HelpSpot vs Zammad (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Zammad grades higher than HelpSpot: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Zammad grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
HelpSpot
Help desk with one flat annual price, hosted or self-hosted
Zammad
Open-source help desk, hosted in Germany or run on your own server
Which one is for you
Pick HelpSpot if
- Fits if you want a help desk at a flat yearly price for a small team
- Works for teams that need to host the data themselves
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to pay monthly, because billing is annual only
- Tight if you have 4 agents, as tiers jump from 3 to 5 agents
- Watch out: every staff member who logs in counts as an agent
- Watch out: the listing names no ready-made integrations
Pick Zammad if
- Fits if you want a help desk you can host yourself or rent hosted
- Works for a team that wants WhatsApp and Facebook channels on the top plan
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you grow: Starter stops at 5 agents and Professional at 35
- Watch out: prices exclude VAT, and AI features cost €0.03 per call on top
- Watch out: annual billing runs a full year and needs notice at least two months before it ends
- Watch out: self-hosting makes you responsible for updates, backups and uptime, and support subscriptions for it start at €2,999 a year
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAHelpSpotFair | 2.8GPAZammadGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$899 a year for 3 agents is about $25 an agent a month, and $1,299 for 5 is about $22. Between the cheaper quarter and the middle. | BStarter is €7 per agent a month billed annually, under the $11.40 mark, but it stops at 5 agents, and chat and SLAs need Professional at €16. Prices exclude VAT. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 21-day trial with no card. No free plan. | BThe open-source software is free to run yourself and the hosted service has a 30-day Professional trial. Self-hosting means updates, backups and uptime are yours. |
| Features | BTicketing, a knowledge base, portals, reporting, surveys, AI drafting and an API. The listing shows no gap in the core help desk job. | BEmail, forms, SMS, chat, Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp, with macros, triggers, SLAs and a knowledge base across the plans. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in core ticketing. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Cloud or self-hosted setup, mailboxes and portals take configuring. | CNo store rating on record, and channels, triggers and roles need setting up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with an API and webhooks, and the listing names no ready-made integrations. | BWeb only, with 6 listed integrations including GitHub and GitLab links. No phone or desktop app on record. |
| Best for | a flat-price help desk, hosted or self-hosted | an open-source help desk you can host or rent |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: HelpSpot and Zammad. How we grade
Price against what you get
HelpSpot starts at $74.92 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zammad starts at about $7.82 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Zammad starts $67.10 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 5 score higher than HelpSpot for less, and 1 scores higher than Zammad for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Zammad is open source, according to its own site.
- HelpSpot also covers surveys, reports and help center.
- Zammad also covers shared inbox and live chat.
At a glance
| HelpSpot | Zammad | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $899 per year for 3 agents | €7 per agent / month, billed annually (€9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | The open-source software is free to download and run on your own servers; you handle updates, backups and availability. |
| Free trial | 21-day free trial, no credit card required | 30-day free trial of the hosted service on the Professional plan |
| Web | ||
| Made by | UserScape, Inc. | Zammad GmbH |
| Price read from | helpspot.com | zammad.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
HelpSpot
- Billing is annual only; there is no monthly plan.
- Price is set by agent count in tiers (3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and so on), so adding a fourth agent means moving to the 5-agent tier.
- Customers never need licenses, but every staff member who logs in counts as an agent.
- Qualified non-profits and academic institutions can get 15% off by contacting sales.
Zammad
- Prices are in euros and exclude value-added tax; hosted plans cap agents at 5 on Starter and 35 on Professional.
- Annual billing runs for a full year and needs notice at least two months before the term ends.
- AI features are optional and cost €0.03 per AI call on top of the plan price.
- Self-hosting makes you responsible for updates, backups and availability.
Key features
HelpSpot
- Single-owner ticketing
- Each request is assigned to one person at a time, which the vendor contrasts with a shared inbox where anyone may reply.
- Cloud or self-hosted
- Choose the US cloud, the EU cloud in Frankfurt, or run it on your own servers, including air-gapped networks, at the same price.
- AI drafting and summaries
- Auto-categorization, translation and writing assistance are included with no separate AI charge.
- Knowledge base and portals
- Self-service help centers with unlimited portals, plus branding and customization of the customer-facing pages.
- Reporting and surveys
- Performance reports and satisfaction surveys that measure CSAT, available on every license.
- API and webhooks
- Developer tools for connecting HelpSpot to other systems and building headless support setups.
Zammad
- Multichannel tickets
- Email, web forms and SMS on every hosted plan, chat and Telegram from Professional, and Facebook and WhatsApp on Plus.
- Automation tools
- Text modules, macros, triggers, schedulers and business hours are in the Starter plan; SLAs and custom roles start at Professional.
- Knowledge base
- A monolingual knowledge base is included from Professional and a multilingual one from Plus.
- Hosted in Germany
- Hosted instances run in an ISO 27001-certified German data center with SSL encryption and two-factor authentication.
- Optional AI features
- Professional and Plus can switch on AI features such as ticket summaries, charged at €0.03 per AI call.
- Open source, self-hostable
- The full code is public under a GPL v3 licence, so a team can run it on its own servers.
Plans
HelpSpot
3 agents$899
per year for up to 3 agents, billed annually
Annual license for 3 agents, every feature included. Cloud or self-hosted at the same price.
5 agents$1,299
per year for up to 5 agents, billed annually
Annual license for 5 agents. Unlimited tickets and mailboxes.
10 agents$2,199
per year for up to 10 agents, billed annually
Annual license for 10 agents; the pricing calculator opens on this size.
25 agents$4,999
per year for up to 25 agents, billed annually
Annual license for 25 agents. Larger tiers run to 2,000 agents.
50 agents$9,999
per year for up to 50 agents, billed annually
Annual license for 50 agents, the largest tier shown here at under $200 a year per agent.
Zammad
Starter v2€7
per agent / month, billed annually (€9 billed monthly)
Hosted. Up to 5 agents; email, web form and SMS channels, text modules, macros, triggers and 20 GB of disk space.
Professional v2€16
per agent / month, billed annually (€18 billed monthly)
Hosted. Up to 35 agents; adds chat and Telegram, SLAs, individual roles, a monolingual knowledge base and 50 GB of disk.
Plus v2€25
per agent / month, billed annually (€27 billed monthly)
Hosted. Unlimited agents; adds Facebook and WhatsApp, a multilingual knowledge base, GitHub/GitLab links and reporting.
Self-hosted€0
Download Zammad and host it yourself under its open-source licence, with no vendor support included.
Self-hosted support€2,999
per year (Business); Enterprise €5,999, Corporation €9,999
Support subscriptions for self-hosted installs, with response times of 6, 4 or 2 hours and 15, 45 or 95 service requests a year.
Ways to pay less
HelpSpot
- Nonprofit
15% off for non-profits and schools
HelpSpot says it gives 15% off to qualified non-profit organizations and academic institutions; the discount is arranged through its sales team.
Zammad
- Annual discount
Save 10% with annual billing
The hosted pricing page offers a lower per-agent price on annual billing than on monthly billing, labeled as a 10% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, HelpSpot or Zammad?
As of Nov 13, 2026, HelpSpot starts at $899 per year for 3 agents, and Zammad starts at €7 per agent / month, billed annually (€9 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, HelpSpot or Zammad?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Zammad has a free plan. HelpSpot does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.