Guest Support vs Smart Support – Self-Hosted Helpdesk & Custom Support Ticket System with AI Agent Support

Guest Support is a comprehensive customer support ticket system for WordPress. With this plugin, you can effortlessly provide customer support, allowing users to create new tickets and replies, and agents to respond to tickets without requiring any login or registration. View live demo Features – Create new ticket: Users can create tickets without any Login/Registration Live WordPress Posts suggestions based on user’s typing on the Subject input field through Ajax (Pro Addon required). Users can upload files with the maximum allowed number of files, total files size and allowed file types/extensions based on settings. Secure file uploads and stores files with random filenames on your server. Google reCAPTCHA 3 SPAM verification. Verify email with OTP (One Time Password) through Ajax (Pro Addon required). Internal email validation system to identify fake/mistyped/invalid and disposable temporary email addresses. 99.9% SPAM free if you enable Email verification. Option to show a customized message or redirect to the ticket view page after successfully submitting a ticket. Features – Create reply: After creating a new ticket, both the user and support agent will receive email notifications with a unique ticket link. Agents can reply to the ticket using the unique ticket link without logging in. Users can reply to the ticket using the unique ticket link without logging in. Both the user and agent can edit the last/all reply message(s) based on settings. Both the user and agent can close tickets when submitting a reply. Both the user and agent can close tickets using a Close Ticket link. Both the user and agent can reopen closed tickets if allowed in the settings. On the single ticket view page, both the user and agent can see links to other submitted tickets of the same user based on the user’s email address. Features – Signature and profile photo (Pro Addon required): Both users and agents can set a profile photo and default signature if allowed in the settings. Login/registration required to use this feature. Features – Create ticket for users by Admin and Agent (Pro Addon required): Admins can create tickets for other registered users from the admin panel. Agents can create tickets for other registered users from the frontend. Features – List of tickets: Admins can view a list of all tickets in the WordPress admin panel. Agents can view a list of all tickets submitted to their department on the frontend (Pro Addon required). Registered users can view a list of all tickets (Pro Addon required). If a user registers later with an email address that was used to submit tickets, all of the user’s tickets (before and after registration) will be displayed on the frontend tickets list page (Pro Addon required). Filter tickets by ticket status: ‘Open’, ‘Pending’, ‘Closed’, and departments. Sort tickets by ‘Ticket Created Date A-Z’, ‘Ticket Created Date Z-A’, ‘Last Reply Date A-Z’, and ‘Last Reply Date Z-A’. Search tickets by ticket ID, subject, and email address. Users and agents can still view a list of submitted tickets on the single ticket view page without logging in or registering. Features – Admin- Department: Create/edit/delete unlimited departments. One department supported in the free version. Assign a support agent to each department. Show/hide department field on the frontend ticket submission form. Add additional email notification addresses to each department. When a new ticket is submitted to a specific department, the assigned support agent and additional email addresses will receive email notifications. Features – Admin- Forms and Form Builder: Create/edit/delete unlimited forms with dedicated custom fields, features, and options. One form is supported in the free version. Add different forms with different and dedicated custom fields to different pages and receive support tickets. Dedicated shortcode for each form. Add unlimited custom fields (Pro Addon required). Supported custom field types include: Textbox Email Number Box Textarea Dropdown/Select Radio Group Checkbox Group Hidden Date Picker Date and Time Picker Content (Supports HTML) Option to restrict custom fields to require login. Useful for asking sensitive information, like website login info. Features – Dedicated options for each form: Add/edit/remove unlimited custom fields with field Name, Label, Placeholder, Error message, etc. (Pro Addon required). Option to show the custom field on the Ticket submission or Reply form or both (Pro Addon required). Option to add/remove custom field inputs on Email notifications (Pro Addon required). Re-order all (core and custom) fields. Arrange/rearrange all (core and custom) fields with 1-3 columns. Enable/disable file upload. Enable/disable Google reCAPTCHA. Enable/disable email verification (Pro Addon required). Enable/disable WordPress posts suggestions when typing in the Subject field (Pro Addon required). Add your own CSS classes for input fields and buttons. Add your own button texts. Ticket View Page’s Sidebar Options: Option to add HTML supported content at the very top. Option to add HTML supported content at the very bottom. Option to show/hide ticket status Option to show/hide ticket created date Option to show/hide last updated date Option to show/hide user-submitted custom fields’ label and value for the initial message (when the ticket is created), not for replies. Option to show/hide other tickets by the user. Option to show number of other tickets by the user. Features – Email settings: Support WordPress default email delivery system. Support dedicated SMTP for this plugin only. Features – Email templates: Following customizable email templates are available with necessary placeholders: After a new ticket is created – Send to User After a new ticket is created – Send to Agent After a new ticket is created – Send to Additional email addresses After a ticket reply – Send to User After a ticket reply – Send to Agent After a ticket reply – Send to Additional email addresses Send pre-ticket closing notification to User Send pre-ticket closing notification to Agent Send closure notification to User after automatically closing tickets OTP Email When new user account created – Send to User (Any emails can be disabled by deactivating email templates.) Features – Automation with cron job (Pro Addon required): Send pre-ticket closing notification to the ticket submitter or the assigned agent after x (based on settings) number of days of the last reply. Close tickets automatically after x (based on settings) number of days of the last reply. Send email notification to the ticket submitter after closing a ticket automatically. How it works? After creating a new ticket, a unique ticket link URL will be generated with 2 unique and dedicated random IDs, and the ticket link URL will be sent to the submitter and support agent by email. With the unique ticket link URL, both the user/submitter and the support agent will be able to reply to the ticket without any login/registration. When viewing and replying to tickets, 2 unique IDs will be verified to give access to the ticket. Ticket link URL will be sent with email notifications, and there is no other way to see the URL. Encrypted agent information on the ticket link URL to identify and verify the agent when replying as an agent. Requirements: WordPress 5.5+ PHP 7+ Links Pro Addon Documentation Contact Support Available Shortcodes Submit ticket form: [guest-support view=form id=1] View single ticket: [guest-support view=ticket] View list of tickets on front-end (Pro Addon required): [guest-support view=tickets] Third-Party Services This plugin uses Google reCAPTCHA to enhance security by preventing spam and abuse on the support ticket submission forms. Data Transmission When Google reCAPTCHA is enabled, user interaction data with the reCAPTCHA may be transmitted to Google for verification purposes. Please note that no data from the actual support ticket forms is sent to Google. Optional Usage Google reCAPTCHA is an optional feature. If you do not wish to use it, you can disable it within the plugin settings. Links to Google reCAPTCHA Service – Google reCAPTCHA – Google Terms of Service – Google Privacy Policy Please review these terms and policies to understand how your interaction data with Google reCAPTCHA is handled. By enabling and using Google reCAPTCHA, you agree to these terms.

Smart Support is a self-hosted WordPress helpdesk and support ticket system for businesses, agencies, online stores, membership sites, and service teams that want to manage customer support directly inside WordPress. The plugin gives customers a clean frontend Support Center where they can register, log in, submit support tickets, upload attachments, review replies, search their ticket history, and track ticket status. Support agents and supervisors can manage tickets from the WordPress admin area with role-based access, departments, priorities, products, internal notes, reports, notifications, and ticket assignment controls. Live Demo LIVE DEMO Smart Support can be used as a: WordPress helpdesk plugin WordPress support ticket system Customer support ticket system Customer service help desk Support desk plugin Ticket management plugin Self-hosted helpdesk solution Unlike a hosted support SaaS, Smart Support keeps your support workflow connected to your own WordPress website and database. You control the site, user accounts, ticket records, uploaded files, permissions, and integrations. WordPress customer support from one dashboard Smart Support turns WordPress into a complete customer support workspace. Customers use the frontend portal, while agents work with ticket details, replies, attachments, internal notes, departments, products, priorities, statuses, customer history, and notifications. The plugin is suitable for small support teams, growing businesses, digital agencies, consultants, SaaS companies, WooCommerce stores, product support teams, and organizations that need a private support ticket system without sending users to a separate third-party portal. Frontend Support Center for customers Fresh installations create a Support Center page automatically. You can also add the following shortcode to any WordPress page: [smart_support_page]. The shortcode creates the main customer-facing support portal. Customers can: Register and log in from the frontend Reset their password Use optional Google reCAPTCHA protection Submit a new support ticket Add a subject, message, department, product, priority, and other available fields Upload ticket attachments Review ticket replies and message history Search and filter their tickets View tickets by status, department, and state Close and reopen their own tickets when permitted Rate support replies with a 5-star rating system Use the portal on desktop, tablet, or mobile Ticket management for agents and supervisors Support agents and supervisors get a structured WordPress ticket management workflow with tools for organizing, assigning, replying to, and resolving customer requests. Team features include: Open, delayed, and closed ticket states Reopen and close actions Reply and Close for faster ticket handling Ticket assignment and auto-assignment Agent visibility controls for own tickets, department tickets, or all tickets Departments, products, priorities, and ticket types Public replies and agent-only internal notes Ticket attachments and secure downloads Customer details and ticket history Search by ticket ID, subject, or content Status, department, state, and keyword filters Optional ticket sidebar for quick navigation Waiting indicators for unanswered tickets Configurable sequential or hash-based ticket numbers Capability-based roles and permissions Agent performance and rating reports Email notifications and customer communication Smart Support can send email notifications for important support ticket events, including new tickets, ticket replies, delayed tickets, closed tickets, reopened tickets, and account-related actions. Email features include: Notification settings for customers and agents Editable email subjects and message templates Configurable sender name and sender email Template tags for customer, ticket, and agent information Translatable notification content Separate frontend and admin ticket URL template tags Dashboard notifications with ticket links Optional AI assistance for support agents Smart Support includes optional AI-assisted tools for authorized staff working on individual tickets. AI is disabled until a supported provider is configured. Depending on your configuration, agents can: Summarize long ticket conversations Generate suggested replies Rewrite a reply draft before sending Preview rewritten content Ask follow-up questions about a ticket conversation Add custom instructions to an AI action On WordPress 7.0 or later, Smart Support can use a configured WordPress Core AI provider. The plugin can also use the OpenAI-compatible provider settings available under Smart Support → Settings → Advanced → AI as a fallback. AI requests are sent from your WordPress server to the provider you configure. Smart Support does not route AI traffic through Smart Support vendor servers solely to provide this feature. Reports and support performance Smart Support includes reporting tools for monitoring ticket volume, ticket status, ratings, and agent performance. Reporting features include: Ticket volume reports Status-based reporting Agent performance reports Average agent rating Total ratings per agent Dashboard ticket counts Chart.js-powered visual reports Roles and access control Smart Support uses capability-driven access controls so administrators can manage who can view, create, assign, reply to, and manage support tickets. Built-in support roles include: Support User Support Agent Support Supervisor Administrators can assign departments, change capabilities, control ticket visibility, configure whether agents can create tickets, and manage supervisor-level access. Ticket automation Built-in automation features help support teams manage inactive tickets and reduce repetitive work. Auto-close tickets after a configurable period of inactivity Optionally auto-close only tickets waiting for a customer response Auto-delay inactive tickets Notify customers when tickets are delayed or closed Auto-assign tickets when an agent replies Respect the configured maximum open tickets per agent Use 0 as the maximum for unlimited assignments Archive closed tickets manually or automatically after a configured number of days Keep archived tickets out of normal dashboards, reports, and ticket lists until restored Manage archived tickets from a dedicated Archive Tickets page with search, pagination, restore, and delete tools Search, filters, and ticket navigation Smart Support includes practical ticket search and filtering tools for busy support teams. Global search by ticket ID, subject, or message content Highlighted search results with result counts Filters for status, department, state, and assigned agent access Compact admin search bar Optional ticket list sidebar Status filter inside the ticket sidebar Quick navigation between support tickets Ticket numbers Administrators can choose the ticket number format that best matches their workflow: Sequential ticket numbers, such as 2501001 and 2501002 Hash-based ticket numbers, such as #121 and #456 Responsive and translation-ready The frontend Support Center and WordPress admin interfaces are designed for desktop, tablet, and mobile use. Smart Support is translation-ready and includes a .pot file in the languages directory. The plugin is also designed for WordPress multisite environments. Free Core Features Smart Support includes the following features in the free core plugin: Frontend Support Center powered by [smart_support_page] Automatic Support Center page creation on fresh installations Frontend customer registration and login Password reset link Optional Remember Me setting Optional first-name and last-name auto-fill Optional Google reCAPTCHA v2, v2 Invisible, or v3 Frontend ticket submission Rich text editor support Ticket attachments Secure attachment downloads Configurable attachment file types, sizes, and counts Customer ticket dashboard Customer ticket search and filters Public ticket replies Agent-only internal notes Ticket timeline and change history Open, delayed, and closed ticket states Ticket close and reopen actions Closed ticket archive and restore workflow Dedicated Archived Tickets page with search, pagination, restore, delete, bulk restore, and bulk delete tools Optional auto-archive rules for closed tickets Reply and Close action Customer close and reopen controls Departments Products Priorities Configurable Ticket Types Optional frontend Ticket Type field Ticket assignment Auto-assignment when an agent replies Maximum open tickets per agent Agent visibility for own, department, or all tickets Department-based agent access Support User, Support Agent, and Support Supervisor roles Capability-based access management Agent management screen Real-time capability assignment and removal Configurable agent ticket creation permission Customer and agent email notifications Configurable email templates Notification center with ticket links Open ticket count badge Waiting indicator for unanswered tickets 5-star reply ratings Average and total rating values Agent performance reports Ticket volume and status reports Chart.js reporting integration Global search by ticket ID, subject, or content Search highlighting and result counts Ticket status, department, and state filters Optional ticket navigation sidebar Sequential and hash-based ticket numbers Auto-close inactive tickets Auto-delay inactive tickets Configurable delay and close notifications Responsive frontend and admin interfaces Translation-ready strings Multisite compatibility Uninstall cleanup options for plugin data, settings, and roles Optional REST API with API key authentication Optional AI assistant for authorized support staff Premium Add-ons Smart Support offers optional premium add-ons for teams that need advanced integrations, automation, reporting, custom data, and larger support workflows. Email Bridge: Convert incoming emails to support tickets and reply to tickets via email. Canned Replies: Enable your team to create and use predefined responses for common issues. Webhooks: Send ticket event notifications to external systems (CRMs, automations, custom apps) using secure, signed outgoing webhooks. Custom Status: Create unlimited custom ticket statuses with colors, icons, and workflow rules. Registration Fields: Add unlimited custom fields to your registration forms. Custom Fields: Create unlimited custom ticket fields from the backend and automatically collect additional information during ticket submission. Ticket Templates: Speed up ticket creation with reusable templates. Front-end Support: Give your support agents a complete, professional frontend dashboard. Gravity Forms Integration: Turn Gravity Forms submissions into Smart Support helpdesk tickets with field mapping, deduplication, and admin cross-links. WooCommerce Tickets: Provide purchase-based support, link orders to tickets, and manage customer support seamlessly WooCommerce. Organizations / Company Profile: Manage companies and teams as organizations. Guest Support: Allow guests to submit support tickets without registration using email-only authentication. Auto-Close Alert: Add warning reminder emails, batch limits, cron recurrence control, and richer auto-close email templates. Smart Widget: Bring instant, on-page support with a customizable floating widget. Auto Responder: Automatically send responses to support tickets based on intelligent rules. Documentation: Instantly insert knowledge base articles into ticket replies. Private Credentials: Securely exchange sensitive login details inside support tickets. SLA (Service Level Agreement): Enforce response and resolution commitments with advanced SLA management. Reports: Expand support reporting with deeper ticket analytics, performance insights, and export-ready operational data. Scheduled Tickets: Create one-time or recurring support tickets automatically for maintenance, renewals, follow-ups, and planned customer work. Time Tracking: Accurately track time spent on support tickets by agents, departments, and clients. Productivity Suite: Enhance agent productivity with comprehensive workflow tools. Additional add-ons, bundles, and pricing information are available at: Smart Support Pricing REST API Integrations Smart Support includes an optional REST API for server-to-server integrations such as CRM synchronization, automations, imports, and custom applications. The REST API is disabled by default. For setup and endpoint information, see the REST API documentation External Services and Privacy Smart Support is self-hosted, but some optional features connect to external services when an administrator enables and configures them. Smart Support uses Google reCAPTCHA (optional) for spam prevention (Terms of Service & Privacy Policy) and Chart.js in the admin for analytics (Terms of Service & Privacy Policy). The plugin validates permissions server‑side, escapes output, verifies nonces on all forms, and stores files securely using WordPress APIs. AI providers The Smart Support AI assistant is optional. It can use a connected WordPress Core AI provider on WordPress 7.0 or later, or the OpenAI-compatible provider. For more details read AI Documentation Ticket and customer data Smart Support stores the information needed to operate the support system on the WordPress site. Site owners are responsible for setting suitable privacy, access, retention, deletion, and backup policies for their support data.