Total Cost of Ownership Calculator
Drag the slider. Pick your current platform. See what you’re actually paying for helpdesk software, and what you could be paying instead.
osTicket Awesome Business plan: $149/year. All features, unlimited agents. Self-hosted.
Competitor pricing sourced from public pricing pages as of March 2026. Billed annually where available.
Does not include hosting costs (~$20–100/month for a VPS) or competitor AI/automation add-ons.
What SaaS pricing pages don’t show you.
The per-agent price is just the starting point. Here’s what else accumulates.
| Cost item | osTicket Awesome | Zendesk | Freshdesk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base per-agent fee | $0 (flat annual) | $55–$169/agent/mo | $15–$79/agent/mo |
| AI copilot / automation | N/A | +$50/agent/mo | +$29/agent/mo (Freddy) |
| AI resolution overages | N/A | $1.50–$2.00 per resolution | $100/1,000 sessions |
| Remove vendor branding | Included | Enterprise tier ($169+/agent/mo) | Included on Pro+ |
| HIPAA eligibility | Inherent (self-hosted) | Enterprise tier + BAA | Not available |
| SSO / LDAP | Included (pre-installed) | Professional+ ($115/agent/mo) | Enterprise ($79/agent/mo) |
| Audit logging | Included (CSV export) | Included on Professional+ | Enterprise only |
| Data export on cancellation | Your database, always | Request-based, limited formats | Request-based, limited formats |
The real cost of SaaS isn’t the sticker price. It’s the sticker price, plus the add-ons you’ll need within 6 months, plus the tier upgrade you’ll want within a year, plus the premium plan you’ll require when compliance auditors come knocking. osTicket Awesome includes everything at every tier.
Three-year total cost of ownership.
SaaS costs compound annually (and often increase at renewal). Self-hosted costs are flat. Here’s what that looks like over three years for a 25-agent team.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk Pro (25 agents) | $34,500 | $34,500 | $34,500 | $103,500 |
| + AI add-on | $15,000 | $15,000 | $15,000 | $45,000 |
| Zendesk total | $49,500 | $49,500 | $49,500 | $148,500 |
| osAwesome Business | $149 | $149 | $149 | $447 |
| + VPS hosting (~$50/mo) | $600 | $600 | $600 | $1,800 |
| osAwesome total | $749 | $749 | $749 | $2,247 |
Three-year savings: $146,253. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a budget line item that disappears.
Your team deserves a helpdesk that doesn’t charge by the headcount.
No signup needed to try the demos. No credit card needed to test the product. 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.