freescout-help-desk/freescout
FreeScout — Free self-hosted help desk & shared mailbox (Zendesk / Help Scout alternative) observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
95/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 87
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 6
- age_days: 2994
- days_rel: 9
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 84
Adoption not part of the score
4507 stars · 706 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
FreeScout is a free, self-hosted help desk and shared mailbox application built with PHP and Laravel, serving as an open-source alternative to Zendesk and Help Scout. It centralizes customer conversations from multiple channels (email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Slack, live chat) into one place with unlimited agents, tickets, and mailboxes.
Use cases
- self-host a customer support help desk instead of paying for Zendesk
- manage a shared team inbox for [email protected]
- convert email threads into trackable support tickets
- centralize customer conversations from email, Telegram, WhatsApp and live chat
- run a multilingual support desk with unlimited agents
- migrate away from Help Scout or osTicket to an open-source tool
- deploy a help desk on cheap shared hosting with PHP/MySQL
When to choose
- you need a free, privacy-respecting alternative to Zendesk or Help Scout
- you want full control over your support data on your own server
- you need multichannel support (email, IMAP/SMTP, OAuth for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace)
- your team needs collision detection, internal notes, forwarding/merging, and powerful search
- you want a lightweight PHP app deployable even on shared hosting
When to avoid
- you need a fully managed SaaS with no server maintenance
- you require enterprise features like advanced SLA reporting or AI automation out of the box
- your stack is not PHP/MySQL friendly
- you need extensive third-party integrations beyond the available module ecosystem
Facets
application · maturity active
email self-hosted workflow-automation search-engine plugin-system self-hosted developer-tools e-commerce email web-development self-hosted windows php helpdesk ticketing-system shared-mailbox customer-support zendesk-alternative helpscout-alternative laravel multichannel web-server linux
5 sources
- readme: https://github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescout · fetched 2026-08-28 · b55fe8c0b4ea
- homepage: https://freescout.net · fetched 2026-08-29 · 03d33c7b8b0e
- site_page: https://freescout.net/installation-services · fetched 2026-08-29 · 8d076ce86cd0
- site_page: https://freescout.net/modules-faq · fetched 2026-08-29 · 1c76c8d5d354
- site_page: https://freescout.net/cloud-hosted · fetched 2026-08-29 · 6830f847cca3
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| freescout-help-desk/freescout | main | 95 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="freescout-help-desk/freescout")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem