Methodology: we read each vendor's and project's own pricing pages, documentation and GitHub repositories, plus G2 and Capterra, on 9 Oct 2026. No vendor reviewed or paid for this article. We did not run hands-on tests.
Free ITSM software comes in two kinds in 2026: free plans of commercial tools, which cap agents and features, and open-source projects, which cap nothing in the license but leave hosting, upgrades and support to you. Jira Service Management's Free plan stops at 3 agents (Atlassian pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026), and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is free for up to five technicians (ManageEngine pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026). GLPI, iTop, Znuny, osTicket, Zammad and Request Tracker cost nothing to license. This guide is for small IT teams, and teams tired of large ITSM bills, weighing what each option includes, costs to run and takes to leave.
Key takeaways
- Jira Service Management Free covers 3 agents with Community support; a 4th agent moves you to a 14-day Standard trial (Atlassian pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Standard is free for five technicians, but problem and change are paid add-ons and CMDB is not available (ManageEngine pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- GLPI, iTop and Znuny document incident, problem, change and configuration management; osTicket and Zammad are ticketing tools with SLAs (project docs, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- "Free" ends at the license: GLPI's hosted cloud starts at €19 per user per month (GLPI pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- osTicket's API supports only ticket creation, which makes leaving harder (osTicket docs, as of 9 Oct 2026).
Free ITSM software: free plans vs open source
Free ITSM software is any IT service management tool you can run in production without a license fee, either as a vendor's permanent free plan or as an open-source project you host yourself. The two kinds stop in different places, so it pays to know which one you are choosing.
A free plan is a commercial product with a cap. The vendor hosts, patches and upgrades it. The cap is usually agents, sometimes modules. When you hit it, the next step is the vendor's paid tier, and your data stays put.
An open-source ITSM project gives you the code under a license such as GPL or AGPL. The license sets no agent cap, and you can change the code. In exchange, you run the server, database, backups and upgrades. Most projects are backed by a company that sells hosting or support, and that is where the published prices sit.
A free trial is not free ITSM software. Freshservice has no free plan, only a 14-day trial before Starter at $19 per agent per month billed annually (Freshservice pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
How we picked these free ITSM tools
We included a tool only if it met all four tests:
- No license fee and no time limit for production use, confirmed on the vendor's or project's own site.
- Built for IT tickets, with SLA handling, so it works as an open source service desk rather than a shared inbox.
- A named company behind it that publishes documentation and sells help.
- Public sources for every limit: pricing pages, docs, GitHub license files, and G2 ratings (plus Capterra when G2 has fewer than 50 reviews).
Free tiers we could not confirm on the vendor's own page were left out. We did not test any tool.
Free and open-source ITSM tools compared
| Tool | Type | Best for | Published paid step-up | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jira Service Management Free | Free plan, cloud | Teams already on Jira | Standard $20/agent/month | 3 agents; change only on Premium |
| ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus | Free plan, cloud or on-prem | Small on-prem desks | Paid Standard from $1,195/year (10 technicians, on-prem) | 5 technicians; no CMDB |
| GLPI | Open source, GPL v3 | Asset-heavy IT teams | Cloud €19/user/month | You run PHP and the database |
| iTop | Open source, AGPL v3 | CMDB-first teams | Paid editions, no public prices | Community recommended up to 10 agents |
| Znuny | Open source, GPL v3 | Former OTRS users | Services, no public prices | ITSM modules are extra packages |
| osTicket | Open source, GPL v2 | Simple email-to-ticket desks | Hosted from $12/agent/month | No problem, change or CMDB |
| Zammad | Open source, AGPL v3 | Multichannel IT support | Hosted from €7/agent/month | CMDB only via i-doit |
| Request Tracker | Open source, GPL v2 | Teams that script and customize | Cloud RT from $15/user/month | No named problem or change module |
Sources: each vendor's or project's pricing page, docs or GitHub repository, as of 9 Oct 2026.
The 8 tools: what you get and where it stops
1. Jira Service Management Free
Atlassian's service desk is sold within the Service Collection. Its Free plan is "free forever for 3 agents" and includes request types, workflows, a customer portal, email and chat intake, on-call schedules, an embedded knowledge base and 1,250 automation steps a month. The FAQ adds 2GB of storage and Community support (Atlassian pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: G2 4.3/5 from 986 reviews (G2, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: very small teams already on Jira who want a hosted desk with no setup.
- Watch-outs: the Free card does not list SLAs or Assets. Assets starts on Standard and change management on Premium ($51.42 per agent per month). Exceed 3 agents or the storage limit and you move to a 14-day Standard trial (Atlassian pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
2. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus free edition
ManageEngine says "Standard Edition is free for up to five technicians" in both its cloud and on-premises tables (ManageEngine pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026). The free edition covers incidents, a knowledge base, a self-service portal and SLA management (ManageEngine free help desk page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: G2 4.2/5 from 253 reviews (G2, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: teams of up to five technicians who want ITIL-style incident handling on their own server.
- Watch-outs: only one instance can use the free allotment. Problem management ($1,195 per year) and change and release ($2,395 per year) are paid add-ons on Standard, and CMDB is not available on Standard (ManageEngine pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
3. GLPI
GLPI is an open-source ITSM and asset management suite under GPL v3, with problem and change management listed in its README (GLPI GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). It handles incidents, requests, service catalog forms, SLAs, assets and a CMDB. The project claims "millions of users around the world" but publishes no exact figure (GLPI site, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: Capterra 4.5/5 from 41 reviews; G2 4.5/5 from 42 reviews (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: IT teams that want ITSM and asset inventory in one free tool.
- Watch-outs: self-hosting needs PHP 8.2 or later and MariaDB 10.6 or MySQL 8.0 or later (GLPI GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). Capterra reviewers often mention a dated interface and hard installation. Teclib's self-hosted support starts at €100 per month for up to 10 technical staff (GLPI pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
4. iTop (Combodo)
Combodo calls iTop "a French open-source ITSM and CMDB solution" covering request, incident, problem and change management (Combodo site, as of 9 Oct 2026). The code is AGPL v3 and includes configurable SLA management (iTop GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). It is the most CMDB-centric tool here.
- Ratings: Capterra 4.1/5 from 12 reviews; G2 4.3/5 from 7 reviews (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: teams that want configuration items and their relationships at the center of the desk.
- Watch-outs: Combodo lists the free Community edition as "Up to 10 (Recommended)" agents, with paid Atelier (up to 50) and Forge (from 50) editions, and publishes no prices (Combodo site, as of 9 Oct 2026).
5. Znuny
Znuny is "a continuation of the ((OTRS)) Community Edition (version 6.0.30)" under GPL v3, after OTRS Community Edition reached end of life in December 2020 (Znuny GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). LTS 6.5.25 and feature release 7.3.7 shipped on 16 Sep 2026 (Znuny site, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: we found no G2 or Capterra listing (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: teams leaving an old OTRS install who want to keep the same model.
- Watch-outs: "ITSM Features are provided by way of package installation": incident and problem, configuration, service level and change management (Znuny docs, as of 9 Oct 2026). Znuny GmbH sells support and hosting but lists no prices.
6. osTicket
osTicket is a GPL v2 ticket system from Enhancesoft (osTicket GitHub and site, as of 9 Oct 2026). It offers ticket filters, help topics, SLA plans, a customer portal and a knowledgebase. osTicket claims "5+ million osTicket users worldwide" (osTicket site, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: Capterra 4.3/5 from 76 reviews; G2 4.4/5 from 45 reviews (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: small desks that need email-to-ticket routing and SLAs, and nothing more.
- Watch-outs: no problem, change or CMDB features are documented, and the API docs say "only ticket creation is supported" (osTicket docs 1.17.7, as of 9 Oct 2026). Enhancesoft's hosted SupportSystem costs $12, $16 or $24 per agent per month (SupportSystem pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
7. Zammad
Zammad is an open-source helpdesk under GNU AGPLv3 (Zammad GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). Its admin docs cover SLAs, a knowledge base, triggers, macros and core workflows, with channels from email and chat to WhatsApp (Zammad admin docs, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: G2 4.5/5 from 10 reviews; Capterra 4.6/5 from 7 reviews (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: IT teams that take requests from many channels.
- Watch-outs: CMDB comes only by linking tickets to i-doit, a separate open-source CMDB (Zammad docs, as of 9 Oct 2026). Hosted plans run €7, €16 or €25 per agent per month billed annually, with Starter capped at 5 agents; self-hosted support starts at €2,999 a year (Zammad pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
8. Request Tracker (RT)
Request Tracker is Best Practical's GPL v2 ticket tracker (RT GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026). It supports SLAs tied to business hours, asset tracking, knowledge articles and approvals, and Best Practical says teams have used it "for more than 20 years" (Request Tracker site, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Ratings: G2 3.8/5 from 10 reviews (as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Best for: technical teams that want to script and extend a ticketing core.
- Watch-outs: no named problem or change module, so you build those processes yourself. Cloud RT Starter is $15 per user per month billed annually, from 5 users, capped at 250 tickets a month (Cloud RT pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
Where each free ITSM tool stops
Check the four things small teams outgrow first: agent caps, problem management, change management and a CMDB.
| Tool | Agent cap on the free option | Problem | Change | CMDB / assets | SLAs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jira Service Management Free | 3 agents | Not on Free card | Premium only | Assets from Standard | Not on Free card |
| ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus free | 5 technicians, one instance | Paid add-on | Paid add-on | Not on Standard | Yes |
| GLPI | None in license | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| iTop Community | 10 agents recommended | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Znuny | None in license | Package | Package | Package | Package |
| osTicket | None in license | No | No | No | Yes |
| Zammad (self-hosted) | None in license | Not documented | Not documented | Via i-doit | Yes |
| Request Tracker | None in license | Not a named module | Not a named module | Assets | Yes |
Sources: Atlassian, ManageEngine, GLPI, Combodo, Znuny, osTicket, Zammad and Request Tracker sites, docs and GitHub repositories, as of 9 Oct 2026.
"None in license" means no license cap; your server and admin time still set a practical one.
The true cost of free ITSM software
Free ITSM software moves cost from the license line to other lines. None of these projects publishes a self-hosting cost estimate, so we do not give one.
Hosting. You pay for the server, database, storage and backups, and you keep the stack on supported versions. osTicket, for example, supports PHP 8.2 to 8.4 (osTicket GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026).
Upgrades and patching. Someone applies security releases and tests upgrades. Znuny shipped two releases on 16 Sep 2026 alone (Znuny site, as of 9 Oct 2026); on a self-hosted tool, each is your change to schedule.
Support. Forums are free; answers on your timeline are not. ManageEngine charges free-edition users $35 per technician per year for support, and Zammad's self-hosted contracts start at €2,999 a year. Combodo and Znuny GmbH publish no prices (vendor pricing pages, as of 9 Oct 2026).
The cap cliff. On a free plan, one more agent changes the bill. Past three agents, Jira Service Management Standard lists at $20 per agent per month (Atlassian pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026). ManageEngine's paid Standard starts at $1,195 a year for 10 technicians on-premises or $1,545 in the cloud (ManageEngine pricing page, as of 9 Oct 2026).
Admin time. There is no neutral benchmark for the hours a self-hosted desk takes. Count yours before you call a tool free.
When to move to a paid ITSM plan
The right next step is not always a new platform.
| Signal | What it means | Usual next step |
|---|---|---|
| You need a 4th agent on JSM Free or a 6th technician on ManageEngine free | You have hit the free cap | Paid tier of the same product (no data move) or a switch |
| Auditors ask for change approvals and CAB records | You need change management | JSM Premium, ManageEngine change add-on, or an open-source tool with change (GLPI, iTop, Znuny) |
| Incidents keep pointing at the same servers and apps | You need problem management and CIs | A tool with problem plus CMDB, or a paid tier that adds both |
| Nobody owns patching the self-hosted server | Self-hosting has become a risk | The project's hosted edition (GLPI Cloud, Zammad hosted, Cloud RT, SupportSystem) |
If row four applies, a hosted edition of the tool you already run is the smallest change.
What switching involves
Moving off free ITSM software is a migration like any other. Tickets, users and knowledge articles move. Workflows, automations, SLA definitions and running SLA timers are rebuilt on the target, so open tickets restart their clocks under the new rules.
Getting data out depends on the tool:
- osTicket: the API only creates tickets, so extraction usually works from the MySQL database itself (osTicket docs and GitHub, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- GLPI: a REST API at /apirest.php (GLPI 11 documentation, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- iTop: exports any OQL query to CSV, XML, Excel or HTML, plus JSON services (iTop documentation, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Request Tracker: the REST2 API reads tickets, history, attachments and assets (RT 6.0.3 docs, as of 9 Oct 2026).
- Jira Service Management: CSV export handles up to 10,000 work items at a time; split larger sets with JQL (Atlassian support, updated 3 Jul 2026).
Moving into an open-source tool has rules too. Zammad imports from Freshdesk, Kayako, OTRS and Zendesk, but "migrations are only possible on new instances" and run "all or nothing," and its OTRS importer expects UTC timestamps without adjusting them (Zammad docs, as of 9 Oct 2026).
| What moves | What gets rebuilt | What's at risk |
|---|---|---|
| Tickets, comments and attachments | Workflows and automation rules | Links between tickets, problems, changes and CIs |
| Users, groups and organizations | SLA definitions and business hours | Public vs internal note visibility |
| Knowledge articles | Running SLA timers | Original created and resolved timestamps |
| Assets and CIs, where both tools have them | Notification templates and portal forms | Custom fields with no match on the target |
MigrateX runs this kind of move as a controlled change: mapped, test-migrated, cut over with delta sync, then reconciled and signed off.
FAQ
Methodology
We built this list from vendor and project sources: pricing pages, product pages, docs, GitHub license files and G2, plus Capterra where G2 has fewer than 50 reviews. Every figure was checked on 9 Oct 2026; prices are list prices in each vendor's currency. We did not test the tools, and we give user counts only where a project publishes them. Disclosure: MigrateX, the publisher of this article, runs ITSM data migrations, including between platforms named here. No vendor reviewed or paid for this article.