Chatwoot vs Cognigy — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Chatwoot starts at $19/mo. Cognigy uses custom pricing — request a quote to compare.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Chatwoot (Per Seat) — Chatwoot bills on a fixed plan from $19/mo, so the listed price is what you pay regardless of volume.
- Cognigy (Per Usage) — Cognigy bills purely on usage. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
Open-source customer support platform positioned as the alternative to Zendesk and Intercom for teams that want self-hosting + no per-agent seat trap. Distinctive as the OSS challenger with a serious cloud offering. Priced free (community edition, self-hosted) up to $99/user/mo Enterprise Cloud. Popular with agencies, regulated industries, and teams building customer-facing chat into their own products via API.
Enterprise conversational AI platform for voice + chat customer engagement. Cognigy.AI is deployed in contact centers to handle voice and chat with autonomous AI agents. Pricing: enterprise-only, reported deals $75K-500K+/year depending on channel and volume. Popular in European enterprises (Lufthansa, Bosch, Toyota) that need multi-language voice + chat support at scale.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Chatwoot monthly | Chatwoot annual | Cognigy monthly | Cognigy annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Hacker / — | Free | Free | — | — |
| Entry paid | Startups / — | $19 | $19 | — | — |
| Teams | Business / — | $39 | $39 | — | — |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | $99 | $99 | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Chatwoot is worth it if… Chatwoot is the open-source Intercom alternative for teams (2-100 agents) that want customer messaging + shared inbox + Captain AI — with the option to self-host if data sovereignty matters. Free Hacker tier covers 2 agents; Startups scales for small teams; Business adds more Captain AI credits and admin controls.
Cognigy is worth it if… enterprise contact centers (especially European) that need conversational AI across both voice and chat channels with strong multi-language support. Deals reportedly $75K-500K+/year.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Chatwoot is per seat, Cognigy is per usage.
Choose Chatwoot over Cognigy if…
Choose Chatwoot if…
- You want fixed-price predictability (per seat, from $19/mo).
- You match the profile Chatwoot is built for: the open-source Intercom alternative for teams (2-100 agents) that want customer messaging + shared inbox + Captain AI — with the option to self-host if data sovereignty matters.
- You need a general-purpose customer support option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Cognigy if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, custom pricing).
- You match the profile Cognigy is built for: enterprise contact centers (especially European) that need conversational AI across both voice and chat channels with strong multi-language support.
- You're building for contact centers.
At a glance
| Chatwoot | Cognigy | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Entry price | $19/mo | Custom |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Seat | Per Usage |
| Last verified | September 12, 2026 | September 20, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 20, 2026. Tracked daily.