Self-service answers
Write articles in the dashboard, group them into categories and publish them to a help portal your customers can browse and search. Visitors can also search articles from inside the chat widget before they ask an agent.
The help center is free on every edition. 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.
Run up to 50 portals, each under its own path or on a domain you point at the server.
A portal can have several languages, with each article linked to its translations.
Every article counts views and asks readers whether it helped, so you can see which answers work.
Pages are rendered on the server and work without JavaScript, in a light or dark theme.
Filter by status, language and category, and publish, archive or move many articles at once.
Once you choose a portal, visitors can search its articles inside the chat widget.
New in 2.0.6
The widget reader and suggestions are free. AI proposals are part of the AI assistant in Premium.
An article found in the widget opens in the widget, with a link to the full page, so the visitor keeps their place in the chat.
As the visitor types their question in the pre-chat form, matching articles appear under it. Their draft is kept if they go and read one.
AI Copilot reads resolved conversations and proposes question-and-answer articles, with names, email addresses and phone numbers removed. Each proposal waits for review; accepting it creates a draft.
Questions the AI assistant could not answer are grouped, so you can see what the help center is missing and draft an article for each group. See AI Copilot.
Two articles match a refund question before the chat starts.
A proposal waiting in the FAQ review queue.
Visitors search your articles without leaving the page. It stays off until you choose which portal the widget should use.
Published articles also feed the AI assistant's knowledge. The AI assistant is part of Premium; the help center itself is free.
No. The portal, categories, articles, languages, custom domains and widget search are all in the free Community edition.
Yes. You can run up to 50 portals, each with its own path or custom domain.
Yes. Choose a portal for the widget and visitors can search its published articles before starting a chat.
The help center is free with unlimited agents and unlimited articles on every edition.
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.