Focalboard
osTicket
| Feature | Focalboard | osTicket |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Best For | self-hosters, mattermost-users, small-teams, open-source-advocates | small-businesses, budget-conscious-teams, self-hosted-advocates, it-departments |
| Founded | 2021 | 2003 |
| Kanban Boards | ✓ | ✗ |
| Table View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Calendar View | ✓ | ✗ |
| Templates | ✓ | ✗ |
| Filters | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ticket Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Piping | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sla Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agent Collision Avoidance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Focalboard Pros
- Completely free and open-source
- Self-hostable for data control
- Multiple view types (board, table, gallery)
- Integrates with Mattermost
✗ Focalboard Cons
- Limited to basic project tracking
- No built-in time tracking
- Smaller community than alternatives
✓ osTicket Pros
- Completely free self-hosted version
- Active open-source community
- Highly customizable
- Supports multiple departments
✗ osTicket Cons
- Dated user interface
- Requires server management
- Limited automation compared to paid tools
The Verdict
Focalboard is built for self hosters and mattermost users, with a focus on kanban-boards and table-view. osTicket targets small businesses and budget conscious teams and leads with ticket-management and email-piping.
Focalboard uses custom enterprise pricing, while osTicket starts at $12/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.