Best free ticketing systems in 2025

It’s been said that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” While this may be up for argument, we can assure you that there is such a thing as a free ticketing system. In fact, no-cost ticketing solutions have become quite popular among startups and small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) due to their ease of use, basic functionalities, and non-existent price tag. While these solutions may not suit the needs of every organization, they have carved out a niche among those with relatively straightforward support requirements.

Most free ticketing software offers capabilities like automatic prioritization and routing, self-service capabilities, and out-of-the-box analytics for a limited number of support agents. For companies operating on strict budgets, skipping extra features in exchange for no upfront costs is a worthwhile tradeoff.

Today, we’ll review the top 10 free ticketing systems and explore which organizations they’re best suited for.

What are ticketing systems?

A ticketing system is a software solution designed to manage, track, and resolve customer requests. It organizes these requests into ‘tickets,’ which are assigned unique reference numbers and can include details about the problem, the person reporting it, and the steps taken to resolve it. Ticketing solutionsplatforms allow businesses to centralize all incoming support requests across various communication channels, ensuring that every issue is logged, prioritized, and assigned to the right personnel for resolution. 

Benefits of a free ticketing system?

While ticketing systems help to significantly improve customer service efforts, free platforms can do so at no initial cost for users. This enables organizations, particularly small businesses or startups, to efficiently manage customer inquiries, track issues, and improve response times, all while minimizing operational expenses.

Some key benefits to be gained through the use of a no-cost ticketing platform include

• Low cost: No upfront financial investment required.

• Scalability: Can grow alongside your business as ticket volume increases.

• Improved resource allocation: Since finances aren’t being invested into ticketing software, they can be used elsewhere, such as in product development, advertising, or staff training.

• Easy implementation: Typically requires minimal setup time and no technical expertise.

• Increased productivity: Automates routine tasks like ticket assignment and status updates.

• Multi-channel support: Handles inquiries from different sources such as email or chat.

Features of free ticketing software

Free ticketing software is an attractive option for businesses seeking a cost-effective solution to manage customer inquiries and internal workflows. Despite not charging any initial fees, these platforms typically come with a range of diverse features designed to improve efficiency, streamline communication, and provide users with a structured way to resolve issues. 

Let’s dive into some of the core components typically offered by free ticketing systems:

• Knowledge base: Knowledge bases empower companies to create a centralized repository of articles, FAQs, and guides that help users find answers to common questions without needing to submit a support ticket. While most free ticketing platforms offer basic knowledge base features, many include tools for organizing content, enabling search capabilities, and tracking the most viewed articles as well.

• Ticket management: No-cost ticketing solutions typically offer creation and tracking capabilities, automatically converting customer emails, web form submissions, or messages into tickets. These tickets are then organized into a dashboard where support teams can monitor their status, prioritize urgent requests, and assign them to the appropriate team members. AdditionallyFurthermore, basic sorting and filtering options enable teams to categorize tickets by criteria such as urgency or issue type, ensuring that no ticket is overlooked. 

• Ticket automation: Most free ticketing systems can auto-assign tickets to specific agentspersonnel based on the type of inquiry, customer location, or priority level, thus reducing manual effort. Automation can also be set up to send status updates to both customers and agents, ensuringverifying that tickets are handled promptly and nothing falls through the cracks. 

• Ticket escalation: Ticket escalation capabilities make sure that unresolved or urgent issues are automatically prioritized and brought to the attention of higher-level support agents. When certain conditions are met—such as a ticket remaining unresolved for a specified time or a high-priority issue being detected—escalation rules trigger actions like notifying senior team members, increasing the ticket’s priority or reassigning it to specialized agents.

• Ticket distribution: In free ticketing platforms, requests are usually distributed through automated assignment rules, which route tickets based on criteria like issue type, agent availability, or priority level. Some systems use round-robin or skill-based assignment to ensure requests are evenly distributed or matched to agents with the most relevant expertise.

10 best free ticketing systems in 2025

1. Freshdesk

Freshdesk serves as the market’s premier help desk solution, offering a Free Forever plan for up to 2 agents, as well as a variety of paid planpackages to which your business can upgrade to as its needs evolve.

The helpdesk’splatform’s no-cost plan provides manya plethora of basic functionalities such as a team inbox, knowledge base, out-of-the-box reporting, and much more. Features such as Freddy AI, multilingual capacity, and round-robin and load-based assignments can also be unlocked on higher plans through higher-tier packages. Freshdesk is simply the perfect solution for organizations seeking a no-cost software that can grow alongside them as their needs evolve.

Key features

• Team inbox helps track and manage incoming support tickets from multiple channels with one inbox

• Agent collision detection ensures that multiple agents don’t wind up working on the same ticket by accident

• Service level agreement (SLA) management allows teams to set deadlines for ticket resolution based on different business hours or categories

• Ticket field suggestor automatically recommends fields to categorize, prioritize, and route incoming tickets

• Canned responses provide quick, consistent replies to common questions by creating preformatted responses

Pros

• Ability to create custom statuses that suit your workflow to identify what stage a ticket is in

• Handy thank-you detector prevents reopening of tickets when customers respond with a ‘thank you’

• Representatives can perform multiple actions on a ticket with a single click by automating repeated actions

• Resolve complex, multistage issues faster by splitting them into smaller tasks with parent-child ticketing

• Easily share ownership of tickets with other teams without losing visibility into progress being made on the issue

Why customers rave about Freshdesk

Freshdesk offers unmatched versatility both in its functionality and pricing, allowing companies to choose whichever plan best suits their current requirements. Its powerful combination of a flexible ticketing system, self-service resources, and omnichannel capacity empower customers to access assistance in their preferred method and on whichever channel is most convenient. These capabilities serve to enhance the user experience (UX) for both support agents and customers alike, ensuring that all parties involved in the support process are satisfied.

But don’t just take it from us—satisfied client Athul S. praises Freshdesk’s ease of use and automation capacity, saying, “We've been utilizing Freshdesk for quite some time, and its reliability stands out as one of its best features. The platform is user-friendly, offering a broad range of options, including powerful automation tools and API integrations, making it an all-around solution—whether for managing chats or handling tickets. With the help of automation we were able to automate multiple workflows reducing a lot of manual work in assigning the tickets to specific teams.”

2. Gorgias

Gorgias serves as a customer service softwareplatform that helps ecommerce businesses provide support for their online stores. It’s highly regarded for its integration with Shopify, allowing service teams to view, edit, or refund customer orders directly from the Gorgias ticket window.

Key features

• Rich customer profiles display information like previous conversations, orders, reviews, or subscription details for enhanced context

• Build powerful AI workflows with rules to automatically route tickets, and personalize responses with templates and custom ecommerce variables

• Fast-loading chat widget can interact with customers right from your site, automatically answering their questions with generative AI

Pros

• Automatically create a unique help center for your brand with the power of AI trained on your brand alone

• Connect an AI agent to all of your knowledge, data, and policies in just a few clicks with no complex logic or code

• Integrates with most major ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magneto, and BigCommerce

Cons

• Weak spam filter allows a lot of irrelevant messages through, making it harder to pinpoint urgent issues

• Can struggle with ticket prioritization, failing to escalate urgent or impactful requests in a timely fashion

• User interface (UI) can be stodgy and non-intuitive for both support agents and end-users alike

Price

Gorgias offers a 7-day free trial; its Starter plan begins at $10 per month, while you’ll need to reach out to the company directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package

3. Intercom

Intercom is a customer service tool platform that relies heavily on an array of AI-powered tools to provide support to end-users. It's designed to improve the customer experience (CX), increase productivity, and learn from interactions over time.

Key features

• Fin AI agent uses support knowledge, implements correct behaviors, personalizes every CX, and delivers insights on how to improve its performance

• Tracker tickets serve to share updates and resolve issues impacting many users with a single ticket

• Real-time notifications provide customers with instant updates over email and chat as their tickets progress

Pros

• Assign back-office teams a separate ticket that allows for internal, private notes without bothering the end-user

• Users can easily set ticket SLAs to more effectively track their team’s response and resolution times

• Automate actions like categorizing, prioritizing, and assigning ticket types to specific teams with a visual, no-code builder

Cons

• Limited customization capacity makes it difficult to tailor the platform to fit specific business needs

• Several user reviews mention a lackluster customer support experience

• Pricing structure isn’t ideal for startups and smaller businesses that don’t have a dedicated support team

Price

Intercom offers a free 14-day trial; its Essential plan starts out at $29 per user per month, while its Expert package runs $132 per user per month

4. HappyFox

HappyFox is a cloud-based help desk and customer support software that assists companies in managing their support processes. It’s built around a powerful ticketing system, while offering self-service resources like a knowledge base and community forums as well.

Key features

• Ticket queues can be created by adding one or more rules to filter requests based on priority and responsibility

• All incoming tickets are automatically sorted into categories like customer support, sales, marketing, and billing

• Pinned tickets act as daily to-do lists, helping to set priorities and organize time better

Pros

• Ticket statuses assist in slicing and dicing requests into more manageable chunks

• Quickly select related tickets and apply bulk actions like changing ticket status, assignees, and due dates

• Notify and looprope in support team members for a quick discussion by leaving them a private note on the ticket

Cons

• Restricted connection to social media platforms

• User reviews mention various bugs and glitches that can hinder the user experience

• Lack of alerts and notifications can result in some tickets being overlooked

Price

HappyFox offers a free demo to users; its Basic plan starts at $9 per agent per month, while you’ll need to contact the company directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise PRO package

5. Front

Front is a customer service platform that strives to help improve organizations’ support initiatives and streamline operations. It acts as a comprehensive solution that bridges the gap between the efficiency of a help desk and the convenience of email.

Key features

• Custom rules and macros help save time by getting tickets into the right hands faster and ensuring that processes are followed 

• AI answers pulls from your company-specific knowledge base or other sources to serve up resolutions on demand

• Omnichannel inbox consolidates messages from all communication channels—email, SMS, social media, live chat, and more—in a single location

Pros

• Automatically categorize tickets by topic or sentiment with AI—no manual tagging or maintenance required

• Users can easily create rules to set target ticket response times, prevent breaches, and reach their SLA goals

• Pull in data from third-party systems to solve tickets faster with support for over 100+ integrations

Cons

• Onboarding is both time- and resource-intensive with little educational material available to assist

• Bugs, glitches, and lagging can hamper the overall UX

• When multiple agents are assigned to the same ticket, some are automatically removed if it’s moved to a different inbox

Price

Front offers a 14-day free trial; its Starter plan begins at $19 per user per month, while you’ll need to contact the company directly for a custom quote on its Premier package

6. Help Scout

Help Scout is a help desk software platform that offers a plethora of powerful tools to help customer support teams deliver exceptional CXs. It’s often praised for its versatility, catering to different-size businesses across a variety of industries, and offering apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Apple Vision.

Key features

• Private notes help support agents collaborate to get on the same page before responding to end-users

• Real-time collision detection shows when someone else is viewing or replying to a request, helping avoid duplication of effort and conflicting information

• Saved replies help cut down on resolution times, empowering reps to instantly pull in the best answers to FAQs

Pros

• AI answers serves as a 24/7 self-service assistant that taps into your knowledge base to answer customer questions

• Easily target different users based on events like URL, time on page, amount of times a page is visited, and more

• No-code help center builder assists in creating a central place that looks and feels like your brand, where customers can find answers to their questions

Cons

• Restricted search functionality makes it difficult to track down past tickets and specific customer information

• Limited integration capacity creates difficulties in connecting to other support tools

• UI, particularly within the inbox and knowledge base, can be challenging to navigate and get from one feature to the next

Price

Help Scout offers users a 15-day free trial; its Standard plan starts out at $22 per user per month, while its Pro package will set you back $65 per user per month

7. Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that helps businesses provide customer service and support. It includes a vast array of powerful tools such as self-service resources, a contact center, and omnichannel messaging.

Key features

• Agentforce Service Agent uses natural language and sophisticated reasoning across self-service portals and messaging channels to provide enhanced CXs

• AI-powered search answers quickly generate responses from your trusted knowledge base and display them directly in the search page or service console

• Business rules engine automates multistep business decisions and sets consistent rules within workflows to handle advanced case routing

Pros

• Users can trigger automated flows based on changes to their unified customer data to deliver the most contextual and personalized experiences

• Deflect inbound volume and improve CXs by getting ahead of service issues—from shipping delays to service outages—with timely notifications

• Reduce average handle times with the help of real-time transcription and intelligent recommendations from Einstein

Cons

• Feature set and pricing are both geared toward enterprise-level organizations, limiting its effectiveness for SMBs

• Steep learning curve can complicate onboarding and require an extended amount of time for agents to acclimate to the platform

• Mobile version is limited in functionality and non-intuitive to use

Price

Salesforce offers a 30-day free trial for its Service cloud, while its Starter Suite plan begins at $25 per user per month and its Einstein 1 Service package runs $500 per user per month

8. HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub is a cloud-based customer service platform that helps businesses manage customer interactions and improve the overall customer experience (CX). Its help desk workspace acts as a centralized location to manage chat, email, calling, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger channels.

Key features

• Breeze Customer Agent acts an AI-powered expert that’s available 24/7 to assist end-users

• Service analytics help teams uncover key insights with out-of-the-box reports 

• Advanced SLAs and routing features ensure that tickets are always directed to the most appropriate agent and resolved within agreed-upon time frames

Pros

• Resolve issues with ease across any messaging channel like email, chat, Facebook Messenger, and more

• Customer portal is connected to your shared inbox and keeps ticket conversations going between end-users and reps

• User permissions verify your data is protected and your teams are seeing the right information at the right time

Cons

• More expensive than similar providers offering comparable features

• Knowledge base is limited in functionality and customization

• Difficult to allow two or more agents to simultaneously work on the same ticket

Price

Hubspot offers a free 14-day trial; its Service Hub Professional plan begins at $90 per user per month, while its Service Hub Enterprise package runs $150 per user per month

9. Zendesk

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer serviceCRM and customer experience platform that assists companies in improving their customer service approaches. It’s built around a powerful ticketing system that aims to help track, prioritize, and resolve customer requests.

Key features

• Zendesk bots serve to deliver instant answers 24/7 across all of your service channels so customers never have to wait

• Centralized workspace houses all customer information, while also providing agents with the tools they need to provide personalized service across all channels

• Proactive messaging helps teams get ahead of customers with outbound notifications on WhatsApp and SMS to drive customer engagement and prevent escalations

Pros

• Customers receive automatic notifications to confirm your support team received their request and that help is on the way

• Enhanced context, like order history, loyalty status, and web activity, allows agents to provide faster and more personalized service

• Route conversations by request type, channel, or conversation priority, or even by agents’ capacity, skills, or status, so that every request is assigned optimally

Cons

• Can be prohibitively expensive for some businesses, as even its lower-tier packages are quite costly

• User reviews mention that it’s difficult to get a response from customer support when assistance is required

• Limited flexibility and weak set of features can create issues with scalability if your business continues to grow over time

Price

Zendesk offers users a 14-day free trial; its Suite Team plan starts at $55 per user per month, while you’ll need to get in touch with the company directly for a custom quote on its Suite Enterprise package

10. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk serves as a cloud-based customer service software that assists organizations in managing customer interactions and improving user satisfaction. It strives to help resolve issues faster, keep track of customer service metrics, and better understand customer needs.

Key features

• Web forms serve to gather vital information to deliver enhanced service experiences

• Answer bot, Zia, shares relevant answers from your knowledge base to both agents and customers instantly

• Generative AI can create and customize responses based on ticket content

Pros

• Guided conversations help deliver conversational CXs in real-time with a robust self-service platform that helps customers find the assistance they need

• Ticket peek shows a preview of every interaction your team has had with a customer, as well as the ticket's properties and any related articles from your knowledge base

• Users can share tickets to agents in other departments, allowing them to perform actions without changing ownership or creating copies

Cons

• Non-intuitive layout makes it hard to navigate and get from one feature to the next

• Excessive notifications can create difficulties in digging through the noise to find the most critical issues

• Frequent lags and freezes weaken the UX and cause user frustration

Price

Zoho offers a 15-day free trial; its Standard plan starts at $14 per user per month, while its Enterprise package will set you back $40 per user per month

How to choose a free ticketing system for your business

Choosing the right free ticketing software for your organization can be a game-changer for both your customer support and internal operations. With a wide range of options available, it’s essential to identify the features that align with your unique needs, while also ensuring the software can scale as your business grows. 

Some key factors to keep in mind throughout the selection process include:

Identify needs and goals 

Start here by analyzing your current support processes and pinpointing areas that require improvement. Consider the volume of total inquiries that your team handles daily and how complex these requests tend to be. If you need specialized handling, such as support for multiple channels (email, chat, phone, etc.), look for software that integrates those features.

Next, evaluate the long-term goals of your business. Think about how scalable your support team is and whether the software can grow with your company as ticket volume increases. For instance, if your organization prioritizes customer satisfaction, look for tools with features that enhance the UX, such as self-service portals or efficient ticket tracking systems. 

Evaluate key features of ticketing system

When evaluating key features of no-cost ticketing solutions, it's essential to prioritize the functionalities that align with your business’s specific needs. Begin by assessing the ticket creation and management capabilities, ensuring potential systems allow easy tracking, categorization, and prioritization of requests. Key integrations with existing tools, such as CRM or help desk systems, can also enhance efficiency, so make sure the software connects well with your current tech stack.

Another important consideration is the user experience, both for your support team and your customers. You’ll need to assess how intuitive the interface is and whether the software includes self-service options, such as a knowledge base or FAQ section, that can help reduce the number of tickets created.

Establish budget

While free ticketing software may not require any upfront investment, you should consider any additional costs that might be associated with premium features, such as enhanced automation, advanced reporting, or integrations with other tools. Some no-cost systems may restrict functionality, so it’s vital that you gauge whether these limitations could require an upgrade to a paid plan in the future as your ticket volume or business needs increase.

Additionally, you’ll need to factor in the value of both you and your team’s time when considering different ticketing solutions. Some systems may require more manual intervention, while others provide automation features that could reduce workload and increase efficiency. Also, don’t forget to weigh any potential hidden costs, such as the need for additional software or tools to complement the platforms.

Assess scalability 

Assessing the scalability of free ticketing platforms is critical to ensure that the solution can grow alongside your organization. This involves checking if there are limitations on the number of tickets, agents, or users that it can support, and if it can handle increased ticket volumes. Many no-cost systems cap these resources, which can hinder your ability to scale operations as your customer base expands.

Another factor to consider is whether the software offers a smooth upgrade path to paid plans as your business outgrows the free version. Review which features are included in higher-tier packages, such as advanced reporting, enhanced automation, and integrations with other business tools, and consider whether they meet your long-term needs

Optimize your ticketing system capabilities with Freshdesk’s free ticketing solutions!

When it comes to free ticketing software, it simply doesn’t get any better than Freshdesk’s Free Forever plan.

Freshdesk’s no-cost package includes a vast array of basic functionalities such as a shared inbox, a robust knowledge base, and out-of-the-box analytics for up to 2 support agents. Ticket dispatch is also available in our free package, which automates the categorization, prioritization, and routing of requests to streamline the entire ticket management process.

Anticipating future growth? No worries! Freshdesk has you covered with three distinct tiers of paid plans that offer advanced features like Freddy AI, multilingual capabilities, workflow automation, customer portals, and much more. Whatever your current needs are, you can be confident that Freshdesk offers a package that fits your unique requirements.

If you’re ready to experience the power of Freshdesk’s free ticketing software, reach out to a Freshworks’ sales representative today!