Zendesk Suite Team is $55 per agent per month — a 3-person team pays around $2,000 a year, forever, and every ticket lives in Atlassian's cloud. Deskly does the same job on a $5 VPS: email-to-ticket, SLA timers, macros, CSAT, all landing in a SQLite file you own. $49, once, no matter how many agents you add.
If you've searched for a Zendesk alternative, Deskly is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Deskly is $49, one time, and covers the same core job Zendesk charges $55/agent/mo for.
What makes Deskly the pick for 2026
- Email → ticket — Poll any IMAP inbox or POST to a token-protected webhook — replies thread automatically via subject markers.
- Threaded SMTP replies — Answer over SMTP, threaded back to the requester, with an optional CSAT footer on every reply.
- Full ticket workflow — Open / pending / solved / closed, four priorities, assignees, tags, saved views and search.
- Canned responses — Macros with variable substitution — customer name, ticket id, subject and more.
- Notes vs public replies — Internal notes never email the customer; @mention teammates privately.
Deskly vs Zendesk, at a glance
| Deskly | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once | $55/agent/mo |
| 3 agents, 1 year | $49 | ~$1,980 |
| Email → ticket | Yes | Yes |
| SLA timers | Yes | Higher tiers only |
| Macros / canned replies | Yes | Yes |
| CSAT | Yes | Yes |
| Your data | Your SQLite file | Their cloud |
| Per-agent fees | Never | Always |
One month of Zendesk for a three-person team more than covers Deskly — and it never charges you again, however many agents you add.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — Deskly is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/helpdesk-tickets-mvp and always will be. The $49 buys the packaged installer, 1-click setup and updates; building from source is free.
Does it really have no per-agent pricing?
Correct. Add as many agents as you like — the price is $49 once, not per seat. That's the whole point: your team size is your business, not a billing lever.
Where does my ticket data live?
In a SQLite file on your own server. Nothing is uploaded to us or anyone else — no cloud, no telemetry, no account with us.
The bottom line
Deskly won't out-feature Zendesk on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $49 once against $55/agent/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Deskly is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Deskly — $49, once
Shared inbox, SLA timers, canned replies and CSAT — self-hosted, no per-agent fees.