Gladly
osTicket
| Feature | Gladly | osTicket |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $180/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Best For | ecommerce-brands, luxury-retail, enterprise-support, customer-obsessed-teams | small-businesses, budget-conscious-teams, self-hosted-advocates, it-departments |
| Founded | 2014 | 2003 |
| Unified Conversation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel Inbox | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voice Support | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Service | ✓ | ✗ |
| Customer Timeline | ✓ | ✗ |
| Task Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ticket Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Piping | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sla Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agent Collision Avoidance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Gladly Pros
- Single conversation thread per customer
- Excellent omnichannel support
- Built-in voice and messaging
- Customer-first approach
✗ Gladly Cons
- Very expensive per agent
- Enterprise-focused
- Smaller marketplace of integrations
✓ 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
Gladly is built for ecommerce brands and luxury retail, with a focus on unified-conversation and omnichannel-inbox. osTicket targets small businesses and budget conscious teams and leads with ticket-management and email-piping.
On pricing, osTicket is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $12/mo compared to $180/mo for Gladly. That $168/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
osTicket has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Gladly requires a paid subscription from day one.
Gladly edges out on user ratings (4.5 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Bottom line: Gladly has a slight overall edge — but if completely free self-hosted version matters most to you, osTicket may still be the right call.