--- title: "wacrm vs Trengo: an honest open-source alternative comparison" description: "Trengo is a polished omnichannel customer-service platform with flat plans starting around €299/month and API access locked to its higher tier. wacrm is a free, open-source, self-hosted WhatsApp CRM with a free public API. Here is an honest, side-by-side comparison." canonical: https://wacrm.tech/blog/wacrm-vs-trengo datePublished: 2026-07-01 dateModified: 2026-07-01 author: "Arnas Donauskas" license: "content © wacrm; product is MIT-licensed" --- # wacrm vs Trengo: an honest open-source alternative comparison Trengo is a well-built omnichannel customer-service platform — one shared inbox for WhatsApp, email, live chat, voice, SMS, and social. It's genuinely good at what it does. So why do teams look for a Trengo alternative? Usually because they're paying for a **10-channel service desk when they only use WhatsApp**, the **flat plans start around €299/month**, **API access is locked to the top tier**, or they want to **own their data and code** instead of renting a hosted seat. wacrm answers those — it's a free, open-source, self-hosted WhatsApp CRM with a free public API. But Trengo wins some rows outright, and this comparison is written to help you choose, not to crown a universal winner. Here's the honest version. ## TL;DR — which should you pick? - **Pick wacrm** if WhatsApp is your channel, you want no per-seat or flat-plan bill, a free API for integrations, and you value owning your data and code (MIT, self-hosted). Best for lean teams, WhatsApp-first businesses, and agencies who rebrand per client. - **Pick Trengo** if you need a true omnichannel service desk — email, voice, live chat, SMS, and social alongside WhatsApp — as a fully managed product with support, and the flat pricing fits your team size. ## wacrm vs Trengo at a glance | | wacrm | Trengo | | --- | --- | --- | | **Pricing model** | Free (MIT); pay only hosting + Meta API | Flat bundled plans + extra seats | | **Indicative cost** | **$0 software, no per-seat** | ~€299/mo (Boost) · ~€499/mo (Pro) | | **Hosting** | Self-hosted (your infra) | Vendor cloud | | **Data ownership** | You (your Supabase project) | Trengo cloud | | **Source code** | **Open source (MIT)** | Proprietary | | **Channels** | WhatsApp (focused) | 10+ (email, voice, SMS, social, chat…) | | **Shared inbox** | Yes | Yes | | **Public API** | **Yes — included free** | Pro plan only (~€499/mo) | | **Automations** | Conditional branches + wait steps | Flowbot (limited conditional logic) | | **Broadcasts** | Yes | Yes | | **Customisation** | Full — fork and edit the code | Config + integrations | | **Managed support / voice** | Community / self-run | Yes (incl. calling) | Pricing and tier limits change often — check Trengo's current plans before you commit. Meta's WhatsApp Business API messaging cost applies to **both** and is billed by Meta, not the CRM. > Comparing sales-first CRMs too? See our > [wacrm vs Kommo](https://wacrm.tech/blog/wacrm-vs-kommo), [wacrm vs respond.io](https://wacrm.tech/blog/wacrm-vs-respond-io), and [wacrm vs Interakt](https://wacrm.tech/blog/wacrm-vs-interakt) comparison. ## Why teams look for a Trengo alternative **You pay for omnichannel even if you only use WhatsApp.** Trengo's value is breadth — 10+ channels in one inbox. If your customers reach you on WhatsApp and that's it, a flat plan starting around €299/month buys a lot of surface area you won't touch. **API access is behind the top tier.** On Trengo, connecting the inbox to your own scripts, storefront, or dashboard requires the Pro plan (around €499/month). For a team whose main goal is programmatic integration, that's a steep floor. **Your data lives on their cloud.** As with any hosted platform, your contacts and conversation history sit on the vendor's infrastructure under their terms — a dealbreaker for teams that want portability or self-hosting. **Automation depth.** Trengo's flowbot builder is capable for routing but is frequently described as light on conditional logic. Teams that want branching, keyword routing, and wait steps sometimes outgrow it. ## wacrm vs Trengo, feature by feature ### Pricing and commitment wacrm is MIT-licensed: no license fee, **no per-seat charge**, no flat-plan floor. You pay for hosting (modest — it runs comfortably on [Hostinger Managed Node.js Hosting](https://wacrm.tech/docs/deployment-hostinger)) and Meta's API messaging, which is identical on Trengo. Trengo's strength here is a fully managed product with zero ops; its cost is a flat plan from ~€299/month plus per-seat and per-AI-conversation extras. ### Channels This is Trengo's clearest win. It unifies email, live chat, voice/calling, WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, and more in one inbox — a real omnichannel service desk. **wacrm is WhatsApp-focused**: it does WhatsApp thoroughly (shared inbox, templates, reactions, quote-replies) but does not pull in other channels. If multichannel is a hard requirement, Trengo fits better. ### API and integrations wacrm ships a **free public API** — scoped API keys and REST endpoints for messages, contacts, conversations, and broadcasts, plus outbound webhooks — on the self-hosted app at no extra cost (see the [public API docs](https://wacrm.tech/docs/public-api)). Trengo puts API access on its Pro tier (~€499/month). If you plan to integrate the CRM with your own systems, this is the single biggest cost difference between them. ### Automations Both offer no-code automations. wacrm's [automations](https://wacrm.tech/docs/automations) include conditional branches, keyword triggers, and wait steps for human-time delays. Trengo's flowbot handles routing but is lighter on branching logic. For deep, event-driven WhatsApp flows, wacrm gives you more without a tier upgrade. ### Data ownership and customisation wacrm stores everything in **your own [Supabase](https://wacrm.tech/docs/supabase-setup) project**, so there's no lock-in and you can export anytime — and because it's open source, you can fork it, change how anything works, and ship it under your own brand. The trade-off is that you run it: a one-time deploy and occasional updates. Trengo removes that operational burden by hosting it for you, inside a closed product. ## Where Trengo is still the better choice An honest comparison names where the competitor wins: - **You need true omnichannel** — email, voice/calling, SMS, live chat, and social in one inbox. wacrm doesn't do this. - **You want a managed service desk** — no deploy, no updates, with support and built-in telephony. - **Customer service is your primary use case** and you value Trengo's collaboration and routing tooling at scale. - **Flat pricing suits your team** — for a larger support team, a bundled plan can be simpler to reason about than running your own infrastructure. If those describe you, Trengo is a sound choice. wacrm is for the team that wants WhatsApp done well, with a free API, no flat-plan floor, on infrastructure and code they control. ## Migrating from Trengo to wacrm If you decide to switch, the path is short: 1. **Export your contacts from Trengo** as a CSV. 2. **Fork and deploy wacrm** — see [Getting started](https://wacrm.tech/docs/getting-started) and [Deploy on Hostinger](https://wacrm.tech/docs/deployment-hostinger). 3. **Import the CSV** into wacrm's [contact hub](https://wacrm.tech/docs/contacts). 4. **Connect your [WhatsApp Business API](https://wacrm.tech/docs/whatsapp-setup)** number and set up your [pipeline stages](https://wacrm.tech/docs/pipelines) — a few minutes each. The honest limit is the same as any cross-system move: historical conversation transcripts don't transfer automatically. You carry your contacts and start fresh on threads — a one-time cost most teams accept to drop the flat plan, get a free API, and own their data.