Two serious operating models
Chatwoot and Rocket.Chat cover more than a widget
| Criterion | Chatwoot | Rocket.Chat | Procurement question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core model | customer-support inbox for web, email and messaging | communications workspace with Livechat/Omnichannel | Are you operating support only or a broader platform? |
| Self-hosting | official Linux, Docker and Kubernetes paths | self-managed Community, Starter and paid models | Who owns platform, database, upgrades and on-call duty? |
| Licence boundary | Community/open-source option; paid functions need separate checks | Community MIT; Enterprise code source-available and commercial | Which required feature actually belongs to the free edition? |
| Agent surface | Chatwoot inbox | Rocket.Chat workspace | Is another workspace beside Teams acceptable? |
| Teams fit | no verified native Teams channel workflow | own workspace rather than a Teams workflow | Is Teams the agent workplace or only part of IT? |
Total cost of ownership
A zero licence fee is not zero-cost operation
- Infrastructure: size compute, database, Redis, storage, email, TLS, DNS and optional object storage.
- Security: maintain patches, vulnerabilities, secrets, network policy, abuse controls and permissions.
- Reliability: own backups, restore tests, monitoring, alerting, capacity and incident communication.
- Release operations: test upgrades, database migrations, app/plugin compatibility and rollback.
- Support: define community help, paid vendor support or internal on-call response with measurable targets.
No licence shortcut
Trace open source all the way to each required capability
A public codebase does not prove that SSO, roles, SLA, AI, Omnichannel, reporting or vendor support is included in the selected free edition. Rocket.Chat makes the distinction explicit: Community and Enterprise carry different licence treatment. Chatwoot's Community and paid self-hosted capabilities also need to be checked against the real requirement list.
For every mandatory capability, record the edition, repository or package, licence, dependencies, update path and support source. Only then can the self-hosted option be compared fairly with a commercial Teams-centred service.
Selection rule
Choose the agent workflow before the licence model
- 01
Decide the workspace
If agents must reply in Teams channel threads, self-hosting alone is not a replacement criterion.
- 02
Freeze the edition
Record version, edition, required apps and paid components in a reproducible bill of materials.
- 03
Test operations
Accept installation, upgrade, backup restore, monitoring, widget failure and export in isolation.
- 04
Model three-year TCO
Compare staff, infrastructure, support, migration and exit cost with a complete commercial quote.