Zendesk vs Welcome to Zammad
Self-hosted for $4/mo on hetzner CAX11, versus $55-$169/user/mo on Zendesk.
Side-by-side
| Zendesk | Welcome to Zammad (self-hosted) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $55-$169/user/mo | $4.13/mo flat (any team size) |
| Hosting | Zendesk's servers | Your VPS (hetzner CAX11) |
| Data ownership | Zendesk controls the data | Your disk, your encryption |
| Source code | Closed | Open (AGPL-3.0) |
| Customization | API + integrations only | Full source access; modify freely |
| Maintenance burden | Zero | Backups + updates (Docker available) |
| Health score (ossreplace) | — | 60 / 100 |
Why teams leave Zendesk
- Per-agent pricing $55-169/mo prices small teams out
- Light Agent and SLA features locked behind tiers
- AI/automation as expensive add-ons
- Cloud-only, customer data on Zendesk
Welcome to Zammad answers this by: Zammad and Chatwoot give the same multi-channel ticketing + SLAs + automations, fully self-hosted.
The cost math
Assumes 5-person team using Zendesk at the midpoint price ($112/user/mo).
| Period | Zendesk | Welcome to Zammad on hetzner | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $560 | $4.13 | $555.87 |
| Yearly | $6720 | $49.56 | $6670.44 |
| 3 years | $20,160 | $149 | $20,011 |
Deploy Welcome to Zammad now
One-click deploys at the cheapest provider for this workload:
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Common questions
Is Welcome to Zammad a good alternative to Zendesk?
Welcome to Zammad is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Zendesk with an ossreplace health score of 60/100 — a composite of project activity, maturity, community, security, and adoption. It runs on your own hetzner VPS from $4.13/mo with full source access under the AGPL-3.0 license, versus Zendesk's $55–169/user/mo hosted plans.
How much cheaper is Welcome to Zammad than Zendesk?
A 5-person team pays about $560/mo on Zendesk. Self-hosting Welcome to Zammad on hetzner CAX11 costs a flat $4.13/mo regardless of team size — roughly $20,011 less over three years (99% lower).
Is Welcome to Zammad hard to self-host?
Welcome to Zammad ships a Docker setup, so deployment is usually a single docker-compose command on a $4.13/mo VPS. You own the backups and updates, and there are no per-seat fees.
Do you keep control of your data with Welcome to Zammad vs Zendesk?
Yes. Because Welcome to Zammad runs on your own server, the data lives on your disk under your encryption. With Zendesk, Zendesk controls the hosting, storage, and access.