Zammad
Customer SupportA web-based helpdesk and ticketing system that handles email, chat, phone and social channels in one place.

What the free edition leaves out
We have not been able to confirm enough from official sources to give a verdict. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | The features page lists SSO including SAML, OpenID Connect and Shibboleth, but does not say which plans or editions include it. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | The features page mentions groups and permissions and roles via LDAP. The hosted pricing page lists individual roles under Professional; self-hosted plans list no roles. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | A feature page describes a tamper-proof admin audit log but does not say which plans or editions include it or whether self-hosted installs have it. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Not confirmed | – | – |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The pricing page says hosted Zammad handles backups for you and self-hosted users handle updates, backups and availability themselves. A built-in tool was not found. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Not confirmed | The features page describes a REST API but does not state plan limits. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Paid | The pricing page lists SLAs under the hosted Professional plan, and email or phone support with response times only in the paid self-hosted support tiers. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Organisations that want a full ticketing helpdesk they can host themselves or buy as a hosted service from the project's company.
Why choose it over Zendesk
The code is AGPL-3.0 licensed and you can run it on your own servers, with a hosted option from Zammad if you prefer not to. It handles several channels in one ticket system and lists a REST API and SSO as product features.
Where it falls short
Self-hosting means you handle updates, backups and availability yourself. Elasticsearch is strongly recommended for search, which adds another service to run. Support and SLAs are sold in paid tiers.
Open-source alternative to
- Zendesk — Zammad is a ticketing system with email and other channels that you can host yourself, so it can replace Zendesk for support desks. This is a replacement use, not an official claim by the project.
- Freshdesk — Zammad offers shared ticket queues, knowledge base and multiple channels, so it can replace Freshdesk. This is a replacement use, not an official claim by the project.
Category
Customer SupportTopics
Tech stack
Languages as reported by GitHub for the repository.