Free Self-Hosted Zendesk & Help Scout Alternative by freescout-help-desk
FreeScout, Free self-hosted help desk & shared mailbox (Zendesk / Help Scout alternative)
About Free Self-Hosted Zendesk & Help Scout Alternative
From the project's README at github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
[](https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout#requirements)
FreeScout is the super lightweight and powerful free open source help desk and shared inbox built with PHP (Laravel framework). Now you can enjoy free Zendesk & Help Scout without giving up privacy or locking yourself into a service you don't control. FreeScout has been developed from scratch and is not using any copyrighted Help Scout or Zendesk materials.
If you want to support the project feel free to star this repository. It helps to increase the visibility of the project and let people know that it is valuable. Thanks for your support! Table of Contents Demo Features Mobile Apps Requirements Installation Cloud Hosted Modules Tools & Integrations News & Updates Contributing Screenshots Demo
Health score breakdown
6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
Adoption signals
Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.
| Signal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 4.2k | github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout |
| GitHub forks | 660 | github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 7.9 years | since Jun 2018 |
| Last commit | 4 days ago | May 3, 2026 |
| Releases shipped | 343 | last: 12 days ago |
| Security policy | SECURITY.md | declared by maintainers |
Self-hosting cost across providers
Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.
| Provider | Plan | Specs | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hetzner | CAX11 | 2c · 4GB · 40GB | $4.13 USD | Deploy → |
| vultr | VC2 | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5 USD | Deploy → |
| linode | Nanode 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5.12 USD | Deploy → |
| digitalocean | Basic Regular 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $6 USD | Deploy → |
Security advisories
CVE-2026-34442. What people say on Hacker News
Ready to self-host Free Self-Hosted Zendesk & Help Scout Alternative?
Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.
Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.
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