SHSelfHostIndex

Bugzilla vs Handesk

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted helpdesk & ticketing options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
BU Bugzilla Time-tested bug tracking system from Mozilla VS HA Handesk Laravel help desk and lead management application
FeatureBugzillaHandesk
CategoryHelpdesk & TicketingHelpdesk & Ticketing
LicenseMPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePerlPHP
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcebare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 850★ 1,450
First released19982018
ReplacesJiraZendesk, Freshdesk

Why pick each one

Choose Bugzilla if…

  • Released under the MPL-2.0 license
  • Written in Perl
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Bugzilla details

Choose Handesk if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Handesk details

Frequently asked questions

Is Bugzilla or Handesk better?

Handesk is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Bugzilla if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Bugzilla and Handesk free and open-source?

Yes. Bugzilla is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Handesk under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Bugzilla and Handesk with Docker?

Bugzilla: check the project docs for container support. Handesk: check the project docs for container support.

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