ethiboxvsPapercups
Two self-hosted Zendesk alternatives, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| ethibox | Papercups | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 48/100 | 59/100 |
| Rank in category | #7 of 20 in Application Management | #6 of 14 in Customer Support |
| GitHub stars | 260 | 6 119 |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +5 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 21 | 0 |
| Latest release | v2.21.0 · 27 Oct 2026 | — |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Main language | JavaScript | Elixir |
Which one should you pick?
Papercups scores 59/100 against 48/100 for ethibox, so it is the safer default.
ethibox ships more often: 21 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for Papercups.
Papercups is growing faster right now (+5 stars in 30 days).
ethibox details →Papercups details → All Zendesk alternatives →