Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 81 posts

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#11

Post by pranavrajs »

jnathsf wrote: post #9
pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

Amazing to see your vision coming to life by open sourcing the code and getting so many contributors! No small feat. And great to see the project is being done in Rails. I’ve spent hours looking for a a good product in this space for our company so will definitely give this a try. Two questions - do you have a way to author FAQs and is email an accepted channel? Thanks and can’t wait to see Chatwoot grow.

Thanks for the kind words. Please see my response below.

> do you have a way to author FAQs

Right now, we don't support it. We have FAQs and a documentation website in the pipeline.

> is email an accepted channel?

Honestly speaking, it is not completely done yet. Emails from support desk mail can be seen in the dashboard, but you cannot respond to it now from our dashboard. Hopefully, we would be able to complete it sooner.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#12

Post by pranavrajs »

mkagenius wrote: post #6

Great work. While on the topic, I believe everything ranging from Uber to Google can be replaced by an open source alternatives. There will be some cons but overall lots of benefits.

I agree. I assume having a hosted version of tools like CRM or support desk would help in getting better at maintaining the privacy of the customers.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#13

Post by vicnov »

pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

What were the reasons for failure? It would be great to learn more about your experience.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#14

Post by dlhavema »

pranavrajs wrote: post #10
judge2020 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would like to let you know the hamburger menu currently doesn't work on mobile (clicking it does nothing)

Hey, thanks for letting me know. I will fix it soon :) Looks like I forgot to add the action on the hamburger button.

Related, the chat window that pops up on android is off screen about 15 to 20% but still workable.

I am very familiar with Intercom, and this looks comparable at first glance. Nice start.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#15

Post by pranavrajs »

vicnov wrote: post #13
pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

What were the reasons for failure? It would be great to learn more about your experience.

There are a couple of things which I can tell, most important is that we were naive and we were not patient enough to see the project grow organically and reach the users and find its USP. We wanted instant gratification which is not always available in the startup world.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#16

Post by scrollaway »

pranavrajs wrote: post #11
jnathsf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing to see your vision coming to life by open sourcing the code and getting so many contributors! No small feat. And great to see the project is being done in Rails. I’ve spent hours looking for a a good product in this space for our company so will definitely give this a try. Two questions - do you have a way to author FAQs and is email an accepted channel? Thanks and can’t wait to see Chatwoot grow.

Thanks for the kind words. Please see my response below. > do you have a way to author FAQs Right now, we don't support it. We have FAQs and a documentation website in the pipeline. > is email an accepted channel? Honestly speaking, it is not completely done yet. Emails from support desk mail can be seen in the dashboard, but you cannot respond to it now from our dashboard. Hopefully, we would be able to complete it…

Congratulations on the release. Wish you all the best with it, and will not hesitate to recommend it … but first, email 100% has to be supported. Should be as good as Intercom's user-facing email flow.

Email and twitter DMs are IMO more important for people looking for a support channel than "live agent" chat boxes. Live agent boxes are often adblocked and can't ever be the sole point of contact for a company that cares about having a support channel.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#18

Post by stanislavb »

pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

Good job. I hope it gets traction. I've scheduled it to be featured on the homepage of SaaSHub for next Monday.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#19

Post by edoceo »

joshmn wrote: post #3
pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

Congrats on the launch. As a fellow Ruby/Rails developer I love seeing great open-source Ruby/Rails apps in a world where everyone seems to be trending to what's "sexy" now instead of what's tired and true.

Remember when folks called RoR "sexy" and CGI tried and true? Or swap any two nearly similar stacks.

Stack don't matter, it's not the wand, it's the wizard and time makes fools of us all.

Re: Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to Intercom, Drift, Zendesk, FreshChat

#20

Post by mushufasa »

joshmn wrote: post #3
pranavrajs wrote: post #2

Founder here, Chatwoot is a customer support tool for instant messaging channels which can help businesses provide exceptional customer support through their websites or social media channels. This was a product we started building in 2017. It failed due to a couple of obvious reasons. We built on Vue.js and Rails. It was in an inactive mode for around 1 and a half years. Recently we thought of putting it out instead…

Congrats on the launch. As a fellow Ruby/Rails developer I love seeing great open-source Ruby/Rails apps in a world where everyone seems to be trending to what's "sexy" now instead of what's tired and true.

interesting spin on 'tried and true.' also works and made me smile.
Post reply on HN