openSIPS 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?
FeatureopenSIPSChatwoot
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguageCRuby
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, kubernetes, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,503★ 35,596
First released20202019
ReplacesIntercom, Zendesk, Drift

Why pick each one

Choose openSIPS if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
openSIPS details

Choose Chatwoot if…

  • Polished customer support workflow
  • Active development
Chatwoot details

Frequently asked questions

Is openSIPS or Chatwoot better?

Neither is universally better. Chatwoot has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are openSIPS and Chatwoot free and open-source?

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

Can I run openSIPS and Chatwoot with Docker?

openSIPS: check the project docs for container support. Chatwoot: yes.

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