ZChat ZChat 2.0 Self-Hosted Live Chat
Help center

Answers for deployment, licensing, AI setup, and long-term ownership.

Use this page to understand how ZChat is licensed, how the self-hosted rollout works, and what teams usually ask before moving from localhost evaluation into production.

Deployment Licensing Product Support

Start here

Evaluation path

Download the product, test it on localhost, and validate the workflow in your own environment.

Commercial model

Buy once, own it

ZChat uses perpetual software licensing instead of recurring per-seat subscription pricing.

Common topics

Free localhost testing Perpetual production licenses Bring-your-own AI Self-hosted rollout
Can I download ZChat and test it before I buy a production license?
Yes. Start with the free localhost evaluation build and validate the product in your own environment before moving into production licensing. That is the fastest way to confirm deployment, workflow, and AI decisions early.
What kind of infrastructure do I need?
Plan around the hosting path you want to use for ZChat, then review the system requirements and deployment guide. Most teams start with the environment that already matches production security and operational policy.
Do I need to reinstall after I purchase?
No. The same product package used for evaluation can move into production. In a normal rollout, you keep the installation and apply the correct production license for the live deployment domain.
Can your team help with installation?
Yes. Open a support ticket with your environment details and rollout goals if you need guidance during evaluation or production planning. That gives the team enough context to recommend the right deployment path or scope a hands-on engagement.
Deployment shortcuts

Start with the essentials.

If you are still evaluating fit, these links usually answer the first round of deployment questions faster than a long email thread.

Download the latest build Read the deployment guide Review system requirements
Licensing basics

One-time purchase. Perpetual license. Self-hosted ownership.

Buy a production license for your deployment domain, install it with the product, and keep the software running as long as you want. One year of updates is included, with optional renewal later.

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How does pricing work?
ZChat uses a one-time purchase model. Professional is $299 for up to 10 agents and Enterprise is $599 for unlimited agents, both per production domain. You pay once and own the license forever.
Is this really a one-time purchase with no recurring fees?
Yes. Your license is perpetual and the software keeps working indefinitely. There are no monthly seat fees and no required subscription renewal. The only optional cost is renewing update coverage if you want access to newer releases after the included year.
Where do I get my license after purchasing?
Your license is available in the client center after purchase. Download the license for your deployment domain, place it with your ZChat installation, and keep using the same core product you already evaluated.
What if I only need a quick local demo or internal proof of concept?
ZChat is free for localhost deployments, so you can validate installation, workflow, and AI setup before buying a production license for the live domain.
Product questions

What teams usually ask once they understand the model.

These answers are meant to reduce guesswork after a successful evaluation and before the system is put in front of customers.

What is ZChat?
ZChat is a complete self-hosted live chat platform: an embeddable widget, a web dashboard, a native Windows desktop agent, and an AI chatbot with human handoff. It includes a knowledge base, canned responses, departments and routing, file sharing, post-chat CSAT ratings, transcripts and analytics, webhooks, and GDPR tools — all running on your own server. It is designed for teams that want modern support workflows without giving up deployment control.
How does AI pricing work?
AI support is part of the product. You bring your own provider credentials for services like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Ollama and pay that provider directly. ZChat does not add a separate AI tax.
Can I customize the visitor experience?
Yes. The visitor experience can be tailored for brand, copy, routing, invitations, and chat behavior so the widget fits the workflow you want customers to experience.
Why do teams choose self-hosted chat instead of a hosted service?
Usually for one or more of the same reasons: data ownership, deployment control, internal security policy, branding control, or the desire to avoid recurring per-seat subscription pricing.
Can the AI answer from my own help content?
Yes. Add knowledge-base articles in the dashboard and the chatbot grounds its answers in them instead of guessing. When a question goes beyond what it can answer — or the visitor asks for a person — ZChat hands off to a live agent with the full conversation context attached.
Does ZChat integrate with Slack, Teams, or my own systems?
Yes. ZChat sends native notifications to Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord, and fires HMAC-signed webhooks for events like new conversations and agent status so you can wire chat into your own tools. Deliveries are queued and retried so a brief outage on the receiving end won't drop events.
Can visitors rate the conversation and share files?
Yes. Visitors can leave a post-chat star rating with a comment, and satisfaction trends plus recent comments appear on your dashboard. They can also share files by drag-and-drop, with inline image previews and server-side validation of every upload.
Is ZChat suitable for GDPR and strict data policies?
Because ZChat is self-hosted, conversations and customer data stay in your own database. It also ships GDPR tooling: a cookie-consent prompt in the widget, data export and erasure by visitor email, and an audit log of admin actions. With local AI via Ollama, prompts never leave your environment.
Still stuck?

Give support enough context to move quickly.

Include the deployment domain, what environment you are running, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened. That usually removes several messages from the troubleshooting loop.

Open Support Ticket Contact Options
Support workflow

Use the help center first, then open a ticket when the answer depends on your environment.

That gives you the fastest path to resolution: self-serve where the answer is universal, then bring in support when the issue is specific to your deployment, domain, or rollout plan.

Owned customer support software

Deploy live chat on your own terms, not on someone else's pricing model.

ZChat gives you the installable server, web dashboard, website widget, and desktop agent tools in one self-hosted product you buy once and keep. Run it on infrastructure you trust and connect AI only if and how you want it.

Download ZChat See Product Demo

Deployment

Install on Windows or Linux, behind IIS or Nginx, in a VM, or in Docker if that fits your stack.

Commercial model

One-time purchase, perpetual license, and no monthly per-agent bill attached to growth.

AI Flexibility

Use Ollama locally or connect OpenAI and Anthropic with your own provider accounts.