Ticaga vs the competition.
Self-hosted or cloud, per-seat or flat fee — the differences are in the details. What's included, how it feels to use, and how the licence holds up after year three.
Disclosure: Every product listed here is a legitimate choice. We made different trade-offs; this page is the honest version.
KeyYesPartial or higher plansNo
| Feature | Ticaga | SupportPal | Zendesk (cloud) | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing & ownership | ||||
| Per-seat pricing | Nounlimited employees | Nounlimited operators | Yesfrom £45/agent/mo | Yesfrom $25/user/mo |
| Self-host on your server | Yesself-hosted only | Yesself-hosted only | Nocloud only | Nocloud only |
| Pay once, own it | Yes£295 perpetual or £2,000 lifetime | Nomonthly or annual only | Nosubscription | Nosubscription |
| Source code | Core source availableproprietary licence; licensing and paid extensions encoded | NoionCube encoded | Noclosed | Noclosed |
| 3-year licence/subscription cost10 agents · updates included · excludes hosting, administration, optional extensions and VAT | ||||
| Subscription | £540£15/mo × 36 mo | $899.85$299.95/yr × 3 years | £16,200Suite Team: £45 × 10 agents × 36 mo | $9,000Standard: $25 × 10 users × 36 mo |
| Pay once | £454£295 perpetual + £159 updates (2 × £60/yr + £39 for 6 mo)or £2,000 lifetime, updates for life | —not offered | —not offered | —not offered |
| Customer channels | ||||
| Live chat | Yesreal-time; free edition for 1 employee with 30-day history; Live Chat Pro £15/mo | Persistent messagingdesigned for asynchronous conversations | Yesincluded in Suite Team | YesBeacon, all plans |
| Knowledge base | Yesincluded | Yesincluded | Yesincluded in Suite Team | YesDocs, all plans |
| Community forum | YesForum extension | No | Higher plansProfessional and up | No |
| Service status page | YesService Status extension | No | No | No |
| Public roadmap | Yespaid extension, £15/mo | No | No | No |
| Phone support | Nonot built in | Paid add-onTwilio channel, $5/mo | Yesall Suite plans, per-minute fees | Via integrationAircall and others |
| Ticket workflow | ||||
| SLAs & business hours | Yesdepartment + priority matching | YesSLA plans + escalations | Higher plansProfessional and up | Limited1 basic SLA on Standard |
| Automation | YesAutomation Rules extension | Yesmacros + escalation rules | Yestriggers + automations | Yesworkflows, capped by plan |
| Custom fields | Yesincl. encrypted fields | Yesincl. encrypted fields | Yesno encrypted fields | Yes10 on Standard, no encrypted fields |
| AI assistance | YesAI Support extension | Yesfree AI Assistant plugin | YesCopilot costs extra | YesAI Answers $0.75/resolution |
| Ticket translation | YesAI, Google or DeepL | Yesfree Google Translate plugin | YesAI translation, all plans | PartialAI Assist translates replies |
| Time tracking | Yesincluded extension | Yesfree plugin | Yesfree app | Via integrationEverhour |
| Reporting | Yesreports + privacy-first analytics | Yesreports + dashboards | Yes | Yeshistory length by plan |
| Webhooks & API | Yes | Yes | Yesall plans | Yes |
| Business & operations | ||||
| WHMCS / Blesta | Yesboth, with sync + SSO | YesWHMCS sync, Blesta info plugin | PartialWHMCS client-details app | NoZapier only |
| Multiple brands | Yespaid extension, unlimited | Yes$9.95/mo per extra brand | Higher plansProfessional: 5 help centres; 300 on Enterprise | Partialseparate inboxes, Docs sites and Beacons; no branded customer portal |
| GDPR tools | Yessigned bundles + toolkit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Migration in | YesSupportPal, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, osTicket, WHMCS, Blesta, CSV | Yesmigration script + partner | PartialAPI, data importer or paid partners | Yesfree via Import2 |
| Native mobile apps | Noresponsive web app | Nomobile-first web | YesiOS + Android | YesiOS + Android |
| Updates with backup | Yesdry run, automatic backup, rollback | Yesautomatic backup, restore command | N/Acloud, updated by vendor | N/Acloud, updated by vendor |
| Built-in bug bounty management | Yespaid extension, £15/mo | No | No | No |
| Identity verification | YesVeriff extension, needs a Veriff account | No | Nonot built in | No |
Checked September 2026 against each vendor's own pricing pages, documentation and marketplaces. Competitor prices are shown in the currency each vendor publishes, excluding tax. Three-year licence/subscription cost assumes 10 agents on each vendor's entry-level paid plan (Ticaga core, SupportPal annual, Zendesk Suite Team, Help Scout Standard), billed annually where offered, with updates included. Ticaga figures use regular prices, not promotional offers, and the cheapest update renewals for Perpetual. These rows are not a total cost of ownership: they exclude hosting, backups, administration time, paid extensions and add-ons (such as Live Chat Pro or SupportPal extra brands), and VAT. Self-hosted products carry hosting and administration costs that cloud products include.
Sources: Ticaga pricing · Ticaga Live Chat · SupportPal pricing · SupportPal Chat · Zendesk pricing (UK) · Help Scout pricing. Always check current pricing on the vendor's site.
Where we differ.
Pricing pages don't capture everything. Here's where Ticaga stands out, and when another tool is the better fit.
- +You want self-hosted without per-seat pricing
- +You want to pay once, with optional updates
- +You want live chat built for real-time sessions, with a free edition included
- +You want a public roadmap, status page and forum in one install
- +You run a hosting or telecoms business on WHMCS or Blesta
- +You're migrating from SupportPal, Zendesk, Freshdesk or Help Scout
SupportPal
You want self-hosted from a long-established vendor, need phone and WhatsApp through Twilio, and are happy with a monthly or yearly subscription.
Zendesk
You need built-in phone support, native mobile apps and enterprise scale, and don't mind per-agent pricing or a cloud-only product.
Help Scout
You want a hosted, email-first inbox with mobile apps and a free plan for very small teams, and per-user pricing suits you.
Migrate & save.
Ticaga imports from SupportPal, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, osTicket, WHMCS and Blesta. CSV fallback for everyone else.
Premium support tier includes white-glove migration.