head to head · open source
Zammad vs libredesk
Zammad has 6,067 GitHub stars, 1,093 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. libredesk has 3,111 stars, 330 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zammad leads on adoption by 95% (6,067 vs 3,111 stars). Zammad is written in Ruby under AGPL-3.0; libredesk is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Zammad has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, libredesk 11%. libredesk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (customer-support, helpdesk), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Zammad | libredesk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.1K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Ruby | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 330 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zammad if
- You weight community size — 6.1K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick libredesk if
- You want the libredesk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and libredesk fits your workflow better
About Zammad
Welcome to Zammad Are you juggling countless customer inquiries across multiple channels? Struggling to keep your support team on the same page? Or spending more time managing your helpdesk than delivering exceptional support to your customers? Zammad is your Swiss Army knife a web based, open source helpdesk and customer support platform packed with features to streamline customer communication across channels like email, chat, telephone and social media. The Software The Zammad software is and will stay open source. It is licensed under the GNU AGPLv3. The source code is available on GitHub and owned by the…
read the full Zammad overview →
About libredesk
Modern, open source, self hosted omnichannel customer support desk. Live chat, email, and more in a single binary. Visit libredesk.io for more info. Check out the live demo . Features Omnichannel inbox Live chat and email in one inbox. Every conversation lands in the same place, whichever channel it came from. Live chat widget Embed a real time chat widget on your website. Replies go out from the same inbox your team already works in. Help center Publish a searchable knowledge base with collections, articles in multiple languages, and customize it however you want. AI assistant Answer live chat conversations…
read the full libredesk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zammad or libredesk more popular?
Zammad has 6,067 GitHub stars and libredesk has 3,111. Zammad has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zammad and libredesk free?
Both are open source. Zammad is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and libredesk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zammad and libredesk?
Zammad is written in Ruby and libredesk in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zammad or libredesk?
Choose Zammad if you want the larger community (6,067 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose libredesk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.