Included in the PRO plan

Yourteamanswers.YourAIneversleeps.

A complete WhatsApp helpdesk — shared inbox, teams, assignment rules and AI agents that reply on their own. Everything hosted by us, so you never rent a server or patch a database again.

Start with PRO See pricing Compare with Chatwoot
  • Shared inbox
  • AI agents
  • Official API and QR Code
  • Zero infrastructure
0
Servers to maintain

No VPS, no Postgres, no Redis

24/7
AI agents on duty

They answer after hours too

2 min
From signup to first chat

Scan a QR code and you are live

1x
One predictable bill

Hosting and updates included

— The helpdesk

Everything a support team needs, already turned on

No plugins to hunt for, no add-ons to buy. The whole workspace ships with the PRO plan and stays updated on its own.

  • 01

    Shared inbox

    Every WhatsApp conversation in one place, in real time, for the whole team.

  • 02

    Teams and agents

    Invite your team, split them into teams and give each one the right role.

  • 03

    Automatic assignment

    Conversations go round-robin to the agents who are online, instead of sitting there unanswered.

  • 04

    Labels

    Organize conversations and contacts, and use labels as rules for your bots.

  • 05

    Canned responses

    Reusable replies so nobody types the same answer twice.

  • 06

    Contacts

    A light CRM with history, external IDs, merge and blocking built in.

  • 07

    Official API and QR Code

    Connect through the WhatsApp Cloud API or a plain QR code. Both work.

  • 08

    WhatsApp templates

    Send Meta-approved templates straight from the conversation, on the official channel.

— AI agents

AI agents

A support agent that works while you sleep

Bring your OpenAI key and let the bot handle the repetitive half of your inbox. It answers and claims conversations — and steps aside the moment a human picks the chat up.

Turn on AI agents

What happens to an incoming message

  1. Message landsA customer texts your WhatsApp number.
  2. The bot reads itIt follows your system prompt and that conversation's labels.
  3. The bot answersOnly in open conversations assigned to it, or unassigned ones that it claims.
  4. Your team takes over wheneverThe moment an agent picks the conversation up, the bot stops and the human carries on with the full history.
  • 01

    Bots that actually answer

    An agent bot replies to open conversations assigned to it, and claims the unassigned ones instead of letting them go cold.

  • 02

    Your rules, not ours

    Write a system prompt the AI always obeys. Labels on a conversation become extra rules for that specific chat.

  • 03

    A human takes over whenever

    The moment an agent picks the conversation up, the bot steps aside in that chat. No double replies, no fighting over it.

  • 04

    A human rhythm

    Set a reply delay so the bot does not answer in a robotic zero seconds.

  • 05

    AI in the composer

    Agents get rewrite, reply suggestions and thread summaries right where they type.

  • 06

    Your OpenAI key

    You bring your own key and pay the usage straight to OpenAI, with nobody in between. The key is stored for your workspace alone and is never returned or shared.

— Pingo versus self-hosted

Chatwoot is free. Running it is not.

Chatwoot is a fine open-source project, and the license really does cost nothing. The server it needs, the upgrades it demands and the hours your team spends babysitting it are what you actually pay for.

Server and infrastructure

Chatwoot self-hosted4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM, plus Postgres, Redis and Sidekiq, rented by you
Pingo Notify PRONone. We host it

Installation

Chatwoot self-hostedDocker, environment variables, SSL, domains
Pingo Notify PROSign up and scan a QR code

Updates and security patches

Chatwoot self-hostedYour team, every release
Pingo Notify PROAutomatic, included

Backups and monitoring

Chatwoot self-hostedYou set them up and you watch them
Pingo Notify PROIncluded

Scaling as your volume grows

Chatwoot self-hostedYou resize the server and pay for more
Pingo Notify PROThe infrastructure is ours. You migrate nothing

AI agents

Chatwoot self-hostedCaptain AI is not in the Community Edition, it needs a paid plan at US$ 19 per agent per month
Pingo Notify PROIncluded in PRO. You connect your own OpenAI key and pay only the usage

WhatsApp official API and QR

Chatwoot self-hostedBring your own provider and wire it up
Pingo Notify PROBoth, built in

WordPress and WooCommerce

Chatwoot self-hostedNot included
Pingo Notify PRONative plugin and integrations

Support in your language

Chatwoot self-hostedCommunity forum
Pingo Notify PROHuman support, included

License cost

Chatwoot self-hostedFree on the Community Edition
Pingo Notify PROIncluded in the plan

Chatwoot is an independent open-source project with no affiliation to Pingo Notify. All trademarks belong to their respective owners. The comparison refers to a self-hosted install, not to Chatwoot's paid cloud.

— The real math

Add up what free actually costs

The numbers below use the spec Chatwoot itself recommends and the providers' public prices. Nothing invented — the sources are at the bottom of the section.

Scenario: 5 agents · production install · 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM, Chatwoot's own recommended minimum

What free does not cover

Chatwoot self-hosted

  • VPS with 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAMUS$ 6 on Contabo, US$ 48 on DigitalOceanUS$ 30/month
  • Automated backups20% of the server, DigitalOcean's own rateUS$ 6/month
  • Uptime monitoringUS$ 6/month
  • Upgrades and maintenance2h a month from someone who knows Postgres and RedisUS$ 60/month
Captain AI, the AI agentUS$ 95/month

Captain is not in the free Community Edition. It requires the Premium Support plan at US$ 19 per agent per month — and that is the licence alone, the AI usage is billed on top. With 5 agents, that is US$ 95.

  • Initial install, SSL and migration (one-off) US$ 240

Every month, forever

US$ 197/month

US$ 102 of that is server and upkeep alone, before the AI answers a single message.

One line on your invoice

Pingo Notify PRO

  • Server and infrastructure Included
  • Updates and security patches Included
  • Backups and monitoring Included
  • WordPress and WooCommerce integrations Included
  • Human support Included

The AI agents come with the plan, with no per-agent licence. The AI usage runs on your own OpenAI key, and OpenAI bills you for it, not Pingo.

The PRO plan, all of it

$148.00/month

Server, updates, backups and monitoring come to US$ 0 — they are all in the plan.

See the PRO plan

Illustrative estimates based on public prices checked in July 2026, not a quote. Server pricing varies widely by provider and region. AI provider usage (OpenAI) is billed separately on both sides, and the WhatsApp conversation fees charged by Meta apply to the official API either way.

SourcesChatwoot system requirements Chatwoot self-hosted plans DigitalOcean pricing Contabo pricing

— Getting started

Live this afternoon

Three steps, and none of them involve a terminal.

  1. Connect WhatsApp

    Scan a QR code, or plug in the official Cloud API. Both take minutes.

  2. Bring your team in

    Invite agents, group them into teams and let assignment rules do the routing.

  3. Switch the AI on

    Paste your OpenAI key, write the rules, and the bot starts answering.

— The plan

PRO plan

The helpdesk lives in PRO

One plan, the whole platform. The helpdesk, the AI agents, the WordPress plugin and the highest message limit come together.

Start with PRO Compare plans
  • 01

    Full helpdesk

    Shared inbox, teams, assignment, labels and canned responses.

  • 02

    AI agents

    Bots that answer on their own, plus AI in the composer.

  • 03

    Replies off the meter

    Helpdesk replies don't count against your plan's message quota.

  • 04

    Official API and QR

    Both WhatsApp channels, on the same workspace.

  • 05

    Plugins and integrations

    WordPress, WooCommerce, webhooks and the public API.

  • 06

    Zero infrastructure

    Hosting, updates, backups and monitoring on us.

— FAQ

The questions people ask before switching

Short answers. If yours is missing, our team is one message away.

No. That is the entire point. There is no VPS to rent, no Postgres, no Redis and no Docker file to keep alive. You sign in and the helpdesk is already running.

Still weighing self-hosting against Pingo? Talk to us. Our team will help you work out what makes sense for your case.

— Ready when you are

Stop paying a server to answer your customers

Move your support to a helpdesk that hosts itself, answers with AI and bills you once a month.

Start with PRO See pricing

What comes with it

  • No server, no DevOps
  • AI agents included
  • Cancel whenever you want