Misplacing tickets, violating SLAs, frustrating customers, and sometimes losing them, all signs are pointing to a need for a better system. The only problem is, the budget isn’t there to shell out $100-$200 per month on software.
To help get you started, and save you some cash, here are some great free and open source help desk software solutions on the market right now.
Free/Freemium Options
1. UserVoice
UserVoice is actually third on Capterra’s rankings of top 20 customer service software providers, based on their total number of customers, users, and social presence. Their free option is for one agent, with limited functionality. However, all the features listed below still apply.
Stand-out features
- Suggests searches as the user types
- Integrates with Facebook
- Helps customer support reps know where they can improve with feedback reports
Cons
- The community forum features were described as “weak, just doesn’t feel like a forum” by one Quora commenter.
- Chat requires SnapEngage.
- One reviewer was “overwhelmed by the tons of information” on the start screen and configuration options.
Overview
UserVoice is the best option for the shop that’s getting a ton of user suggestions for product improvements and needs a solution which will help organize, rank, and process the suggestions. For example, the ability to eliminate hundreds of versions of the same suggestion spelled or worded slightly differently really only helps if you have hundreds of variations on the same suggestions.
However, it’s unlikely that a one-agent shop is getting thousands of product improvement suggestions. If they are, they probably need to hire a few more agents, and pay for the full product.
2. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is fourth on Capterra’s rankings of top 20 customer service softwareproviders. Their free option is for up to three agents, with limited functionality.
Stand-out features
- Easily prioritize certain customers based on SLA policies
- Easily turn emails and tickets into knowledgebase articles
- Use 16 different languages
- Access via mobile-friendly site
Freshdesk’s solution for temporary increased demand is solid. Add extra agents for a day to work through a backlog for $1 – $3, without changing your plan. You can even purchase these in advance and use them as needed.
One Capterra reviewer found the customer service “incredible.”
Cons
Freshdesk’s most compelling feature might be its ability to gamify customer service. The system offers points and rewards for excellent service, to help boost service desk employee engagement and morale.
Unfortunately, gamification isn’t available at the free level for Freshdesk.
In addition, one SmallBizTrends reviewer found Freshdesk to be on the slow side.
Overview
Ultimately it makes sense to only have gamification available to larger shops. Gamification relies on competition among agents to really work. However, the other features will still be helpful to one-to-three person shops. For one-person shops, choosing a free option which is still free when you grow might be a good idea.
3. Spiceworks
Flipping the usual narrative, Spiceworks’ free version is self-hosted, managed, and backed up. Usually self-hosting is a premium service that comes with support and backups for the product. Spiceworks is one-and-done, download, and you’re ready to roll.
Stand-out features
- Free regardless of the number of agents
- LDAP/Active Directory Synchronization
- Mobile Integration
- Multi-Site Support
- Fast and easy Windows installation
- Also offers server monitoring services
Cons
- On larger networks, performance can be slow
- Can be difficult to install on Linux, Unix, or VMWare
Overview
The main feature of Spiceworks’ free version is that it’s self-hosted. If you don’t need or want that because you prefer the management and backups to be handled elsewhere then you should probably choose another option.
Other Free/Freemium Tools
Open Source Options
While free versions of help desk software are usually limited in users and functionality, open source software is fully functional for all users. It’s also extremely customizable. However, installation and configuration of the software is on your team. To balance everyone’s needs, most open source help desk software companies also offer a preconfigured version and/or installation and support for a price.
1. osTicket
With osTicket you can associate your SLAs with help topics, departments, or ticket filters and set up overdue alerts and notifications when you miss due dates. The customer portal contains all help requests and answers for access later.
Stand-out features
- Add your logo, images and videos to tickets
- Space in ticket for notes of all actions
- Unlimited SLA agreements
Cons
- Community support is strong, but sometimes larger issues take longer to resolve
Overview
osTicket has most of the features of a full-fledged help desk software tool, including a ticket filter tool to route incoming tickets from email, web forms, and phone calls to the right agents. Its auto-responder helps you set up workflows by ticket type. Automatic canned responses are possible, and the system offers dashboard reports.
2. OTRS Free
OTRS Free offers emails notifications when tickets are created and changed. Tickets can be sorted by status, such as new, open, watched, escalated, pending, in-process, or by priority, escalation time, SLA, service, or type. The system reports on number of tickets and processing time.
Stand-out features
- Available in 34 languages
- Ticket lock prevents two agents from working on a ticket at the same time
- Out-of-Office feature and visualization of agents that are away
- Search auto-suggest
Cons
- Admin manual is 300+ pages long
Overview
The biggest benefit is the ability to automate more and more requests, which reduces errors and optimizes the efficiency of your agents. OTRS Free calls this their process management module. Once you standardize processes like ordering or billing, decision dialogues guide the service agent and the customer through the process. Free configurable workflows make many tickets mostly automatic.
3. Mantis Bug Tracker
Most commonly used to track software defects, Mantis Bug Tracker is also a good open source help desk software. It’s fairly configurable, offering the ability for agents to decide which email notifications they want, for example by setting filters to define the minimum severity of issues to receive notifications about. Various levels of access can be given to different users, and changes to tickets are recorded in audit trails.
Stand-out features
- Set user access by project and role
- Track issues which have been resolved via RSS feeds
- Revision control of text fields and notes
- Graph relationships between issues
Cons
- Configuration is “quite daunting” for non-developers, requiring manual editing of php files
Overview
The best part of Mantis Bug Tracker is the plug-in system. Over 50 plug-ins on theMantisBT-plugins organization on GitHub make it possible to do things like tweet a notification when an issue is resolved or send SMS messages or update statuses in external project management systems. TechRepublic also calls it “simple to use and simple to install.”
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