Does self-hosting GLPI cost less than Freshservice?
GLPI removes the recurring per-agent and asset-unit subscription, but it adds hosting, migration, implementation and administration time, so the outcome depends on your agent count, asset volume and internal skills. GLPI is free asset and IT management software under GPL-3.0, so there is no license fee to pay. Your Freshservice renewal is the baseline. Take the per-agent rate, the asset unit pack price and any add-on charges from your own contract and invoices, not from list prices, and calculate the annual total for the agents and assets you actually pay for today.
The costs that replace the subscription are mostly one-time or recurring labor and infrastructure. Your own servers or cloud accounts run the web server, PHP, and either MariaDB or MySQL, and GLPI's installation documentation lists the supported versions for each release, so confirm them against the version you plan to deploy. Migration work includes exporting from Freshservice, mapping tickets and assets, and rebuilding workflows and SLAs. Recurring costs include patching, backups of the database, files and the glpi.key and glpicrypt.key files, and plugin reactivation after major updates. Each of these can be quoted by a partner against a written scope, or staffed internally, and the two options should be priced side by side.
If you want Teclib' to run the platform, GLPI Network is the paid route. According to the GLPI Network subscriptions page, the public cloud costs 19 euros per user per month and the private cloud 21 euros per user per month with a 25-user minimum, while self-hosted GLPI Network subscriptions range from 100 euros per month (Basic, up to 10 agents and 500 assets) to 4,500 euros per month (Enterprise). Compare those figures with your internal staffing estimate and confirm which support level and plugins each tier includes before deciding. Small teams with a few agents often find the subscription tiers do not change the picture much, while large asset estates change the math quickly.
Which cost components move, and who is paid for each
This table sets each Freshservice cost component against its self-hosted GLPI counterpart and shows who receives payment in each case. Read it row by row to see which costs disappear, which move to your own budget and which stay with an outside party. The main takeaway is that GLPI's license is zero, so the remaining spend depends on your infrastructure, staff time and whether you buy GLPI Network or partner support.
| Cost component | Freshservice (commercial side) | GLPI (self-hosted side) |
|---|---|---|
| License or subscription | Per-agent plan fees paid to Freshservice, recurring for as long as the account runs. Confirm current plan pricing on Freshservice's own pricing page. | GLPI is free software under GPL-3.0, so the license cost is zero. Recurring cost is limited to any GLPI Network subscription you choose to buy. |
| Asset capacity | Asset units included per plan, with additional units sold in packs. Recurring, and it grows with the asset count. | No per-asset fee. GLPI's asset, contract and financial records are included in the free license. |
| Infrastructure | Hosted by Freshservice, so no servers, storage or network costs fall on your team. | One-time setup, then recurring. You pay for servers or virtual machines, storage, backups and network access in your own or an EU provider's environment. |
| Runtime and database | Included in the subscription. | Recurring. You run PHP 8.3 or later with MariaDB 10.11 or later, or MySQL 8.0 or later, as stated in the GLPI README. Licenses for these are not needed, but patching and tuning are your work. |
| Implementation and data migration | Export is included: the full XML account export arrives at the admin's registered email. Rebuilding workflows, SLAs and the service catalog is your work or a services contract. | One-time. Installation, importing the Freshservice export, rebuilding workflows, SLAs and catalog entries, and deploying GLPI Agent. Any services firm you hire is paid by fixed scope, which you should request in writing. |
| Backups and upgrades | Handled by the vendor as part of the hosted service. | Recurring. Each GLPI update requires backing up the database, files and config directory including glpi.key and glpicrypt.key, then running php bin/console db:update. Plugins must be reactivated after major updates. |
| Support | Included in the subscription at the plan's support level. | Optional. Teclib' sells GLPI Network subscriptions, priced per user or per agent tier as listed on the GLPI Network subscriptions page. A partner support contract is a separate, quoted cost. |
| Internal skills and admin time | Ongoing admin time for configuration and reporting, typically lower because the platform is hosted. | Recurring and often the largest hidden cost. Staff need Linux, web server, database and PHP skills, or you pay for them externally. Ask any provider to quote this as a separate line. |
What pushes the comparison toward or away from self-hosting
Freshservice charges scale with the people who work in the service desk and the assets it tracks, while self-hosted GLPI costs scale mainly with infrastructure, migration effort and administrator time. The factors below show which way each driver pushes the total, so you can test your own numbers against a written Freshservice quote.
Agent count and headcount growth
Freshservice pricing is per agent, so every technician who needs to work tickets adds a recurring line item, and requesters who only submit tickets usually do not. GLPI has no per-user license fee, so adding technicians adds mainly training and some support load. A large or fast-growing technician team pushes the comparison toward self-hosting. A small team with few agents may find the recurring fees modest and the migration effort hard to justify. Check which Freshservice plan includes the features you use, because the plan tier often matters as much as the seat count.
Asset volume and inventory agent rollout
Freshservice bills asset management in units, so growth in laptops, servers and peripherals increases the bill in steps. GLPI does not charge per asset, but the inventory agent must reach every device. Rolling out GLPI Agent across Windows, macOS and Linux endpoints is a one-time project with ongoing maintenance for new devices. A high asset count on mostly managed endpoints favors self-hosting. A fleet with many unmanaged or remote devices needs a deployment plan before the savings are real. Ask Freshservice to show how units are counted and what triggers a pack purchase.
Portals, integrations and custom workflows
Each additional requester portal, approval workflow, integration with identity, monitoring or HR systems, and custom form adds build and test work. In Freshservice, many of these come with the platform, though advanced automation and some integrations depend on plan tier. In GLPI, you build or configure them, and some capabilities come from plugins that must be reactivated after major updates. Many integrations with a small number of systems keep the self-hosted option practical. A dense web of integrations that your team cannot maintain in-house pushes the total cost up, and that work is often the largest line in a self-hosted estimate.
Availability and backup requirements
Freshservice runs availability, backups and upgrades for you as part of the subscription. Self-hosting moves those duties to your team or a service partner: a database and file backup routine, a tested restore, a supported web and database stack, and a change window for upgrades. The GLPI update procedure requires backing up the database, the files and the config directory, including the key files. Stricter recovery time and recovery point targets raise the infrastructure and staffing cost of self-hosting. Confirm the targets with your business owners before you compare totals.
Data residency and hosting constraints
If policy or regulation requires ticket data, asset records and employee details to stay in a specific country or on your own network, Freshservice's regional hosting may not be enough, and self-hosting or an approved provider becomes the default. Where regional hosting satisfies your rules, self-hosting is a choice about control rather than a cost requirement. Self-hosting shifts costs to infrastructure, network security and audit evidence. Check your data classification, your vendor access terms and any contracts that name where data may be processed before you assume the self-hosted path is cheaper.
In-house skills and admin hours
GLPI needs people who can run a PHP application with MySQL or MariaDB, manage the web server, apply upgrades and maintain plugins. The main recurring cost is staff time, and the amount depends on how much of the platform you configure and how many systems you connect. Freshservice moves most of that work to the vendor but charges for it through the subscription. Teams with existing Linux, database and web operations skills can absorb GLPI with modest added effort. Teams without them should price outside support, which is usually priced from a written scope, before comparing the two options.
How the self-hosted bill builds up in practice
The self-hosted bill is mostly the stack you run and the people who keep it current. GLPI is a PHP application, so the web server must point its document root at GLPI's public directory rather than the installation root, with URL rewriting that routes requests through index.php. The README asks for PHP 8.3 or later and MariaDB 10.11 or later or MySQL 8.0 or later. For GLPI 11.0, the installation docs list PHP 8.2 or later with MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6, and they state that only MySQL and MariaDB are supported. Confirm which version line you will run before you size the servers, because the database and PHP versions you pick now decide what your operating system and patch cadence must support. Endpoints add a second component: GLPI Agent, which your team deploys and maintains on Windows, macOS and Linux machines. Budget for packaging, rollout and agent upgrades as recurring work, not a one-time install.
Updates are where self-hosting cost recurs. The GLPI installation documentation requires you to back up the database, the files and the config directory, including glpi.key and glpicrypt.key, before replacing the application files and running php bin/console db:update. Losing those key files can make stored secrets unreadable, so treat them as part of every backup and restore test. Since GLPI 11.0, plugins are suspended when a new version is detected and must be reactivated after major updates, so every plugin you depend on needs a compatibility check in the staging copy. GLPI 12.0.0 was published on October 7, 2026, and the release notes list an official Docker image among the distribution options. A container image can shorten the rebuild, but it does not remove the database backup, the key files or the plugin review. Ask whoever runs the platform for a written upgrade runbook and a named owner for each release.
How to build the comparison with your own numbers
This sequence turns your current Freshservice spend and a self-hosted GLPI estimate into one like-for-like comparison over a fixed horizon, so the decision rests on your contract, your environment and written quotes rather than on list prices.
Pull your current Freshservice baseline
Start from the signed order form and the admin console. Record the plan name, the number of agents licensed on each tier, the number of IT asset management units included in your plan, and any asset unit packs you have bought on top. Confirm the billing currency, whether the price is monthly or annual, and whether any discount is contractual. The output is one table with a row per cost line and a source reference for each figure, so a finance reviewer can trace every number back to a document.
List renewal dates and add-ons
Collect the start and end date of the current term, the notice period in the contract, and the date of any price uplift or auto-renewal clause. Add every paid add-on the desk uses, such as extra sandboxes, portal modules, reporting or integrations, and mark whether each one is needed in a self-hosted replacement. Ask your Freshservice account team to confirm in writing what happens to your data and exports at the end of the term. The output is a dated calendar that shows when a decision must be made and which cost lines disappear at exit.
Estimate hosting for each environment
Price the GLPI environments you need, usually production, a test or staging copy and backup storage, at your own cloud or data center rates. Include compute for the web server and PHP runtime, a supported MariaDB or MySQL database, file storage for attachments and the agent inventory data, and network egress. Add the cost of the backup target. GLPI's own prerequisites set the database and PHP versions you must run, so confirm them with your platform team before pricing. The output is a monthly hosting figure per environment with the rate card it came from.
Price migration from a scoped export
Run the full Freshservice XML export from Admin, Account, Export, so you know the real volume of tickets, assets, users and knowledge articles before anyone prices the work. Count the records by type and note which conversation fields and attachments the export contains. Then ask one or more implementation providers for a written, fixed-scope quote covering data mapping, import, workflow rebuild, SLA and service catalog recreation, and cutover testing. Note whether the quote includes a parallel run. The output is a one-time migration cost that is tied to a stated scope, not an estimate.
Add monthly administration hours
Estimate the internal time your team will spend each month on running GLPI. Include applying GLPI updates, which the installation docs say require a database, file and configuration backup, replacing application files and running the database update command, plus reactivating plugins after a major update. Add time for user and group administration, inventory agent deployment, report upkeep and backup testing. Ask for the hours from the people who do this work today and put a loaded hourly rate against them. The output is a recurring labor line you can compare with Freshservice's admin effort, which also has a cost even though no server is involved.
Choose a support option and price it
Select one support model for each scenario: no paid support, GLPI Network for hosted or supported self-hosted subscriptions, or a retainer with an implementation partner. GLPI Network publishes per-user and self-hosted subscription prices on its subscriptions page, so take the current figures from there and cite the date you checked. For a partner retainer, request the scope, response expectations and what is excluded in writing. The output is one recurring support line per scenario, with the vendor or partner named.
Compare totals over a fixed horizon
Choose one horizon, such as three or five years, and apply it to every scenario. Separate one-time costs (migration, initial configuration, any training) from recurring costs (subscription or Freshservice fees, hosting, administration, support). Keep the same assumptions on both sides: the same agent count, asset count, growth rate and currency. Show a sensitivity line for the two inputs that move the result most, usually agent count and admin hours. The output is a single side-by-side table that you can take to a renewal or budget discussion and defend line by line.
Questions buyers ask before comparing GLPI and Freshservice costs
Is GLPI really free to use?
The GLPI software is free under the GNU General Public License version 3, so there is no per-agent or per-asset license fee. The license does not cover the costs around it: servers, database and web tier hosting, backups, the initial migration, configuration of workflows and SLAs, plugin selection, and staff time to administer the platform. Those costs are paid to your team, your hosting provider or an implementation partner, and they recur every year. Ask any quote to show each of these as a separate line so you can compare them with your current Freshservice invoice.
How long does a Freshservice to GLPI migration take?
No duration is fixed by the GLPI project, so the timeline depends on your own data and scope. The main drivers are the volume of tickets and knowledge base articles to convert, how many asset records need to be mapped, how many workflows, SLAs and service catalog items must be rebuilt by hand, and how many integrations with identity, monitoring or email need to be recreated. Freshservice's full export arrives as XML at the registered agent email address, so the conversion work is usually more about mapping than extraction. Confirm the phases, deliverables and completion dates in a written, fixed-scope plan before work starts.
How much time does the internal team need to commit?
Your internal team needs to cover decisions and knowledge, which are usually the scarce resources. Expect time from an ITSM process owner to define ticket categories, priorities, approval paths and SLA targets, from asset owners to confirm inventory fields, and from one or two administrators to learn GLPI's administration model. Someone must also own the server, patching and backups after go-live. Ask the proposal to list the hours or days expected from each role, because those hours are the part of the cost that most often grows when they are not written down.
Can we run GLPI without outside help?
Yes, many teams do, provided they have a Linux or equivalent server administrator, a database administrator familiar with MariaDB or MySQL, and someone who can operate a PHP web application. GLPI requires PHP 8.3 or later with MariaDB 10.11 or later or MySQL 8.0 or later for the current README, while the installation docs list PHP 8.2 or later for GLPI 11.0, so confirm the exact version against the release you plan to run. The document root must point to GLPI's public directory. Without these skills, the risk is slower incident response and missed updates, so price outside help as a choice you can make at any point rather than a permanent fixed cost.
What does GLPI Network cost and what does it include?
GLPI Network is the subscription service run by Teclib', the company that edits GLPI. According to the GLPI Network subscriptions page, public cloud costs 19 euros per user per month and private cloud costs 21 euros per user per month with a 25-user minimum. Self-hosted subscriptions range from 100 euros per month for the Basic tier, which covers up to 10 agents and 500 assets, to 4,500 euros per month for Enterprise, which includes level 3 support and access to GLPI Network marketplace plugins. The subscription is optional. Compare its per-user or tier pricing against your own staffing and support costs before deciding whether it is needed.
How do GLPI upgrades and plugin reactivation add effort?
Each upgrade needs a full backup of the database, the files and the config directory, including the glpi.key and glpicrypt.key files, followed by replacing the application files and running php bin/console db:update. Since GLPI 11.0, plugins are suspended when a new version is detected and must be reactivated after major updates, so every plugin you depend on needs a compatibility check before the change window. Release history shows major versions in 2022, 2025 and 2026, plus point releases, so plan a recurring upgrade cycle. Ask your provider how many upgrades per year are included in the scope and who tests plugins before reactivation.
What drives the hosting cost of a self-hosted GLPI?
Hosting cost depends on where GLPI runs and how much load it carries. The main drivers are the number of users and agents, the number of assets collected by GLPI Agent, the database size and backup retention, the availability level you require, and whether you run a staging copy for upgrades and tests. Infrastructure can be an existing virtual machine pool, a public cloud account or an on-premises data center, and each has different recurring charges. Ask your team to price these components against the infrastructure you already pay for, and to include backup storage and monitoring rather than only the compute line.
When is an implementation partner worth the spend?
A partner is worth considering when the timeline, risk or internal capacity makes self-delivery expensive. Typical triggers include a migration with many workflows and SLAs, a regulated environment that needs documented change control and evidence, a shortage of administrators who can run PHP and database operations, or a need for a supported upgrade cadence. DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up, upgrades and documents self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure, under fixed-scope agreements with written deliverables. Ask any partner for a written scope that separates one-time migration work from recurring support, so you can compare it with the internal hours it replaces.
When the numbers favor GLPI and when they do not
Favor GLPI when your Freshservice bill rises mainly with agent seats and managed assets, and your team can run a standard web stack. GLPI is free software under GPL-3.0, so the license line disappears, but the total does not reach zero. The remaining costs are server and database hosting, operating time for PHP, the web server and MariaDB or MySQL, the migration project, staff training, and any GLPI Network subscription you add. Published self-hosted GLPI Network subscriptions start at 100 euros per month for up to 10 agents and 500 assets, according to GLPI Network's subscription page. Pull your current Freshservice invoice, separate agent charges from asset unit charges, and project both against the headcount and asset count you expect in three years.
Be cautious when nobody on your team can operate Linux, PHP and a relational database with confidence. GLPI's README lists PHP 8.3 or later with MariaDB 10.11 or later or MySQL 8.0 or later, while the installation docs for GLPI 11.0 list PHP 8.2 with MariaDB 10.6. Confirm which version line you are deploying before you build anything. Upgrades are not a one-click task: the update procedure requires backing up the database, the files and the config directory, including glpi.key and glpicrypt.key, replacing the application files, and running php bin/console db:update. Since GLPI 11.0, plugins are suspended after a new version is detected and must be reactivated after major updates, so schedule that step into every release window.
Be cautious too when your workflows depend on Freshservice-specific behavior. Each custom automation, approval chain, SLA target, service catalog item and portal form must be mapped and rebuilt in GLPI, and the effort grows with that count. Check each one against the feature comparison in the sibling Freshservice vs GLPI page before you commit. If a go-live date is fixed and internal staff lack the time, a retainer can carry implementation and cutover, but agree its scope in writing first. Base the decision on that written scope, a test migration of a copy of your data, and a side-by-side cost model covering hosting, operations and support.
How DeployOpen scopes a fixed-price GLPI implementation
DeployOpen is a Chainscore Labs company that plans, implements, integrates, hardens, backs up and documents self-hosted open-source platforms inside the client's own infrastructure. For a Freshservice cost comparison, we start from your actual license invoice, asset counts and agent numbers, then agree the GLPI scope in writing before any work begins.
How we scope
- We inventory current Freshservice agent seats, asset unit usage and the workflows that depend on them before quoting
- We agree in writing which ITIL modules, asset types and integrations GLPI must cover for your team
- We list which Freshservice workflows, SLAs and service catalog items will be rebuilt rather than assumed to carry over
- We confirm where GLPI will run, including your cloud account, data center or air-gapped network, and who operates it
How we build
- We install GLPI on PHP and MariaDB or MySQL versions confirmed against the current installation documentation for your chosen release
- We configure the web server document root, URL rewriting, authentication order and backups of glpi.key and glpicrypt.key
- We deploy GLPI Agent for inventory collection and test discovery against a representative sample of endpoints before rollout
- We test ticket routing, SLA timers and asset records against a written acceptance checklist agreed at scoping
How we hand over
- We document the installed architecture, configuration decisions, plugin list and the update procedure for your administrators
- We deliver a migration report showing which Freshservice export fields were mapped to GLPI and which were not carried over
- We provide runbooks for backups, GLPI version upgrades, plugin reactivation after major updates and agent deployment
- We train named administrators on day-to-day ticket, asset and knowledge base administration in your environment
How we support
- Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer after handover
- Retainer scope, response expectations and upgrade cadence are confirmed in writing before the retainer starts
- We can review each GLPI release against your configuration and plugins before your team applies it in production
- Your own budget owner receives a recurring cost view covering hosting, staff time and any external support you choose
