One queue for every channel
An inbox connects a messaging channel to your team. Each thread from a customer becomes a conversation in the dashboard, where agents reply, label, assign and add private notes exactly as they do for web chats. The web chat widget itself needs no inbox.
Email inboxes are free on every edition. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are part of Premium, at $19 per agent per month. This page describes the ASP.NET Core edition of DChat 2.0.7; the separate Web Forms package does not include the 2.0.5, 2.0.6 or 2.0.7 additions.
Your mail gateway posts incoming mail to DChat, and replies go out through the SMTP server set in Settings. Replies thread onto the right conversation.
WhatsApp (Meta Cloud API or Twilio), Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct messages, Telegram bots and LINE.
SMS through Twilio, and an API inbox that lets your own app or service send messages in and receive signed replies back.
Each inbox shows its channel, the webhook address the provider posts to, and how many conversations it holds.
The inbox form asks only for what that provider needs and explains where each value comes from.
New in 2.0.6
Business hours, away replies and sender checks are free. Replying on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes still needs Premium.
Give an inbox its own time zone, opening hours, split shifts and holidays, or let it follow the default hours. The inbox list shows which are closed right now.
When a customer writes while their inbox is closed, the conversation is marked away and, if you switch it on, gets one automatic reply per closed period. Away replies can use template variables.
DChat reads the SPF, DKIM and DMARC results your mail gateway passes on. A message that fails is flagged as not verified and is never attached to someone else’s conversation or contact, and a reply only joins a conversation when it comes from the same sender.
An agent bot connected by webhook can answer on channel inboxes as well as the website widget. Buttons it sends reach channels without buttons as a numbered text list.
This inbox has its own time zone and hours; the others follow the default schedule.
New in 2.0.7
Campaigns are part of Premium, at $19 per agent per month, and send through your own SMS or WhatsApp inbox.
Pick a saved contact segment and an SMS or WhatsApp inbox, write the message (WhatsApp sends an approved template, with personalised values), and send now or at a set time. Each message lands in the customer’s own conversation, so replies arrive where agents already work.
Only contacts whose number has itself written in to that channel are included; a number merely typed into a contact is never messaged. A reply of STOP opts the customer out and START lets them back in.
A draft sends nothing. The review shows how many messages will go out, who is left out and why, and what the first recipient will read, and sending waits until you tick that you understand.
Messages go out a few per second. Each recipient shows sent, failed with the provider’s reason, opted out or skipped. A campaign can be cancelled, and if Premium lapses sending pauses without losing recipients.
The count, who is left out, and the first message, before you send.
Every recipient, with a link to their conversation.
Inbound messages on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are still received and stored, so nothing a customer sends is lost.
Agents cannot reply on those channels until you renew, and paid inboxes cannot be created or changed. They can still be read, switched off or deleted.
Email inboxes and the web chat widget are free, so they keep working exactly as before.
Inbox settings stay stored, and replies work again as soon as the subscription is renewed.
Yes. Email inboxes are part of the free Community edition. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are Premium.
Two, both on Premium: the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, and WhatsApp through Twilio. SMS, also Premium, goes through Twilio.
No. Inbound messages on paid channels are still received and stored. Agents cannot reply on those channels until you renew, and email and web chat keep working.
Yes, on Premium. An API inbox accepts messages from your app with an inbox token and posts agent replies back to your callback URL, signed with HMAC-SHA256.
Email inboxes are free with unlimited agents. The messaging channels are part of Premium at $19 per agent per month, billed only for the agents you choose to cover.
DChat gives you the installable server, web dashboard, website widget, and desktop agent tools in one self-hosted product, with live chat free to run, and an AI agent that answers, acts with the approvals you set and hands off to your team when you want one. Run it on infrastructure you trust, on the model you choose.
Deployment
Install on Windows or Linux, behind IIS or Nginx, in a VM, or in Docker if that fits your stack.
Commercial model
Live chat is free with unlimited agents. Premium, with the AI agent, is billed per agent per month, never per conversation.
AI Flexibility
Run the AI agent on a local Ollama model, or connect OpenAI and Anthropic with your own provider accounts.