Kayako
osTicket
| Feature | Kayako | osTicket |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $30/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 3.9 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Best For | ecommerce, saas-companies, support-teams, mid-size-companies | small-businesses, budget-conscious-teams, self-hosted-advocates, it-departments |
| Founded | 2001 | 2003 |
| Live Chat | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ticketing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Customer Journey | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Service | ✓ | ✗ |
| Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sla Management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ticket Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Piping | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agent Collision Avoidance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Kayako Pros
- Unified customer view
- Good live chat
- Journey tracking
- Multichannel
✗ Kayako Cons
- Dated interface
- Limited integrations
- Slow development pace
✓ 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
Kayako is built for ecommerce and saas companies, with a focus on live-chat and ticketing. 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 $30/mo for Kayako. That $18/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. Kayako requires a paid subscription from day one.
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.