# Alternatives to Zammad Open source helpdesk from Germany. Zammad ranks #2 of 11 in Helpdesk software, with an Alt Score of 100. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, open source with paid hosting from €7/agent/month and available on the web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zammad/ Category: Helpdesk software ## Where Zammad stands out - **Self-hostable** — 4 of 9 apps with a verified answer have this ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Support, service, and IT teams at businesses of any size who need to manage customer or internal requests without vendor lock-in, from small startups to larger enterprises with compliance requirements. - **What you get**: A unified ticketing system that consolidates email, chat, phone, and social media messages into a single structured view per conversation. It includes a self-service knowledge base, automation for repetitive tasks (rules, text modules, templates, bulk actions), and reporting/SLA tracking for visibility into team performance. As open-source software, it can be self-hosted for full infrastructure control or used via a hosted cloud offering. - **How it works**: Incoming messages from any connected channel become tickets in a shared queue, where agents triage, assign, and respond using saved replies, macros, and automation rules while collaborating internally on the same ticket. Managers track SLAs and volume through dashboards, and customers or agents can resolve simpler issues themselves via the knowledge base before a ticket is even needed. ## Profile - **License**: AGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-11) - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-11) - **Starts at**: €7/agent/month (verified 2026-07-11) - **Platforms**: Web - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Chatwoot](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/chatwoot.md) | 100 | MIT | Web, iOS, Android | | 2 | [Help Scout](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/help-scout.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 3 | [Freshdesk](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/freshdesk.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 4 | [Intercom](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/intercom.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 5 | [Zendesk](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/zendesk.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 6 | [Crisp](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/crisp.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 7 | [Tidio](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tidio.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 8 | [LiveChat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/livechat.md) | 73 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android | | 9 | [osTicket](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/osticket.md) | 68 | GPL-2.0 | Web | | 10 | [FreeScout](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/freescout.md) | 64 | AGPL-3.0 | Web | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Helpdesk software checklist | Zammad | Chatwoot | Help Scout | Freshdesk | Intercom | Zendesk | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | OSS + paid hosting | Subscription | Freemium | Subscription | Subscription | | Starts at | €7/agent/month | $19/agent/month | $25/user/month | $19/agent/month | $39/seat/month | $19/agent/month | | License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | Web | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android | | Shared inbox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Live chat widget | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Knowledge base | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Automations & SLAs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | AI answers / copilot | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Self-hostable | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No | No | | Free tier limits | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | | Multi-channel (email, chat, social) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Reporting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Per-seat price | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for Zammad. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “7€ per agent / month” - **Starts at**: €7/agent/month — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “7€ per agent / month” - **License**: AGPL-3.0 — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007” - **Platforms**: Web — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “via our smart chat, your support team can solve customer queries 7x faster than via conventional email.” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Zammad is a web based open source helpdesk/customer support system.” - **Shared inbox**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “In Zammad, every conversation in your shared mailbox is uniformly displayed as one ticket with history, current agent, status, and priority.” - **Live chat widget**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “The Zammad chat widget on your page is only displayed if at least one support person is online and still has the capacity for chat work.” - **Knowledge base**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “A knowledge base is your personal encyclopedia where you can store all the knowledge about your business and processes.” - **Automations & SLAs**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “When the SLA time is reached, the ticket escalates. Now all agents which have activated the corresponding setting will receive a notification.” - **AI answers / copilot**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Helps craft clear and professional responses” - **Self-hostable**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Zammad is committed to remaining free and open-source now and in the future, meaning anyone is welcome to install and run it on their own servers at no cost.” - **Free tier limits**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Zammad is committed to remaining free and open-source now and in the future, meaning anyone is welcome to install and run it on their own servers at no cost.” - **Multi-channel (email, chat, social)**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “via our smart chat, your support team can solve customer queries 7x faster than via conventional email.” - **Reporting**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Reporting helps you to gain valuable insights into your company's and team's performance.” - **Per-seat price**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “7€ per agent / month” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/