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Last checked October 15, 2026

Best Free Alternatives to Zendesk (2026)

Zendesk is a shared inbox with a public help center. The migration that works is tickets and articles, not the automation you built on top.

Small teamsStartupsEnterprisesPrice unverified

What Zendesk costs

Paid plans exist. A current dollar figure is not copied into this listing.

Zendesk website·Pricing source

Ranked by Drop-in score

How we rank

#1 is the highest-scoring alternative that is not sponsored. A featured listing, when one is sold, is labeled and sits after #1.

  1. 92
    #1Open sourceReview notes

    Zammad

    A help desk with email, chat, and a knowledge base.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · AGPL-3.0

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsMigration guideWebsite
  2. 67
    #2Open sourceReview notes

    osTicket

    A classic PHP help desk.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · GPL-2.0

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  3. 56
    #3Open sourceReview notes

    FreeScout

    A shared mailbox help desk.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · AGPL-3.0

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  4. 53
    #4Open sourceReview notes

    Chatwoot

    A shared inbox. Community code is MIT.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT (community)

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  5. 47
    #5Open sourceReview notes

    UVdesk

    Another PHP help desk.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT (community skeleton)

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite

Feature by feature

Full is the whole job. Partial is a real version with a gap. Missing means it does not do this. Not checked counts as zero in the score.

FeatureZammad#1 · 92osTicket#2 · 67FreeScout#3 · 56Chatwoot#4 · 53UVdesk#5 · 47
A shared inbox of ticketsWeight 10FullFullFullFullFull
Saved repliesWeight 6FullPartialFullFullPartial
A public help centerWeight 8FullFullPartialMissingPartial
Response targetsWeight 6PartialMissingMissingMissingMissing
Counts of ticketsWeight 6FullPartialMissingPartialMissing

Real cost

Zammad

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Hard. Elasticsearch and a few services. Heavier than a shared mailbox.

osTicket

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

FreeScout

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Easy. PHP and MySQL. Lighter than Zammad.

Chatwoot

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

UVdesk

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

Top pair

Migrate from Zendesk to Zammad

Export tickets and help-center articles with Zendesk's export tools.

Read the migration guide

Questions