Comparison
Odly vs Chatwoot
Chatwoot is an open-source, self-hosted inbox you run and extend yourself. Odly is a managed request hub for agencies and MSPs that drafts replies from your resolved conversations. Here is how to tell which one fits.
Start here
When Chatwoot is the better choice
You want to own the code and the infrastructure. Chatwoot is open source with a large, active community and a mature multichannel inbox. If having the source, self-hosting on your own terms, and avoiding any per-seat license cost matters more than anything else, that is exactly what it is built for.
You have the engineering capacity to run it. Someone on your side is comfortable provisioning, deploying, upgrading and patching a production service. If that is already how your team works, the ongoing maintenance is a known cost rather than a blocker, and you get full control in return.
AI drafting is not your priority right now. If your immediate need is a solid shared inbox rather than replies drafted from your resolved conversations, Chatwoot covers the inbox well and you can add your own LLM integrations later. Paying for an autonomy engine you would not use yet makes little sense.
The other side
When Odly is the better choice
Replies drafted from your resolved conversations
Odly learns from your best resolved threads and drafts in your team's voice — not generic AI text, and not a blank box you fill in every time.
Autonomy you control, with an approval gate
Three levels — manual, balanced, aggressive. Nothing sends without approval until you decide a given client is ready for it. You move the dial; it never moves itself.
A workspace per client, plus a transparency link
Every client gets their own workspace, and end clients can track their request status through a link with no login. Owners see the whole picture without digging.
Flat pricing that ignores headcount
Free forever, then flat from €150/mo per workspace (up to €3,000/mo self-hosted) — never per resolution, never per seat. Adding agents never changes the bill.
Managed setup — you configure nothing
On the managed plan the Odly team does the white-glove setup: channels connected, workspaces built, drafting tuned. Fully managed hosting, bring your own model and storage, self-host if you prefer.
Telegram handled in depth
Groups, topics and photos are first-class. If a lot of your client work already lives in Telegram, that is a core channel here rather than one integration among many — here is how shared Telegram accounts leak leads.
Side by side
Odly and Chatwoot, feature by feature
| Feature | Odly | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Email, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack and website chat in one hub, with one workspace per client. | Mature multichannel inbox: email, live chat, social, WhatsApp, Telegram and more. |
| Telegram depth | First-class channel — groups, topics and photos are handled directly, not bolted on. | Telegram is supported as one of many channels; groups and topics are handled with a different depth. |
| Pricing model | Flat per workspace. Free forever, then from €150/mo — never per resolution, never per seat. | Community edition has no license cost; the hosted cloud is priced per agent. |
| Cost for a 5-person team | Free forever, or flat from €150/mo per workspace (managed AI included) — same at 2 agents or 20; €3,000/mo self-hosted. | No license fee to self-host — the real cost is the hosting, upgrades, patching and engineering time you take on. Cloud plans are priced per agent. |
| AI / drafting approach | Learns from your best resolved conversations and drafts replies in your team's voice. Three autonomy levels; nothing sends without approval until you allow it. | Assistive LLM integrations (bring your own key). Its automation is less centred on retrieval over your own resolved conversations than Odly's approach — check their site for current capabilities. |
| Setup effort | Managed plan is white-glove — the Odly team configures everything, you configure nothing. | Self-host means you provision, deploy, upgrade and patch it. Cloud is faster to start, but you still build your own workflows. |
| Hosting options | Fully managed, or self-host on your own infrastructure in your region. Bring your own AI model and your own storage (S3/MinIO). | Self-host anywhere (Docker, Kubernetes, cloud VMs) or use Chatwoot Cloud. Fully in your control on self-host. |
| Data isolation | Per-organization isolation, encrypted in transit, with credentials encrypted at rest, TOTP 2FA. | On self-host, isolation and encryption are whatever you configure and maintain; on cloud, standard multi-tenant accounts. |
| SSO & user provisioning | Single sign-on via OpenID Connect (Google, Microsoft Entra, Okta, Auth0 or any OIDC provider) with just-in-time user creation, plus SCIM 2.0 for automated user and group provisioning. | SSO is available depending on plan and build; automated SCIM-style provisioning is not a core focus of the open-source edition. |
| Onboarding support | Self-serve on Free/Starter/Pro with a 14-day free trial (no card); white-glove onboarding on Enterprise Cloud to prove it on your own data. | Community docs and forum; direct support on higher cloud tiers and enterprise plans. |
Switching
What migrating from Chatwoot involves
- Connect your channels. Reconnect Gmail, Telegram, Slack and website chat to Odly via OAuth and channel tokens. Plan for roughly an afternoon.
- Point inbound traffic over. Redirect the addresses, bots and widgets that currently feed Chatwoot so new requests land in Odly. Run both in parallel for a few days if you want a safety net.
- Seed the drafting engine. Odly learns from your resolved conversations, so the more history you connect, the better the first drafts. This improves over the first couple of weeks as resolved threads accumulate.
- Set autonomy per client. Start every client in draft-only mode, review the suggestions, and raise the autonomy level only where you are comfortable.
Realistic estimate: channels can be live in a day. Useful, in-voice drafts arrive within the 14-day free trial as your resolved conversations build up. On the managed plan, the Odly team does the setup work for you — see pricing.
Questions
Odly vs Chatwoot — FAQ
Is Chatwoot cheaper than Odly?
On the community edition there is no license fee, so on paper it can be. But you carry the hosting, upgrades, security patching and support yourself. Odly's flat fee includes fully managed hosting and white-glove setup. Which is cheaper depends on whether you would rather pay in euros or in engineering time.
Can I self-host Odly the way I self-host Chatwoot?
Yes. Self-hosted Odly is €3,000/mo, runs on your own infrastructure, and lets you bring your own AI model and your own storage. If you would rather not run infrastructure, start free or go fully managed from €150/mo.
Does Odly send replies automatically?
Not unless you allow it. There are three autonomy levels: manual (drafts only), balanced, and aggressive. The default is draft-only with human approval, and nothing sends autonomously until you explicitly turn that on for a given client.
Chatwoot already does Telegram — why would I switch for that?
Both support Telegram. The difference is depth: in Odly, Telegram groups, topics and photos are a core channel rather than one integration among many, which matters if a large share of your client requests actually happen in Telegram.
See it on your own conversations
Start free — no card — and watch Odly draft from your real resolved threads. Prefer a walkthrough first? Book a demo. Pricing is flat and public.
Want the technical detail first? Read how Odly handles security.
Chatwoot and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Odly is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. This comparison reflects publicly available information and our own product as of August 2026; features and pricing change, so verify current details on each vendor's own site. If you believe something here is inaccurate, let us know and we'll correct it.