Open-source omnichannel customer support: live chat, email, WhatsApp, and social in one inbox. Alternative to Intercom and Zendesk. Self-host or Cloud.
You pay for Zendesk
There is an open source for Zendesk
3 reviewed open source alternatives to Zendesk. Each carries a source and a date. Pick the one that fits how you work.
Free self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox built on Laravel, designed as a Help Scout and Zendesk alternative.
Open-source web-based helpdesk with ticket management, multi-channel support, and a REST API.
"We switched from Front to Chatwoot 3 months ago, self hosted on our infrastructure.There are some rough edges, and integrating Facebook and Instagram channels are a bit of work but it's globally working very well. And we save quite a buck every month in our scenario managing 5 brands and 4 channels per brand. Main issues are: mobile app can be improved and browser notifications are inconsistent. Wishlist: a desktop app."
"I got in love with Zammad for this kind of things. It's a modern alternative to OTRS, but it's so light and easy to use that you can push it to any kind of business or personal project. Every time I build something long-term with at least 3 people, I check if we can use Zammad. It's opensource, I know how to get a complete setup in 3 hours, the design and perf are nice."
"Surprised no one has mentioned FreeScout. It's a solid open-source helpdesk: https://freescout.net/. They have cheap, one-time purchase plugins. Happy to pay a bit to keep the project sustainable."
| Project | License | Stars | Last release | Hosted | Docker | Zero terminal | Install path |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatwoot | NOASSERTION | 35.7k | 2026-07-27 | Yes | Yes | No | Install path |
| FreeScout | AGPL-3.0-only | 4.5k | 2026-08-07 | No | Yes | No | Install path |
| Zammad | AGPL-3.0-only | 5.8k | 2026-08-04 | Yes | Yes | No | Install path |