European Alternatives to Freshservice
Looking for a European alternative to Freshservice? Freshservice is sold by Freshworks Inc., a Delaware corporation in San Mateo, and its standard terms are governed by California law, with disputes first sent to JAMS arbitration in San Francisco.
Eleven European tools cover the job for small and mid-sized IT teams, from published-price service desks to full ITIL suites and open-source ticket systems, from companies in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany.
How we rank these tools — 4-step process
-
1
European ownership, verified
The company is headquartered and incorporated in the EU, EEA or Switzerland, and processes customer data in Europe. A US parent company disqualifies a tool from this page regardless of where its servers are.
-
2
Category fit and hands-on review
What the tool actually does, who it suits, and where it falls short — checked against the vendor’s own documentation, changelog and pricing page rather than its marketing copy.
-
3
Compliance and pricing check
GDPR posture, hosting location and the prices quoted on this page are verified against the vendor’s public pricing before publication, and re-checked when we revisit the category.
-
4
Position on this page
Placement on this page can be paid, and that can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. It never buys a good review: a tool that fails the checks above is not here at any price, and payment does not change the shortcomings we write about. A vendor can ask us to correct a factual error — not to remove a criticism.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a vendor. Paid placement can affect which tools appear here and the order they appear in. Editorial policy
11 European Alternatives to Freshservice
TOPdesk
Delft service management with three published per-agent tiers and Dutch law in its terms
HaloITSM
UK service desk with one all-features per-agent price and a free trial
GLPI
Open-source service desk and CMDB from Teclib in Paris, cloud from €19 per user a month
Deepser
Italian ITIL service desk with SLAs, CMDB and asset management, end users free
iTop
Open-source ITSM and CMDB from Combodo, as a free Community edition or paid support
EasyVista
French ITSM platform with AI automation and no-code workflow design
Hornbill
London ITSM and ESM platform with service desk, catalog and workflow automation
Zammad
Berlin open-source helpdesk, hosted in German data centres from €7 per agent a month
Matrix42
Frankfurt service management that sits alongside endpoint and asset management
OTOBO
Open-source ITIL-style ticket system from Rother OSS, with managed hosting in Germany
Znuny
Berlin fork of OTRS Community Edition with long-term support releases, free to download
Key takeaways
- Freshservice is sold by Freshworks Inc., a Delaware corporation, under terms governed by California law with first-instance JAMS arbitration in San Francisco.
- TOPdesk (Delft) publishes three per-agent tiers and its terms choose Dutch law and the courts of The Hague.
- HaloITSM (Scotland, United Kingdom) sells one price per agent with all features included, and Zammad (Berlin) lists hosted plans from €7 per agent a month, with data in German data centres.
- GLPI (Paris) lists a public cloud at €19 per user a month with a 45-day trial, and GLPI, iTop, OTOBO and Znuny are open source, so you can run them on your own infrastructure.
- Deepser (Schio, Italy) and EasyVista (Noisy-le-Grand, France) fill the middle with ITIL processes, and Matrix42 (Frankfurt) is the pick if endpoint and asset management belong in the same product.
- Freshservice is quick to start. The European suites ask for more configuration, so budget time for setup and for rebuilding your SLAs and automations.
Why people leave Freshservice
Freshservice is the IT service desk many small and mid-sized teams pick when they want to be running within days. It covers incidents, a self-service portal, a knowledge base and tasks on its entry plan, and adds a service catalog, SLAs, problem, change and release management on higher plans. A chat bot for Microsoft Teams and Slack, an MSP mode for service providers and an AI add-on called Freddy sit on top.
It is sold by Freshworks Inc., a Delaware corporation whose notice address is in San Mateo, California. The standard terms are governed by California law, and any dispute is first decided by JAMS arbitration in San Francisco. The data processing addendum covers transfers out of the EU with the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or, where that does not apply, standard contractual clauses, and for those clauses it names German law and the courts of Berlin.
On the pricing page we were served, the plans are Starter at $19, Growth at $49 and Pro at $99 per agent per month on annual billing, with an Enterprise tier on request and the Freddy AI Copilot add-on at $29 per agent per month. Eleven European tools replace the job for teams of this size, and they are not interchangeable: some publish prices, some are open source, and some are suites that grow past what Freshservice offers.
- The main contract is Californian, with arbitration in San Francisco Under the Freshworks terms, California law governs and disputes are first decided by arbitration in San Francisco, administered by JAMS. The EU-specific protection sits in the data processing addendum, not in the main contract. If you want a supplier whose terms point to a court in your own region, TOPdesk (The Hague), Zammad (Berlin) and Hornbill (England, in its website terms) say so on their own pages.
- The price is per agent, and the tiers decide what you get Problem, change and release management only arrive on the Pro tier at $99 per agent per month, and the AI copilot costs $29 per agent on top. A team of ten agents on Pro with the copilot lists at $1,280 a month before tax. Zammad, GLPI and HaloITSM show a different shape: a lower per-agent entry price, a single all-features price, or a free open-source edition.
- Subprocessors are a list you accept, not a choice The Freshworks addendum has you consent to the subprocessors on its list, with 15 days of notice before changes. That is a normal mechanism, but it means the chain of companies touching your tickets is set by the vendor. Self-hosted open source (GLPI, iTop, OTOBO, Znuny, Zammad) lets you pick the host yourself, and several vendors here name their own hosting.
- Mid-sized teams outgrow the entry plan or the whole product Some teams want less than Freshservice, a plain ticket system. Others want more: a CMDB at the core, asset and endpoint management, or enterprise service management beyond IT. The European tools cover both ends, from Znuny and Zammad at the lighter end to Matrix42, EasyVista and TOPdesk at the heavier end.
What you have to replace, not just match
Start by listing what your team really uses: only incidents and requests, or also change approvals, a service catalog, SLAs and an asset database. Teams that stay on tickets and a knowledge base can move to almost any tool here. Teams that rely on change management and a CMDB should shortlist TOPdesk, HaloITSM, GLPI, iTop, EasyVista or Hornbill and check those features on the plan they would buy.
Export your tickets, knowledge articles and asset records before you sign anything, and decide how much history you need in the new system. Most teams migrate open tickets and the knowledge base and archive the rest. Run both systems side by side for a short period, with email forwarding switched over only once your SLAs and notification rules are rebuilt and tested.
The alternatives compared
| Position | Tool | Headquarters | Pricing | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | TOPdesk | Delft, Netherlands | Per operator, per month | EU (Netherlands) |
| #2 | HaloITSM | Stowmarket, United Kingdom | Per agent, per month | United Kingdom (adequacy decision, outside the EEA) |
| #3 | GLPI | Paris, France | GLPI Network cloud from €19 per agent per month (public) or €21 (private, 25+ users); self-hosted from €100/month (up to 10 agents) to €4,500/month (unlimited); free open-source Community edition available | EU (France) |
| #4 | Deepser | Schio, Italy | Starter from €36 per operator per month, Plus from €49.50 per operator per month, both billed annually (minimum 3 operators); Enterprise priced on request | EU (Italy) |
| #5 | iTop | Échirolles, France | iTop Community free for up to 10 agents (self-hosted or SaaS); Atelier (up to 50 agents) and Forge (50+ agents) editions priced on request | EU (France) |
| #6 | EasyVista | Noisy-le-Grand, France | Not published; pricing provided via quote request | EU (France) |
| #8 | Zammad | Berlin, Germany | Free self-hosted / from about €7/agent/month | EU (Germany) |
| #9 | Matrix42 | Frankfurt, Germany | Per device or per user licence | EU (Germany) |
| #11 | Znuny | Berlin, Germany | Software free (GPL-3.0); managed hosting from €675/month (Silver, annual, plus €1,595 setup); support from €4,250/year | EU (Germany) |
How each alternative compares to Freshservice
- Which law reaches it. EU (Netherlands). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Freshservice is.
Best for: IT teams that want ITSM and the option to extend to facilities or HR on one platform
TOPdesk is provided by TOPdesk Nederland B.V. in Delft. The general terms, which it files at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under KvK number 56849990, are governed by Dutch law, with disputes heard in the district of The Hague. It also publishes separate United States terms for its American customers.
Its pricing page shows three tiers per agent per month: Essential (incident management, asset management, self-service portal, knowledge base), Engaged (adds change, contract and SLA, operations and problem management) and Excellent (adds project management, webshop and the newest AI features). The page has a currency selector, so no amount is quoted here.
It covers IT service management, enterprise service management and facility management, in five languages on its site. Support is local and in your language, and is included in all plans according to the pricing page.
What TOPdesk does better than Freshservice
- Terms under Dutch law with a court in The Hague, where Freshworks uses California law and arbitration
- Change, problem and SLA management arrive from the middle tier, with tiers shown on the pricing page
- Facility and enterprise service management on the same platform
- Local support in your language is included in all plans
Where TOPdesk is a step down from Freshservice
- The pricing page sends you to a conversation (Let's talk), with no self-serve trial button
- Pricing is per agent with a currency selector, so quotes vary by how you view it
- Less of a quick-start tool than Freshservice, with more configuration
- No free tier on the pricing page
Standout against Freshservice. The three-tier price list is one of the few from an established suite, with a Dutch contract and a Hague court.
- Which law reaches it. United Kingdom (adequacy decision, outside the EEA). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Freshservice is.
Best for: IT teams that want every feature without tier arithmetic
HaloITSM belongs to Halo Service Solutions Limited, whose privacy policy gives Cartref, Bonar Bridge, Ardgay, Scotland as the controller address (effective 1 January 2026). That is a United Kingdom company, outside the EU and the EEA. The governing law of its customer terms was not confirmed, because the haloitsm.com site blocked our request.
Its pricing page shows a single price per agent per month billed annually, region by region, with no feature tiers. Onboarding packages are required at a bespoke cost depending on scope. The site shows Book Demo and Try for Free buttons, and describes the product as recognised in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ITSM Platforms as a Challenger.
It is positioned as ITSM with enterprise service management on top, and the pricing page lists optional features such as asset management, service catalogue, SLAs, knowledge base and Halo AI.
What HaloITSM does better than Freshservice
- One price per agent, so no higher tier is needed for change or problem processes
- The site offers a Try for Free option next to Book Demo
- Onboarding packages are explicit, so you see the setup cost up front
- Not an American company, with a registered controller in Scotland
Where HaloITSM is a step down from Freshservice
- United Kingdom, not the EU or the EEA
- Governing law could not be confirmed from its terms
- Prices differ by region and currency, so no amount is quoted here
- Setup costs are quoted per customer rather than published
Standout against Freshservice. A single per-agent price replaces the tier ladder that Freshservice uses to gate change and problem management.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Open source, where Freshservice is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
Best for: Teams that want a service desk and an asset inventory, with the option to host it themselves
GLPI is published by Teclib (TECLIB S.A.S.), registered office 231 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris, registered at the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 513 893 503. Its privacy policy says the cloud servers are at OVH in France, and names Stripe (payments) and Sendgrid (email) among its subprocessors.
Its pricing page lists the Public Cloud at €19 per user per month and the Private Cloud at €21 per user per month for 25 or more users, excluding tax, with a 45-day free trial. Self-hosted options are available as well, and the software itself is open source.
The product covers helpdesk, CMDB, financial management and administration, with plugins in a marketplace. The Public Cloud listing shows 5 GB of storage and 97% availability on shared infrastructure, so read the limits of the plan you need.
What GLPI does better than Freshservice
- Open-source software you can host yourself, which Freshservice never allows
- A published cloud price at €19 per user per month with a 45-day trial
- French company with servers at OVH in France, according to its privacy policy
- CMDB and financial management in the same product
Where GLPI is a step down from Freshservice
- Public Cloud shows 97% availability on shared infrastructure, below the private tier
- Self-hosting means you handle updates, backups and security yourself
- Stripe and Sendgrid are US-based subprocessors for payments and email
- Some features come from community or network plugins, which you have to choose and maintain
Standout against Freshservice. A real choice between running the software yourself and paying Teclib for cloud, at a price shown on the page.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Italy). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. EU data centres (non-EU available on request).
- Source code. Closed source, as Freshservice is.
- Independently checked. ISO 27001.
Best for: Small IT teams that want ITIL-style tickets, SLAs, a portal and asset tracking with free end users
Deepser is provided by Deepser s.r.l., Via Luigi Dalla Via 3/B, Schio (Vicenza), Italy (VAT number IT04232140246, per its privacy policy). Its site says it holds ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification, which is its own statement.
The product lists an ITIL-compliant ticketing system, customizable dashboards and reports, SLA management, a user portal, task management and a calendar with Microsoft 365 and Google integration, plus a service catalog, CMDB and IT asset management in the navigation. Plans are priced per operator per month with a minimum of three operators, and end users are always free.
The pricing page shows Starter and Plus plans, but the amounts are behind an email form, so no figure is quoted here.
What Deepser does better than Freshservice
- Italian company with a registered office in the EU
- End users are free, and the minimum is three operators
- ITIL ticketing, SLAs, CMDB and assets in the product list
- Plans start from three operators, so a small team can begin
Where Deepser is a step down from Freshservice
- The price is behind an email form, so it is not a public list
- Hosting location is not stated on the pages we read
- Governing law was not checked from its terms
- A three-operator minimum rules out a one-person IT desk
Standout against Freshservice. Free end users and a small-team minimum make it one of the more approachable ITIL options here.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Open source, where Freshservice is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
Best for: Teams that care more about the CMDB and service model than a polished first-run experience
iTop is published by Combodo SAS, 5 rue de l'octant, 38130 Echirolles, France (SIRET 52258897900024, share capital €279,045). Its homepage describes iTop as a French open-source ITSM and CMDB solution with a low-code customization tool, and its offers page lists Community, Atelier and Forge editions.
The offers page distinguishes subscription levels by the service model they support (Service management, Standard, Operational, Industrial), by support level (Bronze, Silver or Gold) and by whether SaaS or on-premise is available. Prices are not published on the page we read.
Its legal notice says the website is hosted by WP Engine in the United States. That is the marketing site, not the product, but it is worth knowing when you ask where your instance runs.
What iTop does better than Freshservice
- Open-source ITSM and CMDB, where Freshservice is closed and hosted only by Freshworks
- CMDB listed as a main feature on its homepage
- Low-code designer to adapt the data model
- French company with a published SIRET number
Where iTop is a step down from Freshservice
- Prices are not published on the page we read
- Self-hosting the Community edition means you handle installation and updates
- Editions differ by service model and by support level (Bronze, Silver or Gold), which takes time to compare
- Contract terms and governing law were not checked
Standout against Freshservice. An open-source CMDB that also behaves as a ticket system, with the data model under your control.
- Which law reaches it. EU (France). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Freshservice is.
Best for: Mid-sized IT departments that want automation built in and a vendor in France
EasyVista SAS, share capital €5,351,724, is registered at Bobigny under number 347 848 947, with its headquarters at Immeuble Horizon, 10 allée Bienvenue, 93160 Noisy-le-Grand, France. Its privacy policy names that company as the controller and the publisher of its website.
Its homepage describes an AI-powered ITSM platform with EV Pulse AI for automation, prediction and conversation, and Easy Design for workflow creation. It says EasyVista was included in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ITSM, which is its own statement.
No prices are published and the licensing terms page did not give a clear governing law in the text we could read, so check both with the vendor.
What EasyVista does better than Freshservice
- French company with a verifiable registration and a European head office
- Workflow design and AI automation as headline features
- Demo-led sales with a Request a demo button on the homepage
- Listed by its own site as included in the 2026 Gartner ITSM quadrant
Where EasyVista is a step down from Freshservice
- No published prices, where Freshservice shows its tiers
- Governing law could not be confirmed from the text we read
- More implementation work than a self-serve tool
- No self-serve trial seen on the pages we read
Standout against Freshservice. It treats automation as the main product, with AI and a no-code designer from the same French vendor.
Hornbill
a London platform for ITSM, enterprise service management and automation
Best for: Teams that want IT and other departments on one workflow platform from a UK vendor
Hornbill is operated by Hornbill Corporate Limited, 3rd Floor, 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE, registered in England and Wales under number 7245865. The website terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, with a non-exclusive submission to the English courts. We did not re-read the subscription agreement for customers.
Its homepage lists ESM, ITSM and automation products, with service desk, service catalog, self-service and knowledge management under ITSM. It shows a Book Demo button and no prices.
The United Kingdom is outside the EU and the EEA, so this is a UK supplier rather than an EU one.
What Hornbill does better than Freshservice
- ITSM and ESM from the same workflow engine
- Not an American company, with English law on its website terms
- Service catalog, knowledge and self-service in one place
- A UK-based vendor if you need a supplier in Britain
Where Hornbill is a step down from Freshservice
- United Kingdom, not the EU or the EEA
- No published prices and no self-serve trial on the page we read
- Subscription agreement not checked for this page
- Customer subscription terms were not compared with the website terms
Standout against Freshservice. It sells ESM, ITSM and automation as products on one platform, from a London company.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Your own infrastructure, or German cloud.
- Source code. Open source, where Freshservice is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
Best for: Small teams that need email-based tickets, a knowledge base and SLAs more than ITIL processes
Zammad is provided by Zammad GmbH, Marienstraße 18, 10117 Berlin, registered at Charlottenburg under HRB 163946 B. Its terms for the hosted version are governed by German law with Berlin as the exclusive place of jurisdiction. The software is open source, and a self-hosted option exists.
Hosted plans on annual billing are Starter at €7 per agent per month for up to 5 agents, Professional at €16 for up to 35 agents and Plus at €25. Monthly billing is €9, €18 and €27. All plans run in a German data centre that the page describes as ISO27001-certified, and a free trial is available.
It is a helpdesk rather than a full ITIL suite. The plan lists do not mention problem, change or release management, which sit on Freshservice Pro, so choose it for ticket handling and not for formal ITIL.
What Zammad does better than Freshservice
- Published hosted prices from €7 per agent per month (Freshservice Starter is $19, in a different currency)
- German company with German law and a Berlin court in the hosted terms
- Open source with a self-hosted option
- Data centre in Germany, described as ISO27001-certified
Where Zammad is a step down from Freshservice
- The plan lists do not mention change, problem or release management
- The plan lists do not mention a CMDB or asset management
- Entry plan limited to 5 agents
- Hosted plans cap agents at 5 (Starter) and 35 (Professional)
Standout against Freshservice. Clear hosted prices and German hosting for teams that only need a ticket system.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Source code. Closed source, as Freshservice is.
Best for: Organisations that want the service desk, devices and software licences under one European vendor
Matrix42 is provided by Matrix42 GmbH, Elbinger Straße 7, 60487 Frankfurt am Main, registered at the Frankfurt am Main court under HRB 129344 (VAT DE305002777), with Niilo Fredrikson and Dr. Marc Breitfeld as managing directors according to its imprint.
Its homepage presents itself as The European Choice in Service Management. The product range lists service management, software asset management, SaaS management, IT asset management, unified endpoint management, identity governance and remote assistance.
No prices are published, and we did not check the governing law of its customer terms.
What Matrix42 does better than Freshservice
- Endpoint, software asset and IT asset management in the same vendor family
- German company with a verifiable commercial register entry
- Identity governance and remote assistance as separate products
- A fit for organisations that already want the Matrix42 stack
Where Matrix42 is a step down from Freshservice
- No prices or trial shown on the pages we read
- A broad product range, which is more than a small team needs
- Governing law was not checked
- Contract and hosting details were not compared with the other tools
Standout against Freshservice. Service desk, endpoints and software licences from one German vendor.
OTOBO
an open-source ITIL-style ticket system with managed hosting in Germany
Best for: Teams that want ITIL processes without licence fees and are comfortable running software
OTOBO is published by Rother OSS GmbH, Oberwalting 31, 94339 Leiblfing, Germany, registered at the Amtsgericht Straubing under HRB 12744. Its site describes the platform as 100% open source and licence-free, with IT service management based on ITIL best practices, plus customer service and enterprise service management.
Rother OSS also sells consulting, training, support and managed services, and says it can take over operation in the German data centre. It lists an OTRS migration service for former OTRS users. No prices are published on the pages we read.
Because the software is free, the cost sits in setup, hosting and support, so ask for a quote for the scope you need.
What OTOBO does better than Freshservice
- No licence fee, where Freshservice charges per agent
- ITIL process support in a product you can host yourself
- Managed hosting in a German data centre if you do not want to run it
- German company with a registered commercial register entry
Where OTOBO is a step down from Freshservice
- No published prices for the managed services
- Needs technical skills to install and maintain
- You carry operations unless you buy managed services
- Managed hosting is quoted, not priced on the page
Standout against Freshservice. ITIL-style processes with no licence fee, backed by a company that will also run it for you.
- Which law reaches it. EU (Germany). Freshservice is run from the United States, so the CLOUD Act obliges the provider to hand over data on a valid order regardless of which country the servers are in.
- Where the data sits. Self-hosted on your own infrastructure; Znuny's managed hosting runs in "ISO 27001-certified data centres" whose location and operator are not stated.
- Source code. Open source, where Freshservice is not: you can read what it does rather than take the description on trust.
- Independently checked. SOC 2 (since 2024), ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (since January 2025).
Best for: Teams already on OTRS or comfortable with a plain, configurable ticket system
Znuny is provided by Znuny GmbH, Marienstraße 18, 10117 Berlin, registered at Charlottenburg under HRB 139852 B. It describes itself as the ((OTRS)) Community Edition fork with long-term support, and lists a long-term-support release (6.5.25) and a current release (7.3.7), both dated 16 September 2026.
The software is free to download, and Znuny sells professional services around it. We did not verify whether it delivers a full ITIL suite, so this page treats it as a ticket system with a professional support organisation.
It is the lightest option on this list in terms of surface area, and the most dependent on your own administrators.
What Znuny does better than Freshservice
- Free to download, with no per-agent licence fee
- Long-term-support releases that keep security fixes flowing
- German company with a commercial register entry in Berlin
- Familiar to anyone who has used OTRS
Where Znuny is a step down from Freshservice
- Not a full ITSM suite, and ITIL support was not verified
- You run the server, upgrades and backups yourself
- No published pricing for professional services
- The pages we read do not mention AI features or ITIL processes
Standout against Freshservice. A free, maintained ticket system with long-term-support releases and a Berlin company behind it.
What actually breaks when you switch
The hard part of moving is the process, not the data. Rebuild your SLA policies, notification rules, approvals and automations before you switch over. Workflows are unlikely to carry over as files from one product to another, so budget time for a clean rebuild instead of a copy.
Check which tier or edition holds the feature you need. In Freshservice, problem and change management sit on Pro. In the European tools it varies: TOPdesk puts change in the middle tier, Zammad has no ITIL change process, and open-source editions may need plugins or paid support.
Compare the total cost, not the headline price. Add the AI add-on, onboarding packages (Halo), managed hosting (OTOBO, GLPI private cloud) and your own admin time for self-hosted tools. A free licence is not a free service desk.
Which European tool is closest to Freshservice?
HaloITSM and TOPdesk are the nearest in shape. Both cover incident, request, change and problem processes with a service catalog and automation, and both are aimed at IT teams that want to be productive without a long implementation. HaloITSM sells a single all-features price per agent, and TOPdesk publishes three tiers.
If you want the same kind of quick start with a lighter feature set, Zammad is faster to learn, while Deepser sits between the two with ITIL ticketing, SLAs and a CMDB.
Which of these can I try without a sales call?
GLPI has a 45-day free trial of its cloud offer, Zammad has a Start free trial button, and HaloITSM shows a Try for Free option next to Book Demo. Znuny and OTOBO can be downloaded and run yourself, and iTop has an open-source Community edition.
TOPdesk, EasyVista, Hornbill and Matrix42 ask you to book a demo. That is normal for suites with configuration work, but it takes longer than clicking a trial button.
Can I run an open-source service desk myself?
Yes. GLPI, iTop, OTOBO, Znuny and Zammad are open source and can be installed on your own server. You take on updates, backups and security patching, or you pay the publisher for managed hosting: Teclib for GLPI, Rother OSS for OTOBO in a German data centre, Zammad GmbH in German data centres.
Open source removes the vendor lock-in on the software, but not the work. A small team without a sysadmin will usually be better off with a hosted plan.
Does the contract really matter for an IT service desk?
A service desk stores employee names, device information, internal incidents and sometimes credentials pasted into tickets. The contract decides which law applies, where a dispute is heard and what subprocessors you accept. With Freshservice the main terms point to California and arbitration in San Francisco, while the data processing addendum handles EU transfers with its own mechanisms.
For most teams the better argument is simpler: a supplier with a court and a registered office in your region is easier to hold to account, and the tools here say where they are.
Which one to pick
If you want a full service management suite from a European vendor with published tiers, start with TOPdesk. If you want one price per agent and a free trial, look at HaloITSM, keeping in mind that it is a UK company. If you want a published cloud price and the option to host it yourself, GLPI is the one, and Zammad is the choice for a plain ticket system with the lowest listed entry price.
Deepser and EasyVista fill the middle: Deepser with free end users and a small-team minimum, EasyVista with automation and workflow design. iTop is the pick if the CMDB is the centre of your service model, and Matrix42 if the devices and software licences belong in the same product. Hornbill is the other UK option for IT and enterprise service management.
OTOBO and Znuny are for teams that are comfortable running open-source software and want no licence fee. OTOBO has ITIL processes and German managed hosting, Znuny is the lighter option with long-term-support releases.
Be realistic about the gap. Freshservice is quick to start, has a chat bot for Teams and Slack, and an AI copilot, and none of these eleven matches that speed without configuration. Switch if you want a supplier whose terms point to a court in your region, and keep Freshservice if the speed and the AI features outweigh that.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single best one, because the right tool depends on size and process. TOPdesk is the strongest all-round answer on this page for teams that want a full service management suite, HaloITSM for a single all-in price, GLPI for open source with a published price, and Zammad for a lightweight ticket system with clear prices.
No. The terms are with Freshworks Inc., a Delaware corporation, whose notice address is 2950 S. Delaware Street, San Mateo, California. They are governed by California law, with disputes first decided by JAMS arbitration in San Francisco.
On the pricing page we were served, Starter is $19, Growth $49 and Pro $99 per agent per month on annual billing. Enterprise is priced on request, and the Freddy AI Copilot add-on is $29 per agent per month. Amounts on that page can differ by region and billing period.
GLPI lists its public cloud at €19 per user a month and its private cloud at €21 per user a month for 25 or more users, excluding tax, with a 45-day free trial. Zammad hosted plans, on annual billing, list Starter at €7 for up to 5 agents, Professional at €16 for up to 35 agents and Plus at €25 per agent per month, or €9, €18 and €27 when billed monthly.
TOPdesk shows three per-agent tiers (Essential, Engaged, Excellent) on its pricing page with a currency selector, and Halo lists one price per agent per region with onboarding packages priced separately. Deepser shows its Starter and Plus plans but puts the amounts behind an email form. We quote no amounts for these three because they vary by currency, region or form.
TOPdesk Nederland B.V. (Netherlands), Teclib (France, for GLPI), Combodo SAS (France, for iTop), EasyVista SAS (France), Deepser s.r.l. (Italy), Zammad GmbH, Matrix42 GmbH, Rother OSS GmbH (OTOBO) and Znuny GmbH (all Germany). HaloITSM (Halo Service Solutions Limited, Scotland) and Hornbill (England and Wales) are in the United Kingdom, which is outside the EU.
It depends on what you need. HaloITSM and Hornbill are UK companies, so the contract is under UK law and the UK is outside the EU and the EEA. If you need an EU or EEA supplier specifically, pick one of the nine others. If a UK supplier is acceptable, both are strong service desks.
Zammad, GLPI, Deepser and HaloITSM are the most approachable for teams of a few agents. Zammad starts with a five-agent plan, GLPI at one user, Deepser requires at least three operators, and Halo shows a per-agent price. TOPdesk, EasyVista, Hornbill and Matrix42 are sold through demos and are more of an implementation project.
Check with Freshworks which export formats your plan allows, and with the new vendor what it can import. Plan on moving open tickets, the knowledge base and your asset list, and archive the rest. OTOBO lists a migration service for OTRS users, not for Freshservice, so expect to do the mapping yourself or with a partner.
No. Matrix42 lists service management next to software and IT asset management, unified endpoint management, identity governance and remote assistance. That makes it a good fit if you want the service desk and the devices under one vendor, and a heavy choice if you only need tickets.
Several do. EasyVista lists EV Pulse AI, TOPdesk lists AI features on its Engaged and Excellent tiers, Halo lists Halo AI among its optional features, and Zammad lists optional AI features from its Professional plan. What each does and what it costs differs, and none is a copy of Freddy. Ask for a demo of the exact feature before you count on it.
Related comparisons
Buying guides
Who worked on this review
Explore More European Alternatives
Discover privacy-focused European alternatives to other popular US tech services.