OTOBO inherited everything good about OTRS, including the part where somebody has to keep it running.
OTOBO is the actively maintained community fork of OTRS, and for teams that want a self-hosted German ticket system it is a serious answer. It asks the same price as any self-hosted system: updates, backups, the search index, mail delivery – and a person who understands all four.
Strengths you can check – to the point.
Your data is stored and processed in Germany.
The AI assistant runs on your own server – ticket content is never sent to an external AI service.
Tenant separation, export and deletion functions and a data processing agreement are built in.
One clear price per booked seat – no feature ballast, no hidden add-ons.
An uncluttered interface with a guided start – expensive training is not needed.
Team questions and an automatic wiki keep what you know on the ticket instead of scattered across tools.
rapidFOXAs of 2026. The comparison describes typical characteristics of Open source (self-hosted) and is meant as general orientation; scope, pricing and data protection vary by vendor, plan and point in time. The names mentioned (for example OTOBO) are trademarks of their respective owners – no connection, partnership or endorsement is implied. What counts is the current information published by each vendor.
It is not the server. It is the afternoon every few months, the upgrade that needs planning, and the fact that a help desk holds every customer conversation you have – so an unpatched one is not a small risk.
rapidFOX keeps the reason you chose OTOBO – servers in Germany, tenant separation, export and DPA built in, an AI that does not phone home – and removes the maintenance.
The move is deliberately undramatic. You start a free trial that comes with sample data and connect your support mailbox over IMAP/SMTP in a few minutes. From then on every incoming email becomes a ticket, and replies go back out as ordinary email.
What a clean switch looks like step by step is in the guide Introducing a ticketing system.
The rapidFOX AI assistant runs on your own server: drafting replies, shortening them, turning notes into full messages and suggesting solutions – ticket content is never sent to an external AI service. On or off whenever you like, and a person always approves.
If the migration effort is going to be spent anyway, it is worth comparing both. OTOBO keeps your configuration; rapidFOX keeps your afternoons.
Yes, at any time – tickets, companies, contacts and attachments. Being able to leave is part of what makes it safe to arrive.
Yes. The trial runs for seven days with sample data, and you can connect a second mailbox rather than moving the main one. Nothing has to be switched off first.
rapidFOX costs one fixed price per booked seat, with every function included and no tiers. What OTOBO costs depends on the plan and the add-ons you need – compare it against the list price of the tier that actually covers your requirements.
Try it free for 7 days – no card, with sample data, ready in 2 minutes.
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