Andrea Helpdesk review
A free self-hosted help desk with broad core support features and limited integrations.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Andrea Helpdesk is an open-source, self-hosted customer support application for teams that want ticket management without per-agent SaaS fees. It supports ticket intake through email, an agent interface, and a customer portal. Agents can manage assignments, replies, notes, and workflows in a browser, while customers can submit and track tickets through a passwordless magic-link portal. Its free plan includes unlimited agents, tickets, customers, and knowledge-base articles.
The plan structure is straightforward: Andrea Helpdesk costs $0 per month, with no paid tier. The included feature set covers email and IMAP across unlimited inboxes, email threading, SLA and escalation rules, overdue tracking, searchable internal and customer-facing knowledge bases, and customer ticket history. Internal channel chat and direct messages support team communication, while browser notifications and PWA push extend access beyond the main web interface.
Andrea Helpdesk fits teams that want control over deployment and a focused help desk with a broad set of core support functions. Its REST API covers tickets, replies, attachments, customers, reports, and portal routes, and Slack webhooks, SMTP, and IMAP provide the listed connection points. The trade-off is a narrower integration ecosystem than teams may expect from a larger help desk platform. Teams seeking a free, self-hosted system with unlimited core usage should consider Andrea Helpdesk; teams that need a wider range of integrations or paid support should look elsewhere.
Andrea Helpdesk pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Unlimited agents, tickets, customers, and knowledge-base articles
- Email, portal, SLA, chat, notifications, and PWA support
- REST API plus self-hosted control over the deployment
- Where it doesn't
- Integration options are limited to IMAP, SMTP, and Slack webhooks
- Self-hosting requires teams to manage their own PHP and MySQL deployment
- No paid tier or paid support offering is provided
Andrea Helpdesk fact sheet, pricing and score →
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