Olark
osTicket
| Feature | Olark | osTicket |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $29/mo | Free / from $12/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.1 / 5 | 4 / 5 |
| Best For | small-businesses, freelancers, sales-teams, support-teams | small-businesses, budget-conscious-teams, self-hosted-advocates, it-departments |
| Founded | 2009 | 2003 |
| Live Chat | ✓ | ✗ |
| Visitor Insights | ✓ | ✗ |
| Chat Transcripts | ✓ | ✗ |
| Custom Forms | ✓ | ✗ |
| Team Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automation Rules | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ticket Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Piping | ✗ | ✓ |
| Custom Fields | ✗ | ✓ |
| Sla Management | ✗ | ✓ |
| Agent Collision Avoidance | ✗ | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Olark Pros
- Very easy to use
- Great for small teams
- Good customization
- Accessible chat widget
✗ Olark Cons
- Limited features vs competitors
- No chatbot builder
- Basic reporting
✓ 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
Olark is built for small businesses and freelancers, with a focus on live-chat and visitor-insights. 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 $29/mo for Olark. That $17/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. Olark requires a paid subscription from day one.
Both tools are a solid fit for small businesses — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
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.