Guide

How to self-host live chat on Windows with IIS

If you run Windows Server, hosting your own live chat is a familiar deployment: an ASP.NET Core app behind IIS with SQL Server as the database. This guide walks through the five steps from a clean server to a working chat widget on your site, with every conversation stored in your own database.

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Step 1. Install the prerequisites

On the target Windows Server, enable the IIS role and install the ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle so IIS can host the application. Confirm you can reach a SQL Server instance, either on the same box or on your network. If you just want to try it first, the free localhost evaluation runs on a workstation with no server role required.

Step 2. Create the database

Create an empty database on your SQL Server and run the included SQL scripts to build the schema. Because the data lives in your own SQL Server, transcripts and visitor records stay on infrastructure you control and are queryable and backed up with your existing tools.

Step 3. Deploy the application

Copy the published application files to the server, create a new site in IIS Manager pointing at that folder, and set the database connection string in the app configuration. Start the site and browse to it locally to confirm it loads.

Step 4. Bind HTTPS

Add an HTTPS binding to the IIS site with your TLS certificate so all chat traffic is encrypted. Chat runs over the same secure channel as the rest of your site, which matters when conversations carry customer details.

Step 5. Add the widget

Sign in to the dashboard, create and style a widget, and paste its snippet into your website just before the closing body tag. Start a test chat, answer it from the dashboard or the Windows desktop console, and you are live.

Prefer Linux or Docker?

The same server runs beyond Windows

The chat server also runs on Linux behind Nginx and in Docker, all against the same SQL Server schema. Pick the platform your team already operates and keep the data in your own database.

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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.

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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.