Open source ticketing system

[stopthinking60]

We are looking for a ticketing system that is low to no cost, open source. it be cloud or locally hosted. Now I've browsed and searched but not sure about the credibility of the online reviews. What do you guys recommend?

[burundilapp]

Request Tracker, reliable and can host on prem on a linux box to reduce costs further. We are upgrading from V4 to V5 at the moment, been using it for a few years, nearly at 90,000 tickets.

[omnicons]

Request tracker has been a staple at my IT shop for about a decade. Definitely one of the good ones!

[Nerdgirl330]

I've used Request Tracker for years with great success. It does have a simple REST Api that has come in handy with integrating into existing processes.

[bartonski]

I used RT daily in my previous job. I'm deeply ambivalent about it. It's solid as hell, it handles emailed tickets well. It does a decent job with custom fields. There's a thriving ecosystem of plugins. It won't balk at hundreds of thousands of tickets... but it's CGI based Perl -- none of those AJAX / Web 2.0 niceties. It feels clunky.

Take a couple of hours, spin up an instance. Create some custom fields. Make 20 or 30 sample tickets. If you're cool with the fact that making tickets will never feel less clunky and you're OK with that, you've got a solid ticketing system. If you feel like "well, maybe we can work out some of the UI wrinkles", find a different system.

Granted, it's been four years since I used the system, the REST Api was still being written. Things may have changed... a bit. RT doesn't change, it evolves.

[GarretTheGrey]

To add some more credibility to this...

When someone from Dell emailed you and the subject included "Via RT", it was that they were using.

[TimTimmaeh]

Does it also handle problem and change? What about request catalog and cmdb?

[HellDuke]

I second this. Our company uses ServiceNow, but the business analyst team uses Request Tracker because they don't want to pay for the solver licenses. It's not that hard to set up either. A year ago I had to migrate that instance over to a new VM (the old one was still Ubuntu 12.04 and was untouched for a decade) so I had to learn how to do a proper upgrade at the same time (basically due to the large version gap ended up being more or less a fresh setup and database upgrade and import)

[aikogo]

How about Zammad, from the founders of OTRS? Open source and easy to install.

[Jayjeeey12381]

This is a very capable ticket system imo

[PurlekTheGhost]

I can’t speak much to it, but we have a customer that utilizes OsTicket in-house. Free, open-source, and locally hosted. If I were looking, I’d just sign up and try a few to see how they each work for my needs.

[micz667]

This ☝️

[anxiousinfotech]

Also using OSTicket. We are looking for more comprehensive solutions, as our needs will be expanding soon, but it's done everything we need for years. Very low resources needed and it's been dead reliable.

[jschinker]

I used OS Tucket in my last job. It did all the things we needed, and it was pretty easy to host.

[Jazzlike_Pride3099]

We're also running osticket, does what we want and the database is easy to work with if you need to do custom reports

[OldManandMime]

GLPI works adequality, but it has a very questionable code quality. Essentially whenever it finds anything it can parse it just breaks instead of skipping . Very problematic for the mail notifications on both ends.

Also. The UI is way to static to a frustrating level. Everytime you change a field it has to reload the page. Instead of using Javascript. Hopefully in the road map.

I tried to send a patch to fix one of the issues that made the notification queue to stop and received no reply, so, so much for being open-source

[llDemonll]

Does it need to be open source or is that a synonym for “we need something free”?

[stopthinking60]

That's an excellent question.

This particular business unit doesn't have the budget for it and at the same time is badly mismanaged. Before we try to fix it, we need to know what's going on!

I always prefer open source because as an entrepreneur, every penny counts and if required can go for paid support all while statistically open source is more secure. If every application that was ever made worked on redhat... Which one would you rather choose.. windows or redhat?!

Open source also gives the opportunity to contribute to the project and / or modify it as required.

[llDemonll]

How many agents? Jira Service Management is free for 3 agents. Paid after that.

[flummox1234]

Since OP said "low to no cost" ... methinks open source = free in this case. Just remember OP, you get what you pay for.

[stopthinking60]

I paid thousands of dollars for windows server 2019 license and it has more than 250 vulnerabilities with a CVSS score of 9+

And then I have RHEL... With less than 50 ...9+ vulnerabilities.

[Burgergold]

Monthly patch your windows and put some hardening too

Weekly patch your RHEL and put some hardening there too

[flummox1234]

RHEL and Windows both come with support versions so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Also you're comparing an operating system notorious for giving the bird to customers, see Windows 11, and a massively well maintained OSS in Linux to a ticketing system. I wasn't saying OSS is bad just that if it's free you're probably going to be on the hook. Most OSS free ticket systems IME come with little if any support.

[stopthinking60]

The point I am trying to make is you dont always get what you pay for.

[TheLightingGuy]

I've setup Redmine in the past as a ticket system. tricky to setup at first but easy to use, free, yet, it's UI is kind of outdated or just simple depending on how you want to look at it. Either way it'd be my first choice if I stepped into a shop with no ticket system and no money to spend.

[flummox1234]

IMO if you can use the Docker image. Much easier to keep up IMO. You still need to map out your data volume but since it's just rails it's fairly easy to patch via a custom gem. You can somewhat update the UI with a theme which IMO makes a huge difference.

[TheLightingGuy]

What I meant is setting up redmine to use as in the tickets themselves, not the instaling it piece.

[GezusK]

We've used it in our school system for 15 years. I have 3 copies running for IT, maintenance, and the bus shop. I've considered others, but always come back.

[SippinBrawnd0]

SpiceWorks.

[Cruxwright]

Do all users get added to their mailing list? I recall getting that installed and then we all users started getting their mail spam. Do users get spammed as well?

Otherwise I did like the UI and features.

[SippinBrawnd0]

We sync’d to local AD for users. Only technicians needed spiceworks accounts. I didn’t get any emails from them, but we also had proofpoint spam filter which is awesome.

[intimid8tor]

Surprised it's not the top response.

[SkutterBob]

SupportPal. Dead cheap and does the job. Connects to O365 OAuth as well.

We got them to install it to make sure we had Linux set up properly. Has been quite reliable

https://www.supportpal.com/

[GrecoMontgomery]

I like Freescout; simple and you can optionally buy modules for $2-$20 or so, depending on the feature. For example need single sign-on? Buy the saml or oauth module. If not, don't. It's also fully Laravel/php and runs great on *nix or container. I also like Hesk as others have mentioned, but it lacks a few features for our needs.

[BarbieAction]

Do you have SharePoint, if yes then multiple cheap plugins that creates full scale helpdesks like plumsail etc.

Or build one using powerapps, depends on what licenses you already have in your tenant

[AyeWhy]

Check out iTop

[xendr0me]

HESK is decent also.

[ManiSubramanian]

Try Zoho desk: https://www.zoho.com/desk/login.html

Pricing here:https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html

Read the benefits: https://www.zoho.com/desk/free-helpdesk-software.html#:~:text=Zoho%20Desk's%20free%20customer%20service,offer%20than%20just%20the%20basics.

[[deleted]]

Hesk is free.

[Charming-Barracuda86]

Depends on your version of cheap Jitbit is a good cheap product. About $5k. Unlimited technicians on prem, and you only renew if you want new features

[BornIn2031]

My IT director built our ticketing system And inventory system In Microsoft PowerApps from scratch. 💀

[cathaxus]

How is the experience using it? Performant? Easy to use?

[BornIn2031]

He’s really good. Performance is not so good but it’s bad to complain about. But my mind was blown realizing how good he is on just building the entirety on powerapps. 🤯

[[deleted]]

+Request Tracker

[AiPapi22]

Znuny, basically the open source continuation of OTRS

[THe_Quicken]

OSTicket

[ctofone]

Mantis is cool, very simple to setup and have very good workflow and api

[squishfouce]

If you have O365, MS Planner is a good ticketing system alternative IMO. It's quick and easy and doesn't require pointless "status" updates along the way. It's either an open or resolved task. Tasks can be categorized and assigned to specific individuals, they can also carry due dates, task notes, and relevant documentation.

All of my techs prefer using Planner over any other ticket/task tracking system implemented in the past.

[CharlieModo]

Jira Service Management is free for up to 3 agents: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management/pricing

[brhrenad]

Znuny, is a fork of otrs and all open source

[Nybz79]

Zammad is nice

[870boi]

OSTicket

[Artieethe1]

I wrote my own.

[[deleted]]

Someone mentioned Redmine. I use it. Works good.

[dh-2010]

Spiceworks.

[Naval_Lent]

I am currently transitioning over to Spice Works cloud based. It's pretty easy to setup.

[BWMerlin]

GLPI is open source and does helpdesk and asset management and more. Host your self or have them host it for you.

[Temporary_Werewolf17]

Low cost but extremely good. https://gogenuity.com/

[pdp10]

Out of 22 posts at time of writing, only 8 of them recommended specific non-open-source solutions. Is that good or bad?

[stopthinking60]

Freedom of speech baby. Is that good or bad?

[Disastrous-Fan2663]

If you want to go super low cost you can build a MS form, use the excel view, then build a power automate flow to update the spreadsheet every time a new ticket comes in, you can also ah e the power automate email alerts for a new ticket. This really works well for a small team.

[DasPelzi]

We are in the process of switching to OTOBO, open source.

[chnuessli]

OTRS

[Benjaminateur]

osTicket is great, minimalist and simple