FreeITSM vs TOPdesk
FreeITSM
freeitsm.co.uk
TOPdesk
topdesk.comSide by side
| Figure | FreeITSM | TOPdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | £51/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 3 |
| Spec score · IT Change Management Software | 9.0 (#6) | 8.6 (#13) |
| Spec score · IT Knowledge Base Software | 8.9 (#9) | 8.5 (#24) |
| Spec score · AI IT Service Desk Software | 8.9 (#4) | 8.5 (#8) |
| Spec score · IT Problem Management Software | 9.0 (#7) | 8.6 (#11) |
| Spec score · IT SLA Management Software | 8.9 (#11) | 8.6 (#17) |
| API | An external API endpoint allows automated agents to submit software inventory data. | The product exposes APIs, OData endpoints and webhooks for custom integrations and automation. |
| Asset management | Assets tracks custody, locations, warranties and QR labels and can synchronize VMware vCenter, Proxmox, VMware Cloud Director and Intune data. | Asset management records equipment, ownership and lifecycle information and can link assets to tickets. |
| Change management | Change Management includes CAB voting, risk assessment, calendars, activity timelines and post-implementation review. | Change functionality supports approvals, milestones, calendars, templates and links between changes, problems and tickets. |
| Integrations | Official pages document Microsoft 365, Google Workspace/Gmail, VMware vCenter, Microsoft Intune, WhatsApp through Twilio or Meta, and optional chat channels. | TOPdesk advertises more than 100 prebuilt integrations plus custom connections through its open API. |
| Knowledge base | Knowledge supports rich-text articles, folders, audience visibility, review workflows, semantic search and AI chat. | TOPdesk provides a knowledge base for publishing answers and reducing repetitive support requests. |
| Licence | The project is released under the MIT License. | TOPdesk terms grant restricted use rights and prohibit redistribution, reverse engineering and attempts to derive source code, indicating proprietary closed-source software. |
| Security | The System module lists OpenID Connect SSO, AES-256-GCM encryption key management, TOTP multi-factor authentication, account lockout, IP-based brute-force protection, and trusted device management. | The platform page states that TOPdesk is SOC 2 certified and reports 99.9% average uptime. |
| Security controls | System security features include OIDC SSO, TOTP MFA, password expiry, account lockout, IP brute-force bans, trusted devices and encrypted settings. | The service uses Cloudflare for SSL and DDoS protection and FOX-IT for security-information and event monitoring. |
| Self-service portal | The self-service portal lets staff without company email addresses sign in with usernames, submit tickets and follow conversations without requester licence fees. | End users can submit and track requests, search knowledge articles and use forms through a customizable self-service portal. |
| Support | The maker describes FreeITSM as a solo passion project with no formal support and directs users to GitHub to report bugs or ideas. | All plans include local product support; the pricing page lists 8/5 support for Essential and Engaged and 24/5 for Excellent. |
| System requirements | Manual installation requires PHP 7.4–8.4, MySQL 8.0 or newer, PDO MySQL, cURL, OpenSSL and mbstring; MariaDB 10.5+ is also listed on the getting-started page. | The published on-premises requirements specify a 64-bit server platform and require consideration of the host virtualization supplier's requirements. |
| What it does | FreeITSM is a self-hosted web IT service-management platform for running a service desk and related IT operations. | TOPdesk is an IT, facilities and enterprise service-management platform for handling incidents, requests, assets and workflows. |
Plans
In their own words
FreeITSM
FreeITSM is an open-source IT service management platform with 23 integrated modules for running a service desk. Its Tickets module connects Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace mailboxes for email ticketing, assignment, prioritisation, replies, attachments and audit trails. Assets tracks physical and virtual equipment and can discover VMware virtual machines through vCenter. Listed service-management tools include risk assessment, approval workflows, change calendars and change audit trails. Optional AI features provide knowledge answers, ticket-reply cleanup, form assistance, workflow authoring and problem detection. They use a customer-provided Anthropic, OpenAI or OpenRouter key, and provider usage may cost extra. FreeITSM runs with Docker on Linux or Windows, or through IIS with PHP or WAMP and MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.5+. Security options include OpenID Connect SSO, AES-256-GCM key management, TOTP multi-factor authentication, account lockout, brute-force protection and trusted devices. The project has no formal support.
TOPdesk
TOPdesk is service management software for teams handling tickets, knowledge, assets, and service requests across IT, Facility Management, and HR. Incident Management lets teams register and process requests and complaints, then assign tickets to agents. End users can submit and follow tickets through the Self-Service Portal and look for answers to common questions. Asset Management gives teams a graphical overview of company assets, such as access passes and company cars. All three listed plans include unlimited assets, tickets, and end users, 100GB of storage, and a 2GB file upload limit. Essential costs £51 a month per agent. Engaged costs £72 a month per agent and adds change, contract and SLA, operations, and problem management. Excellent costs £101 a month per agent and adds project management and a webshop. TOPdesk runs in the cloud for most customers and also supports on-premises setups. It offers 100+ integrations and an Open API, including Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, and Power BI.