Zammad
95 · HealthyTicketing and helpdesk system with email, chat, phone and social channels in one view.
Open source Helpdesk & live chat
Chatwoot
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FreeScout
76 · StableShared-inbox helpdesk in PHP, close in spirit to Help Scout, extended through modules.
Helpdesk
76 · StableTicketing system with SLAs, a customer portal, canned responses and a knowledge base, built on the Frappe framework.
DeskcommCRM
70 · StableChat-first CRM for teams that sell over WhatsApp, with AI agents, sales pipelines and a shared inbox.
osTicket
54 · CautionVeteran PHP support-ticket system that routes inquiries from email, web forms and phone.
Papercups
15 · At riskLive chat widget and support inbox built with Elixir and React.
Source-available and unverified licenses
The code for these is public, but the license is not an OSI open source license, or we have not verified it yet. Check the license notes on each project before relying on it.
Helpdesk
Ticketing system with SLAs, a customer portal, canned responses and a knowledge base, built on the Frappe framework.
Will it still be around?
Stable
Score 76/100
Can a business use it freely?
Free, share hosted changes
AGPL-3.0 · open source (copyleft)
Features compared
has,doesn't2 features1 feature
7/9 Zendesk features free in Helpdesk
✕ doesn't have it · ◐ partly · $ higher plan or paid editionBoth have 6
Headline Zendesk features on the Suite Professional plan, and whether Helpdesk has each in its free, self-hosted edition.
| Feature | ZendeskSuite Professional plan | Helpdesk7 of 9 free |
|---|---|---|
| Zendesk has, Helpdesk doesn't2 | ||
| Email, social and messaging channels | Included | PartlyEmail and web portal |
| Triggers and automations | Included | PartlyAssignment rules |
| Helpdesk has, Zendesk doesn't1 | ||
| Custom agent roles | Higher planEnterprise plan | Yes |
| Both have6 | ||
| Shared inbox and ticketing | Included | Yes |
| Help center and knowledge base | Included | Yes |
| Macros and canned replies | Included | Yes |
| SLA policies | Included | Yes |
| Satisfaction surveys | Included | YesFeedback ratings |
| API and webhooks | Included | Yes |
Sources
- Zendesk, checked 2026-10-09: zendesk.com
- Helpdesk, checked 2026-10-09: github.com, docs.frappe.io
Flat Rate Deploy
A 25-agent team on Zendesk Suite Professional pays about $2,875 a month. Helpdesk on OpenTools costs $39 a month, setup included, so you save $2,836 a month, about $102,096 over three years.
Monthly cost
- Helpdesk on OpenTools
- $39
- Zendesk
$2,875
You save each month
$2,836/mo
99% less than today
Saving from month one
You save
- Over 3 years
- $102,096
- In year one
- $34,032
List price checked 7 Oct 2026 · Source · Disclaimer
Health score: 76/100
Stable · activity, bus factor and issue responsiveness, from GitHub
Score v2 · How it works
Activity
45% weight100/100
- Last commit 4 days ago (100/100).
- 3394 commits in the past 12 months (100/100).
- 35 releases in the past 12 months (100/100).
Bus factor
30% weight51/100
- Top contributor wrote 62% of the last 99 commits (past 12 months).
- 4 people authored those commits.
Responsiveness
25% weight63/100
- 89% of all issues are closed (148 open, 1157 closed) (98/100).
- 12 of 30 recent issues got a reply or were closed (40/100).
License
Free, share hosted changes
AGPL-3.0 · Open source (copyleft)
What you need to do
Free for any use, commercial included. If you change the code and people outside your company use it over the network, you must publish your changes under the same license.
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 · Open source (copyleft). OSI-approved license that requires sharing changes under the same license when you distribute (AGPL: also when you offer it over a network).
Detected by GitHub as AGPL-3.0.
GitHub activity
- Stars
- 3.4k
- Forks
- 968
- Commits, 12 mo
- 3.4k
- last 4 days ago
- Releases, 12 mo
- 35
- last 37 days ago
- Contributors
- 108
- 4 in last 99 commits
- Open issues
- 148
- 1.2k closed
Snapshot from 2026-10-09
Top contributors
Points for pull requests merged into Helpdesk and reviews of them since 29 June 2026 (older history is still loading). Building something another user asked for earns more.
