Free Help Desk Software Open Source: Costs

FreeScout

FreeScout’s core can be used without a software licence fee. Its FAQ says there is no limit on the number of agents or tickets. That does not settle the full cost of a working setup: you still need to account for hosting and the work of running it, while extensions can add functionality and paid modules may add charges. Hosting, modules and support may add to the bill, so check the relevant charges before treating the core software as the full cost.

For a small team, the no-seat-limit point may matter more than a low starting price. See the self-hosted help desk cost trade-offs when comparing deployment responsibilities. But a team should also list the functions it needs, identify which are in the core or an extension, and then add the operational work to its budget. FreeScout’s guidance for backups calls for a copy of the database and the storage directory. Its email setup guidance also covers outgoing mail and background jobs. Those are practical tasks to plan for, not optional line items to assume somebody else handles.

osTicket

osTicket describes its software as completely free, and a self-hosted edition is identified as its free model. For teams searching for a free help desk software download, distinguish that self-hosted software from its cloud-hosted service before comparing costs. It also offers a cloud-hosted service, but an established subscription price and seat terms are not included here. Do not use the licence price as a proxy for the cloud plan price: they are separate deployment choices.

The self-hosted route leaves the team responsible for deploying and maintaining its own environment. The published requirements name an HTTP server, PHP and MySQL, so check that someone can manage the required stack. A hosted service can remove installation and maintenance work, but compare its actual quote and terms before calculating a total.

Zammad

Zammad’s self-hosted edition is described as free and open source, while cloud and enterprise options are paid. Cloud and enterprise plans are paid options; check the current offer and terms before budgeting for them. A support contract may reduce the maintenance burden, but its price also depends on the support option chosen. For a broader shortlist, compare open source help desk software options.

For all three products, separate the software licence from the cost of running the service. Infrastructure, setup, updates, backups, email delivery and security work are cost categories to ask about; no rates are assumed here. That keeps a “free” licence from being mistaken for a complete, costed support operation.

What to check before choosing a free ticketing system

Start by deciding whether your team wants a self-hosted open source ticketing system or a hosted service. With self-hosting, confirm who will deploy the application, manage its dependencies and apply updates. For osTicket, the published requirements name an HTTP server, PHP and MySQL; make sure the skills to run that stack are available. For FreeScout, include the documented database and storage-directory backup steps in the operating plan, alongside outgoing email and background jobs.

Next, compare the workflow you actually need. List agent and ticket needs, the functions available in the core product, and any extensions or modules that may be required. A no-limit statement about FreeScout agents or tickets does not answer whether a particular extension costs extra or whether your team can operate the service. For Zammad, distinguish the self-hosted edition from the paid cloud and enterprise choices rather than assuming they share the same terms.

Finally, put recurring work next to the software fee in your comparison. Estimate your own hosting and staff effort using your team’s circumstances instead of borrowing an unsupported market rate. If you cannot price that work yet, record it as unknown and ask who owns each task. This produces a more useful comparison than choosing the option whose licence fee alone appears lowest.

What a first-year comparison can and cannot tell you

A useful budget separates the documented software price from unpriced work. For self-hosted software, the licence may be free, but no server, installation, maintenance, backup, email-delivery or security-work rate is established here. The software-only total for a free self-hosted licence is therefore EUR 0; the complete operating total cannot be calculated from that figure alone.

For a hosted service, multiply the actual per-seat price by the seats and billing period only when the price and seat terms are known. The evidence available here does not establish osTicket cloud seat pricing, so a solo, five-person or ten-person osTicket cloud total would be guesswork. FreeScout and Zammad also cannot be given complete hosted totals here: official hosted prices and the necessary plan terms are not established. For FreeScout, module charges may also depend on which extensions a team selects.

For momo, the documented annual plan prices give a different kind of calculation. Starter is EUR 319 per year, Growth is EUR 1,419 per year, and Scale is EUR 4,389 per year. Those are plan totals, not per-seat prices. Starter includes one agent and two team members; Growth includes three agents and five team members; Scale includes ten agents and ten team members. A solo user who needs the included Starter capacity can budget EUR 319 for the year. A five-person team fits the stated Growth team-member allowance at EUR 1,419 per year. A ten-person team fits the stated Scale team-member allowance at EUR 4,389 per year.

Those examples are software-plan totals, not a claim that every team needs that tier. Choose based on the AI conversation allowance, agents, team members and channels you need. Starter includes 500 AI conversations monthly, Growth includes 2,000, and Scale includes 6,000. Each paid AI conversation can contain up to 25 AI replies. The plan fee does not rise per resolution, and there are no credit packs.

A self-hosted option can be worth the operating work when your team wants control over deployment and can take responsibility for it. A hosted plan can be worth paying for when a predictable plan fee and a shared human inbox matter more than managing the underlying service. Compare the real workload, not just the word “free.”