FreeScout
The free help desk / shared inbox - email ticketing with no per-agent pricing, on a self-hosted MySQL.
One-click deploy, from $13/mo on a Miget plan.
FreeScout is the help desk that looks and feels like Help Scout but costs nothing per agent: a shared inbox over email, with conversations, mailboxes, tags, saved replies, assignments, and a module ecosystem for live chat, telephony, and more. AGPL, and genuinely lightweight.
This template uses the actively-maintained nfrastack image (the once-popular tiredofit image is now deprecated) on a self-hosted MySQL. The image’s nginx is told to listen on 5000 (NGINX_LISTEN_PORT), so it is the public entrypoint directly - no separate proxy. File-based cache means no Redis; attachments, the app key, and installed modules live on the data volume.
Support tooling is per-agent everywhere else - Zendesk $55, Help Scout $25, Freshdesk $19 per agent per month. FreeScout is $13/month flat with unlimited agents; modules are one-time licenses, not subscriptions.
Upstream project: FreeScout
#what you get
- Shared inbox over email: conversations, assignments, tags
- Multiple mailboxes, saved replies, workflows, notes
- Module ecosystem (live chat, telephony, KB, more)
- Self-hosted MySQL; file-based cache (no Redis)
- Unlimited agents - no per-seat pricing
- AGPL-3.0
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| freescout | help desk (:5000) | yes |
| db | MySQL 8 container (local and on Miget) | no |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
2 GiB RAM · 15 GB disk · 2 services
1 GiB suits a support team. Modules and attachments live on the /data volume - keep replicas at 1 (modules are on local disk).
Hobby - recommended fit
$13/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 50 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 2 GiB at $19/mo
Professional - production
$43/mo
2 vCPU · 4 GiB · 25 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| FreeScout on Miget ★ | 2 GiB plan | $13 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Zendesk | Suite Team | ~$275 | $55/agent/mo at 5 agents |
| Help Scout | Standard | ~$125 | $25/seat/mo at 5 seats |
| Freshdesk | Growth | ~$95 | $19/agent/mo at 5 agents |
Help desks price per agent; FreeScout is flat with unlimited agents (modules are one-time licenses).
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (2 GiB RAM, 15 GB disk, 2 containers) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $13 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$100 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| Render | ~$29 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| DO App Platform | ~$29 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Railway | ~$22 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$14 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
freescout -
Set the required variable:
ADMIN_EMAIL / ADMIN_PASS, first admin account
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/freescout
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
How does the cost compare to Zendesk or Help Scout?
Zendesk Suite Team is $55/agent/month, Help Scout Standard $25/seat, Freshdesk Growth $19/agent. A 5-agent team is $95-275/month - versus $13/month flat here, agents uncounted. FreeScout’s paid modules are one-time licenses, not recurring seats.
Which image does this use?
The actively-maintained nfrastack/freescout image. The widely-shared tiredofit/freescout image is deprecated as of 2026 (same maintainer moved to the nfrastack namespace) - this template tracks the live one.
Do I need Redis?
No - FreeScout uses file-based cache and sessions on the /data volume, so the template is just app + self-hosted MySQL. That keeps it light and the deploy simple.
Ship FreeScout today
One compose stack, 2 GiB of RAM, from $13/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.