Hiver
osTicket
| Feature | Hiver | osTicket |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $19/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Best For | small-teams, gmail-users, support-teams, startups | small-businesses, budget-conscious-teams, self-hosted-advocates, it-departments |
| Founded | 2011 | 2003 |
| Shared Inboxes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Email Assignment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Collision Detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sla Management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ticket Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Piping | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agent Collision Avoidance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Hiver Pros
- Works inside Gmail
- Easy adoption
- Shared inboxes
- Good for email teams
✗ Hiver Cons
- Gmail-only
- Limited outside email
- Fewer features than full helpdesks
✓ 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
Hiver is built for small teams and gmail users, with a focus on shared-inboxes and email-assignment. 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 $19/mo for Hiver. That $7/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Hiver edges out on user ratings (4.4 vs 4). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Bottom line: Hiver has a slight overall edge — but if completely free self-hosted version matters most to you, osTicket may still be the right call.