Why is there a paid subscription for self-hosting? I thought Zammad was free...

Zammad is committed to remaining free and open-source now and in the future, meaning anyone is welcome to install and run it on their own servers at no cost.

Many of our customers do just that, while also paying for an added support contract. Subscribers get professional, timely customer service from highly-trained Zammad experts, as well as great perks, like prioritized bug reports, deployment assessments, and discounts on our training and consulting services.