Most communications today are carried out using open source customer engagement platforms. Shoppers, businesses, and consumers increasingly use technology as they interact, do business, and shop online. During the pandemic, customers flocked to online channels in droves, driving a digital transformation effort across the industry. To ensure that issues are solved as soon as possible, firms sometimes emphasize communication tools and customer engagement programs.

Chatwoot is one such customer engagement platform that not only focused on building relations with customers through live-chat, automated bots but collaborating with agents in different departments. If you are looking for an open source alternative to Zendesk, Salesforce's Service Cloud, Freshworks, or Intercom, then Chatwoot is your go-to option as a client engagement platform.

Chatwoot: An open source customer engagement platform

Founded in 2017, Chatwoot was developed by Pranav Raj S and other co-founders as a proprietary tool for customer support on social channels. While Chatwoot in its original form didn't quite start as intended, the scenario changed after stringent privacy regulations adopted by countries. The team decided to release the system as open source in 2019 before creating a new company and also made it to YC's winter 2021 season.

With the Chatwoot platform, businesses can connect their social networks, email and messaging apps - like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp - in a central inbox. From here, every member of the company has access to all previous communications and can pick up where the last one left off. Additionally, Chatwoot provides you with a live chat tool, native mobile apps, and pre-built integrations with third-party platforms, such as Shopify, Stripe, and chatbot tools such as Rasa and DialogFlow. Moreover, you can share an inbox for collaboration purposes, utilize live chat tools, and integrate your Calendly, Slack, or FullContact accounts with Chatwoot to ensure efficient workarounds.

Moreover, Chatwoots API makes it possible for customers to build their own communication channels. Chatwoot, as an open source CRM platform, ensures that the community stands beside them. With investments coming from Lambda Schools CEO, Austen Allred, and a $1.6Mn seed funding via Goat Capital, Y Combinator, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Hack Venture Capital, Chatwoot has raised bars high in the customer engagement field.

Chatwoot has now expanded its user base via open source technology and businesses of all sizes can access and use solutions, regardless of their size, without having to be concerned about privacy issues. Chatwoot's features and add-ons are competitive with those offered by Zendesk and Salesforce.

However, Chatwoot might have rivals in the field. YC fellow Papercups claims to be an "open source" alternative to Intercom, although its current focus seems to be on live chat. As for Chatwoot, it supports most of the channels customers would like to stay in touch with a business through, including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, and email. Businesses can even create customized channels through an API, ensuring enough space for them to customize the workflow.

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