Comparisons

Live chat alternatives, compared

Most live chat tools are hosted services billed monthly per seat, with your conversations living in the vendor's cloud. DChat takes the opposite approach: free live chat you install on your own server, and an optional AI chatbot with human handoff. Here is how it compares to the tools you are probably weighing.

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Self-hosted vs cloud

The honest trade-offs - data ownership, cost, control, and maintenance - and when each is right.

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LiveChat alternative

Free self-hosted live chat versus a monthly per-seat hosted tool.

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Intercom alternative

Focused live chat on your own server, without a broad hosted suite and its pricing.

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Zendesk Chat alternative

Trade a per-seat subscription for free live chat on your own server.

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HubSpot Chat alternative

Standalone live chat without buying into a hosted CRM suite.

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tawk.to alternative

Keep your data on your own server, with live chat free for every agent.

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Tidio alternative

Move from a freemium hosted plan to free live chat you run yourself.

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Crisp alternative

The same core chat, installed once and stored in your own database.

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Olark alternative

Per-seat hosted chat versus free live chat with an optional AI chatbot.

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Freshchat alternative

Run it yourself instead of paying a monthly per-agent hosted bill.

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Chatwoot alternative

Self-hosted on a Microsoft stack, with a native desktop console and vendor support.

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The common thread: you host it

Whichever tool you are comparing against, DChat's difference is the same: run it on your own server, store every conversation in your own database, and run the AI chatbot on a model you choose. Try the full product free on localhost before you decide.

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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.