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freescout

From public sources

FreeScout is a free, self-hosted open-source help desk and shared inbox that centralizes customer email, chat and social conversations in one place.

ApplicationCategory: Web Apps · Helpdesk & supportOpen sourcedata checked Oct 15, 2026
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Overview

Support teams often juggle customer emails, chats and social messages across separate tools, which makes conversations easy to lose and hard to assign. FreeScout solves this by bringing email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Slack and live chat into one shared inbox where agents can reply, add internal notes, forward, merge or move conversations. The application is built with PHP and the Laravel framework and runs on Nginx, Apache or IIS with MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL. It supports unlimited agents, tickets and mailboxes, collision detection when two agents open the same conversation, and mobile apps and a Progressive Web App. Modules add features such as AI-assisted reply drafting, and an API and Zapier and Make integrations connect it to other tools. FreeScout is aimed at small and mid-sized support teams that want a Zendesk or Help Scout style helpdesk without giving up control of their data. It is released under the AGPL-3.0 license and can be installed on shared hosting, a VPS or via a Docker image.
  • crm
  • customer-support
  • help-desk
  • helpdesk
  • helpdesk-ticketing
  • helpscout
  • laravel
  • osticket-alternative
  • php
  • shared-mailboxes
  • support
  • ticketing

Installation

Commands are shown, never run by the marketplace. Check them against the official documentation.

Compatibility

Unknown means no evidence was found — not that the product is incompatible.
PlatformStatusArchitectureEvidenceConfidence
Web browserCompatible—Declared on the card—
Server / self-hostedUnknown———
Container (OCI)Unknown———

Releases

checked Oct 29, 2026
v1.8.248LatestOct 17, 2026Official source ↗

Files in 1.8.248

This release has no attached files.

Release history

Quality profile

algorithm quality-v1.0 · assessed Oct 15, 2026
Quality Score90
Risk Score0
Confidence 1.00
Quality Score and Risk Score are different measures. A high score does not guarantee safety.

Score components

Maintenance · 2020
last activity 0 days ago
Documentation · 1515
README 6938 chars, description present
Ready to use · 156
install instructions: no; releases: yes
Metadata · 1010
4/4 of description, homepage, license, topics
Releases · 1010
10 release(s), latest 6 days ago
Category confidence · 1010
classifier confidence 1
Adoption · 109
4598 stars (log-dampened, 10k = max)
License clarity · 55
SPDX AGPL-3.0
Community · 55
issues enabled, 732 forks

License

AGPL-3.0
Known licensefrom the repository host

This is the catalog policy status, not legal advice.

Sources

github.com/freescout-help-desk/freescoutPrimary★ 4,598 starslast activity Oct 15, 2026Primary repository · Confidence 1.00

Reviews

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README

From freescout-help-desk/freescout · license AGPL-3.0 · fetched Oct 29, 2026

Free Self-Hosted Zendesk & Help Scout Alternative

FreeScout is the super lightweight and powerful free open source help desk and shared inbox built with PHP (Laravel framework). Now you can enjoy free Zendesk & Help Scout without giving up privacy or locking yourself into a service you don't control. FreeScout has been developed from scratch and does not use any copyrighted Help Scout or Zendesk materials.

If you want to support the project feel free to star this repository. It helps to increase the visibility of the project and let people know that it is valuable. Thanks for your support!

[FreeScout]

Table of Contents

  • Demo
  • Features
  • Mobile Apps
  • Requirements
  • Installation
  • Images & One-Click Installs
  • Modules
  • Tools & Integrations
  • News & Updates
  • Contributing
  • Screenshots

Demo

Live Demo

Features

  • Omnichannel — FreeScout centralizes in one place all customer conversations received by email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Slack, Live Chat and more.
  • AI-powered and super efficient.
  • Unlimited support agents, tickets, mailboxes, etc.
  • Secure by design.
  • Mobile-friendly.
  • Multilingual (translated into 33 languages).
  • Seamless email integration (via SMTP, IMAP, POP3, etc).
  • Modern OAuth authentication for Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.
  • Progressive Web App for phones and desktops (installable from browser and sending Web Push notifications).
  • Native S3 storage support.
  • Fully supports screen readers (for visually impaired).
  • Web installer & updater.
  • Starred conversations.
  • Push notifications.
  • Following conversations.
  • Auto replies.
  • Internal notes.
  • Forwarding / Merging / Moving conversations.
  • Phone conversations.
  • Sending new conversations to multiple recipients at once.
  • Collision detection – notice is shown when two agents open the same conversation.
  • Automatic refreshing of the conversations list without the need to reload the page.
  • Pasting screenshots from the clipboard into the reply area.
  • Flexible notifications for user agents.
  • Open tracking.
  • Powerful search.

A full list of features is available here.

Need anything else? Suggest features.

Mobile Apps

Mobile apps support the same functionality and modules as the web version of your FreeScout installation. Both support agents and administrators can use mobile apps.

Progressive Web App for phones and desktops | MacOS Menu Bar App

Requirements

FreeScout is a pure PHP/MySQL application, so it can be easily deployed even on a shared hosting.

  • Nginx / Apache / IIS
  • PHP 7.4 - 8.x
  • MySQL 5.0+ / MariaDB 5.0+ / PostgreSQL

There are no minimum system requirements (CPU / RAM) – FreeScout will run on any system.

Installation

Installation Guide

Images & One-Click Installs

More one-click installs…

Modules

Tools & Integrations

News & Updates

Don't miss news, updates and new modules!

Email Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Telegram | RSS

Contributing

Screenshots

Dashboard:

[Dashboard]

Conversation:

[Conversation]

Drafting reply with AI:

[Mailbox connection settings page]

Notifications:

[Notifications]

Push notification:

[Push notification]

Web installer:

[Web installer]

Login page:

[Login page]

Open the repository ↗