# GLPI vs OTOBO — IT Service Management

As of 2 Nov 2026, the panel rates [GLPI](https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/glpi) 3/5 and [OTOBO](https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/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](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering).

- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/compare/glpi-vs-otobo
- GLPI: https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/glpi ([md](https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/glpi.md))
- OTOBO: https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/otobo ([md](https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm/otobo.md))
- Category: [IT Service Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/itsm.md)
- Data as of: 2026-11-06

**AI-generated.** Both products were evaluated from public evidence by the same panel of AI judges under the same rubric; without that, no comparison is published. Not a hands-on test; no score can be bought, on either side. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## 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.

## Overall

| | GLPI | OTOBO |
|---|---|---|
| Panel rating | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Provenance | EU-Made | EU-Made |
| Sovereignty | not determined | not determined |

## The bench's picks

| Judge | GLPI | OTOBO | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Service Desk Lead | 3/5 | 3/5 | OTOBO |
| The MSP Owner | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | GLPI |
| The Change & Configuration Manager | 3/5 | 3/5 | GLPI |
| The Municipal IT Lead | 3/5 | 3/5 | OTOBO |
| The Solo IT Admin | 3/5 | 3/5 | GLPI |
| The Skeptic | 3/5 | 3/5 | GLPI |

## Criterion by criterion

Bench average per criterion, out of 5; the lean counts which product each judge scored higher.

| Criterion | GLPI | OTOBO | The bench leans |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service desk, incidents & requests | 3/5 | 3/5 | OTOBO, 2 of 6 judges |
| Change, problem & release management | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | GLPI, 3 of 6 judges |
| Assets, CMDB & discovery | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | GLPI, 3 of 6 judges |
| Self-service portal & service catalog | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | OTOBO, 5 of 6 judges |
| Deployment, integrations & multi-client operation | 3/5 | 3/5 | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges |
| European sovereignty | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges |
| Pricing transparency | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | GLPI, 2 of 6 judges |

## 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; each is the vendor's own dated statement ([S*n*] → Sources).

| Fact | GLPI | OTOBO |
|---|---|---|
| Product · Access control | yes · yes [S1] | yes · yes [S2] |
| Product · Change management | Changes module supports modification tracking linked to problems and tickets [S3] | Change Management [S4] |
| Product · Description | open source ITSM software offered as SaaS [S5] | Service Management-Plattform [S6] |
| Product · Knowledge base access | Users can consult the knowledge base from the portal [S7] | yes [S8] |
| Product · Latest version | 12 [S9] | OTOBO 11.1 [S10] |
| Product · Open source | yes [S9] | yes [S2] |
| Product · Service catalog | Self-service Service Catalog with advanced categorization, illustrations, and intelligent search [S1] | yes · yes [S11] |
| Product · SLA management | yes · yes [S5] | yes [S12] |

## Sources

- [S1] Self-service portal & service catalog — found from sitemap: https://help.glpi-project.org/glpi-12/assistance/service-catalog (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S2] Security / trust page: https://otobo.io/de/service-management-plattform/sicherheit-und-compliance/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S3] Change, problem & release management — found from sitemap: https://help.glpi-project.org/helpdesk/changes (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S4] Service desk, incidents & requests — found from sitemap: https://otobo.io/de/open-source-ticketsystem/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S5] Features page (GLPI Network Cloud): https://www.glpi-project.org/en/glpi-network-cloud/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S6] Legal notice: https://otobo.io/de/impressum/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S7] Self-service portal & service catalog — found from sitemap: https://help.glpi-project.org/glpi-12/welcome-to-glpi-12/helpdesk-portal (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S8] Self-service portal & service catalog — found from sitemap: https://otobo.io/en/service-management-platform/self-service-portal/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S9] Vendor homepage: https://www.glpi-project.org/en/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S10] Vendor homepage: https://otobo.io/de/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S11] Features page (self-service portal): https://otobo.io/de/service-management-plattform/self-service-portal/ (checked 2026-11-01)
- [S12] Features page (CMDB): https://otobo.io/de/service-management-plattform/configuration-management-database-cmdb/ (checked 2026-11-01)

## Questions

### 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](https://whats-best.ai/methodology).

### 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.

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "GLPI vs OTOBO", AI panel comparison, as of 2026-11-06. https://whats-best.ai/compare/glpi-vs-otobo