Devoted to Help Desk and Technical Support personnel and applications

Although the words "free ticketing system" may sound like more trouble than they are worth, I am going to go over a number of available products because there is no doubt a "market" for free software, and they are getting better all the time. I will be doing group "reviews" like this on all levels of help desk software, so stay tuned and subscribe to my blog even if you are not looking for free software today.   

By trying out the software for myself, I could not provide you with a true review of the products.  Performance means everything, and the best way to test performance is to see how it works for multiple businesses with varies needs.  Today I am going to hook you up with the most reputable review sources available so that you can draw your own conclusion, and hopefully you will come back and tell us what you found.  If you are looking for free help desk software, you have come to the right place:

SpiceWorks is the first free help desk software package on my list for a reason.  The most interesting part is WHY the software is free.  The software is primarily funded by Google Adsense, so they have a budget to produce the software.  I already wrote a piece on this software, but today's article would be pointless without putting SpiceWorks at the top of the list for free help desk software.  The reviews for this product are stellar and comprehensive, so check those out.

Features:  A ticketing system, software and hardware asset tracking and reporting, network monitoring and troubleshooting, collaboration network, and RSS feeds.

Reviews:  Tech World; Small Business Computing; Redmonk; pcmag

AdventNet offers numerous downloads of free software.  The one I am focusing on is the Service Desk Plus permanent free edition.  The company stays in business by providing an affordable upgrade.  I had a very tough time finding well-rounded review of this free software, but one advantage to this software is that if you like the free version, you'll probably love the upgrade.  

Features:  I could not find anything on the website stating, "The free edition includes..." but from what I gather, here are the features:  A ticketing system, Active Directory integration, SLA Management, knowledge base, automatic emails to users when tickets are opened and closed.  

Reviews:  FilesLand.com; Freedownloadscenter.com

Help Desk Lite:  I do not think I would spend any time with this software package.  I could not find any reviews, and it really is "lite" on features. 

Features:  A web based ticketing system, CGI script written in Perl, customizable mail forms

Reviews:  None found

Trouble Ticket Express It was difficult to find big name reviewers for this software, in fact I only found one, but it is a step up from Help Desk lite.  If you are savvy, you can probably get it to do what a small help desk needs to do.

Features:  Features trouble ticket tracking, email alerts, unlimited operators, ticket transfers, and highly customizable html and email templates. Additional modules for file uploads, email based submissions and MySQL database.

Review: Webscriptsdirectory.com 

Help Desk Reloaded has earned some higher ratings, and does appear to be highly customizable.   

Features:  Web based PHP script ticketing system, tables, and fields in the MySQL database. Creates a centralized repository for support calls, allows quick review of tickets

Reviews:  HotScripts; Freshmeat.net

SysAid:  A new version of Ilient's SysAid Free Help Desk Software is now available. This version is completely free, with no trial period, and no ads.  (Support and upgrades are free for only six months.)

Features:  Users can submit requests via online forms.  Support personnel can use a search tool, print reports, communicate with users via Email, use SMS, send instant messages, escalate tickets, use automatic notifications, a knowledgebase, Manage and monitor inventory, choose between English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew interfaces.  Receive free support and updates for six months.

Reviews:  SoftPedia.com, Download.com, SoftSea.com,

In summary, if I had a very low budget, and absolutely had to go with free help desk software, I would go with SpiceWorks hands down.  The constant advertising does not keep me from surfing the internet all night.  It certainly won't make me less productive when I'm working, as long as there are no annoying, flickering ads.  

Have you used this software? Send a comment!

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