Chatwoot vs Glowing Bear

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?
FeatureChatwootGlowing Bear
CategoryChat & CommunicationChat & Communication
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageRubyJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 35,596★ 975
First released20192014
ReplacesIntercom, Zendesk, DriftIRCCloud, Slack

Why pick each one

Choose Chatwoot if…

  • Polished customer support workflow
  • Active development
Chatwoot details

Choose Glowing Bear if…

  • Leverages WeeChat power
  • Works on mobile browsers
Glowing Bear details

Frequently asked questions

Is Chatwoot or Glowing Bear 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 Chatwoot and Glowing Bear free and open-source?

Yes. Chatwoot is licensed under MIT and Glowing Bear under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Chatwoot and Glowing Bear with Docker?

Chatwoot: yes. Glowing Bear: yes.

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