IT Service Management · head-to-head
GLPI vs OTOBO
As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates GLPI 3/5 and OTOBO 3/5 in IT Service Management. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 4 of the 6 judges pick GLPI and 2 pick OTOBO. GLPI scores higher on 5 of 7 criteria (Change, problem & release management, Assets, CMDB & discovery, Pricing transparency, plus 2 more). OTOBO scores higher on 2 of 7 criteria (Self-service portal & service catalog and Service desk, incidents & requests). Provenance — GLPI: EU-Made; OTOBO: EU-Made. Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made.
The short answer
On the criterion means, GLPI is ahead in five of seven: change and problem 4.5 to 4.0, assets and CMDB 6.5 to 6.0, deployment and integration 6.3 to 6.2, sovereignty 7.2 to 7.0, and pricing transparency 6.7 to 6.3 — the first two and pricing with no judge leaning OTOBO. OTOBO is ahead on service desk, 6.2 to 5.8 with two judges leaning its way, and above all the self-service portal, 6.0 to 5.2 with five judges leaning OTOBO and one tie. Sovereignty and deployment are genuine splits: two judges lean GLPI, one OTOBO, three tie. The weighted totals split as well — of the five judges with recorded totals, three (change manager, solo admin, skeptic) come out higher for GLPI and two (service-desk lead, public-sector IT) for OTOBO; the MSP owner's totals were not recorded. No overall winner: the split is the answer.
Choose GLPI if
- You need broad asset coverage: assets and CMDB stands at 6.5 vs 6.0 with three judges leaning GLPI and none OTOBO, and the GLPI verdict cites hardware and software inventory, FusionInventory or OCS discovery, and a PNG-exportable impact analysis.
- Your team runs changes formally: change and problem scores 4.5 vs 4.0 — the weakest criterion for both products, with the verdicts finding no public information on change types or a CAB for either — and three judges lean GLPI while none lean OTOBO.
- You pay per user: published prices run '19 € Excl. tax / month / user' starting with 1 user and '21 € Excl. tax / month / user' for 25 or more, with a 45-day free trial; pricing transparency is 6.7 vs 6.3 with two judges leaning GLPI and none OTOBO.
- You weigh sovereignty: the mean is 7.2 vs 7.0 with two judges leaning GLPI, one OTOBO and three ties, and the GLPI verdict cites a French contracting entity, OVH cloud hosting in France, and terms stating no personal data is transferred outside the EU or EEA.
- You integrate heavily: deployment and integration is 6.3 vs 6.2 with two judges leaning GLPI and one OTOBO, and the GLPI verdict lists a REST API with webhooks and a plugin marketplace.
Choose OTOBO if
- Your front line is the ticket queue: the service desk mean is 6.2 vs 5.8 with two judges leaning OTOBO and none GLPI, and the OTOBO verdict records tickets by email, phone and portal, calendar-based SLA escalations and a free load-balancer add-on.
- Your users must serve themselves: the self-service portal is 6.0 vs 5.2 with five judges leaning OTOBO and one tie — the largest lean count on any criterion in the table.
- You must run on-premise: the OTOBO verdict documents on-premise operation to keep full control over all data with the codebase fully downloadable, and one judge leans OTOBO on deployment and integration.
- You are a service-desk lead buying for your own operation: that judge's weighted total is 6.2 for OTOBO vs 5.9 for GLPI, the widest recorded gap.
- You buy for public-sector IT: that judge's weighted total is 6.3 for OTOBO vs 6.2 for GLPI.
Read this comparison as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The bench's picks
Same scores, different priorities: each judge's weighting applied to both products. The split is the finding.
- The Service Desk Lead GLPI OTOBO picks OTOBO
- The MSP Owner GLPI OTOBO picks GLPI
- The Change & Configuration Manager GLPI OTOBO picks GLPI
- The Municipal IT Lead GLPI OTOBO picks OTOBO
- The Solo IT Admin GLPI OTOBO picks GLPI
- The Skeptic GLPI OTOBO picks GLPI
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | GLPI | OTOBO |
|---|---|---|
| Service desk, incidents & requests | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Change, problem & release management | 2.5 of 5 | 2 of 5 |
| Assets, CMDB & discovery | 3.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Self-service portal & service catalog | 2.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Deployment, integrations & multi-client operation | 3 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 3.5 of 5 | 3.5 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3.5 of 5 | 3 of 5 |
| Criterion | GLPI | OTOBO | The bench leans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service desk, incidents & requests | OTOBO, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| Change, problem & release management | GLPI, 3 of 6 judges | ||
| Assets, CMDB & discovery | GLPI, 3 of 6 judges | ||
| Self-service portal & service catalog | OTOBO, 5 of 6 judges | ||
| Deployment, integrations & multi-client operation | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| European sovereignty | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges | ||
| Pricing transparency | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges |
Stars show the bench average per criterion; the lean counts which product each judge scored higher. Open a judge's tab for their reasoning on both sides.
Sovereignty, side by side
| Dimension | GLPI | OTOBO |
|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting location | Not determined | Not determined |
| Hosting options | Not determined | Not determined |
| Open source | Not determined | Not determined |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | Not determined |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | Not determined |
Facts, side by side
Only facts both products carry under the same definition — anything else would not be a fair row.
| Product · Access control | yes · yes1 | yes · yes2 |
|---|---|---|
| Product · Change management | Changes module supports modification tracking linked to problems and tickets3 | Change Management4 |
| Product · Description | open source ITSM software offered as SaaS5 | Service Management-Plattform6 |
| Product · Knowledge base access | Users can consult the knowledge base from the portal7 | yes8 |
| Product · Latest version | 129 | OTOBO 11.110 |
| Product · Open source | yes9 | yes2 |
| Product · Service catalog | Self-service Service Catalog with advanced categorization, illustrations, and intelligent search1 | yes · yes11 |
| Product · SLA management | yes · yes5 | yes12 |
Questions about GLPI and OTOBO
Which is better, GLPI or OTOBO?
As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates both 3/5. Weighted by what each judge cares about, 4 of the 6 judges pick GLPI and 2 pick OTOBO. Which one fits depends on the criteria that matter to you; the table on this page shows both side by side, and each judge’s reading has its own page. Both were scored by the same AI bench under the same rubric, from public evidence only, as the methodology describes.
Is GLPI or OTOBO European?
GLPI is European (EU-Made). OTOBO is European (EU-Made). Provenance is read from each company’s own legal pages: who builds it and who owns it.
Where do GLPI and OTOBO store customer data?
Per the vendors’ own pages as captured — GLPI: Default not stated; pages mention France. OTOBO: Default not stated; pages mention Germany and Switzerland.