Free incident management tool for more than 50 users

Question

In our DevOps team (~10) we get a few bug reports, change requests or incident reports per week. These modest volumes don't merit an application like TopDesk, so I wondered if someone knows of a good (and free) incident management tool. A search on Google didn't yield any interesting results, but maybe I was using the wrong keywords.

Requirements

• Creation of tickets
• Ticket categorization
• Ticket prioritization
• Comments on tickets
• Ticket tracking
• Gratis

Environment

• User > 50
• Server should run on Linux (but Windows suggestions are accepted)
• Client should be a web-app

Answer 1

I'm a long-time user of Trac. It's a Python based client-server application, which means you run it on the server, and the "clients" need nothing but a web browser to access it:

^{Example screenshot from one of my projects / Android clients (click images for larger variants)}

It certainly matches your requirements:

• Creation of tickets: Sure. That's its main purpose.
• Ticket categorization: As the screenshot shows, in multiple ways: by component, ticket type, and more
• Ticket prioritization: Yepp (the screenshot indicates this by background colors: the cyan ones are low prio)
• Comments on tickets: Definitly. Even attachments are possible.
• Ticket tracking: Sure. Everybody involved can even get a mail sent when anything happens (new comment, ticket state changes, etc.)
• Gratis: Not only that, even open-source.
• User > 50: Let me count... My installation currently counts 203, so: check :)
• Server should run on Linux: That it does here (currently on Debian)
• Client should be a web-app: Yes. Just the browser is enough, so not even an additional installation required on the user's end. But if you insist, there are also alternative clients available ­– even for mobile devices, e.g. TracDroid or Trac Client on Android.

For a short intro, you might also wish to check the Trac article at Wikipedia.

While fully matching your requirements, Trac can do much more out-of-the-box: it contains a Wiki, and support for version control systems (source code). And you can cross-link between the components, to e.g. address a ticket in a SVN commit, or a revision in the ticket ("This is solved with revision:123"), or both from the Wiki, or... Well, you could also extend the functionality with one of the hundreds of addons available at Trac-Hacks.

Of course, the project site itself as well as Tac-Hacks are running Trac, so if you want to see a real live demo, just head there.

Answer 2

A few years back, I've tried Redmine and it could be an option for you.

Requirements

You can create tickets, they are called issues in this environment
Categorization of issues is possible
Priorities for issues can be set, too
Every issue can be discussed by adding comments
Issue tracking is integrated (for example by subscribing to an issue specific RSS feed)
It's open source and free

Environment

More than 50 users should be possible, although I haven't tried it myself.
Server side runs on Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac
Clients use a browser to access the tool.

There's an online demo available: http://demo.redmine.org/

Answer 3

Mantis Bug Tracker

I would suggest Mantis as few commenters already did. I'm using it successfully. It is:

• free
• open source – GPL
• well-customizable just by configuration (workflows, statuses, categories, priorities)
• mobile access addon (3rd-party, not free)
• e-mail integration – creation of tickets from e-mails

Requirements:

• PHP

Mantis is a great starter for individuals and small companies because standard PHP hosting is currently more accessible (and cheaper) than other options. For example many standard web providers don't support Python or ASP.NET.

Answer 4

I have used the SiT! Support Incident Tracker (and actually compared it to other solutions).

It fulfils all of your listed requirements.

Requirements

You can create tickets
Categorization is made with skills, products and sites
Priorities for issues can be chosen
You can add comments and see the history of the incident
Ticket tracking is possible
It's open source and free

Environment

Supports more than 50 users
Server side runs on Windows, Unix, Linux and Mac
Client is a webapp.

Answer 5

I agree with Customizer's suggestion of Redmine. Our team has been using it for years and it's worked out great for us.

Just so you know, you can go to Digital Ocean and quickly spin up Redmine with their one-click install. Might be quicker than installing on your own server for testing.

Answer 6

We are using Eventum for both customer support tickets and development issue tracking.

Requirements:

• Creation of tickets - a click away
• Ticket categorization - check
• Ticket prioritization - check
• Comments on tickets - set it initially, editable afterwards
• Ticket tracking - check
• Gratis - check

Environment:

• User > 50 - no problem
• Server should run on Linux (but Windows suggestions are accepted) - Linux; requires MySQL and PHP, so it is quite easy to customize
• Client should be a web-app - I added a few screenshots for your convenience:

Here's a short presentation: slideshare.

Accolades: "Eventum is used by the MySQL AB Technical Support team, and has allowed us to dramatically improve our response times."

Answer 7

Take a look at GitLab. It fulfils all your requirements, it's open-source, and the platform that it's a basis of is a leading competitor to GitHub. You may either use that platform for free or self-host.