Compare

How Fettledesk compares

Fettledesk next to four hosted service desks and one open-source one. It's a pre-release, so some rows say “Planned”. We'd rather you knew before you choose.

Where Fettledesk is strong

Yours to run. Free, open source and on your own server, with no per-agent price.
Nothing held back. The help centre, SLAs, approvals and asset management aren't kept for a top tier.
Support and planning together. Boards, backlog and sprints sit in the same app as the tickets.

Where it isn't there yet

Single sign-on and two-factor sign-in arrive in 1.0, with a Jira importer.
A knowledge base, automation rules and webhooks come in 1.2.
Integrations are few next to the big marketplaces, and AI features aren't released yet.

See what's coming

Feature by feature

Each cell links to the page it came from. “Not stated” means the vendor's pages don't mention it, not that it's missing. Prices are list prices before tax, per person a month.

Yes
Partial
Capped
Paid plan
No
In progress
Planned
Not stated

Fettledesk compared with Zendesk, Freshdesk, Jira Service Management, Help Scout and Zammad, checked 22 October 2026
Feature	FettledeskSelf-hosted, AGPL	ZendeskHosted	FreshdeskHosted	Jira Service ManagementHosted	Help ScoutHosted	ZammadSelf-hosted or hosted, AGPL
Hosting, licence and price
Run it on your own server	YesOne Docker command; HTTPS set-up included1	NoHosted service only2	NoHosted service only3	NoData Center ended for new customers on 30 Mar 2026 and reaches end of life on 28 Mar 20294	NoHosted service only5	YesDocker, Kubernetes (Helm) or DEB/RPM packages6
Open-source licence	YesAGPL-3.0, with attribution terms in NOTICE1	NoProprietary2	NoProprietary3	NoProprietary7	NoProprietary5	YesAGPL-3.06
Price	Free. No paid tier today, and what it does now stays free1	From US$19 per agent a month (Support Team, billed yearly); Suite from US$552	From US$19 per agent a month (Growth, billed yearly); no free plan listed3	Free for 3 agents; Standard US$21.50, Premium US$55.28 per agent a month7	Free for 5 users and 100 contacts a month; Standard US$25, Plus US$45, Pro US$75 per user a month5	Self-hosted: free (support packages from €2,999 a year). Hosted: from €7 per agent a month6 8
Sign-in and security
Single sign-on (SAML or OpenID Connect)	PlannedOpenID Connect and SAML are planned for 1.01	YesSAML and JWT on every plan9	YesListed on every plan3	Paid planNeeds an Atlassian Guard subscription; included with Enterprise7	Paid planSAML on Pro; an add-on on other plans5	YesSAML, OpenID Connect, Shibboleth and LDAP10
Two-factor sign-in	In progressAuthenticator apps, part-built; due in 1.01 11	YesAdmins can require it12	YesAdmins can enforce it13	YesEnforcing it for everyone needs Atlassian Guard7	YesAdmins can require it14	Yes10
Service desk
Help centre for the people you support	YesRequest forms, “My requests”, customer organisations, optional self sign-up1	Paid planHelp centre from Suite Team; customer portal on Suite Professional2	YesCustomer portal on every plan3	YesCustomer portal on Free7	Paid planSecure customer portal on Plus5	YesCustomer interface to follow requests10
Knowledge base	PlannedPlanned for 1.21	Paid planSuite Team and up2	YesEvery plan3	YesEmbedded knowledge base on Free7	YesOne Docs site with 10 articles on Free; more on paid plans5	YesHosted: Professional and up8 10
Email becomes tickets	YesMicrosoft 365, Google Workspace or IMAP; replies thread back1	Yes2	Yes3	YesEmail, portal, chat, Slack and Teams7	YesShared inboxes5	YesEmail, chat, phone and social channels6
Service levels (SLAs)	YesResponse and resolution targets, business hours, pausing, warnings and escalation1	Paid planSuite Professional2	Paid planMultiple SLA policies on Pro3	YesListed in Atlassian’s plan comparison; we couldn’t confirm the lowest plan15	Paid planOne basic policy on Standard; more on Plus and Pro5	YesHosted: Professional and up8 10
Approvals	YesAny one or all approvers; declining needs a reason the requester sees1	Paid planApproval workflows on Suite Enterprise2	Paid planEnterprise (our reading of the pricing table)3	Paid planChange approval workflows on Premium; we couldn’t confirm basic approvals by plan7	Not stated5	Not stated10
Automation rules	PartialWorkflow rules on transitions (requirements, auto-assign); general automation rules planned for 1.21	YesTriggers and automations on every plan; no caps listed2	YesEvery plan; no caps listed3	Capped1,250 steps a month on Free, 3,000 per agent on Standard; extra use billed at US$0.50 per 1,000 steps from 3 Dec 20267 16	Capped150 basic workflows on Standard, 500 on Plus, unlimited on Pro5	YesTriggers, schedulers and core workflows; no caps listed10
Custom fields and forms	PartialRequest forms with your own questions, and asset types with your own fields; ticket fields are fixed1	YesConditional ticket fields on Suite Professional2	YesAdvanced custom fields on Pro3	YesCustom forms on Free7	YesUp to 10 custom fields per conversation5	YesFor tickets, users and organisations10
Asset management	YesAsset types, loans, relationship map, QR labels, alerts, and an API for inventory tools1	PartialIT asset management is in an early access programme17	NoNot in Freshdesk; Freshworks offers it in Freshservice3 18	Paid planAssets from Standard; hardware asset management on Premium7	Not stated5	PartialThrough the i-doit integration10
Boards, backlog and sprints in the same app	YesBoards with swimlanes, backlog, sprints, burndown and a query language1	Not stated2	Not stated3	Not statedNot on the JSM pricing page; Jira, sold separately, has them7 19	Not stated5	Not stated10
Data and integrations
API and webhooks	PartialDocumented REST API (OpenAPI); tokens only for asset ingestion so far; webhooks planned for 1.21	YesAPI on every plan, and a webhooks API2 20	Yes21	Yes22	YesAPI (200 to 800 calls a minute by plan) and webhooks5	Yes10
Import from another help desk	PlannedA Jira importer is planned for 1.01	Not compared	Not compared	YesCSV import23	Not compared	YesMigrator for OTRS, Freshdesk and Zendesk; CSV import10
Integrations	PartialInventory tools (PowerShell, Intune, Ansible, osquery) send in devices; chat apps are planned1	YesApp marketplace24	YesApp marketplace25	YesAtlassian Marketplace26	YesSalesforce, Jira and HubSpot on Plus5	Yesi-doit, GitHub, GitLab, Microsoft Teams, Grafana10
AI and accessibility
AI features	In progressBring your own model (OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Google or local) plus an MCP server, off by default; built, not released27	YesAI agents on every plan; Copilot is a US$50 per agent add-on from Professional2	Paid planAI Agent: 500 sessions, then US$49 per 100; Copilot US$29 per agent from Pro3	Paid planRovo search, chat and agents from Standard; virtual service agent on Premium7	Paid planAI Assist on Standard, AI Drafts on Plus; AI Answers US$0.75 per resolution5	YesSummaries, writing assistant and AI agents; hosted plans charge €0.03 per AI call8 10
Accessibility	Aims for WCAG 2.1 AA; axe checks and a keyboard-only walkthrough in tests; no third-party audit yet1	Targets WCAG 2.2 AA; publishes audited conformance reports (VPATs)28	Conformance reports for the agent and customer portals against WCAG 2.2 AA29	Conformance report for JSM Cloud against WCAG 2.2 AA30	Aims for WCAG 2.1 Level A; audited with Deque31 32	Not stated on the pages we checked10

What's coming

How Fettledesk's column in the chart changes with each release. This follows the roadmap in the README; releases aren't dated, because we'd rather ship them right than on time.

How Fettledesk's column in the comparison changes with each release
Feature	TodayVersion 0.5.4	Built, not releasedOn a branch	1.0Next	1.2After 1.0	LaterPlanned
Single sign-on (SAML or OpenID Connect)	PlannedOpenID Connect and SAML are planned for 1.0	No change	YesOpenID Connect and SAML, free; can be required for staff	No change	No change
Two-factor sign-in	In progressAuthenticator apps, part-built; due in 1.0	No change	YesAuthenticator apps with recovery codes; can be required for admins	No change	No change
Import from another help desk	PlannedA Jira importer is planned for 1.0	No change	PartialFrom Jira: projects, issues, comments, attachments and people	No change	No change
Knowledge base	PlannedPlanned for 1.2	No change	No change	Yes	No change
Automation rules	PartialWorkflow rules on transitions (requirements, auto-assign); general automation rules planned for 1.2	No change	No change	YesAutomation rules, with no usage caps	No change
API and webhooks	PartialDocumented REST API (OpenAPI); tokens only for asset ingestion so far; webhooks planned for 1.2	No change	No change	YesOutgoing webhooks	No change
Integrations	PartialInventory tools (PowerShell, Intune, Ansible, osquery) send in devices; chat apps are planned	No change	No change	No change	PartialAdds Microsoft Teams, Slack and Discord
Asset management	YesAsset types, loans, relationship map, QR labels, alerts, and an API for inventory tools	No change	No change	No change	YesAdds contracts, depreciation and asset reports
AI features	In progressBring your own model (OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Google or local) plus an MCP server, off by default; built, not released	YesBring your own model and an MCP server; release to be scheduled	No change	No change	No change

Also in 1.0

Account provisioning from your directory (SCIM)
An external security review

Also planned for later

Built-in backup and restore
Configurable dashboards
Languages other than English
Running several app containers

Ideas we're considering

Not promises yet: they join the roadmap once they're planned.

Importers from Zendesk, Freshdesk and Jira Service Management
A chat widget for the help centre
Device sync straight from Intune, Jamf and Google Admin
An independent accessibility audit, with a published conformance report
One sign-in across Fettledesk and Fettleboard
For schools: parent and student accounts, loans linked to a student, and term-time business hours

Paying for Fettledesk, one day

Fettledesk on your own server is free, and everything it does stays free. To keep it going we plan to charge for things around it: running it for you, and support. These are the plans we're thinking of.

Planned pricing for future Pro plans. Currently, Fettledesk is free to use and self-host.

Available now

Self-hosted

Free for good

Every feature, now and as new ones arrive
Unlimited agents, customers and tickets
Runs on your server; your data stays there
Community help in GitHub issues

Planned

Pro Support

From A$2,500 a year, per organisation

For self-hosted Fettledesk
Answers by email within one business day
Help with upgrades and moving in
Early notice of security fixes

Planned

Pro Hosted

A$15 per agent a month, billed yearly

We run it, update it and back it up
Free for up to 3 agents
Help-centre customers free and unlimited
The same features as self-hosted

Planned

Pro Business

A$25 per agent a month, billed yearly

Everything in Pro Hosted
Choice of data region
99.9% uptime commitment
Priority support and audit-log export

Indicative prices in Australian dollars, including GST, for plans we expect to offer after 1.0 and an independent security review. They may change before launch. Schools and charities would pay half. For comparison, the hosted services above start their paid plans at US$19 to US$25 per agent a month.

Notes

Jira Service Management no longer sells its self-managed Data Center edition to new customers, and it reaches end of life on 28 March 2029. Its prices are as shown with monthly billing; yearly billing is up to 17% less.
Some vendor pages were unclear. Where we couldn't confirm which plan includes a feature, the cell says so.
Live updates aren't a row, because all six products have them in some form.
Something out of date? Features and prices change often. Please open an issue and we'll fix it.

Sources

All checked on 22 October 2026.