What Zammad does

Zammad GmbH is a Berlin-based, founder-controlled software company that develops an open-source helpdesk and ticketing platform distributed under the GNU AGPLv3 and commercially offered as both a German-hosted SaaS and a self-hosted edition backed by paid support plans. The platform is engineered as a modern web application (WebApp/HTML5, WebSockets, REST frontend on a Ruby on Rails backend) with Elasticsearch-powered search (40GB scanned in under 3 seconds) and over 27 native integrations spanning channels (email, phone, chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, Facebook), identity (LDAP, SAML/OIDC/Shibboleth, OAuth), collaboration (Microsoft 365/Teams, GitHub, GitLab), monitoring (Checkmk, Nagios, Grafana, Kibana, icinga, Monit), and telephony CTI. Its 2026 releases (Zammad 7.0 and 7.1) introduced AI capabilities including AI Writing Assistant, AI Ticket Summary, and configurable AI Agents (text extraction, ticket tagging) with model-agnostic LLM selection, alongside automatic language detection across 49 supported languages.

The company serves enterprises, growing businesses, and startups across customer service, IT service desk, wholesale/retail, and non-profit/government use cases, with named customers including De'Longhi (4,700 tickets/month, 15 agents, SaaS since 2018), MOVE Mobility, Amnesty International, Nextcloud, Land Salzburg, St Edmund Hall Oxford, Burda Style, Schneider Pens, RSB Bank, and Cube. Revenue is generated through SaaS subscriptions, self-hosting support plans, and professional services (migration, configuration workshops, system review, troubleshooting, admin/agent training); pricing is not publicly disclosed on the website and is quote-based. The Zammad Foundation, established in parallel with the GmbH in October 2014, governs the open-source project; the GmbH operates from Marienstraße 18, Berlin, led by founder and Managing Director Martin Edenhofer (former OTRS founder), with a distributed team of 31 employees serving 2,000+ organizations and 50,000+ users worldwide, ISO 27001 certified, and backed by 3.2M+ downloads and 5,100+ GitHub stars.

Name

Zammad

Legal name

Zammad GmbH

Website

https://zammad.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Zammad GmbH is a Berlin-based open-source helpdesk platform company that delivers AI-enabled, multi-channel ticketing as German-hosted SaaS or self-hosted software, serving 2,000+ organizations and 50,000+ users across enterprise, government, and SMB customer service and IT service desk use cases worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Helpdesk and Customer Service Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Other Computer Related Services (541519)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Helpdesk & End-User Support Services (BPAEABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Data Security & Privacy Managed Services (DLP/Encryption) (BPAEADAL)

Keywords

• Open source helpdesk
• Customer service software
• IT service management
• AI ticketing platform
• SaaS helpdesk solution

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Zammad offers hosted SaaS plans where the company handles hosting, maintenance, updates, and security. Data is stored on servers in Germany, fully GDPR-compliant. Multiple performance packages are available with annual or monthly billing.
2. Self-Hosting Support Plans: Organizations that install Zammad in their own IT environment can purchase expert support plans for assistance whenever needed.
3. Professional Services: Consulting services including migration support, conception and configuration workshops, system reviews, troubleshooting, and admin/agent training. Offered full-day or half-day, in group or exclusive formats.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Zammad develops and sells an open-source AI-powered helpdesk and customer service platform that consolidates multi-channel support (email, phone, chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, social media, SMS) into one central ticketing system. It is offered as both a SaaS subscription hosted in Germany (GDPR-compliant, 99.85% uptime SLA, ISO 27001 certified) and a self-hosted open-source product under GNU AGPLv3, supplemented by paid professional services for migration, configuration, and training.

Product overview

Zammad is an open-source AI-powered service platform offered as both SaaS (hosted in Germany) and self-hosted deployment. The core product is the Zammad Helpdesk platform featuring multi-channel ticket management (email, phone, chat, social media, SMS). The product portfolio includes AI-powered features (Writing Assistant, Ticket Summary, AI Agents for text extraction and tagging), Knowledge Base for self-service support, REST API for integrations, and the Zammad Migrator for switching from competing systems. Deployment options include managed SaaS with 99.85% uptime SLA or self-hosted with professional support. Additional services include consulting, migration workshops, and professional training.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Zammad Helpdesk Platform (Core Product) AI-powered open-source service platform combining multi-channel ticket management, knowledge base, REST API, and AI automation for customer service, IT service desk, and internal operations; available as SaaS or self-hosted.
• Zammad SaaS Hosted version of Zammad where the company manages hosting, maintenance, updates, and security with data stored on servers in Germany, fully GDPR-compliant; offered as subscription with annual or monthly billing and a 30-day free trial.
• Zammad Self-Hosting Self-hosted installation of Zammad that organizations run in their own IT environment under the GNU AGPLv3 license, with optional paid expert support plans.
• Zammad Knowledge Base Multi-language knowledge base enabling self-service support for agents and customers, allowing information to be looked up quickly across the helpdesk.
• Zammad AI Agents Configurable AI agents that automate routine ticket work including AI Text Extractor (extracts contact names, product mentions, invoice numbers from tickets) and AI Ticket Tagger (auto-enriches tickets with relevant tags); triggered via triggers, scheduler jobs, or on-demand macros.
• Zammad AI Ticket Summary AI feature that converts long ticket threads into a structured overview so agents can jump in faster and respond with confidence.
• Zammad AI Writing Assistant AI writing tool that helps agents rewrite, polish, shorten, expand, and translate messages directly within a ticket without leaving the interface, with free choice of LLM provider.
• Zammad REST API REST API enabling external programs to link to Zammad and get real-time information on all channels and operations, with Webhooks for pushing ticket and article information to any URL in JSON.
• Zammad Migrator Migration tool that enables easy and secure transition from OTRS, Freshdesk, Zendesk, or other systems to Zammad, transferring existing data with a few clicks.
• Zammad Smart Chat Live chat module enabling support teams to solve customer queries 7x faster than conventional email, integrated with the Zammad ticket workflow.
• Zammad SLA / Escalations Service Level Agreement and escalation management module allowing specific reaction or solution times to be guaranteed for customers, configurable in the admin interface and evaluable in dashboards.
• Zammad Mobile View Mobile-optimized responsive interface allowing agents to manage tickets, respond to inquiries, and stay updated while on the go.
• Zammad Professional Services Consulting services including migration support, conception and configuration workshops, system review, troubleshooting, and admin/agent training; offered full-day or half-day, group or exclusive.

Quantifiable outcome

• Full-text search of 40GB data in under 3 seconds
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration29 records

AI capability5 records

Feature22 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Ströer SE & Co. KGaAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStröer SE & Co. KGaA sponsored the CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) feature development in Zammad. The CTI integration allows Zammad users to make calls directly from the helpdesk with caller information displayed and call logs created. Sponsorship acknowledgment appears on the CTI Integration feature page.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Zendesk: Zendesk is the leading closed-source customer service and helpdesk platform, serving SMB through enterprise with ticketing, messaging, and AI features. Zammad explicitly targets Zendesk switchers with comparison landing pages and a dedicated migrator, making it the most directly competitive peer.
• Freshworks (Freshdesk): Freshworks' Freshdesk product is a SaaS helpdesk and customer support platform with multi-channel ticketing, automations, and Freddy AI. Zammad offers an explicit Freshdesk migrator and comparison page, positioning as an open-source alternative for cost-conscious and data-sovereignty-focused buyers.
• OTRS: OTRS is the open-source ITSM and helpdesk platform previously founded by Zammad's founder Martin Edenhofer. Zammad explicitly provides an OTRS-to-Zammad migrator and comparison content, directly competing for the same open-source ITSM buyer base that OTRS built.
• Jira Service Management (Atlassian): Atlassian's Jira Service Management is an enterprise ITSM and helpdesk solution tightly integrated with the Atlassian developer ecosystem (Jira, Confluence). Zammad integrates with GitHub and GitLab and targets IT service desk use cases, placing it in direct competition for developer-centric IT teams.
• Intercom: Intercom is a customer messaging and support platform combining live chat, helpdesk ticketing, and Fin AI agents. It competes with Zammad in the same AI-augmented customer support category, particularly for SaaS and tech-forward mid-market customers seeking modern AI-driven workflows.
• Help Scout: Help Scout is a customer support platform focused on SMB and mid-market companies with shared inbox, knowledge base, and live chat features. It overlaps directly with Zammad's Growing Business/SME segment on multi-channel support and self-service.
• Zoho Desk: Zoho Desk is a SaaS helpdesk offering from the broader Zoho productivity suite, targeting SMB through mid-market with ticketing, automations, and AI assistant Zia. It competes directly with Zammad in the Growing Business segment, particularly for buyers already using Zoho applications.
• Kayako: Kayako is a customer support platform offering shared inbox, helpdesk, and live chat. Zammad explicitly targets Kayako switchers via a dedicated migrator and comparison page, indicating direct competitive overlap in the SMB and mid-market support category.
• Kustomer: Kustomer (acquired by Meta) is a CRM-centric customer service platform with omnichannel routing and AI assistance. It competes with Zammad in the customer service segment where buyers prioritize unified customer profiles and CRM-style data models alongside ticketing.

Broad incumbents

• ServiceNow: ServiceNow is the dominant enterprise ITSM and workflow platform with deep capabilities in incident, problem, and change management. It competes with Zammad in the IT service desk use case at the large-enterprise end, where ServiceNow's broader portfolio and integrations are decisive advantages.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/zammad
• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=uhzeROmA1as
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/dukex
• Xx.com/zammadhq

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Zammad