Looking for a free, simple self-hosted, ideally scalable ticketing solution to use by myself
Posted by tylerderped@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 44 comments
Yeah, I know, I’m probably asking the world here.
I’m a helpdesk support specialist in healthcare supporting about 300 end users. My boss *refuses* to consider a ticketing solution. He thinks it adds unnecessary complexity and bureaucracy when people (especially directors) just want their shit to work. He doesn’t understand the value of being able to say “x user has had y recurring problem” and to be able to use that data to solve actual root causes that ultimately result in operations going smoother. Even if it causes burning to change, I just need it for my own sanity because I’m actually losing my fucking mind.
This was sustainable when it was just me and my boss running the show, but we recently hired a “systems admin”, this has increased complexity to the point of unsustainability.
Yes, I am aggressively looking for new work. It’s apparent to me that I’ve outgrown my role significantly while my boss seems to have regressed.
bumbo79@reddit
Have a look at OTRS, I've used it in the past, ticket numbers are auto-generated based on date/time created amongst other things and overall works well.
https://otrscommunityedition.com/
fahque@reddit
That website says it's been discontinued in 2021.
atw527@reddit
I self-host GLPI and have been happy with it. Also has asset tracking.
servantotb@reddit
I like Mantis since it is fast and light (so no heavy hardware requirements) and fully open source
https://mantisbt.org/
n00lp00dle@reddit
this is the real answer. your boss is unserious and that means you are on borrowed time anyway.
tylerderped@reddit (OP)
He’s just a lead poisoned NAVY dufus that’s been doing his job for too long.
Believe it or not, he’s a massive upgrade from when the director of operations was running IT.
But yeah, I’m tryna get out the door. I’ve got some interviews lined up (;
This is all just mostly to make things easier for me while I check out.
No_Wear295@reddit
Self-hosted + free.
- GLPI, OSTicket, OTRS....
There are others for sure, best bet is to search for FOSS ticketing solutions and see what's what.
Personally would go for GLPI and build it out from ticketing to ITSM and all of the other nice things that it can do as a single pane of glass.
RequestTracker is another option that's literally been around for decades.
tylerderped@reddit (OP)
GLPI seems like the tits actually
coolcoolcoolyo@reddit
Will it need to be HIPAA compliant? Could you host something within your current environment that’s low-cost (simple ServiceNow setup)?
Also, are you the only IT staff at the company, or is your boss a hands-on IT Manager as well? Very suspect that there’s no ticketing system.
tylerderped@reddit (OP)
It needs to be HIPAA compliant. Anything hosted needs approval from boss, and unfortunately, he never responds to any of my requests for literally anything. I couldn’t even get him to buy me a damn screwdriver.
Until about 2 months ago, for the past 5 years, it’s just been me, the “IT Specialist” and my boss, the IT Director supporting over 300 users across 3 different sites.
My resume is kinda nuts lol
Frothyleet@reddit
Simple is not what I'd call ServiceNow - between cost and complexity that's not gonna be the play for a three person team
coolcoolcoolyo@reddit
MSPs that can set up an environment using simple templates, same goes for a Microsoft Dynamics. Curious as to what their budget would be…
Stryker1-1@reddit
Service now is like SAP while yes there is some out of the box basic functionality the power really comes from the ability to customize the platform.
However that customization usually comes at a high cost.
Civil_Inspection579@reddit
Honestly the “no ticketing system” part becomes way more concerning once there’s more than 1-2 IT people involved because at that point you’re basically relying on tribal knowledge, memory, and random conversations to run operations Even a super lightweight system dramatically improves continuity/accountability.
ExceptionEX@reddit
One of the things that I've always used as an argument for a ticket system is, customer satisfaction. We don't close tickets, only the customer does, so the problem is worked until they are happy with the result, and they have a place to know even that long lasting tickets are being worked and provided a place to give feedback, and get updates.
Is it perfect, no, do customers sometimes just flatly refuse to close tickets, and we have to manually sort them out yes. But the over all net positive of making the scenario something that they have control over largely seems to be a net positive which has increased them opening their own tickets.
P.s. with nearly no resources if you are a microsoft 365 shop, you can use windows forms, power automate and planner to make a pretty decent ticket system with no resources used. It won't scale, and there are pitfalls, but thats what free gets you.
Civil_Inspection579@reddit
Honestly at that point I’d almost treat the ticket system as a personal organizational tool first and a “formal ITSM platform” second Even just having searchable history, recurring issue tracking, and basic accountability would massively improve your sanity compared to trying to remember everything through Teams messages and hallway conversations.
tylerderped@reddit (OP)
This is exactly an angle I’m working on!
I’m autistic and I’m starting a dialogue with HR for reasonable accommodations and a ticketing solution legitimately seems to tick all the boxes for what I need.
Yeah, my boss would hate it, he’d probably hate that something that he’s being forced to implement a solution that he didn’t come to on his own, lol, and other end users might be annoyed at first.
But in the long run, we really need one. We can’t keep running like this.
Arudinne@reddit
I hear you, but if we went that route we'd totally have hundreds of tickets left open.
Our system is set to automatically send follow ups and close the ticket if they stop responding.
We also have it set to permanently lock older tickets (agents and admins can unlock them but users can't) because we've legit had people re-open tickets that are a year or more old for unrelated issues.
ExceptionEX@reddit
Yeah admittedly there are always people no matter what will do the wrong thing, company culture and training have a lot to do with that percentage, but even in the best case its never zero.
Civil_Inspection579@reddit
Honestly that’s the realistic way to look at it. No process survives contact with hundreds of users perfectly the goal isn’t eliminating bad behavior entirely, it’s building systems that contain the damage when people inevitably do weird things.
Civil_Inspection579@reddit
Honestly that’s exactly why ticket systems need lifecycle rules instead of just “leave everything open forever” Users will absolutely resurrect a 14-month-old printer ticket to report a VPN issue if you let them.
FlickKnocker@reddit
your boss is a myopic dumbass.
Pretty much every ticket system can slide in and support email right away, so if you're using a helpdesk@ email address already, you can slot in the ticket system and they won't even notice it, other than the subject line now has a ticket # in it.
Makes life better for everyone, including the end-users, for when you can search on an issue and find out the history behind it, without having to waste time reinventing the wheel or repeating steps that have already been tried.
tylerderped@reddit (OP)
He really is and he’s gotten worse with age. The combination old age + lead poisoning from when has was leaded is really taking a toll on him. He refuses to take action and acknowledge the reality of what IT is in 2026. He would’ve been a great manager in 2006 lol.
He operates off of an outdated model that hasn’t been relevant for organizations with more than 10 employees in decades. Let alone any organization with on-prem resources and multiple sites!
“Tickets create complexity which introduces frustration for end users who just need their problems fixed”. I get reprimanded for triaging and gathering data from requests users email us and am told “you could’ve fixed it in 2 minutes if you’d just called them or gone over to them”
I really wish I was kidding lol
I’m honestly so checked out with all the clashes we have. I’m on the verge of tears daily.
I’m looking for a new role, ideally in leadership, but in the meantime, I have to do what I can to make my job manageable if my boss won’t give me the tools necessary to effectively work.
Civil_Inspection579@reddit
Honestly the funniest part is that a lot of end users barely even realize they’re “using a ticket system” once email integration exists To them it’s still just emailing support, except now the IT team actually has searchable history, accountability, and continuity when someone’s out sick or leaves.
FlickKnocker@reddit
We used Request Tracker years ago, been around for decades. Open source/community edition still.
https://github.com/bestpractical/rt
We had some custom email actions so you could take tickets by simply forwarding to taketicket@ and it was an alias for the ticketing system, which would assign it to you. closeticket@ would close the ticket, etc.
Handy in Blackberry days, but still a nice feature.
Happy_Kale888@reddit
You are in the sweet spot as only 1 agent usually vendors charge per agent.
OS Tickets has been around for a while and they promise anew version soon
https://osticket.com/editions/
Peppermint is a lightweight new product that you can spin up in a docker container it is a lightweight app and not sure how it would scale but I would take it over nothing. At the very least you could forward emails to it that you get and keep track of them that way.
https://ambientnode.uk/peppermint-a-minimalist-open-source-service-desk-for-homelabs/
BCIT_Richard@reddit
Came to recommend OS Ticket
SmasherOfDaButtons@reddit
+1 for OSTicket. I had zero budget for a ticketing system and I was mostly solo IT. I used it to quantify how much support work I was doing, but didn't send anything to end users. Once management figured out that I self-rolled my own system, they loved it.
xendr0me@reddit
HESK or OSTicket. I prefer HESK.
hightechcoord@reddit
HESK...there are dozens of us. Been running it for 10+ years. I tried OSTicket but you are correct. Hesk is better.
HDClown@reddit
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is free for up to 5 technicians and 500 assets (if you want to use asset management), self-hosted or cloud version. We all like to dunk on ManageEngine but it's a pretty robust option and free cloud hosting means no effort on your part to deploy and maintain.
hftfivfdcjyfvu@reddit
https://osticket.com Open source. Free. Amazing
mikeegg1@reddit
A file or a personal wiki.
GX_EN@reddit
This is so weird. I've never met a boss that wasn't adament that anything that is done in an environment needed to be tracked. From when I used to do end user support 100 years ago into infrastructure stuff, project hours, change control, etc..
That's madness to not.
grumpyoldtechie@reddit
This worked well for me when I still did user support https://github.com/bestpractical/rt
Hot_Pilot3167@reddit
I second Request Tracker. Super easy to set up and support.
hight0w3r@reddit
How about this? GitHub - bestpractical/rt: Request Tracker, an enterprise-grade issue tracking system · GitHub
Commercial_Growth343@reddit
A ticketing system for incidents also proves work load. it proves people are really calling you to report issues. It provides a way to document the fix, so next time it happens you do not have to re-invent the wheel and waste time.
Lunagrumpwantsport@reddit
I implemented OsTicket whilst ostensibly in a support role. It's petty solid, simple and does scale fairly well. (We have about 600 users)
i3-i3@reddit
Check out Manage Engine Service Desk Plus
Lifthrasil@reddit
You might want to take a look at Zammad.
casetofon2@reddit
Lookup GLPI ! Super packed with features. GLPI Partner is priced at around 3000€ / $ a year for rush bugfixes and included version updates.
Disastrous_Recipe424@reddit
We just this month-ish switched away from GLPI to NinjaOne. I liked GLPI for ticketing & asset management. Creates ok reports too...
ddixonr@reddit
We built one for 250 users using n8n. We already had it, and understood its limitations, but were happy with the simplicity. Then, shortly after the rollout, we realized we could make a slick web interface for it using Claude Code. We're thrilled with it so far. I can't give step by step directions, but Claude Code certainly could.