OTRS Community Edition

What is OTRS Community Edition?

OTRS Community Edition is the free, open-source version of the OTRS help desk and IT service management software. You install it on your own server and run ticketing from it. OTRS AG discontinued development and support of the edition in January 2021. Centuran Consulting took over maintenance and ships new releases.

Who is it for?

IT departments and organizations that want a self-hosted ticketing system and have staff to install, secure and update it. Teams that want a hosted product with a vendor SLA should look at a SaaS help desk instead.

Pricing

• Community Edition: free, open source. You pay for your own hosting and admin time.

Prices checked on 6 October 2026.

Strengths

• No license fee: the software costs nothing, so the only costs are the server and the people who run it.
• Active maintenance: Centuran Consulting released version 6.0.41 on 10 December 2024, and that release includes a security fix.
• Self-hosted: tickets and customer data stay on infrastructure you control.

What to consider

• The original creator, OTRS AG, no longer develops or supports this edition. Fixes depend on Centuran Consulting.
• Nobody sells you support or a hosted version on the vendor's site. You handle upgrades, backups and security patches yourself.
• The site shows version 6.0.x as the current line, so check whether that release line matches your upgrade plans.

Bottom line

Shortlist it if you have sysadmins and want a free, self-hosted ticketing system. Before you commit, check who will patch it in two years and whether Centuran's release pace fits your security policy.