Papercups Is in Maintenance Mode. Your Live Chat Shouldn't Be.
Papercups' own README says no major new features are coming. GhostChat keeps what you liked — an open-source widget, developer APIs, a minimal footprint — and is actively shipped, hosted, and supported.
GhostChat vs Papercups
| Feature | GhostChat | Papercups |
|---|---|---|
| Actively developed | ✓ | Maintenance mode |
| Open-source widget | ✓ MIT | ✓ MIT |
| Hosted for you (nothing to deploy) | ✓ | Self-host or legacy cloud |
| Widget size | ~15KB gzipped | React-based, heavier |
| Webhooks + bot API for developers | ✓ every paid plan | ✓ (frozen) |
| Built-in AI assistant | ✓ optional, +$10 flat | ✗ |
| Cookie-free / no tracking | ✓ | Privacy-minded |
| Free plan | 1 site, unlimited messages | Self-host only |
| Team plan | $25/mo flat, 10 seats, 10 sites | n/a |
Papercups status per its GitHub README (maintenance mode notice), July 2026.
Why Teams Are Migrating off Papercups
Papercups earned its 6k+ GitHub stars for good reasons: minimal, developer-first, open source. But the project entered maintenance mode — the README is explicit that no major new features are coming. For a channel your customers rely on, that means security patches ride on volunteer time and every integration you build compounds the eventual migration.
GhostChat was built by an indie developer with the same instincts — a dependency-free, MIT-licensed widget you can read in an afternoon (github.com/ghostchat-dev/widget), zero cookies, zero tracking — but with a hosted backend that's actively developed: an optional AI assistant, Gmail threading, auto-translate in 133+ languages, and a Bot Agent API when you want your own LLM answering.
You keep the developer ethos. You drop the abandonware risk and the server you were babysitting.
When Papercups (or a fork) might still fit
If your requirement is a fully self-hosted backend — every byte on your own servers — Papercups still works today, and running a frozen codebase can be acceptable for internal or low-stakes tools. GhostChat's widget is open source, but the backend is our hosted service. If full backend self-hosting is a hard requirement, an actively maintained self-hosted suite is the honest comparison; if what you actually wanted was privacy and control without ops burden, that's exactly what we built.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Papercups still maintained?
Papercups is officially in maintenance mode — its own README states there won't be any major new features, though pull requests are still accepted and major bugs get fixed. For a production support channel, that usually means it's time to plan a migration to something actively developed.
Is GhostChat open source like Papercups?
The GhostChat widget — the code that runs on your site and touches your visitors — is MIT-licensed open source on GitHub (ghostchat-dev/widget), written in dependency-free TypeScript at ~15KB gzipped. The backend is a hosted service, so unlike Papercups there's nothing for you to deploy, patch, or babysit.
I used Papercups for the developer API. Does GhostChat have one?
Yes — every paid plan (from $5/mo) includes webhooks and the Bot Agent API: create a bot key, receive events for incoming messages, and reply programmatically with any LLM or logic running on your own infrastructure. There's also a public widget JS API (GhostChat.on) for open/close/message events.
How hard is it to migrate from Papercups?
Swap one script tag. Remove the Papercups embed, paste the GhostChat snippet before </body>, and your chat is live — widget color, welcome message, and canned responses are configured from the dashboard in a few minutes. The free plan covers 1 site with unlimited messages.
Now with a built-in AI chatbot. GhostChat can auto-answer your visitors’questions 24/7 from your FAQ knowledge base — and hand off to you when it doesn't know. See the AI chatbot →
Migrate in One Script Tag
Swap the embed, keep the philosophy. Free for 1 site with unlimited messages — no card required.
Start free — no cardAlso compare: GhostChat vs Chatwoot · GhostChat vs Crisp