The Sendbird Alternative for Self-Hosted Chat & AI
A modular Chat & AI SDK that runs on your servers, plugs into any LLM, and ships in days — not quarters.
Compliance-ready
Ethora ships with the technical foundations that regulated teams need: encryption at rest and in transit, immutable audit logs, role-based access controls, and flexible data retention.
Self-hosting keeps data inside your own perimeter, so GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and SOC 2 programs are far easier to satisfy — healthcare and fintech teams run Ethora in production today.
GDPR
EU data protection with regional data-residency options.
CCPA
California consumer privacy controls built into the platform.
HIPAA
Healthcare PHI handling, running in regulated production today.
SOC 2
Security & availability controls with full audit logs.
Why teams switch from Sendbird
Teams move to Ethora when they hit a wall with Sendbird — most often because they need data control, predictable pricing, and the freedom to run chat and AI on their own infrastructure.
Sendbird
Cloud-only, usage pricing
Ethora
Self-hosted SDK, flat pricing
One SDK, six production-ready modules
Six modules and one install to get everything ready — no need to glue together separate solutions.
Chat & Docs Engine
Real-time messaging, E2EE, offline sync, full audit logs, and more. Works across web, iOS, Android, and React Native.
AI Bots SDK
Multi-turn, context-aware agents. Connect OpenAI, Claude, or your own LLM. Function calling, context memory, escalation to human agents.
RAG Crawler
It crawls, indexes, and builds a knowledge base that your AI queries at inference time.
Marketplace Chat SDK
Built for buyer-seller messaging on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. Drop in seller presence, order-linked threads, and dispute escalation.
Chat Widget
Drop in a single script tag to get a polished live support or AI chat on any website. No backend work needed.
React UI Kits
Fully customizable UI components. Every color, font, and layout is themable to match your brand perfectly.
Your servers. Your data. Your rules.
With Ethora, self-hosting isn’t an afterthought or an expensive enterprise add-on — it’s the default. Sensitive information never leaves your perimeter.
Bring your own LLM
You decide which model powers your in-app agents — Ethora is AI-native but vendor-neutral. Connect the model that fits your needs, whether it’s Claude, OpenAI, an open-source model, or your internal endpoint. Teams use it for:
Support deflection in-chat
AI handles tier-1 questions 24/7 and escalates when needed.
RAG over your docs
Agents answer questions using your own knowledge base.
AI moderation
Run content flagging through your preferred model and policies.
No LLM lock-in. Switch between OpenAI, Claude, Grok, Llama, Mistral, or a custom endpoint in a config file.
By the numbers
Ship faster, spend less
~95%
faster dev time vs. building from scratch
~60%
cost reduction vs. in-house build
5 min
widget install on any website
How it ships
Only four steps and you are live.
SDKs: React, React Native, iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), Node.js, Python.
FAQ
Is Ethora a real Sendbird alternative?
For teams that need self-hosted chat and AI, yes. Sendbird is excellent for many companies that require cloud-first use cases. Ethora is built for organizations that need data control and self-hosted AI, compliance flexibility, and the ability to use any LLM without vendor constraints.
Can I migrate from Sendbird to Ethora?
Sure. Ethora's SDK has the same core functionality — real-time messaging, channels, push notifications, file sharing, and user presence. All it takes to migrate is swapping the client SDKs and reconfiguring your backend. Message history export depends on your current Sendbird data — we can help advise on the best approach during a call.
Does Ethora support self-hosting?
Yes — it's the default deployment model. The free plan is self-hosted. Business adds managed cloud hosting as an option, and Enterprise supports dedicated, private cloud, or fully on-premises setups. Everything runs inside your environment.
Which LLMs does Ethora work with?
Any. You can use OpenAI, Claude, Grok, Llama, Mistral, or your own fine-tuned/custom endpoint via webhook. No vendor lock-in and forced routing through our infrastructure.
Is Ethora HIPAA / GDPR / SOC 2 compliant?
It includes strong technical safeguards (encryption, audit logs, RBAC) that make compliance much more straightforward. GDPR and CCPA are supported by default. Full HIPAA support with BAA and SOC 2 documentation is available on the Enterprise plan. We have healthcare and fintech customers running it successfully today.
How long does integration take?
The Chat Widget can be live in 5 minutes. For experienced developers, a full SDK integration with custom UI and AI bots typically takes 1-3 days. Mostly, teams reach a staging environment within a week and production within one or two sprints.
Ready to ship chat + AI on your own terms?
Talk through your migration from Sendbird, or start building today — self-hosted, AI-native, and yours end to end.
