Papercups
Open-source live customer chat and messaging
About Papercups
Papercups is an open-source customer messaging platform that combines a lightweight live chat widget with a shared inbox and developer APIs. Teams use it to run support and sales conversations directly inside their web product, centralize messages across channels, and automate tasks with webhooks and integrations.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Fully open-source with self-hosting option for complete data ownership
- Lightweight chat widget with React, React Native, and Flutter SDKs
- Slack integration lets teams reply without switching apps
- Developer-friendly with REST and WebSocket APIs
- Free self-hosted option makes it accessible to bootstrapped teams
- Clean, modern interface with shared inbox and internal notes
Cons
- In maintenance mode with no major new features planned
- Small team and community compared to Intercom or Crisp
- Limited automation and chatbot capabilities out of the box
- Self-hosting requires Elixir/Erlang expertise for deployment
- Fewer integrations than established competitors
Key Features
Live Chat Widget
Lightweight, customizable chat widget for React, React Native, and Flutter applications
Shared Inbox
Centralized inbox where teammates can claim and respond to conversations with internal notes
Slack Integration
Reply to customer messages directly from Slack without switching between apps
Email & SMS Replies
Reply from email or forward Twilio SMS conversations into the unified inbox
Developer APIs
REST and WebSocket APIs for custom integrations, automations, and chatbot workflows
Self-Hosted Option
Full open-source codebase in Elixir that can be self-hosted for complete data control
Markdown & Emoji Support
Rich message formatting with markdown syntax and emoji support in conversations
Mattermost Integration
Connect with Mattermost for team-based customer message management
Pricing
- Full open-source access
- Self-hosted deployment
- Chat widget
- Shared inbox
- Slack integration
- Community support
- Managed cloud hosting
- Chat widget
- Shared inbox
- Slack integration
- Email replies
- Email support
- Everything in Lite
- Priority support
- Advanced integrations
- SMS forwarding
- Custom branding
- Team management
Best For
Startup Customer Support
Embed live chat on your product for real-time customer support without expensive SaaS fees
Developer-First Chat
Build custom chat experiences using APIs and webhooks for technically-oriented teams
Privacy-Focused Messaging
Self-host the entire platform to maintain complete control over customer data
Sales Conversations
Engage website visitors with proactive chat to convert leads into customers
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Featured In
7 Best Open-Source Customer Support Platforms You Can Self-Host (2026)
Best developer-first chat platform — API-driven architecture with React/Flutter SDKs for teams that want to build custom support experiences, though maintenance-mode status means evaluating long-term needs carefully
Chatwoot vs Papercups: Which Open-Source Live Chat Actually Wins?
Best for developer-focused teams who need a simple, stable live chat widget and nothing more — but go in with eyes open about the maintenance-mode reality and plan a migration path if your needs grow.
Zendesk Alternatives Without Per-Agent Seat Pricing (2026)
Best for engineering-heavy SaaS teams who want a flat-rate, developer-friendly Zendesk alternative they can embed directly into their product.