The difference between pending and on-hold

Both mean you are waiting. The difference is who you are waiting for, and it changes what your reports and SLAs say.

Both mean you are waiting. The difference is who you are waiting for, and it changes what your reports and SLAs say.

When do I use pending and when on-hold?

• Pending means you are waiting on the customer. You asked a question and cannot go further until they answer.
• On-hold means you are waiting on anyone else: a colleague, a supplier, a delivery, a fix.

Why it is not just labelling

Reopening works the same for both: a comment from the end user moves a Pending, On-hold or Solved ticket back to Open by itself. That is a system rule, not a trigger, so it happens whether or not you built anything.

Two real differences. On-hold is internal, so the customer never sees it: an On-hold ticket shows as Open in their help centre. And the SLA clocks split on exactly this distinction.

• Requester wait time and Pausable update pause on Pending and keep running on On-hold.
• Agent work time pauses on both.
• First reply time, Next reply time, Periodic update and Total resolution time pause on neither. Total resolution time pauses only on Solved.

Which is why the choice is not cosmetic. Parking a ticket on Pending while you wait for your own supplier stops the two clocks that were meant to measure the customer's wait, and hides a delay that is yours.

If you do not have on-hold

It is off by default and an admin has to add it. Teams without it push everything onto Pending, which pauses the requester-wait clock for delays the requester had nothing to do with. Worth checking whether yours is switched on before you draw conclusions from a dashboard.

See also

• The ticket statuses: new, open, pending, on-hold, solved, closed
• Adding the on-hold status