Helpdesk & Ticketing

This page is the OSS-deep cut on helpdesk software. For modern dev-focused / live-chat picks (Plain, Crisp, Intercom, the Chatwoot widget side) see Customer Support & Live Chat. For customer-facing portals (status, account, knowledge) see Customer Portals.

Modern OSS helpdesks

• ★ Chatwoot — open source Intercom alternative; live chat + shared inbox + ticketing + multi-channel (email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Instagram, FB Messenger). MIT. The default for "we want it all in one." Hosted free tier exists.
• ★ FreeScout — open source Help Scout alternative; clean shared-inbox UX, email-first; AGPLv3; mature. The default if your support is "really just a shared support@ inbox."
• ★ Zammad — full ticketing with SLAs / escalations / knowledge base; Ruby; AGPLv3. Default for "we need real ticket workflows, not a chat widget."
• Frappe Helpdesk — Frappe-ecosystem; pairs cleanly with ERPNext / Frappe CRM. GPLv3. Modern UI; growing.
• Erxes — open source CRM + support suite combined; flexible but complex setup.

Older / classic

• OSTicket — venerable PHP ticketing; GPLv2; ugly but functional and hugely deployed.
• UVdesk — Symfony-based; Apache 2.0; ticketing + email + knowledge base.
• Helpy — Ruby; older but still maintained.
• Faveo Helpdesk — paid + community editions; less popular.
• Glpi — IT-focused (asset + ticketing); see Inventory & Asset Management.
• iTop — ITSM-flavored.

Hosted / commercial-friendly free tiers

• Chatwoot Cloud — free tier; covers small teams.
• Plain — free tier; B2B / dev focused; not OSS but high-trust. See Customer Support.
• HubSpot Service Hub Free — bundled with HubSpot Free; surprisingly capable.
• Zoho Desk Free — up to 3 agents.
• Freshdesk Free — up to 10 agents (Sprout plan); the most generous "real helpdesk" free tier.
• HelpScout — paid only; no free tier; excellent product.

ITSM (IT-flavored ticketing, change mgmt, asset link)

• ★ GLPI — IT asset + ticketing; long-running OSS. Default OSS ITSM.
• iTop — ITIL-aligned; OSS.
• OTRS Community Edition — ticketing + ITSM; community edition shrank in 2020 — vet activity.
• Snipe-IT — asset side; pairs with any ticketer (see Inventory & Asset Management).
• Jira Service Management — incumbent; paid; free for up to 3 agents.
• ServiceNow — enterprise; expensive.

Email-only "shared inbox"

• ★ FreeScout — OSS; the cleanest pick.
• HelpScout, Front, Missive, Tempo — commercial alternatives; varying free trials.
• Hiver — Gmail-native shared inbox; paid.

AI / autoresponse layer

• Intercom Fin, Crisp AI, Plain AI, Frappe Helpdesk AI — vendor-bundled.
• CustomGPT / DocsGPT / AnythingLLM + your help docs — see AI/LLM; a surprisingly cheap way to deflect tier-1 tickets.

Patterns to know

• Email-in / email-out is non-negotiable — every customer expects to reply to support emails from their email client.
• One inbox per channel, one ticket per conversation — channel sprawl (email + WhatsApp + Slack + Discord) is the #1 cause of dropped tickets.
• SLAs on response, not on resolution — promise a first reply in N hours; don't promise a resolution time.
• AI tier-zero deflection — pair your help docs with a chat widget that links to articles before opening a ticket. PostHog Surveys / Documenso-style "did this help?" feedback closes the loop.
• Email reply-to address quality — support@yourdomain.com with proper SPF / DKIM (email) — most cheap helpdesks bounce due to misconfigured DNS.

License watch-outs

• Chatwoot is MIT — fully permissive.
• FreeScout, Zammad, Frappe Helpdesk are AGPLv3 / GPLv3 — fine to self-host internally; review legal if you embed in commercial SaaS.
• OSTicket is GPLv2.

Pick this if…

• Default OSS, all channels: Chatwoot.
• Default OSS, email-first shared inbox: FreeScout.
• Real ticket workflows / SLAs: Zammad.
• Already on Frappe / ERPNext: Frappe Helpdesk.
• IT department use case: GLPI or iTop.
• Free hosted, just enough: Freshdesk Free or HubSpot Service Hub Free.