osTicket Review (2026)
- Starting price
- Free tier available
- Free trial
- Free tier + 30 days
- Deployment
- Cloud + self-host
- Best for
- Teams wanting a free, open-source, self-hosted ticketing system
Verdict: 7.7/10
osTicket earns 7.7/10 in our review, weighted from 4.4/5 (~44 G2 reviews) and its feature/pricing profile. A dependable open-source ticketing workhorse — free and flexible if you can host it, with a managed cloud option for those who can't. Best for teams wanting a free, open-source, self-hosted ticketing system. Starting price: Free tier available.
Based on aggregated third-party ratings (4.4/5 (~44 G2 reviews)) and osTicket's published feature and pricing data. Hands-on testing notes are added as we trial each tool — see how we test.
Pros
- Free
- mature open-source core
- No per-agent fees self-hosted
- Highly customizable
Cons
- Requires LAMP stack + self-management
- Dated UI
- Support is paid/community-only
Features
- Open-source self-hosted core
- Custom fields + ticket filters
- Email piping + ticketing
- SLA + agent collision avoidance
- Customer portal + knowledge base
- Managed cloud option (SupportSystem)
How it compares
| osTicket | Freshservice | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free tier available | $19/agent/mo | $19/agent/mo |
| Pricing model | per user | per agent | per agent |
| Free trial / tier | Free tier + 30 days | 14 days | 14 days |
| Best for | Teams wanting a free, open-source, self-hosted ticketing system | Internal IT teams wanting modern ITSM with strong automation | Customer-support-heavy teams wanting a polished ticketing/CX platform |
| Deployment | Cloud + self-host | Cloud | Cloud |
| G2 rating | 4.4/5 (44) | 4.6/5 (1200) | 4.3/5 (6000) |
| Capterra rating | — | — | — |
| Our score | 7.7 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
Affiliate link: osTicket may pay us a commission if you sign up through this link. It never affects our data-driven ranking.
Full review
osTicket review — 7.7/10
A dependable open-source ticketing workhorse — free and flexible if you can host it, with a managed cloud option for those who can’t. Our score weights 4.4/5 (~44 G2 reviews) against feature breadth and pricing value.
Core features
- Open-source self-hosted core
- Custom fields + ticket filters
- Email piping + ticketing
- SLA + agent collision avoidance
- Customer portal + knowledge base
- Managed cloud option (SupportSystem)
Pricing value
osTicket starts at Free tier available on a per user model with a free tier. See the full pricing breakdown.
Pros & cons
Pros: Free; mature open-source core; No per-agent fees self-hosted; Highly customizable.
Cons: Requires LAMP stack + self-management; Dated UI; Support is paid/community-only.
Who should buy osTicket
Best for teams wanting a free, open-source, self-hosted ticketing system. If that is not you, weigh the alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
- Is osTicket worth it?
- osTicket earns 7.7/10 in our review, weighted from 4.4/5 (~44 G2 reviews) and its feature/pricing profile. A dependable open-source ticketing workhorse — free and flexible if you can host it, with a managed cloud option for those who can't. Best for teams wanting a free, open-source, self-hosted ticketing system. Starting price: Free tier available.
- What does osTicket cost?
- From Free tier available — see the pricing page.