Frequently Asked Questions
For questions about plans and pricing, see our pricing page.
Product
Does it modify the osTicket database?
No. osTicket Awesome does not add, remove, or alter any database tables or columns. All modifications exist at the file level: PHP templates, CSS, JavaScript, and configuration. The database remains standard osTicket throughout, which means you can switch between osTicket Awesome and vanilla osTicket at any time by swapping the files.
Which web browsers are supported?
Every major browser on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera.
Will it work on my smartphone or tablet?
Yes. osTicket Awesome is fully responsive and works on any screen 295px or wider.
Which plugins are supported?
All osTicket plugins are bundled and pre-installed. Activate them in Admin Panel > Manage > Plugins:
Does osTicket Awesome support language packs?
Yes. All officially supported languages are pre-installed, covering 50+ options including Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (Argentina, Spain, Mexico), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and many more.
Will it work on a Windows IIS server?
Yes. PHP and MySQL are required. We provide complete installation instructions for every scenario, including IIS with both directory and subdomain configurations.
Will it work on a Synology NAS?
Yes. If you encounter file upload issues using Synology’s File Manager, use an FTP client like FileZilla instead.
Does it work on an intranet or air-gapped network?
Yes. osTicket Awesome was designed to run on isolated networks. Everything the product needs is bundled in the installation: all assets, fonts, scripts, and language packs are served locally. There are no external CDN dependencies, no third-party JavaScript, and no calls to outside services required for the helpdesk to function. The license module attempts a status check once per day, but if it can’t reach our server, it fails silently with no impact on functionality. Organizations running osTicket Awesome on classified networks, hospital intranets, and air-gapped government systems do so without any modifications.
What is SHIFT+O?
SHIFT+O is a built-in diagnostic tool. Press SHIFT+O on any page in the Staff Panel to instantly toggle between osTicket Awesome and vanilla osTicket’s appearance. This lets you see exactly what osTicket Awesome changes, and helps isolate whether an issue is in our enhancements or in the upstream osTicket core.
Installation
How do I install it?
We provide detailed installation instructions covering first-time installs, upgrades from vanilla osTicket, and updates between osTicket Awesome releases. Instructions include walkthroughs for SSH, FTP, cPanel, Plesk, and phpMyAdmin on both Linux and Windows IIS servers.
Can someone install it for me?
Yes. We offer a Professional Installation service for $150 USD. We install and configure osTicket Awesome on your server, ready to use, typically within 24 hours.
For more complex needs (custom development, server configuration, training, migration), our Hire a Pro service is available at $150 USD/hour.
Is there an easy way to carry over my custom code modifications?
Yes. A tip is provided in the post-installation documentation for identifying and copying your custom code modifications when installing or upgrading.
Updates
What happens when a new version of osTicket comes out?
We release an updated version of osTicket Awesome to match it, typically within one week. We’ve maintained this cadence for over 10 years.
How will I know when an update is available?
Your admin panel displays an update notification bar at the top of the page when a new release is available, along with a link to download it. This check happens automatically as part of the license module’s daily status check.
What happens when osTicket 2.0 is released?
An osTicket Awesome release will match v2.0 when it becomes available. We are committed to supporting osTicket 1.18.x for at least five years after osTicket 2.0’s release, giving organizations time for confident, well-planned transitions.
Features
How do I change the color theme?
Go to Admin Panel > Settings > Theme Information. Theme switching affects both the Staff Panel and Client Portal simultaneously.
Can I use my own company logo?
Yes. See our Logo Tips guide for instructions on integrating your logo into osTicket Awesome.
How do I enable Dark Mode?
Each agent enables Dark Mode individually under Staff Panel > My Profile > Dark Mode. It’s a per-agent preference and doesn’t affect the Client Portal.
How do I remove the logos in the footer?
Add this CSS in Admin Panel > Settings > Theme Information > Custom CSS:
#footer #osticket a,
#footer #ostawesome a {
display: none !important;
}Can you add a specific feature?
Submit your idea on the Feature Requests page. Other users can vote for it, and popular requests inform our development priorities.
Licensing
How does the license key work?
When you purchase a subscription, you receive a license key (prefixed OSTA-). Enter it in Admin Panel > Settings > Theme Information to activate your installation. The license connects your install to your account and enables update notifications. Your helpdesk works with or without a valid key; the license is a validation mechanism, not a feature gate.
How do I activate my installation?
Go to Admin Panel > Settings > Theme Information. Paste your OSTA- key into the license field and click Activate. Your installation will contact our server to verify your subscription and display your plan details. Activation takes a few seconds.
How do I move osTicket Awesome to a new URL?
Log in to your My Account dashboard, find the old domain in your Active Sites list, and click Revoke. Then activate your license key on the new installation. This frees up the activation slot without needing to contact support.
How do I transfer my license to someone else?
Contact us. We can update the “Licensed to” name on your subscription and help coordinate the transfer. The license key itself doesn’t change; the new owner activates it on their server after you revoke your installation.
What is a staging site?
A staging site is a copy of your helpdesk used for testing updates, configuration changes, or custom development before applying them to your production environment. Common examples include test.yourdomain.com, helpdesk-staging.yourdomain.com, or a local development server. You designate which of your installations are staging in your My Account dashboard.
I have a Solo account. Can I use a staging site?
Solo includes one production installation only. If you need a staging environment alongside your production helpdesk, the Business plan ($149/year) includes 1 production + 1 staging site. You can upgrade at any time and we’ll prorate the difference.
Note: domains matching common development patterns (localhost, *.dev, *.test, *.local, *.staging) can be activated without consuming an installation slot on any plan.
I see a warning that my staging license has expired. What does this mean?
Staging activations expire after 90 days. This is a lightweight check-in to confirm you’re still using the staging environment, not a restriction. Your staging helpdesk continues working normally. To clear the warning, log in to your My Account dashboard, find the staging domain in your Active Sites list, and click Re-activate. The 90-day clock resets and the warning disappears on the next page load.
I am an Agency. Can I share my license key with my clients?
Yes. Your Agency key has 10 activation slots (5 production, 5 staging). You can install osTicket Awesome on a client’s server yourself, or give them the key and let them activate it. Either way, one slot is consumed per installation.
Keep in mind that your subscription, your support entitlement, and your renewal are all tied to your account. If a client contacts us for support, we’ll direct them to you. Managing which clients use which slots is between you and your clients.
Can I resell osTicket Awesome to my clients?
If you’re an MSP or consultancy including osTicket Awesome as part of your managed service offering, that’s exactly what the Agency plan is for. What you charge your clients for your services is your business.
We also offer a reseller program with volume pricing for agencies that want to sell osTicket Awesome as a standalone product.
What data does the license module collect?
The license module sends a diagnostic report once per day containing software versions (PHP, database, osTicket Awesome release), server environment (web server, OS), and aggregate usage counts (number of agents, departments, tickets). No names, no email addresses, no ticket content, no customer data. Full details are on our Telemetry Disclosure page.
Subscription & Billing
Each license you purchase is a fully independent subscription with its own renewal date, its own cancel control, and its own payment cycle. Buying multiple licenses in a single transaction would group them together — sharing one renewal date, one payment, and one cancel button. Cancelling one would cancel all of them.
Buying each license separately keeps them autonomous. You can cancel, pause, or renew any one of them without affecting the others.
It's the same model used by Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Adobe — one purchase per seat, all managed from one account.
Every plan includes all 30+ enhancements, every feature, unlimited agents, product support, and all updates and new releases for the duration of your subscription. Plans differ only by scale (number of production sites) and support channel (community forum for Solo, priority email for Business and Agency). See the pricing page for a full comparison.
Your helpdesk keeps working. Nothing breaks, nothing disappears, no features are disabled, and your ticket data is completely unaffected. osTicket Awesome never modifies your database, so there is nothing to "undo."
What you lose is access to new releases, product support, and the community forum. Your admin panel will display a discreet notification that your license has expired. You can renew at any time to restore full access.
No. Every plan supports unlimited agents. Add as many staff members as you need. The price never changes.
Yes. You can upgrade at any time and we'll prorate the cost for the remainder of your billing period. Downgrades take effect at your next renewal.
Your purchase is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Install it, set it up, use it with your team. If it's not the right fit, we'll give you a full refund.
You can also explore the live demos to see osTicket Awesome in action before you buy: Staff Panel demo and Client Portal demo.
Installation help, configuration questions, upgrade assistance, and bug reports. If something isn't working the way it should, we'll help you sort it out.
Agency support additionally covers migration guidance (planning, data mapping, platform comparison) and multi-instance architecture advice (subdomain strategy, coordinating upgrades across client sites). These are questions that naturally arise at Agency scale.
Product support does not cover server administration, custom development, hands-on migration work, or third-party integrations. Those are available as professional services at an hourly rate.
No. osTicket Awesome is a professional distribution of osTicket, similar to how Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux. We build on top of the official osTicket release, adding 30+ enhancements for design, usability, and internationalization. When osTicket releases an update, we merge it into our distribution and ship it to you, usually within a week, as we have been doing consistently for 10 years.
"Your project was one of those signals we couldn't ignore. It both hurt and helped, in the best way possible."
— Peter Rotich, Founder, osTicket
We accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Payment is processed securely through Stripe or PayPal, depending on which you choose at checkout. No PayPal account is required to pay by credit card; if you do have a PayPal account, you can pay directly from your linked bank account.
Yes. A PDF invoice is generated automatically for every purchase and renewal and attached to your order confirmation email. If you provide a VAT or Tax ID number at checkout, it appears on your invoice. You can also download invoices from your My Account dashboard at any time.
We built this because our European customers made it very clear that proper invoices at the point of purchase were non-negotiable. If your organization requires invoices for procurement, we have you covered. For more details, see our VAT & Invoicing page.
Yes. We offer a 25% discount for educational institutions and non-profit organizations. See our Educational Discount and Non-Profit Discount pages for eligibility and how to apply.