# Colliedesk vs Zammad

> Both are open source under AGPL-3.0. Zammad is mature and charges per agent; Colliedesk is young and charges per workspace. Here is where each one wins, with sources.

Source: https://colliedesk.com/vs/zammad
Updated: 2026-10-16

## The short answer

- **Choose Zammad** if you need a mature open-source helpdesk now: many channels (email, chat, Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS, phone), SLAs, a knowledge base, and a released Freshdesk migrator.
- **Choose Colliedesk** if your team is 3 to 10 agents and you want one flat price instead of per-agent fees, AI without a per-call fee on top, and an import that proves nothing was lost. Colliedesk is alpha; read the status table first.

## Price, side by side

Zammad hosted prices are in euros, per agent per month, excluding VAT, as published on 16 October 2026. The lower figure is billed annually.

| | Zammad | Colliedesk |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted plans | Starter €7–9 (max 5 agents), Professional €16–18 (max 35), Plus €25–27 (unlimited) per agent per month | Cloud Team: $49 per workspace per month, or $490 per year, up to 10 agents, 100 GB of attachments. Team 25: $99 per month, or $990 per year, up to 25 agents, 250 GB. No per-agent fees. Founding customers: $100 per year, locked for life. |
| AI | Optional on Professional and Plus, €0.03 per AI call | Included (coming after beta). LLM cost +30% on our key, or bring your own key. |
| Self-host | Free; paid support from €2,999 per year | Self-host free, every feature. Cloud: 14-day free trial, no card. |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | Open source, AGPL-3.0. Self-host or use Cloud. |

### What five agents pay

| Team | Zammad Professional (hosted) | Colliedesk Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 5 agents | 5 × €16–18 = **€80–90 per month** + €0.03 per AI call | $49 per month + AI usage |
| 10 agents | 10 × €16–18 = **€160–180 per month** + €0.03 per AI call | $49 per month + AI usage |

## Moving from Freshdesk

Zammad is ahead here, and we say so.

| | Zammad migrator | Colliedesk importer (**Available now**) |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Released, self-serve wizard or console | Available now, alpha |
| Imports | Groups, organizations, users, tickets | Tickets (archived ones included), replies, notes, attachments, tags, contacts, companies, time entries |
| Into an existing instance | No: "Migrations are only possible on new instances" | Into one workspace |
| Catch-up after the first run | No: "Differential migrations are not supported" | Yes, `--since` |
| Proof that nothing was lost | Not described | Reconcile report: counts per record type and a SHA-256 checksum per attachment |
| Done for you | Paid migration workshop, price on request | [Free for founding customers](https://colliedesk.com/migrate/freshdesk/done-for-you) |

## What Colliedesk does today

| Capability | Colliedesk |
|---|---|
| Shared inbox: replies, private notes, status, priority, assignee, tags, search, bulk actions | **Available now** (alpha) |
| Email channel (inbound and outbound, threading) | **Available now** (alpha) |
| Freshdesk importer with reconcile report | **Available now** (alpha) |
| Saved replies, attachments, live updates and browser notifications | **Available now** (alpha) |
| Passwordless sign-in, revocable sessions, isolated workspaces, full export | **Available now** (alpha) |
| One-command install and published container image | **Available now** |
| Colliedesk Cloud with a 14-day free trial, then Team or Founding | **Available now** (alpha) |
| Cc on replies, new conversation from the inbox, contact history | **Beta** (0.1.0) |
| Upgrade guide, upgrades tested on real data | **Beta** (0.1.0) |
| AI draft replies, triage, auto-answer with a human in the loop | **Coming after beta** |
| Knowledge base and public help center | **Coming after beta** |
| Automations, macros, SLA, business hours, CSAT and reports | **Coming later** |
| Zendesk and Help Scout importers, live chat widget | **Coming later** |

## Sources

Read on 16 October 2026. Prices change; check the vendor page before you decide.

- Zammad pricing: [zammad.com/en/pricing](https://zammad.com/en/pricing)
- Freshdesk migration: [docs.zammad.org migration/freshdesk](https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/migration/freshdesk.html)
- Migration overview: [docs.zammad.org migration](https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/migration/index.html)
- Software requirements: [docs.zammad.org prerequisites](https://docs.zammad.org/en/latest/prerequisites/software.html)
- Licence: [github.com/zammad/zammad](https://github.com/zammad/zammad)

## Questions people ask

### Is Colliedesk or Zammad better for leaving Freshdesk today?

Zammad, today. Its Freshdesk migrator is released and self-serve. The Colliedesk Freshdesk importer is available now, in alpha, so its interface may still change. Choose Colliedesk if you can accept alpha software and want a flat price, AI at model cost and a reconcile report that proves every record arrived.

### How much does hosted Zammad cost?

On the Zammad pricing page read on 16 October 2026: Starter €7–9 per agent per month (up to 5 agents), Professional €16–18 (up to 35 agents), Plus €25–27 (unlimited agents), depending on annual or monthly billing. AI features cost €0.03 per AI call.

### Are Zammad and Colliedesk both open source?

Yes. Both are licensed AGPL-3.0 and free to self-host. Zammad is a Ruby on Rails application that runs on PostgreSQL, with Elasticsearch strongly recommended. Colliedesk is one server container plus PostgreSQL.