One queue for every channel
An inbox connects a messaging channel to your team. Each thread from a customer becomes a conversation in the dashboard, where agents reply, label, assign and add private notes exactly as they do for web chats. The web chat widget itself needs no inbox.
Email inboxes are free on every edition. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are part of Premium, at $19 per agent per month. This page describes the ASP.NET Core edition of ZChat 2.0.6; the separate Web Forms package does not include the 2.0.5 or 2.0.6 additions.
Your mail gateway posts incoming mail to ZChat, and replies go out through the SMTP server set in Settings. Replies thread onto the right conversation.
WhatsApp (Meta Cloud API or Twilio), Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct messages, Telegram bots and LINE.
SMS through Twilio, and an API inbox that lets your own app or service send messages in and receive signed replies back.
Each inbox shows its channel, the webhook address the provider posts to, and how many conversations it holds.
The inbox form asks only for what that provider needs and explains where each value comes from.
New in 2.0.6
Business hours, away replies and sender checks are free. Replying on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes still needs Premium.
Give an inbox its own time zone, opening hours, split shifts and holidays, or let it follow the default hours. The inbox list shows which are closed right now.
When a customer writes while their inbox is closed, the conversation is marked away and, if you switch it on, gets one automatic reply per closed period. Away replies can use template variables.
ZChat reads the SPF, DKIM and DMARC results your mail gateway passes on. A message that fails is flagged as not verified and is never attached to someone else’s conversation or contact, and a reply only joins a conversation when it comes from the same sender.
An agent bot connected by webhook can answer on channel inboxes as well as the website widget. Buttons it sends reach channels without buttons as a numbered text list.
This inbox has its own time zone and hours; the others follow the default schedule.
Inbound messages on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are still received and stored, so nothing a customer sends is lost.
Agents cannot reply on those channels until you renew, and paid inboxes cannot be created or changed. They can still be read, switched off or deleted.
Email inboxes and the web chat widget are free, so they keep working exactly as before.
Inbox settings stay stored, and replies work again as soon as the subscription is renewed.
Yes. Email inboxes are part of the free Community edition. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, SMS and API inboxes are Premium.
Two, both on Premium: the Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, and WhatsApp through Twilio. SMS, also Premium, goes through Twilio.
No. Inbound messages on paid channels are still received and stored. Agents cannot reply on those channels until you renew, and email and web chat keep working.
Yes, on Premium. An API inbox accepts messages from your app with an inbox token and posts agent replies back to your callback URL, signed with HMAC-SHA256.
Email inboxes are free with unlimited agents. The messaging channels are part of Premium at $19 per agent per month, billed only for the agents you choose to cover.
ZChat gives you the installable server, web dashboard, website widget, and desktop agent tools in one self-hosted product, with live chat free to run. Run it on infrastructure you trust and connect AI only if and how you want it.
Deployment
Install on Windows or Linux, behind IIS or Nginx, in a VM, or in Docker if that fits your stack.
Commercial model
Live chat is free with unlimited agents. Only the optional AI assistant is billed, per agent per month.
AI Flexibility
Use Ollama locally or connect OpenAI and Anthropic with your own provider accounts.