Freshchat alternative

A Freshchat alternative you run on your own server

Freshchat is a hosted messaging product billed monthly per agent. DChat covers the same core need, a website widget, an AI chatbot with human handoff, and a real agent workspace, as self-hosted software, with every conversation stored in your own database instead of a vendor cloud.

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Free, not per-agent

A free, unlimited-seat edition replaces a monthly per-agent bill. Grow your team and your conversation volume without watching a subscription climb every month.

Your data, your server

Transcripts, visitor records, and ratings live in your own SQL Server database with CSV export and built-in GDPR access and erasure. Your customer conversations stay on infrastructure you control.

AI without lock-in

Run the chatbot on a local Ollama model or your own OpenAI or Anthropic keys. It answers from your knowledge base and hands off to a human with the transcript, with no per-resolution fee from DChat.

DChat vs Freshchat, at a glance

How free self-hosted live chat compares with a typical hosted plan.

Compare	DChat	Freshchat
Hosting model	Self-hosted on your own server	Hosted SaaS (Freshchat's cloud)
Pricing	Live chat free; Premium (AI and more) $19/agent/month	Monthly subscription
Where conversations live	Your own SQL Server database	The vendor cloud
AI chatbot	Built in - local Ollama or your OpenAI/Anthropic keys	Varies by plan
Remove vendor branding	Premium, $19/agent/month	Varies by plan

Does DChat include an AI chatbot and knowledge base?

Yes. You author knowledge-base articles in the dashboard and connect the chatbot API and it answers from them, then hands off to a human agent when a conversation needs judgment. The bot is optional and disabled by default until you enable it.

Can it connect to my other tools?

HMAC-signed webhooks fire on conversation events with automatic retries and a durable outbox, with ready-made formatting for Slack, Teams, and Discord. Public and admin APIs plus direct SQL access let you route chat data into your existing stack.

How do I switch from a hosted tool?

Install the server on Windows or Linux, run the included SQL scripts, sign in to the dashboard, and replace the hosted chat snippet on your site with the DChat widget. The free edition runs on localhost too, so you can rehearse the whole rollout first.

Run it on your server

Try the full product free on localhost.

The download is the real product: server, dashboard, widget and SQL scripts, with no licence file because live chat is free. One command sets up the demo database and opens the dashboard.

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Self-hosted customer support software

Deploy live chat on your own terms, not on someone else's pricing model.

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.

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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.