Handesk vs TicketsBot
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted helpdesk & ticketing options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Handesk | TicketsBot |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 28 · At risk | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Helpdesk & Ticketing | Helpdesk & Ticketing |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,452 | ★ 26 |
| First released | 2018 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Zendesk, Freshdesk | Zendesk |
What are Handesk and TicketsBot?
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
TicketsBot
TicketsBot is a self-hostable ticket management bot that creates private support channels on demand and logs full transcripts. It is designed for community support teams that handle requests through chat platforms.
- On-demand support channels
- Full transcript logging
- Tag-based routing
- Staff claim system
Handesk vs TicketsBot: key differences
Handesk is written in PHP, while TicketsBot is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Handesk versus AGPL-3.0 for TicketsBot. Handesk has the considerably larger community, at 1,452 GitHub stars versus 26. TicketsBot 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 TicketsBot if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Handesk or TicketsBot better?
Neither is universally better. Handesk has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Handesk and TicketsBot free and open-source?
Yes. Handesk is licensed under MIT and TicketsBot under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Handesk and TicketsBot with Docker?
Handesk: check the project docs for container support. TicketsBot: yes.