OsTicket
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersAlexandria, United States
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What OsTicket does
OsTicket is an open-source customer support ticketing system developed and maintained by Enhancesoft, LLC, a bootstrapped company founded by Peter Rotich in 2003 and headquartered in Alexandria, Louisiana. The platform is distributed under the GNU General Public License and is used by 15,000+ businesses across 190+ countries, spanning verticals including education, healthcare, government, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics, and finance. Core functionality routes inquiries from email, web forms, and APIs into a unified ticketing queue with SLA management, customizable help topics, ticket filters, a customer self-service portal, and a knowledge base. The platform's 2.0 release (2026) represents a ground-up rebuild on Laravel and React with an API-first Framed Projection Architecture designed to separate backend platform capabilities from frontend interfaces and enable future integrations and AI-driven tools. The 2.0 stack supports both MySQL and PostgreSQL for new installations and introduces a Migration Orchestrator that preserves data continuity for upgrades from any historical version.
The business model is freemium at the software level: the core product generates no direct license revenue and is distributed through direct download, cPanel auto-installers, and community channels. Paid revenue streams include SupportSystem, a separately-branded cloud-hosted SaaS deployment offered with a 30-day free trial; a pre-configured Virtual Appliance for on-premise and private cloud deployment; Commercial Support packages priced at $12,500/year (Premium Business) and $25,000/year (Enterprise On-Call) with guaranteed response times; and Professional Services for implementation, migration, integration, and training. The company maintains a small distributed team of approximately 10-11 employees across Alexandria, Louisiana (USA) and Eldoret (Kenya), operates without external venture funding, and reaches customers through content marketing, community forums, documentation, email mailing lists, YouTube tutorials, and social media rather than paid acquisition channels.
OsTicket firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OsTicket
- Legal name
- Enhancesoft, LLC
- Website
- https://osticket.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where OsTicket is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Alexandria
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
OsTicket business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Open Source Software (Free): osTicket core software is completely free and open source under GPL license. This serves as the primary acquisition channel, with millions of users downloading and deploying the software worldwide. Revenue is not generated directly from software sales but through complementary paid services.
- Commercial Support Packages: Paid technical support packages for organizations requiring dedicated assistance. Premium Business Support at $12,500/year includes unlimited phone/email support, release notifications, and 12-hour guaranteed response. Enterprise On-Call Support at $25,000/year adds 24/7 on-call developer support, hosting infrastructure support, and 6-hour guaranteed response.
- Hosting Services (SupportSystem): Cloud-hosted osTicket solution offered through SupportSystem (supportsystem.com). Provides an alternative for organizations preferring managed hosting over self-deployment. 30-day free trial available. Revenue generated through monthly/annual subscription fees.
- Virtual Appliance: Pre-configured virtual appliance for on-premise or private cloud deployment. Eliminates installation, configuration and maintenance costs of complex software stacks. Revenue model unclear but likely included as part of paid services or professional implementation.
- Professional Services: Implementation support, migration and integration services, training and walkthrough, onboarding, and configuration services. Helps organizations deploy, configure, and optimize osTicket implementations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Open Source Core |
| Freemium | Others | Cloud-Hosted Trial |
| Subscription | Annual | Premium Business Support ($12,500/year) |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise On-Call Support ($25,000/year) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
OsTicket product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OsTicket is an open-source (GPL-licensed) support ticketing system that consolidates customer inquiries from email, web forms, phone, and API into a unified, multi-user web-based help desk queue with SLA management, ticket filters, configurable help topics, dashboards, and a customer self-service portal. The company monetizes this free core through complementary offerings: the SupportSystem cloud-hosted platform (supportsystem.com), a pre-configured Virtual Appliance for on-premise or private cloud deployment, paid Professional Services for implementation/migration/training, and Commercial Support subscription tiers (Premium Business $12,500/year and Enterprise On-Call $25,000/year) directly backed by the development team.
Product overview
OsTicket is a widely-used open-source support ticketing system developed and maintained by Enhancesoft, LLC. The product portfolio consists of the free osTicket Core software (distributed under GNU GPL) as the primary offering, complemented by a cloud-hosted sub-brand called SupportSystem, a Virtual Appliance for simplified deployment, and various paid professional and commercial support service tiers. Organizations can choose between self-hosted deployment (using the core software or pre-configured Virtual Appliance) or cloud-hosted deployment via SupportSystem. Paid services include Professional Support for implementation/training and Commercial Support with Premium Business ($12,500/year) and Enterprise On-Call ($25,000/year) tiers providing prioritized assistance directly from the development team.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- SupportSystem: Cloud-hosted help desk platform offered as an alternative to self-hosted osTicket installations.
Products and services
- osTicket Core Open-source (GPL-licensed) support ticketing system that seamlessly integrates inquiries created via email, phone, and web-based forms into a multi-user web interface for ticket management, SLA enforcement, and a customer self-service portal. The core platform is free to download, install, modify, and share under the GNU General Public License.
- osTicket Virtual Appliance Pre-configured virtual appliance providing the complete osTicket software stack with database clustering, load balancing, and cross-platform support, deployable on VMware, Hyper-V, Virtuozzo, or Amazon EC2 for organizations that want on-premise or private cloud deployment without manual installation overhead.
- SupportSystem Cloud-hosted help desk sub-brand (supportsystem.com) offering a fully-managed SaaS deployment of osTicket for organizations preferring managed hosting over self-installation. Includes a 30-day free trial with no credit card required and managed infrastructure for the osTicket platform.
- Hosting Services Paid cloud-hosted osTicket service plans (including the SupportSystem platform) offering affordable managed hosting for organizations that need osTicket without running their own infrastructure.
- Commercial Support Subscription-based paid support service from the osTicket development team, available in two tiers: Premium Business Support at $12,500/year (unlimited phone/email support, 12-hour guaranteed response, release and security bulletin notifications) and Enterprise On-Call Support at $25,000/year (24/7 on-call developer support, hosting infrastructure support, 6-hour guaranteed response).
- Professional Support Services Paid professional services including implementation support, migration assistance, integration services, training and walkthrough, and onboarding/configuration services to help organizations deploy, configure, and optimize osTicket implementations.
Quantifiable outcome
- Thousands of customers in over 190 countries trust and use osTicket for customer support
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use OsTicket
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments14 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
OsTicket technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature9 records
OsTicket partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
OsTicket competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Intercom: AI-first customer service platform combining messenger, helpdesk, and AI agents. Represents the next-generation approach that could erode demand for traditional ticket-queue systems like osTicket.
Broad incumbents
- HubSpot Service Hub: Customer service and ticketing product within HubSpot's CRM platform. Competes for businesses consolidating support with CRM, particularly in SMB and mid-market.
- Jira Service Management (Atlassian): IT service management and helpdesk product from Atlassian, integrated with the broader Atlassian ecosystem. Competes for IT helpdesk use cases that osTicket also serves, especially in enterprise.
- ServiceNow: Enterprise IT service management and workflow platform. Competes for large-organization IT helpdesk deployments where osTicket's Enterprise On-Call Support ($25K/year) also plays.
Direct peers
- Zendesk: Leading SaaS helpdesk and customer service platform. Directly competes with osTicket in ticketing, knowledge base, and SLA management, but with a fully paid SaaS model versus osTicket's open-source core.
- Zoho Desk: Cloud-based helpdesk from Zoho suite with ticketing, automations, and multi-channel support. Direct comparable in SMB and mid-market customer support functionality.
- Help Scout: Customer support platform emphasizing shared inbox, knowledge base, and customer-centric design. Targets a similar SMB/mid-market customer profile with a focus on email-driven support.
- Freshdesk (Freshworks): Multi-channel customer support software from Freshworks with ticketing, automations, and AI capabilities. Competes head-to-head with osTicket in the SMB and mid-market helpdesk category.
- Spiceworks Help Desk: Free, ad-supported IT helpdesk software targeted at SMBs and IT professionals. Closest free-tier helpdesk comparable to osTicket, particularly for IT support use cases.
- GLPI: Open-source IT asset management and helpdesk software. Most direct open-source competitor to osTicket, sharing the free-core / paid-services monetization model and similar PHP/MySQL technology stack.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
OsTicket social profiles
Digital presenceOsTicket financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OsTicket leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
OsTicket funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OsTicket M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OsTicket
What does OsTicket do?
OsTicket is an open-source (GPL-licensed) support ticketing system that consolidates customer inquiries from email, web forms, phone, and API into a unified, multi-user web-based help desk queue with SLA management, ticket filters, configurable help topics, dashboards, and a customer self-service portal. The company monetizes this free core through complementary offerings: the SupportSystem cloud-hosted platform (supportsystem.com), a pre-configured Virtual Appliance for on-premise or private cloud deployment, paid Professional Services for implementation/migration/training, and Commercial Support subscription tiers (Premium Business $12,500/year and Enterprise On-Call $25,000/year) directly backed by the development team.
Is OsTicket a public or private company?
OsTicket is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was OsTicket founded?
OsTicket was founded in 2003.
Where is OsTicket based?
OsTicket is headquartered in Alexandria, United States, in the North America region.
How does OsTicket make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Open Source Software (Free) is the primary driver. The others are commercial Support Packages, hosting Services (SupportSystem), virtual Appliance and professional Services.
Who are OsTicket's main competitors?
Intercom is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are HubSpot Service Hub, Jira Service Management (Atlassian) and ServiceNow. Direct peers are Zendesk, Zoho Desk, Help Scout, Freshdesk (Freshworks), Spiceworks Help Desk and GLPI.
Does OsTicket have an API?
Yes. OsTicket provides a REST/HTTP API that supports ticket creation and task execution (cron jobs). The API uses API keys configured in the admin panel tied to source IP addresses. Authentication is done via X-API-Key HTTP header. Currently supports creation of tickets only via XML or JSON formats (POST /api/tickets.xml, /api/tickets.json, /api/tickets.email), plus task execution via POST /api/tasks/cron. Custom forms and fields can accept data via the API. For osTicket 2.0, the platform is API-first with core system capabilities exposed through APIs enabling integrations, automation workflows, and external systems to interact with the platform. Developer documentation is at docs.osticket.com/en/latest/Developer%20Documentation/API%20Docs.html.