Helpdesk reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 184 Reddit reviews across 7 subreddits and 16 posts to rank the best Helpdesk brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/sysadmin, r/ITManagers, r/CustomerSuccess, r/it, r/Entrepreneur. Top-rated brands include Spiceworks (3.9/5), osTicket (3.8/5), Freshdesk (3.9/5).
Stats
Reviews184
Subreddits7
Posts16
Brands66
Products10
184 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Spiceworks
3.9
(18)
"I'm seriously wondering why no other product is using Ticket Commands like spiceworks does. Love that!"
"Spiceworks hands down. Free but not open source. We've used it at the bank I work at for 8+ years. Very good product overall."
"Spiceworks... love it 10k tickets / inventory / simple"
"Back in the day, we used Spiceworks. That was around 10 years ago. Now, I think they're cloud only, but the URL claims it's still free."
"We use SpiceWorks. The free version is decent, but it’s best feature is its price."
"Spiceworks is free and comes with inventory management toooo."
"I used Spiceworks for years until we decided to start paying for Freshservice to align with our parent company. Never had a problem with Spiceworks."
"I use Spiceworks and love it.... minus the occasional ad they send to me In my work queue. Quick and easy setup."
"I like spiceworks. Not open source, but has a slick mobile interface, as well as email, I like the community as well."
"Also using Spiceworks here, which is great for smaller teams (I'd say under 10, or under a few hundred tickets a week)"
#2
osTicket
3.8
(14)
"Personally I loved osTicket. It's a free open source ticketing system, has paid support options, and is very versatile."
"OsTicket, I highly recommend. mysql, php, open source, free. Easy to set up."
"We have been using OSTicket. I work for a school Corp so we just host it on a proxmox VM."
"I set up a VM in AWS and run osticket. 5 years later, still going strong. Love the knowledge base feature where we can document stuff for users."
"I used osTicket for a while but that was some years ago for a former job. Was good enough for us as far as I remember."
"Recommend OSTicket too. It can be setup with your email system so it scans a mailbox and converts to tickets."
"I use osticket as well. Currently my assistant and I are the only ones using it."
"OsTicket here."
"Might give http://osticket.com/ a try."
"I use osticket. My only complaint is lack of mobile app."
#3
Freshdesk
3.9
(13)
"Freshdesk works well in a small-scale environment"
"I quite like Freshdesk on the small scale"
"+1 on Freshdesk."
"Freshdesk is solid."
"We also use Freshdesk at our company, pretty easy to use and Setup."
"Have you tried Freshdesk yet? It's cloud based and inexpensive, and so far it's worked really well for us."
"I use Freshdesk at work too. The free version is powerful enough for our team."
"Freshdesk is amazing and has a fantastic mobile option, but only for the technician side."
"I third FreshDesk. Super easy to use."
"+1 Freshdesk Fast and simple."
#4
OTRS
4.0
(9)
"OTRS in another popular option, more modern than RT :-)"
"We actually switched to managed OTRS and they helped us set it up (connected via a site to site VPN)."
"Second OTRS, used it many moons ago and found it quite capable."
"OTRS (Community Edition) is a free open source ticketing system with a few nice modules."
"I've implemented OTRS in the past as well. It's really quite great once it is set up and configured to what you need I find."
"My university helpdesk uses OTRS with an Oracle database."
"OTRS is open-source software written in Perl and able to handle all kinds of tickets plus a well-designed escalation scheme."
"We also just implemented OTRS recently, but it takes a good bit of up front admin work to get the most out of it."
"I'm implementing OTRS right now. So far, I love it."
#5
Request Tracker
4.0
(9)
"RT is just awesome. Upvote upvote upvote."
"RT is excellent. It's really good."
"We did some pretty cool stuff with RT for an elevator repair company to track requests. It's great."
"A second for request tracker—its been very reliable. it’s about 20 old now, so it has a mature base, and a real company backing it if you want support."
"We use RT (Request Tracker) from Best Practical. With about ~1500 users. No problem so far."
"Request Tracker was awesome."
"I also use RT, and it definitely does the job as far as I'm concerned."
"Request Tracker recommends MySQL, but can also use PostgreSQL. It's what we use here and it works well."
"If you just need ticketing then RT is decent. Not a lot of frills, but it works and it’s free"
#6
Jira Service Desk
3.8
(9)
"I can't recommend Jira Service Desk enough, especially since you already use Jira. We've been using the on-premise server version for about 3 years; it's snappy and very customizable to our needs."
"At this point just get JIRA or ZenDesk. Basic plans are like $5 or $10 per user/month."
"They opened up the cloud version to free."
"75ish users, 5 of us in the department with 2 that take most of the general issue tickets and assign the others. Has worked very well for us"
"We moved from spiceworks to Jira service desk. $10 for 3 users."
"It's near enough. The licensing for Jira is dirt cheap."
"Another vote for JSD, especially if you already have Jira. JSD is basically Jira with some extra stuff sprinkled on top that is specific for a service desk use case."
"I'm pretty big on JIRA, but that shit's expensive."
"Compared to any other enterprise ticketing system Jira Service Desk is an afterthought for them and a pain in the ass."
#7
Freshservice
4.3
(7)
"Freshservice. Same answer as the other 375 threads a week on this topic."
"Freshservice"
"We use Freshservice for our in-house IT support teams and it's been pretty solid. It's not as customizable as something like ServiceNow, but that's part of the draw."
"We compared to FreshService, ManageEngine ServiceDesk, Zoho, and one other one I can't remember. $20/agent was cheaper by a mile."
"Personally I'm a big fan of Freshservice. We we're using Spiceworks and out-grew it, needing something that was ITIL aligned."
"Take a look at Freshservice, we've been on it for about 6 months."
"Freshservice is an easy to use, easy to implement, feature loaded ITSM solution."
#8
ServiceNow
4.0
(5)
"ServiceNow has all of these features and more. It's SaaS and performance is excellent. There's user-selectable themes, including a range of dark modes and even full customization, and it works on mobile."
"Go with service now and get a good implementation and it can do almost everything you want. It is pricey though."
"ServiceNow is a heavy & complex tool. Implementation is a headache & its not user friendly. But is heavily feature loaded."
"We use it for incidents, problems, enhancements, requests, change, projects, knowledge and coming soon: asset mgmt."
"ServiceNow is leader but they kill you on price. So expensive."
#9
GLPI
3.0
(6)
"Definetly worth checking if it works with phones OS cuz GLPI is really good"
"I used glipi since 2012 and always worked for me too"
"No love for GLPI? It does pretty good inventory tracking on top of helpdesk tracking. It's open source, free, easy to install and use."
"GLPI"
"GLPI"
"Not GLPI. Its security is terrible."
#10
Zoho Desk
4.3
(4)
"I love Zoho - so many great tools, and a great price - brilliant for a small business."
"Try Zoho Desk, Freshdesk, Desk365 or Document360. These platforms are more affordable than Confluence"
"Try Zohodesk or freshdesk"
"Zoho is good for small businesses"
#11
Zammad
4.0
(4)
"Go for Zammad, i have used it at my precedant work and it is just amazing !"
"I can recommend Zammad (open source, new Project from the Founder of OTRS)"
"Zammad is OpenSource and can be hosted on premise- you don‘t have to get a service contract if you don‘t want to"
"I installed free Zammand and have been using it or a few weeks. I'm still trying to figure out how to do email reminders."
#12
ManageEngine
4.0
(4)
"I would throw in the ManageEngine servicedesk, I have been running it for the past few months. I also purchased and integrated the desktop central product with it. They both run on-prem and the performance and features are great."
"Look into manageEngine, they have some great tools."
"Manage Engine Service Desk is free for a single user, but it does require either MySQL or MS SQL."
"Manage Engine is another one."
#13
CompTIA
4.0
(4)
"I’d tell him to get A+, N+, S+ because they are vendor neutral."
"I’d tell him to get A+, N+, S+ because they are vendor neutral."
"I’d tell him to get A+, N+, S+ because they are vendor neutral."
"Start with A+ to learn the fundamentals."
#14
Jitbit Helpdesk
4.3
(3)
"We switched to JitBit in May of this year from BMC Footprints. We use the on-prem version and it's super fast. Has keyboard shortcuts, and is actively developed all of the time."
"We use Jitbit Helpdesk for many different departments. Really good apps on Android and iOS."
"Take a look at JitBit."
#15
BoldDesk
4.3
(3)
"BoldDesk would be the best IT Support Request management software for your needs. It offers a range of features that align well with what you’re looking for."
"You must check out BoldDesk; it’s secure, affordable, and supports seamless Confluence imports."
"BoldDesk is a perfect fit for your growing business. It's user-friendly, integrates seamlessly with Gmail."
#16
InvGate
4.3
(3)
"Highly recommend you check out InvGate. Unlike fresh, halo and sysaid, we’re built to just work."
"Give InvGate a try, it seems it checks all your boxes and is a great tool."
"We’ve got a simple helpdesk software called Service Management that checks these boxes."
#17
Redmine
4.0
(3)
"I know Redmine, it's open source and has many available plugins available, pretty big community behind the project."
"Redmine has LDAP integration and all that fun stuff, too."
"We're using Redmine. Our devs use it for bug tracking, and we created an IT project to track our issues."
#18
Autotask
4.0
(3)
"I personally use Autotask because of its extensive features and ability to handle a robust environment like ours."
"I've been using Autotask, and it has been a great asset for the team."
"Currently vetting Autotask for new ticketing / PSA system."
#19
IT Glue
4.0
(3)
"I second this, ITglue the best"
"Yes, ITglue is solid."
"IT glue is decent."
#20
Samanage
3.7
(3)
"+1 here as well on Samanage. It's pretty solid!"
"+1 samange is great"
"I like Samanage but it isn't on-prem or a one-time purchase"
#21
Zendesk
5.0
(2)
"+1 Zendesk"
"Zendesk is great."
#22
Lansweeper
5.0
(2)
"Pay the $500 for Lansweeper and call it a day."
"Another vote here for Lansweeper. Have been using it for about 8 years now, and also been using the ticketing system since it was released about 4 years ago. Well worth the cost."
#23
DeskDay
4.0
(2)
"DeskDay might be a great fit for you. It's designed to prioritize real, human interactions rather than pushing AI-first automation."
"Hey check out DeskDay as well. Have got an end-to-end helpdesk solution for customer support teams."
#24
ServiceDesk Plus
4.0
(2)
"I use service desk plus and desktop central as well. Very affordable and excellent tools."
"Given your requirements – ITIL compliant – incident and change management, along with strong contract management, KB, and asset management, ServiceDesk Plus would work for you."
#25
Hudu
4.0
(2)
"Hudu's a great tool, but I personally prefer ITglue."
"Better yet.. Hudu. Similar format to ITGlue and you never have to speek to Kaseya."
#26
ConnectWise
4.0
(2)
"Connectwise is robust as hell, and has all kinds of modules depending on your needs."
"Have you looked at Connectwise? It's specifically built for MSPs- given you mentioned clients, it could perhaps be used similarly in your instance."
#27
Kayako
4.0
(2)
"Kayako: We are a Zendesk alternative, easy to use, competitive price and AI driven."
"I also have a fair amount of experience with Kayako in a larger scale. It worked very well and I never encountered any problems with it. However, it's quite expensive."
#28
SysAid
3.5
(2)
"I can't believe no one has recommended SysAid."
"SysAid."
#29
Freescout
3.5
(2)
"Ive just installed freescout. Pretty sound!"
"Freescout ? https://github.com/freescout-helpdesk/freescout"
#30
Microsoft
3.5
(2)
"Ms900 is good."
"Ms-900 is a better starting point but you still won’t use most of it in help desk."
#31
Halp
5.0
(1)
"Halp lets employees triage requests, automate workflows, respond to direct messages by reacting with a 🎫 emoji ticket and most importantly solve tickets faster."
#32
GrooveHQ
5.0
(1)
"I've used GrooveHQ. It's sooooo good!"
#33
Crow Canyon
5.0
(1)
"NITRO Help Desk does all of this, plus you can turn Teams messages into tickets. Totally native to your Microsoft 365 environment, so there are no additional logins or passwords for users to forget. Really smooth user adoption."
#34
HelpScout
5.0
(1)
"I manage CS & Support at a smaller tech company, we use HelpScout. It's a good product, has never failed us in years of usage."
#35
Jira Service Management
4.0
(1)
"JIRA service management"
#36
Intercom
4.0
(1)
"Intercom is a good small company choice. I've been using it for 10 months now and quite happy with it."
#37
Gorgias
4.0
(1)
"Gorgias is great! I've worked with zendesk and gorgias and prefer gorgias for all the features."
#38
Useresponse
4.0
(1)
"Check out useresponse.com. They have enterprise level tools and feature set, very competitive pricing, and used by reputable global companies."
#39
ALVAO
4.0
(1)
"ALVAO is very straightforward for end-users and agents and perfectly fits with Microsoft apps (AAD, Outlook, Teams, etc.). Jira was also decent but more complex in some ways."
#40
Salesforce
4.0
(1)
"We are going to be implementing Service Cloud. It seems to tick most of your boxes."
#41
Track-IT
4.0
(1)
"We use a product called Track-IT. It is not free, however it works very well for us and has the capabilities you are looking for."
#42
BeyondTrust
4.0
(1)
"The company that providing software helpdesk to us is using beyondtrust (former bomgar) since years. You may want to check their solutions."
#43
Deskpro
4.0
(1)
"We went with Deskpro instead of RT, because people don't like PERL and they thought things were easier to implement in Deskpro."
#44
birch-girder
4.0
(1)
"Open source, but built using some AWS SaaS tools/services and GitHub: birch-girder. We use it for a small cooperative to track support tickets."
#45
SolarWinds Service Desk
4.0
(1)
"We actually are in the process of migrating from spiceworks/helpdesk to Service Desk from solarwinds. From the technical demo it looks good."
#46
ServiceDesk Pro
4.0
(1)
"+1 for ServiceDesk pro. There is a free edition."
#48
Raiseaticket
4.0
(1)
"Raiseaticket- free helpdesk ssytem is completely free to use."
#49
Kaseya
4.0
(1)
"We use Kaseya, and are pleased with it. But it does have a yearly fee, but no per tech fee."
#51
Liberum
4.0
(1)
"My friend uses Liberum at his work, he is constantly raving about how good it is, and it's free."
#52
Trac
4.0
(1)
"I've been using Trac with and without mysql and custom templates and its been working great."
#53
Herodesk
4.0
(1)
"I would suggest herodesk, desk365, tier2tickets, myaskai which would suit within your budget"
#54
HelpKit
4.0
(1)
"HelpKit might be worth considering. It allows you to transform your Notion documents into a professional self-service knowledge base"
#55
Pulseway PSA
4.0
(1)
"I've heard Pulseway PSA is excellent, though I haven't used it myself."
#56
Vorex
4.0
(1)
"Vorex focuses on IT services and user satisfaction without heavily relying on AI."
#57
JitBit
3.0
(1)
"JitBit."
#58
Itarian
3.0
(1)
"Check out Itarian/ComodoOne. Free RMM tool that makes it's money with integrating other options like AV."
#59
Happy Fox
3.0
(1)
"My most recent employer used something called Happy Fox only problem with it was the reporting was subpar other than that it was cheap and easy to use."
#60
Trello
3.0
(1)
"We've been using Trello free and it's actually worked out pretty well."
#61
Gmail with ticketing system
3.0
(1)
"Combine that with a ticketing system and it's what he wants - set the Gmail account up to forward all emails to the ticketing email, then it creates a ticket"
#62
VSA
3.0
(1)
"Yeah, VSA, it is lacking, but can be setup for automatic ticket generation, and auto-forward rules upon actions, etc."
#63
Bugzilla
3.0
(1)
"We use Bugzilla as an Issue Tracking system. It has it's moments, but it works."
#64
Cherwell
1.0
(2)
"Former cherwell admin I agree..."
"I can recommend that you don’t get Cherwell. It is the worst."
#65
Kace
2.0
(1)
"We use Kace here and I can say if you want speed, stay away from Kace, its slow and clunky. The newer versions do have a nice dark mode though."
#66
SolarWinds
1.0
(1)
"After doing software analysis on SolarWinds and SpiceWorks software, and finding out that they use ancient unpatched versions of other software to craft their handiwork, I'm loathe to recommend anything at all from these guys."
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