FreeScout
Email-based customer support application, help desk and shared mailbox (alternative to Zendesk and Help Scout).
Actively maintained with regular releases.
Commit activity more than 69% of tracked projects; popularity more than 65%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 4.6k |
|---|---|
| Latest release | 1.8.243 · 27 Sept 2026 |
| Repo updated | 27 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 |
| Built with | PHP, Docker |
Is FreeScout actively maintained?
Development is ongoing. The repository recorded 615 commits over the same window, and the last three months alone account for 247 of them.
The most recent tagged release, 1.8.243, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.
Of the 22 projects we track in Ticketing, FreeScout ranks #6 by health score — in the top quarter of its category.
What FreeScout actually does
FreeScout is a self-hosted customer support platform that provides shared mailbox and ticketing functionality. It serves as an open-source alternative to commercial help desk services like Zendesk and Help Scout. The application handles incoming emails and converts them into trackable support threads for team collaboration.
Best fit: Teams looking to migrate their shared inbox and customer support operations from proprietary SaaS platforms to their own infrastructure.
Worth knowing: The AGPL-3.0 licence carries strict copyleft obligations if you modify the code and distribute it or offer it as a hosted service to third parties.
Deployment notes
As a PHP application packaged for Docker, you will typically need to configure persistent storage for attachments and database files, alongside a reverse proxy to handle TLS termination.
FreeScout as a replacement for
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