osTicket vs. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
osTicket
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
osTicket is an open-source help desk / ticketing platform that can create inquiries online, through email, and through phone calls.N/A
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management.
$0
Pricing
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Core Plan
$0
Premium
$6
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Considered Both Products
osTicket
Chose osTicket
osTicket has proven to be a very useful tool for the team to help support the business. Open-source was the right price point and self-hosting as mentioned was quite important (however I believe that osTicket does have a hosting solution available if needed). Jitbit was a …
Chose osTicket
SysAid free version has comparable features compare to osTicket such as Email to Ticket and self service portal however the cost to upgrade to the full version did sway our decision.
Chose osTicket
This company wanted to first explore how a ticketing/support system could benefit their organization before investing [in] a solution. Firstly osTicket is open source and doesn't have a license fee and secondly, because of [its] simplicity, it is quick to implement in the …
Chose osTicket
While osTicket doesn't offer anywhere near the amount of features that ZenDesk provides. OsTicket is completely free and doesn't have a monthly or per agent cost. Also, ZenDesk doesn't offer any self-hosting options as opposed to osTicket which is completely open source and can …
Chose osTicket
It's important to note that we went back and forth between keeping a hosted subscription to osTicket and jumping ship into our own world of osTicket development, since even these two internal products can be compared. We did look at Zendesk but that was only after we decided to …
Chose osTicket
Free, easy to install and it does the same job
Chose osTicket
Comparing OsTicket with the above paid CS platforms would not be fair as OsTicket is free and it might have more limited functionality compared to the other two. However, when it comes ease of use and functionality, OsTicket might also be considered as one of the best customer …
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
although it does not have all of the features it still is able to perform MOST of the function for these softwares
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk was picked because of its user-friendly design, low pricing, and basic ticketing capabilities that fit our organization's requirements. Its built-in knowledge base and active user community boosted the effectiveness of our IT support operations. While it …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
In my opinion, we have a much richer experience with Solarwinds. It basically ramps up all the features of Spiceworks to the next level and enforces a proper ITIL framework into the process. Integration with Dameware is a much better experience than Spiceworks' connection to …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk is simple and easy to install. It takes very little skill to get it installed and working. There are no expensive components needed to run the software and virtually no maintenance.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
[Its] simplicity, [the] easy user interface for both technicians and end-users, and stability, plus the ability to locally control data access (we're highly regulated regarding privacy and records rights), puts it in its own class. While it may not do everything larger systems …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Overall, Spiceworks Help Desk is an easy-to-use option at a GREAT cost. We didn't feel that any other products offered anything that Spiceworks couldn't so we haven't felt the need to explore any more companies. The Spiceworks FREE option is great on its own and it's hard to …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk is free, which is an advantage. It also includes inventory tracking. Mojo help desk does not rely on Windows as a platform. Spiceworks Help Desk also allows for add ons and reporting.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks is a great option for a free help desk. In terms of features, it is similar to the free level of Freshdesk. If you want a lot of features and customization though, you should look at Jitbit Help Desk or the paid tiers of Freshdesk. Both offer better reporting, …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks is much cheaper and does the job well for one organization. Connectwise Manage works better for an MSP that is handling multiple companies and wants to keep them separated.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We found that for entry-level SMB in-house needs that Spiceworks had an impressive range of features and options at an unbeatable price-free! For our in-house and multi-tenant needs, we use a different product that is more appropriate to our particular needs, but with no cost …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We tried to use Jira for ticketing, but it doesn't support hashtag updating of tickets through email. We find it helpful to be able to convert emails from users into tickets by forwarding them to the help desk email address and including hashtags for ticket assignment, …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
[Spiceworks Help Desk] was much easier to roll out since it didn't require any custom development from or development team. It also had an existing mobile app that was easy to deploy.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Cost was the big factor here. While we already used TeamViewer there were some limitations for the helpdesk and some only available with increased cost on the inventory side. Ivanti was used in Europe but very pricey to add to the Americas. While we used Dynamics CRM, we had a …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Trialing Zendesk and a few others, they are very well done programs which do what is needed and even more at a cost. The free price tag of Spiceworks is well worth it for our business and environment. We chose Spiceworks for the ease of use on both IT and end users' ends and …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
A lot of the competition starts with some free options, but bare minimum or "paid only modules" etc. And their support is often either non existent or convoluted while Spiceworks Help Desk is both great and responsive as well as having an open community and forums. You can …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Teamwork has many features that I wish Spiceworks had, but Spiceworks has the price that can't be beaten. There are some things that would make it better, but those are things that I can train my technicians on and we can live without the operational cost associated with …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We love the JitBit side of things for the help desk component of our system. We have a lot more customization available with JitBit vs. the Spice works application. The features for JitBit are the ones we are looking for, and as such, we have moved our ticketing to JitBit …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We have not looked at anything recently due to how well Spiceworks has been working. Other parts of campus are using other programs that one day may be forced upon us. At the moment we are very happy with what we are using and will not be looking elsewhere if we do not have to.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks does so many things in a variety of ways that it is hard to compare it to other products. Keep in mind that freeware has limits, but if the Spiceworks tools fit your need and management doesn't complain then go for it. Paid software has plenty of benefits, but you …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We are in the process of looking at Remote Monitoring & Management tools as we are growing so rapidly. We have been checking out demos & reading reviews of these other applications and they are way more feature-rich than Spiceworks - however, they come at a cost and will …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
SolarWinds is far superior but it is a locally installed application. I think each does things well. For a free or paid no-ad version legacy style it was great. As for cloud-only options, I think there are still some things that need to be improved on. There needs to be …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
N/A - I have not evaluated other products similar to Spiceworks
Features
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
osTicket
7.6
Ratings
6% below category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets7.90 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Expert directory9.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications8.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation7.20 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission6.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Ticket response6.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
osTicket
8.3
Ratings
6% above category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
External knowledge base9.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base7.50 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
osTicket
6.9
Ratings
12% below category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.9
Ratings
14% above category average
Customer portal9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
IVR7.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Social integration4.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Email support9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration5.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Small Businesses
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SysAid
SysAid
Score 9.1 out of 10
SysAid
SysAid
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
osTicketSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
osTicket is very well suited for small to medium environments where the budget might be tight or a complex system isn't desired. The basic pillars of osTicket being that it is simple, lightweight, reliable, open source, and best of all free really make osTicket a great alternative to higher-cost customer support systems. While osTicket does have shortfalls which would be bad for some environments—like not offering social media integration, lacking a flashy user interface, no detailed analytics (satisfaction, performance, etc.), no live chat/messaging, and any detailed customization requires PHP knowledge—osTicket is a great free and simple support system without the extra features and costs the alternatives offer.
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Spiceworks Help Desk from the user end is very simple. Once you submit your technology needs, I automatically receive an email stating that my ticket was received and is being processed. It's also helpful to have the VNC feature so that my IT department can automatically VNC into my computer if it's a quick fix. At times Spiceworks Help Desk can be tricky because as someone who's not in a Tech role at my company, it can be hard to describe what I need assistance with writing.
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Pros
  • Web based, so available from any web browser
  • Free - no cost to the organization to buy
  • Runs on linux - solid, secure, free
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  • It helps to multitask, even on the go with the mobile App.
  • We can customize to meet your needs with automated responses, notifications, and templates.
  • Detailed reports allow managers to keep track [of] and analyze data.
  • Allows for a database to store notes helpful for future tickets.
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Cons
  • osTicket's hosted version is expensive and customization is kind of hard to come by. So, unless you have programming-proficient developers on hand (we do!) you will need to accept the options that you are paying for.
  • osTicket's community forum has had some bugs recently as they have rolled out a new platform for it. For people who rely on the community forum extensively, this is a set back. Again, this is more of an issue for those using open source and not the SaaS version.
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  • I have always wanted a way to redirect a support request into another IS bin, such as a development task.
  • It's possible to extract the data from the Spiceworks database, but it would be helpful if the process to do so were easier.
  • Improved ability to customize the system generated emails to improve the formatting and company branding.
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Likelihood to Renew
It does well what I was looking for on a ticketing tool
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There is no contract to renew, since it's free. Spiceworks has helped me so much that I couldn't imagine trying to replace it with a different product. I'd have a hard time finding a single product that does everything that Spiceworks does, let alone one that does it as well as Spiceworks and for free
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Usability
I am familiar with osTicket and this allow me to teach all the staff and support them whenever they have any concern regarding the usability and following processes.
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1. Its free. 2. Its easy to install. 3. You can have it up and running in under 1-hour. 4. You get dashboards that are easy to read so you know the state of your network. 5. You can create your own reports and not just the ones already installed. 6. Excellent tool for network administrators and security practitioners. 7. Did I mention that its free?
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
We use it both locally on our own server so up time is decided by us and we also use the hosted help desk. We have never had an outage of that.
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Support Rating
Being open-source it is community supported. There is a hosted version that provides better support. Honestly, I have not really needed support
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Spiceworks has been working out of the box, and some of the basic customizations have been successful with just our internal staff handling. We don't have any other issues with the tool. It provides us with the inventory information we want in a quick and concise report in a variety of formats for our team.
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Implementation Rating
Grant all prerequisites are met, before installing to avoid any issue during the installation
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If you can spin up a VM to run it on, you'll thank yourself later. If you have remote sites, set up a local server (or dedicated computer) at each site and set them up as remote collectors for the main site. You'll save time and bandwidth
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Alternatives Considered
This company wanted to first explore how a ticketing/support system could benefit their organization before investing [in] a solution. Firstly osTicket is open source and doesn't have a license fee and secondly, because of [its] simplicity, it is quick to implement in the organization. These were the key 2 drivers to choose osTicket. Of course, there are trial versions of the other products available but the implementation time needed is longer since their functionality suite is larger than what osTicket offers. Those extra features aren't needed (yet) so that is the third and final reason why osTicket was chosen and probably will stay until the need for more functionality arises.
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EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the right software.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Works well as a centralized support system for the businesses IT.
  • The support team can evaluate all tickets that come in and easily evaluate priority, details, etc.
  • If the escalated development team can be limited to their assignments only allowing them to retain focus.
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  • Positive - Allow organizations to implement structured Help Desk procedures.
  • Positive - IT can begin to quantify their tickets and uncover needs within the organization.
  • Positive - IT can develop a solid roadmap with [the] management of future needs, equipment refresh schedules, etc.
  • Positive - IT can pinpoint employees who may need extra training or updated equipment based on historical ticketing data.
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ScreenShots