Handesk vs Peppermint
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted helpdesk & ticketing options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Peppermint
Archived
Open-source ticket management and helpdesk
| Feature | Handesk | Peppermint |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 28 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Helpdesk & Ticketing | Helpdesk & Ticketing |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,452 | ★ 3,162 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Zendesk, Freshdesk | Zendesk, Jira Service Management |
What are Handesk and Peppermint?
Handesk
Handesk is an open-source help desk and lead management application built with Laravel. It converts emails into tickets, supports internal notes, escalation, merging, agent mentions, and includes an API for tickets and leads.
- Email-to-ticket conversion
- Lead management with API
- Ticket escalation and merging
- Slack and email notifications
Peppermint
Peppermint is an open-source ticket management system and helpdesk. It offers a modern interface for managing customer issues, internal tasks, and a knowledge base.
- Ticket and task management
- Email-to-ticket support
- Documentation and notebooks
- Modern responsive UI
Handesk vs Peppermint: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Peppermint's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Handesk is actively maintained. Handesk is written in PHP, while Peppermint is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Handesk versus AGPL-3.0 for Peppermint. Handesk is the more established project (first released 2018), while Peppermint arrived in 2021. Peppermint has the considerably larger community, at 3,162 GitHub stars versus 1,452. Peppermint lists first-class Docker deployment; Handesk does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Handesk if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Peppermint if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Handesk or Peppermint better?
Neither is universally better. Peppermint has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Handesk and Peppermint free and open-source?
Yes. Handesk is licensed under MIT and Peppermint under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Handesk and Peppermint with Docker?
Handesk: check the project docs for container support. Peppermint: yes.