With over 3,200 GitHub stars, 900 forks, and backing from the team behind ERPNext, Frappe Helpdesk delivers a modern, streamlined alternative to Zendesk and Freshdesk with unlimited agents, no per-seat pricing, and full source code access under the AGPL-3.0 license. Built on the Frappe Framework with a Python backend and Vue 3 frontend using Frappe UI, the application collects customer inquiries from email, web forms, and the customer portal into a centralized ticketing queue with complete conversation history and threaded replies. Customizable SLA rules define response and resolution timelines by ticket type or team, triggering automatic alerts and escalations when deadlines approach or are missed. Assignment rules route incoming tickets to the appropriate agents based on priority, issue type, or workload balancing, while manual reassignment and transfer between teams remains available at any time. The customer self-service portal lets users submit tickets, track status, and search a knowledge base of published help articles that reduce repetitive support requests. Agents access saved reply templates for consistent, rapid responses to common queries. Custom fields, configurable workflows, and saved views adapt the interface to match each organization's support process. Real-time updates via WebSocket push ticket changes instantly to all connected agents. The PWA-compatible interface provides mobile access without a native app. Frappe Framework compatibility spans versions 15 and 16. Running on a dedicated VPS on RepoCloud with guaranteed CPU, RAM, and SSD, full root SSH access, and a browser serial console. AGPL-3.0 licensed.

A deliberately simple ticketing system standing in for both Zendesk and Jira: Peppermint handles internal staff requests and external customer support alike. The stack is modern full-stack TypeScript: Next.js and React over Prisma and PostgreSQL, which makes it light to run and approachable for developers extending it. Ticket creation is straightforward - a markdown editor with file uploads, assignment, status tracking, and a logical workflow that new agents grasp without a manual. Mailbox integration converts email into tickets automatically: configure SMTP/IMAP per mailbox and incoming messages become trackable tickets. Each client accumulates an interaction history, giving agents context on every past request before replying. Two touches distinguish it from bare-bones ticketing: a built-in markdown notebook with todo lists for internal documentation and knowledge sharing, and OIDC authentication so agents sign in through your existing identity provider - Keycloak, Okta, Authentik, or Azure AD. Configurable webhooks and email notifications push ticket events to third-party services. The UI is responsive from mobile to 4K, and everything works fully offline in air-gapped environments. Docker-native and scalable via Kubernetes, with an active community of 3,000+ GitHub stargazers.

Unlimited agents, unlimited tickets, unlimited mailboxes, forever, on a $4 VPS - FreeScout's pricing inversion is why it became the most popular self-hosted Help Scout alternative, a PHP/Laravel help desk and shared inbox developed from scratch over eight years. The inbox deliberately behaves like Gmail or Outlook, so new support agents need close to zero training. The email-support core is genuinely complete: seamless IMAP/SMTP integration including modern Microsoft Exchange authentication, collision detection that warns when two agents open the same conversation, canned responses, auto-replies, internal notes, open tracking, starring, forwarding, merging, and moving conversations between mailboxes, phone-call logging, push notifications, and an auto-refreshing conversation list - plus screenshot pasting straight from the clipboard into replies. It's 100% mobile-friendly, fully screen-reader accessible, and translated into 28 languages. Beyond the core, an ecosystem of 100+ modules (mostly one-time $12-20 purchases) adds knowledge base, workflows with Gmail-filter-style automation rules, satisfaction ratings, time tracking, tags, custom fields, LDAP, Slack, WhatsApp and Telegram channels, and an API with webhooks - pay only for what your team needs. Web installer and updater included. AGPL-licensed.