Asterisk vs Chatwoot

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureAsteriskChatwoot
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguageCRuby
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, kubernetes, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,431★ 35,596
First released19992019
ReplacesAvaya, Cisco Unified CommunicationsIntercom, Zendesk, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose Asterisk if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
Asterisk details

Choose Chatwoot if…

  • Polished customer support workflow
  • Active development
Chatwoot details

Frequently asked questions

Is Asterisk or Chatwoot better?

Chatwoot is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Asterisk if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Asterisk and Chatwoot free and open-source?

Yes. Asterisk is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Chatwoot under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Asterisk and Chatwoot with Docker?

Asterisk: yes. Chatwoot: yes.

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