Zammad
Open-source helpdesk and ticketing system for email, chat, phone and messaging. Free to self-host; hosted plans from EUR 7 per agent a month.
Our take: Zammad is one of the strongest free helpdesks if you have someone who can run a Linux server: multichannel tickets, a knowledge base, SLAs and SSO all come in the open-source edition.
Zammad is an open-source helpdesk that puts email, chat, phone, SMS and messaging apps into one ticket system. It suits support and IT teams that want to self-host for free under AGPL-3.0, or rent it from Zammad GmbH. Hosted plans cost EUR 7, 16 or 25 per agent a month billed yearly, excluding VAT.
On 2 October 2026 the US agency CISA added two Zammad flaws, CVE-2026-102489 (session fixation) and CVE-2026-102490 (improper privilege management), to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure (DIVD) reported that attackers chained them against its own Zammad server in September 2026.
SecurityWeek reports that versions 6.3.0 to 6.5.4 are exploitable and that DIVD advised upgrading to Zammad 7 or taking older installs offline. If you self-host, upgrade to the current release and watch Zammad's GitHub security advisories. When we checked on 4 October 2026, that advisory list did not yet include these two CVEs.
A strong free helpdesk if you can host and patch it; the hosted plans are good value for small teams.
Our score
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Community ratings
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Capterra4.6 / 5 aggregate · across 1 source
Third-party ratings shown verbatim; aggregate weighted by review volume.
What it is, and why we rate it
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Our takeZammad is one of the strongest free helpdesks if you have someone who can run a Linux server: multichannel tickets, a knowledge base, SLAs and SSO all come in the open-source edition.
Best / not good for
- Teams that want a free self-hosted helpdesk
- European support teams paying in euros
- IT teams linking tickets to monitoring and GitHub
- Teams with no one to run and patch a Linux server who also need more than 35 agents on a budget
- Windows-only server shops
Friction report
Trade-offs to know before signing up.
- Time to valueHours for hosted (sign up and connect a mailbox); a day or more for self-hosting with Docker or packages and Elasticsearch.
- Scale breakpointHosted Starter stops at 5 agents and Professional at 35; WhatsApp and Facebook channels need Plus.
- Walled gardenLow: open-source code, REST API and webhooks; you can move between hosted and self-hosted.
Zammad plans and prices
| Plan | Yearly billing | Monthly billing | Agents | Notable extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted (community) | Free | Free | Unlimited | You install, run and patch it |
| Starter v2 (hosted) | EUR 7/agent/mo | EUR 9/agent/mo | Up to 5 | Email, web form, SMS; 20 GB |
| Professional v2 (hosted) | EUR 16/agent/mo | EUR 18/agent/mo | Up to 35 | Chat, Telegram, SLAs, knowledge base; 30-day trial |
| Plus v2 (hosted) | EUR 25/agent/mo | EUR 27/agent/mo | Unlimited | WhatsApp, Facebook, Core Workflows, phone support |
| Business support (self-hosted) | EUR 2,999/year | - | - | 6-hour max response, 15 requests |
| Enterprise support (self-hosted) | EUR 5,999/year | - | - | 4-hour max response, 45 requests |
| Corporation support (self-hosted) | EUR 9,999/year | - | - | 2-hour max response, 95 requests |
From Zammad's pricing page and zammad.org, checked 4 October 2026. Prices exclude VAT. Optional AI features cost EUR 0.03 per AI call.
Frequently Asked Questions
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