7 open-source Intercom alternatives, and which Intercom job each one replaces

Live chat, shared inbox, tickets or chatbots? Seven maintained open-source options compared by license, stack and what you actually operate

Intercom is several products in one: a website chat widget, a shared inbox, a help center, product tours and campaigns, and an AI support agent. Most teams that want to leave it only need two or three of those.

So before comparing tools, write down which Intercom jobs you actually use. A shared inbox can solve your support problem even if it does nothing for onboarding messages.

Below are seven open-source options that were actively maintained when I checked their repositories in October 2026, grouped by the job they do best.

Shared inbox for chat and email

Chatwoot (Ruby, ~37k GitHub stars, self-hosted or cloud)
Brings live chat, email and other channels into one agent workspace. It is the most complete general-purpose option here.
Check before you commit: feature availability differs by edition, so confirm the channels and features you need are in the edition you deploy.

LibreDesk (Go, AGPL-3.0, ~3k stars)
Email, website live chat and WhatsApp in one inbox, plus a help center, automation rules, SLAs and CSAT. It ships as a single binary backed by Postgres and Redis, which makes it the lightest full inbox to run.
Check before you commit: it is a younger project than Chatwoot or Zammad, so test the channels and AI features you rely on.

Website live chat first

Live Helper Chat (PHP, Apache-2.0, ~2k stars)
A long-running live chat system with web and mobile agent apps, a bot builder that can call third-party AI services, and a REST API.
Check before you commit: chat is the core product. Email ticketing, campaigns and product tours need other tools, and some voice and video integrations are paid services.

Tiledesk (MIT, self-hosted or cloud)
A chat widget and agent dashboard with a visual design studio for chatbot flows that hand conversations to human agents.
Check before you commit: the stack runs several services and MongoDB, and some Docker images are Enterprise-only. Confirm what the community build includes.

Email and ticket-centred support

FreeScout (PHP, AGPL-3.0, ~4.5k stars)
A self-hosted shared mailbox with assignments, internal notes and collision detection. A direct fit when email is still your main support channel.
Check before you commit: some extra channels and workflows are paid modules, so compare the total cost.

Zammad (Ruby, AGPL-3.0, ~6k stars, self-hosted or cloud)
A help desk with tickets across email, chat, phone and social channels, plus roles for larger teams.
Check before you commit: it is more system to operate than a shared mailbox. Budget for running the full stack if you self-host.

AI-assisted support

Agent Desk (Go, Apache-2.0)
AI-assisted customer support with handoff to human agents and ticket workflows. Early-stage, so treat it as one to watch and pilot carefully.

Two you may expect that are not here

• Chaskiq is modelled closely on Intercom, but its license adds the Commons Clause to AGPL-3.0, which restricts selling services built on it. That makes it source-available rather than open source. GitHub's license badge shows "Other" for it, so read the LICENSE file itself.
• Papercups was a popular open-source live chat, but its repository has had no commits since February 2024.

How to choose in ten minutes

• You need a shared inbox across chat and email: start with Chatwoot, or LibreDesk if you want something lighter to run.
• You only need a website chat widget: Live Helper Chat.
• You want bots to answer first and hand off to people: Tiledesk.
• Your support is mostly email: FreeScout.
• You run a larger support team with roles and phone support: Zammad.

Before you migrate

1. Inventory inboxes, website widgets, routing rules, saved replies, help articles and campaigns. Decide what to replace and what to retire.
2. Test each channel with a real agent: incoming message, assignment, reply and resolution, including attachments and notifications.
3. Plan conversation history separately from contacts. If a full import is not supported, keep a searchable archive.
4. Pilot with a small group, then move widgets and channels in stages. Check delivery before you disconnect Intercom.

I keep a live comparison of these tools, with license, hosting and repository activity side by side, at PickOpenSource: open-source Intercom alternatives. If I have missed a maintained project, tell me in the comments and I will review it.