Request Tracker vs Trac
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?
Request Tracker
Enterprise-grade ticketing system from Best Practical
VS
Trac
Integrated wiki and issue tracker for software projects
| Feature | Request Tracker | Trac |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Helpdesk & Ticketing | Helpdesk & Ticketing |
| License | GPL-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Perl | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,141 | ★ 541 |
| First released | 1996 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Zendesk, Jira Service Management | Jira |
Why pick each one
Choose Request Tracker if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
Choose Trac if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Request Tracker or Trac better?
Neither is universally better. Request Tracker has the larger community, while Trac is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Request Tracker and Trac free and open-source?
Yes. Request Tracker is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Trac under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Request Tracker and Trac with Docker?
Request Tracker: check the project docs for container support. Trac: check the project docs for container support.