OTRS review 2026: enterprise ticketing, ITSM and SOAR software from OTRS AG. Compare Business and Enterprise pricing, features and alternatives like OTOBO.
OTRS began in 2001 as an open-source help desk ticketing project created by developer Martin Edenhofer, with the commercial company OTRS GmbH founded in 2003 and later becoming the publicly traded OTRS AG, headquartered in Oberursel, Germany. OTRS AG operates subsidiaries in the United States, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Hungary.
The company progressively moved from a free open-source model toward a commercial one, culminating in the discontinuation of its free Community Edition in December 2020. That decision prompted the community to create open-source forks, most notably OTOBO and Znuny, to continue a free version of the codebase.
OTRS today is positioned as an enterprise service management platform covering ticket and case management, IT service management (ITSM), and security incident response with SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response) capabilities, alongside SLA and escalation management and reporting dashboards.
The platform also includes information security management system (ISMS) tooling aligned with standards like ISO 27001, supporting regulated organizations that need formal compliance documentation alongside their service desk operations.
OTRS pricing is quote-based rather than published outright, with the Business Edition estimated to start around $49 per agent per month according to third-party sources, and total costs for complex deployments estimated in the $25 to $100 per agent per month range depending on selected modules.
The Enterprise Edition, aimed at large organizations with complex requirements, is priced entirely on a custom quote basis. There is no longer a free Community Edition available, as OTRS AG discontinued it in December 2020.
No. OTRS AG discontinued the free Community Edition in December 2020, and OTRS is now sold exclusively as commercial software through Business and Enterprise editions.
OTRS pricing is quote-based. Third-party estimates put the Business Edition starting around $49 per agent per month, with total costs commonly estimated between $25 and $100 per agent per month depending on modules, and Enterprise Edition pricing fully custom.
OTRS is the commercial, proprietary-licensed original product from OTRS AG in Germany. OTOBO is an independent open-source fork of the former OTRS Community Edition, created in 2019 by Rother OSS GmbH, and remains free and GPL v3 licensed.
The OTRS project began in 2001, created by developer Martin Edenhofer, with the commercial company OTRS GmbH founded in 2003 and later restructured as the publicly traded OTRS AG in 2007.
OTRS AG is headquartered in Oberursel, Germany, with subsidiaries in the United States, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Hungary.
In December 2024, French enterprise service management vendor EasyVista acquired a majority stake in OTRS AG.
Alternatives include ServiceNow, Freshservice, Jira Service Management, and the open-source forks OTOBO and Znuny, which continue development of the discontinued OTRS Community Edition codebase.