Zendesk vs Zammad

Fit:

Migration notes

Support ticketing and workflows alternative. Official migration service supports Zendesk; migration overwrites target data, so use a fresh instance and test mapping first. Professional migration/support services may cost extra.

Sources: support.zammad.com, zammad.com · checked 2026-10-21

ZendeskPaid incumbent

Entry priceUSD 19 / seat / month

Pricing modelper-seat, billed annual

OwnerInvestor group led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira

Support Team USD19 per agent/month billed yearly; omnichannel Suite Team starts USD55. Source

Zendesk plans reviewed
Support Team	entry	USD 228 / agent / yr
Suite Professional	popular	USD 1,380 / agent / yr
Suite Team	business	USD 660 / agent / yr
Suite Enterprise + Copilot	enterprise	Quote only

ZammadOpen-source alternative

Fit for Zendesk

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 Permissions of this strongest copyleft license are conditioned on making available complete source code of licensed works and modifications, which include larger works using a licensed work, under the same license. Copyright and license notices must be preserved. Contributors provide an express grant of patent rights. When a modified version is used to provide a service over a network, the complete source code of the modified version must be made available. May Commercial useModificationDistributionPatent usePrivate use Must License and copyright noticeState changesDisclose sourceNetwork use is distributionSame license No LiabilityWarranty Summary from GitHub's choosealicense.com

Paid-feature tier A

Self-host

Paid-feature limitsNone established

Zammad plans reviewed
Community self-hosted	free self-hosted core	Free
Business	self-host support contract	USD 2,999 / organization / yr
Enterprise	self-host support contract	USD 5,999 / organization / yr

What you may give up

No paid-feature limits established for this edition.

Tier A: Official knowledge base confirms Community and Support Contract self-hosted packages identical; hosted feature tiers separate from self-hosted availability. License source

What running it takes

Ruby on Rails application and background services

or
Valkey

or
Apache

Hover or focus an icon for its name. Dashed means not established; struck through means no; grouped icons are alternatives.

Current documentation covers7.2+; container stack includes dependencies. Single filesystem can use local cache; separate/cache services distinguished. Infrastructure and staff time are not priced here; this page does not compare total cost.