What is the best free helpdesk ticketing system?

A helpdesk ticketing system is an essential tool for any business that provides customer support. It allows you to track, prioritize, and manage customer support requests in an organized way. With the right helpdesk software, your team can provide quick, effective customer service.

There are many helpdesk solutions on the market, including paid options with robust feature sets. However, free helpdesk tools can still be quite capable for businesses on a tight budget. They provide basic ticketing functions without the ongoing cost.

So what is the best free helpdesk ticketing system? In this comprehensive guide, we will compare the top free options and look at their key features, pros and cons. We will examine:

• Ease of use
• Ticket management
• Customer support
• Reporting
• Integrations
• Scalability

By the end, you’ll have the information you need to select the right free helpdesk for your business.

What to Look for in a Free Helpdesk

When evaluating free helpdesk tools, there are a few key capabilities to look for:

Ticket tracking – The system should allow you to easily create, assign, prioritize and track tickets from initial customer request through to resolution.

Ticket categories – You should be able to categorize tickets based on issue type like bug report, feature request, billing question, etc.

Service level agreements – SLAs help you define target response times for different ticket priorities.

Knowledge base – A searchable knowledge base or community forums allow customers to find answers to common questions.

Customer support – Many free tools offer email, live chat or phone customer support.

User roles and permissions – You need to control what users and teams can see and do within the system.

Reporting and analytics – Dashboards and reports provide insight into ticket volume, response times, agent workload and more.

Mobile access – Technicians on the go should be able to manage their tickets via iOS and Android apps.

Email Integration – The ability to create tickets automatically from incoming emails makes intake easier.

API access – APIs allow integrating other tools with the helpdesk for automation.

For very small teams, a free solution with just the core features may suffice. For larger teams, you may need a more scalable system with advanced reporting, customization and integration capabilities.

Next let’s look at some of the top free helpdesk ticketing tools…

Top Free Helpdesk Ticketing Systems

Here are 5 of the best free helpdesk ticketing systems:

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is one of the most fully-featured free helpdesk tools. Some key features include:

• Unlimited agents, tickets, and end users
• Ticket assignment, priorities, and SLA policies
• Time tracking
• Knowledge base and community forum
• Shared inbox
• Basic reporting
• Email support
• iOS and Android apps
• API access

The free plan has some limitations like lack of custom agent roles, no IP whitelisting, and limited product integrations. But overall it provides very robust core helpdesk capabilities.

Zendesk

Zendesk offers three pricing plans: Essential, Team, and Professional. The Essential plan is free for up to three agents and offers:

• Unlimited tickets
• Ticket views, forms, and simple automations
• SLAs
• Shared inbox
• Basic reporting
• Knowledge base
• Community forum
• Web widget
• Email and chat support

While the free plan is limited to only three agents, it provides a taste of Zendesk’s polished, user-friendly interface for ticketing and customer support.

Jitbit

Jitbit offers a very generous free plan with no limits on users, tickets, or features. Standout features include:

• Unlimited everything
• Time tracking and expenses
• Calendars
• Invoice generation
• Task automation
• API access
• Android app

Jitbit has all the expected helpdesk capabilities plus some extras like billing, projects, and tasks. The free version is ad-supported. For ad-free usage and some additional features, paid plans start at $15/month.

HubSpot

HubSpot CRM has a free basic helpdesk with features like:

• Email tickets
• Ticket assignment
• Ticket notes
• Contact profiles
• Email automation
• Reporting
• iOS and Android apps

As HubSpot is geared toward marketing and sales, its helpdesk is a bit lighter than other dedicated options. But it can still handle basic ticket tracking for smaller teams. And you get access to HubSpot’s broader CRM and marketing automation tools.

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk’s free plan allows:

• 3 agents
• 5 departments
• Unlimited tickets, web forms, endpoints
• Basic customization
• Knowledge base
• Community portal
• Mobile apps
• Email support

Zoho Desk has a clean, easily customizable interface. The free version covers helpdesk basics for up to three agents. Paid upgrades remove agent limits and add features like automation workflows and skills-based assignment.

Conclusion

When choosing a free helpdesk ticketing platform, think about your team’s size, complexity of support process, and need for customizations.

For very small teams, Freshdesk and Zoho Desk offer two great free options with decent functionality. Jitbit is also extremely generous, with unlimited everything.

For larger teams, Zendesk’s free plan gives you a three agent taste of their polished platform. And HubSpot’s helpdesk integrates with their CRM and marketing tools.

Consider if you may eventually need capabilities like custom agent roles, advanced analytics, or workflow automations. In that case, choosing a tool like Freshdesk or Zendesk that has clear paid upgrade paths may be the wise option.

The best free helpdesk ticketing system depends on your priorities. This guide provided an overview of features, limitations, and use cases to help you select the right platform for your business. A free tool can meet the needs of smaller teams on a budget, while still providing essential ticketing functionality.