How much does Zammad cost, and what do you really pay for?

Listed price: from €7/month/user. What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: SLAs and escalation rules.; The multilingual knowledge base.; Phone, WhatsApp and Facebook channels.; In-depth reports and managed hosting..

What free or open-source alternatives to Zammad exist?

FreeScout (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.

Where do you start to build an equivalent of Zammad?

Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.

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Zammad

Official website · zammad.com ↗Are you the publisher? Suggest a correction

Partly replaceableOur view: worth studying depending on your use.from €7/month/usercasevibecode verdict · 0 votesPage updated on October 23, 2026 · Published by North Studio

Open-source support system (AGPL-3.0) with tickets, knowledge base and several channels. Hosted offers in Germany, per agent per month excl. VAT: Starter at €7 annually (€9 monthly, 5 agents maximum) with email, web form, SMS, text templates, macros and triggers; Professional at €16 (€18, 35 agents) with chat, Telegram, SLAs, custom roles and knowledge base; Plus at €25 (€27, unlimited agents) with phone, Facebook, WhatsApp, advanced workflows and reports. Optional AI features at €0.03 per call. Self-hosting goes through support packages from €2,999 to €9,999 a year excl. VAT. Site in English and German, French is not named.

A ticketing system with email, history, notes and statuses is the base, and can be built for a small team. Zammad brings SLAs, the multilingual knowledge base and the phone and messaging channels, which require maintained connections. For a team receiving emails and a web form, a custom tool or a lighter helpdesk (FreeScout) is enough. The entry price is fair, but the self-hosted software is not sold with free support: plan for maintenance.

What you lose

SLAs and escalation rules.
The multilingual knowledge base.
Phone, WhatsApp and Facebook channels.
In-depth reports and managed hosting.

Existing alternatives to Zammad

FreeScoutOpen source
Open-source team email inbox (AGPL-3.0) with assignment and notes; several add-ons are paid.

See the alternative in detail

What a home-built tool costs once it exists

Hosting and database: a server cost, and automatic backups you actually test.
Security and GDPR: dependency updates, an HTTPS certificate, protection of your customers’ data.
Upkeep time: who fixes the tool on a Saturday night in the middle of service if the server goes down?

The prompt to build it yourself

Open in ClaudeOpen in Codex Open in Cursor

Build a ticketing system with response targets for my team, replacing an open-source helpdesk.

Context: a hotel, 4 agents, requests by email and web form, about 40 a day.

To do:
- IMAP polling and a web form that create tickets with number, customer, subject, priority (normal, high) and status.
- A first-response target per priority (for example 4 hours, 1 hour) with a visible indicator and an email alert to the manager when exceeded.
- Macros (canned replies with variables) and simple triggers (assign based on a word in the subject).
- Internal notes and a full history per ticket.
- A table: open tickets, average response time, target compliance per week.

Out of scope: telephony, WhatsApp, multilingual knowledge base.

Stack: web app, PostgreSQL, a scheduled job. README: how to run, backup, retention period (GDPR).

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Frequently asked questions

How much does Zammad cost, and what do you really pay for?: Listed price: from €7/month/user. What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: SLAs and escalation rules.; The multilingual knowledge base.; Phone, WhatsApp and Facebook channels.; In-depth reports and managed hosting..
What free or open-source alternatives to Zammad exist?: FreeScout (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
Where do you start to build an equivalent of Zammad?: Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.

How are our verdicts established? Read our detailed methodology ↗

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