Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

osTicket VS Freshdesk

Compare osTicket VS Freshdesk and see what are their differences

osTicket logo osTicket

osTicket is a widely-used open source support ticket system.

Freshdesk logo Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support software that lets you support customers through traditional channels like phone and email, social channels like Facebook and Twitter, and your own branded community
  • osTicket Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-21

  • Freshdesk Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-28

osTicket features and specs

  • Open Source
    osTicket is open-source, which means it is free to use and allows for extensive customization.
  • Customizable Fields and Forms
    The platform provides the ability to add custom fields and forms, making ticket management flexible to meet specific business needs.
  • Email Integration
    osTicket supports email integration, allowing users to create tickets directly from incoming emails.
  • Multi-Language Support
    The system supports multiple languages, making it suitable for international teams.
  • Ticket Filters
    Powerful ticket filtering allows for better organization and prioritization of incoming tickets.
  • Reports and Dashboards
    Built-in reporting tools and dashboards help track performance metrics and identify trends.
  • User and Role Management
    Fine-grained user and role management allows administrators to control who has access to different parts of the system.
  • Community Support
    Having a large community of users and developers can be a great resource for troubleshooting issues and sharing best practices.

Possible disadvantages of osTicket

  • Complex Setup
    Initial setup and configuration can be complicated, especially for users without technical expertise.
  • Limited Advanced Reporting
    While osTicket includes basic reporting features, it may not be robust enough for more advanced analytics needs.
  • User Interface
    The user interface is functional but might appear outdated and less intuitive compared to newer platforms.
  • Self-Hosted Only
    As an open-source solution, it requires self-hosting, which may necessitate additional resources for server management and maintenance.
  • Lack of Real-Time Updates
    osTicket does not offer real-time updates, which can delay the notification of ticket changes.
  • No Mobile App
    There is no official mobile app, making it less convenient to manage tickets on the go.
  • Limited Integration Options
    Unlike some commercial products, osTicket has fewer options for integrating with third-party applications.

Freshdesk features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Freshdesk features an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface, making it accessible for users of all technical skill levels. The streamlined design helps improve productivity and reduces the time needed for training.
  • Comprehensive Feature Set
    Freshdesk offers a wide range of features including ticketing, automation, analytics, and integrations. These tools help businesses manage their customer support operations efficiently.
  • Multi-Channel Support
    Freshdesk supports various communication channels such as email, phone, chat, social media, and more, enabling businesses to provide seamless customer service across multiple platforms.
  • Customizable
    The platform allows for a high degree of customization, enabling businesses to tailor the software to fit their specific needs with custom workflows, fields, and rules.
  • Scalability
    Freshdesk is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises. Its scalable nature means you can add more features and functionalities as your business grows.
  • Reliable Support
    Freshdesk offers reliable customer support to its users. Support channels include live chat, email, and a comprehensive knowledge base, ensuring issues are resolved promptly.

osTicket videos

What's New in osTicket Version 1.14?

More videos:

  • Review - OSTicket: a Customer Support solution for online communities
  • Review - OsTicket - Pretty much cover everything!

Freshdesk videos

Best Free Helpdesk Ticket System - Freshdesk Setup Tutorial, How I Use It, Why You Should....

More videos:

  • Demo - Freshdesk Mint Demo: Understanding the basics of the helpdesk
  • Review - Freshdesk Mint Overview
  • Review - Freshdesk Review: Is It Good?
  • Review - Freshdesk vs Zendesk: Choosing Between the Leaders on the Market
  • Review - Freshdesk Review: Client Friendly Ticketing System
  • Review - Freshdesk Review 2022 | Best Customer Service Software
  • Review - Freshdesk Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to osTicket and Freshdesk)
Customer Support
14 14%
86% 86
Help Desk
13 13%
87% 87
Customer Service
18 18%
82% 82
Live Chat
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare osTicket and Freshdesk

osTicket Reviews

The 20 Best Help Desk Apps and Knowledge Base Tools for Customer Support
Want a free support tool that can run on your own servers? osTicket is the app for you. It's an open source support tool that includes everything—you can answer support emails, assign tickets to other team members, create support forms, and write your help documentation all on your own server, for free. You can even tweak osTicket, by digging into its code or installing...
Source: zapier.com

Freshdesk Reviews

  1. Brian Howard
    · Owner at BarSight ·
    Does what it says on the box

    Freshdesk provides a free helpdesk system so we can manage our support tickets. They have the feature that allows us to send emails through our own email address (vs using their own email address), and an app that works well to respond and organize tickets.

    My biggest gripe with the service is that they are missing a feature that HelpScout has, where we can reply directly to the notification email and that reply gets sent to the customer. With freshdesk, we have to log into their portal or use the app in order to send a reply.

    🏁 Competitors: HelpScout, Zendesk
    👍 Pros:    Straightforward|Free basic plan
    👎 Cons:    Missing a feature

9 Best Tidio Alternatives Compared
Freshdesk, like Tidio, focuses on delivering efficient customer support solutions with a mix of automation and real-time interaction features. This platform provides a comprehensive help desk with multichannel support, including email, phone, chat, and social media, along with advanced ticketing systems and workflow automation.
Source: www.tidio.com
10 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Businesses in 2024
Certainly, Freshdesk can prove beneficial for specific businesses, but it may not be suitable for everyone. The extensive list of features, while initially appealing, presents a major challenge, as most teams only utilize a handful of specialized capabilities, rendering the rest unnecessary.
Top 11 Freshdesk Alternatives for 2024 (Ranked & Rated)
If you’re in the market for help desk software, you’ve probably heard of Freshdesk — or maybe you’re already using it. Whatever the case, you might not be aware of how Freshdesk’s competitors compare.
Top 13 Freshdesk alternatives and competitors for 2024
Freshworks offers a suite of cloud-based tools that includes Freshdesk, its customer support software. Freshdesk allows businesses to manage customer requests and handle issues with its ticketing system. It supports multiple channels, like email, phone, and chat. Teams can automate ticket assignments and set automatic email notifications to notify customers of changes to...
Source: www.zendesk.com
alternatives to Tawk.to - Tiledesk Free Live Chat
Freshdesk is a powerful customer service software that offers Freshchat. It is among the best alternatives to Tawk.to, which provides other tools too, and indeed it is an all-inclusive tool in the customer service industry. Like Tawk.to, it doesn’t support on-premise and is not open-source, but it supports automation and many helpful integrations like WhatsApp and Facebook...
Source: tiledesk.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, osTicket should be more popular than Freshdesk. It has been mentiond 38 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

osTicket mentions (38)

  • Ask HN: Helpdesk/ticketing software for small SaaS company
    You can try osTicket https://osticket.com The UI is very tho dated, but we're working on a rewrite with modern UI. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Looking for a ticketing system
    Check out https://osticket.com/ I used earlier on my career. It’s free to use it worked great for a small team and it has everything you need. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Help tickets
    We use https://osticket.com/ It's not a groundbreaking ticket system but it's rock solid, user-friendly, and free. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • I would like to find a free software for tickets in my household
    Another option, for a dedicated ticketing/helpdesk system, is osTicket. Self-hosted is completely free, and I had it up and running inside of an hour, from creating a fresh Debian LXC, installing Apache/MariaDB/PHP8.1, and uploading the requisite files for osTicket followed by the initial setup. Going off your mention of snaps, I'm assuming you're on Ubuntu or a derivative, if you'd like I should be able to... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • MSP opensource ticketing tool -ITSM
    GLPI (https://glpi-project.org/) or osTicket (https://osticket.com/) are open source ticketing systems but I highly doubt they're what a MSP need. You need a PSA. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Freshdesk mentions (12)

  • Moog support?
    When I click on it and try to view my ticket it asks me to log in, but then tells me my email and password are incorrect, I can log into Moog music just fine....and NOT freshdesk.com. Source: over 1 year ago
  • CMS with ticketing support
    What I suggest is using freshdesk.com. It's free for some of the base needs such as automatically creating ticket when people email as support email, giving clients a portal to fill out what you want them to fill out which creates a ticket, automatically notifies people on your team (up to 10) and allows you to create departments and emails them when a ticket is assigned to that department, reply via email allows... Source: over 1 year ago
  • Need help picking a ticketing system
    Freshdesk (Free up to a certain number of users): Offers ticketing and knowledge base. Link. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Beware, read carefully and make conclusions
    Since Freewallet is a quite small company they outsource their "support" from this Indian startup the communication is quite complicated. If the company doesn't want to spend more money in order to hire a good support engineer, and instead prefers to save some money by going offshore. Then this companies' customers swill suffer. Source: over 2 years ago
  • What Ticket Systems do ya'll use?
    We use Freshdesk from Freshworks. Works great for us. No real complaints. Source: almost 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing osTicket and Freshdesk, you can also consider the following products

Intercom - Intercom is a customer relationship management and messaging tool for web businesses. Build relationships with users to create loyal customers.

Zendesk - Zendesk is a beautiful, lightweight help-desk solution.

LiveAgent - LiveAgent is a fully-featured web-based live chat and help desk software. It harnesses the power of a universal inbox, real-time live chat, built-in call center, and a robust customer service portal. Start your free 1 month trial today!

tawk.to - tawk.to is a free live chat app that lets you monitor and chat with visitors on your website or from a free customizable page

JivoChat - JivoChat is a live chat that enables you to talk to visitors on your website

HelpScout - Help Scout is a simple, straightforward way to provide excellent support