osTicket vs Spiceworks Help Desk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Spiceworks Help Desk grades higher than osTicket: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Spiceworks Help Desk grades higher on value for money, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
osTicket
Open-source support ticketing, self-hosted or as a cloud edition
Spiceworks Help Desk
Free cloud ticketing for IT teams, with a low-cost ad-free tier
Which one is for you
Pick osTicket if
- Fits if you have a server and someone to run it and want no per-agent fee
- Works for an internal team that is happy with email, forms and an API
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't want to host, patch and back up your own server
- Not for you if you want chat or social channels, as the site lists email, forms and API
- Tight if you want vendor support, since the free edition has community support only
- Watch out: the cloud edition runs on a separate product, SupportSystem, and its $12 price shows no billing period
- Watch out: the virtual appliance has no published price
Pick Spiceworks Help Desk if
- Fits if you run IT for an organization and want a ticket desk without a bill
- Works for an IT team of up to 5 techs
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need to serve outside customers by chat or social
- Tight if you have more than 5 techs, since Core stops there and Premium is $6 a seat
- Not for you if ads in the tool bother you, as ad-free is Premium
- Watch out: you need a Spiceworks account to sign up, and tasklists, bulk actions and custom statuses are Premium
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAosTicketFair | 2.8GPASpiceworks Help DeskGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BThe cloud edition is $12 per agent a month, inside the cheapest quarter ($19), but the page gives no billing period. The free edition needs your own server. | ACore is free, and Premium is $6 per seat a month billed annually, under the $11.40 mark (60% of the cheapest quarter in this category). |
| Free plan and trial | BThe full software is free to download and a 30-day cloud trial needs no card, though the free edition has community support only. | BCore gives 1 to 5 tech and admin seats with ticketing, reporting and a portal, which a small IT team could live on. It is supported by ads. |
| Features | CEmail, web-form and API tickets routed to departments and agents. The listing's gap: chat and social channels aren't listed. | CIT tickets by portal or email, assignment, alerts and reporting. The listing's gaps: no live chat or social channels, and tasklists, bulk actions and custom statuses are Premium. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record, and the free edition means a server, an installation, upgrades and backups of your own. | CNo store rating on record, and you'd set up the portal, categories and alerts yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, and the listing names no integrations or apps. | BWeb plus iPhone and Android apps, with 4 listed integrations. No desktop app on record. |
| Best for | a free ticket system you host yourself | a free ticket desk for an IT team |
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: osTicket and Spiceworks Help Desk. How we grade
Price against what you get
osTicket starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Spiceworks Help Desk starts at $6 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
Spiceworks Help Desk scores higher and starts $6 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 8 score higher than osTicket for less, and none scores higher than Spiceworks Help Desk 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
- osTicket is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- osTicket also covers shared inbox.
- Spiceworks Help Desk also covers reports and help center.
At a glance
| osTicket | Spiceworks Help Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $12 per agent / month, for the cloud-hosted edition (billing basis not stated) | $6 per seat / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Open Source edition: free to download and host yourself, with community support. | Core plan: 1 to 5 tech and admin seats, ticketing, incident tracking, alerts, reporting, unlimited end users and an end-user portal. Supported by ads. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of the cloud-hosted edition | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Enhancesoft | Spiceworks Inc. |
| Price read from | osticket.com | spiceworks.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
osTicket
- The free edition is self-hosted: you provide the server, installation, upgrades and backups, and support is community-only.
- The cloud-hosted edition runs on a separate product, SupportSystem, and its $12 per agent price is shown without a billing period.
- The site lists email, web forms and API as channels; chat and social channels are not listed.
- The virtual appliance has no published price.
Spiceworks Help Desk
- Core is limited to 5 tech and admin seats and is ad-supported; going ad-free or adding seats means Premium.
- Tasklists, bulk actions and custom ticket statuses are Premium only.
- Built for IT requests inside an organization; it has no live chat or social channels for outside customers.
- A Spiceworks account is needed to sign up.
Key features
osTicket
- Tickets from email, web forms and API
- Requests arrive by email, a customer support portal or an API and are turned into tickets.
- Ticket filters
- Rules route incoming tickets to a department or agent, and can reject a ticket or send an automatic canned response.
- Help topics and custom forms
- Web tickets are routed by help topic, and each topic can carry its own form. Custom fields and lists add more data to a ticket.
- Custom queues and columns
- Agents build their own ticket views by criteria and choose which columns show.
- Service level agreements
- Business hours and SLA plans are set up in the admin settings.
- Dashboard reports
- A dashboard shows help desk statistics. Agent collision avoidance is among the listed features.
Spiceworks Help Desk
- End-user portal and email intake
- Staff can submit tickets through a customizable web portal or by email to the help desk address, with unlimited end users on both plans.
- Ticket rules and routing
- Rules assign tickets, set categories, due dates and priorities when a condition is met, and tickets can be sorted into custom queues and views.
- Reporting and Power BI connector
- Filterable reports cover open or pending tickets over a chosen period, and a Power BI Desktop connector pulls the data into a report template.
- Knowledge base
- Teams can write articles private to themselves or adapt shared how-tos to their own environment.
- Mobile app
- A native app for iOS and Android lets technicians manage tickets away from a desk.
- Links to other Spiceworks tools
- It connects to Spiceworks' Inventory Online, Connectivity Dashboard, IP Scanner and vendor contracts tools.
Plans
osTicket
Open Source$0
The full software, which you host yourself. Community support only; the vendor says it has no feature tiers.
Cloud-hosted$12
per agent / month, billing basis not stated
Hosted by the vendor on its SupportSystem platform, with email and phone support, managed upgrades, daily backups and a free walk-through session.
Virtual ApplianceCustom
Customized to fit a business's needs, with the cloud edition's support and maintenance. Contact the vendor for pricing.
Spiceworks Help Desk
Core$0
1 to 5 tech and admin seats with ticketing, incident tracking, alerts, reporting, an end-user portal, custom attributes and multi-factor authentication.
Premium$6
per seat / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)
Unlimited tech and admin seats, with no ads, tasklists, bulk actions and custom ticket statuses on top of Core.
Ways to pay less
osTicket
No public discounts listed.
Spiceworks Help Desk
- Annual discount
Save 14.29% with annual billing
Premium is $6 per seat a month billed annually, against $7 billed monthly, a saving the page puts at 14.29%.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, osTicket or Spiceworks Help Desk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Spiceworks Help Desk is cheaper to start with: $6 a month for each person, against $12 a month for each person for osTicket. osTicket starts at $12 per agent / month, for the cloud-hosted edition (billing basis not stated), and Spiceworks Help Desk starts at $6 per seat / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, osTicket or Spiceworks Help Desk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both osTicket and Spiceworks Help Desk have a free plan.
Which platforms do osTicket and Spiceworks Help Desk run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Spiceworks Help Desk lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.