Zammad Pricing 2026: What This Ticketing System Really Costs (and Where Hidden Fees Are Lurking)

Thinking about rolling out Zammad? Solid choice — open source sounds like freedom, control, and low costs. But let's talk money. Because that €5 plan looking so tempting on the Zammad website? It's probably useless for your e-commerce business. At least if you want modern messaging through WhatsApp or Facebook.

I'm Johannes, founder of Chatarmin. We deal with messaging in customer service every single day. That's why I know the pricing structures of common helpdesk tools inside out — and where the traps are. In this article, I'll show you what Zammad costs in the cloud, what self-hosting really means, and when each plan makes sense for your team.

Zammad Cloud Pricing: Three Plans, Three Different Worlds

Zammad offers its hosted version in three tiers. Prices are per agent, per month. Annual billing saves you roughly 10%. Sounds simple — but it's not, because the feature gaps between plans are massive.

The Pricing Table at a Glance

What This Table Actually Means

The Starter plan at €5 sounds like a bargain. And it is — if you have a three-person team handling nothing but email tickets. No chat, no WhatsApp, no Telegram. For e-commerce in 2026, that's not enough.

The Professional plan at €15 adds chat and Telegram. According to Zammad, Smart Chat can resolve customer inquiries up to 7x faster than classic email tickets — which justifies the price jump. Still: no WhatsApp. You're paying three times as much as Starter and still don't get the channel your customers prefer.

Only the Plus plan at €24 per agent unlocks WhatsApp and Facebook. That's not an accident — it's a deliberate upsell lever. Zammad knows that omnichannel support without WhatsApp barely works anymore, especially in the DACH region. So almost every growing team ends up on the most expensive tier.

€24 per agent is fair for a helpdesk with German hosting. But budget for that amount from day one, not the €5 that headline the pricing page. And watch the storage: Starter only gives you 10 GB. If your team handles lots of email attachments or images in tickets, you'll hit that limit fast — and end up upgrading anyway.

Something I genuinely like about Zammad: if you're missing a feature, you can pay for its development through "Feature Sponsoring." The function then goes into the open-source core and becomes available to everyone. That's how the "Mentions" feature was built, for example. It's a model I wish more SaaS vendors would adopt.

By the way: if you're switching from OTRS (no more Community Edition) or Jira Service Management (too complex and expensive for pure customer support) — Zammad offers free migrators for both systems. Data migration is straightforward.

Self-Hosting: "Free" Is the Most Expensive Word in IT

Zammad is open source. You can download the Community Edition and run it on your own servers without paying Zammad a cent. Sounds like a dream. Until you do your first maintenance.

What Self-Hosting Actually Costs

The software itself is free. Everything around it is not:

Infrastructure costs: Depending on team size and traffic, you'll need servers between €15 and €120 per month. Add backup storage, SSL certificates, and potentially a load balancer as your support volume grows.

Staff costs: Someone has to set up the server, apply security patches, test updates, and verify backups. In reality, that's at least 4–8 hours per month for an experienced admin. At an internal hourly rate of €80, we're talking €320–640 per month — just for maintenance.

The rule of thumb: For teams under 20 agents, self-hosting almost never pays off. Staffing costs for maintenance easily exceed cloud fees. At 50+ agents, the math flips: self-hosting actually saves money because you're not paying per-agent fees.

The Gray Area: Managed Hosting Through Third Parties

There's a third option that Zammad doesn't advertise on its website: providers like Elestio or CloudClusters host Zammad as a managed app — often starting at around $5–15/month for small instances. You can also run Zammad through the AWS Marketplace (e.g., via ATH Infosystems), where EC2 costs vary by instance type (t3.small from around $0.05/hour).

The upside: you skip the maintenance work and pay significantly less than the official Zammad Cloud. The downside: no direct vendor support. If something breaks, you're relying on the community and your hosting provider. A real alternative for technically skilled teams — a risk for everyone else.

Support Contracts for Self-Hosters

If you self-host but don't want to be completely on your own, you can buy support contracts. The pricing is anything but open-source romantic:

For context: the Business plan at €2,999 per year gives you 15 service requests. That's roughly €200 per individual support ticket. The word "free" loses its shine pretty quickly.

Zammad vs. Zendesk: The Price Comparison You Need

Most e-commerce teams compare Zammad with Zendesk. Understandable — both cover the helpdesk segment. But the price gap is significant.

Zendesk Suite Team costs around $55 per agent per month. The Zammad Plus plan sits at €24 (roughly $26). That's less than half — with comparable functionality for basic support. Independent review platforms confirm this: on Capterra, Zammad scores 5.0 out of 5 stars for "Value for Money" — Zendesk sits at 4.2. Zammad is also regularly listed as a "High Performer" in the helpdesk segment on G2.

That said, there are important differences beyond price:

Where Zammad wins:

• Hosting in German data centers (ISO 27001-certified)
• GDPR compliance without US cloud risks
• Open-source transparency: you know what's under the hood
• Significantly lower entry costs for small teams

Where Zendesk pulls ahead:

• Much larger app ecosystem and marketplace
• More native integrations (Shopify, Salesforce, etc.)
• More advanced AI features and automations
• Better reporting capabilities out of the box

For a D2C e-commerce team in the DACH region with 10–30 agents that values data sovereignty, Zammad is the smarter financial choice. If you're running an international support team with 100+ agents and complex automations, Zendesk often works out better despite higher costs.

Zammad vs. ArminCX: When E-Commerce Needs More Than a Ticketing System

The Zendesk comparison is the classic matchup. But if you're running an online store, there's a question Zammad doesn't answer: What happens when you want to use WhatsApp not just as a support channel, but as a revenue driver?

That's where ArminCX comes in — our AI-first customer service platform built specifically for e-commerce in the DACH region. This comparison is intentionally not apples-to-apples. It's designed to show where the limits of a traditional helpdesk lie.

Where Zammad is the better choice: When you need a classic IT ticketing system, want self-hosting, or your support runs primarily through email. Zammad has broader appeal and also serves government agencies, NGOs, and internal IT teams.

Where ArminCX is the better choice: When you're running a Shopify or WooCommerce store and want WhatsApp as a full channel for both support and marketing. No per-agent pricing — instead, AI agents that automatically handle up to 70% of standard inquiries around the clock in 10+ languages.

The key difference: Zammad manages tickets. ArminCX automates customer service and generates revenue through WhatsApp at the same time. For e-commerce teams that want both, this is the more relevant comparison.

Which Plan Is Right for You?

Not every team needs the same tier. Here's an honest breakdown:

Zammad Starter (€5/agent) fits if you have a small internal team (max. 5 people) doing email-only support. Typical for B2B companies with manageable ticket volumes that don't need messaging. For e-commerce, this plan is too limited in most cases.

Zammad Professional (€15/agent) is the right call if you need chat and Telegram but can live without WhatsApp and Facebook. You also get SLAs and a single-language knowledge base. Workable for single-market shops without international support — but only as long as WhatsApp isn't on the agenda.

Zammad Plus (€24/agent) is the plan most growing e-commerce businesses actually need. WhatsApp, Facebook, Core Workflows, multilingual knowledge base, and unlimited agents. If you're serious about omnichannel support, there's no way around it.

Self-Hosted makes sense for companies with their own IT department and strict compliance requirements: banks, government agencies, or enterprises with 50+ agents. This option is especially popular with NGOs and nonprofits — organizations like Amnesty International use the open-source version because there are no license fees and full data transparency is guaranteed. Zammad doesn't offer blanket cloud discounts for nonprofits, so self-hosting often remains the only affordable option. If you're a Shopify store with 12 employees, steer clear.

Frequently Asked Questions About Zammad Pricing

Is Zammad really free?

Yes, the open-source version (Community Edition) is free of license fees. However, costs arise for hosting, maintenance, and IT staff (TCO). The cloud version starts at €5 per agent per month.

How much does Zammad cost with WhatsApp Business?

WhatsApp is only available in the cloud via the Plus plan at €24 per agent per month. In self-hosting there are no license fees, but setting up the WhatsApp Business API is technically complex.

Are there discounts for NGOs and nonprofits?

No, Zammad doesn't offer special cloud discounts for NGOs. Many organizations like Amnesty International therefore use the free self-hosted version.

How expensive is support for self-hosters?

Vendor support starts at €2,999 (Business) and goes up to €9,999 (Corporation) per year, depending on response time and ticket volume.

Is the Zammad Starter plan worth it?

Only for very small teams with no chat needs. Since chat, Telegram, and WhatsApp are missing, the Starter plan is usually unsuitable for modern e-commerce.

Zammad vs. Zendesk: Which is cheaper?

Zammad is typically 20–30% cheaper. The Plus plan (€24) offers features that Zendesk only includes in tiers starting at $55 or $115.

How much storage is included?

Storage is tiered: 10 GB (Starter), 25 GB (Professional), and 50 GB (Plus). If your team handles lots of attachments, plan for the Plus tier from the start.

Is there a Zammad app for iOS or Android?

No, Zammad doesn't have a native app. However, the interface is responsive (Mobile View) and works well in mobile browsers.

Can I buy missing features?

Yes, through "Feature Sponsoring." Companies can fund the development of desired features, which then become part of the open-source core — like the Mentions feature.

Is Zammad GDPR-compliant?

Yes. Zammad GmbH hosts cloud instances in ISO 27001-certified German data centers. With the self-hosted version, you have full control over all data.

Can I cancel Zammad on a monthly basis?

Yes, with monthly billing you can cancel at any time effective at the end of the month. Annual contracts are 10% cheaper but lock you in for 12 months.

Is migrating from OTRS or Zendesk easy?

Yes, Zammad offers free migrators that automatically import tickets, users, and attachments. The transfer happens directly through the admin interface.

The Bottom Line: Zammad Is Fair — If You Know What You Actually Need

Zammad is one of the most transparent vendors in the helpdesk market. Pricing is clear, and the feature boundaries between plans make sense. What bugs me: the €5 entry price creates an expectation that doesn't match reality for most e-commerce teams.

If you need WhatsApp support (and you probably do if your customers are in the DACH region), budget for €24 per agent from the start. Anything else leads to an upgrade three months later that you could have skipped.

And if you're not just looking for a ticketing system but want to use WhatsApp as a real revenue channel — with campaigns, automations, and a shared team inbox — a helpdesk alone won't cut it. That's exactly what we built Chatarmin for.

Book a demo and we'll show you in 45 minutes what's really possible with WhatsApp in e-commerce.