMS, and social media channels in a single security-oriented hub. The options and features at hand are mostly limited by your imagination.

POWR offers a complete suite of no-code eCommerce solutions with more than 60 apps and plugins, mostly aimed at platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Shopify. They have apps for social media tools, form builders, surveys, popups, payment buttons, website media, and of course, live chat.

Their live chat app connects through Facebook Messenger. A Facebook page and Messenger are required for the live chat app to function. Meaning, POWR live chat is not a suitable option for businesses that do not use Facebook or have compliance requirements that conflict with Meta’s policies and reputation.

The POWR website can be difficult to navigate and find all information you need, especially regarding the live chat and its features. The customization tool for the chat widget is easy to use and offers a lot of options. However, most options are only available in the more expensive plans.

Customers of POWR are mostly small businesses. A few of them share their success stories on the POWR.io website.