osTicket vs Roundup Issue Tracker

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?
FeatureosTicketRoundup Issue Tracker
CategoryHelpdesk & TicketingHelpdesk & Ticketing
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePHPPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker
GitHub stars★ 3,871
First released20032020
ReplacesZendesk, Freshdesk

Why pick each one

Choose osTicket if…

  • Mature and stable
  • Easy for staff to learn
osTicket details

Choose Roundup Issue Tracker if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Roundup Issue Tracker details

Frequently asked questions

Is osTicket or Roundup Issue Tracker better?

Neither is universally better. osTicket has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are osTicket and Roundup Issue Tracker free and open-source?

Yes. osTicket is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Roundup Issue Tracker under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run osTicket and Roundup Issue Tracker with Docker?

osTicket: yes. Roundup Issue Tracker: yes.

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