Work where your team already is
Point a ZChat webhook at a Slack, Microsoft Teams or Discord incoming-webhook address and chat events arrive as readable messages in that channel. This is free on every edition.
The two-way Slack integration is part of Premium, at $19 per agent per month: each new conversation appears in a Slack channel as a thread, the transcript follows in the thread, and a reply written in the thread goes to the customer. 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.
Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord incoming webhooks receive formatted chat events.
A thread per conversation, transcript lines copied across, and replies from the thread sent to the customer.
Signed webhooks and the REST API connect ZChat to anything else. See the Developer API page.
Create a Slack app with the chat:write and users:read scopes, paste the bot token, signing secret and channel ID, and test the connection.
New in 2.0.6
Both are part of Premium, at $19 per agent per month.
Plug in your own bot, written in any language: ZChat signs each message it sends, and the bot replies with text, buttons, forms or cards, or hands over to a person. It works in the widget and on channel inboxes.
Describe an HTTP endpoint of your own, such as an order lookup, and the AI chatbot can call it while it answers. Private and local addresses are refused, header values are stored encrypted, and every call is logged. See AI Copilot.
Yes. Webhook notifications to Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord are free. Two-way Slack threads, where agents reply from Slack, are Premium.
Yes, on Premium. A reply in the conversation's Slack thread goes to the customer. For web chat, the visitor must still be in the chat.
Notifications are free. Two-way Slack is part of Premium at $19 per agent per month.
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.