Freshdesk
CE 89 free tierSmall and mid-size teams that want tickets, SLAs and social channels in one help desk, priced in the open.
Entry plan$23 / seat
× 6 seats$138
Against your $144 ceiling−$6
Team cost$138 / mo
Verified
Reviewed by
Oleh Kem
Oleh KemPlans checked26 / 6 vendors
“Contact sales”4/26
Median entry$24/mo
Entry range$10-45
Free tier3/6
Leader90 Help Scout
Help desk software compared: pricing, ticketing, AI and SLA rules
Monthly prices for 6 help desks, gathered from the vendors themselves and last checked July 29, 2026. The costs that move the real bill sit beside the entry number: the agents you add, and the AI resolutions billed over them.
How much does help desk software cost per agent?
Paid entry ranges widely: the cheapest tier asks $10, the priciest opens at $45, and $24 sits in the middle, a snapshot from July 29, 2026. That figure covers one seat on the lowest tier. It says nothing about the agents you add next, or the AI resolutions the vendor charges over the seat.
- All six help desks print an entry price. Only two of them price every plan; the rest keep the top Enterprise tier as a quote you must request.
- You can start free on 3 of them; the rest begin at a paid seat, with only a trial to test on.
- Most of these bill by the agent seat. A couple bill by volume instead, one on monthly ticket count and one on a flat workspace fee, and neither meter tracks your headcount.
- The sealed plans are all one kind. Count them and you get four out of 26 tiers we logged, every one a top Enterprise step. The door price is public; the ceiling is the number you request.
- AI is the cost the entry row never shows. Every vendor here meters it on the side, charged by the resolution or drawn from a credit balance that empties. A desk that deflects a lot of tickets can add a bill the seat price never hinted at.
Two numbers set the rank. Pricing transparency is weighted 60, measuring how much of the real bill a buyer can read before talking to sales. User satisfaction is the other 40, taken from what reviewers rate the tool on G2 and Capterra. Capability is the matrix below, not part of the score.
01 / 07
Help desks ranked: ticketing, AI chatbot, SLA and knowledge base
The order rewards disclosure. A desk that publishes all its plans ranks over one that hides its ceiling, whatever the two can do.
Sorted by transparency scorePriced tiers 22 / 26Full disclosure 2 / 6
How to read this table
Reading the console
The axis is one logarithmic scale, and the further along a marker sits, the higher the price, so a per-agent charge and a flat workspace fee line up at a fair distance. Of the seven columns, two weigh money, a free tier and whether the vendor leaves any plan unpriced, and the other five weigh capability: ticketing, AI chatbot, knowledge base, SLA management and social channels. A cell left blank means we had not recorded that feature at the last price check, not that the desk lacks it. Read the rank in the same spirit. A broad, familiar suite that seals its top tier can land beneath a cheaper desk that shows every plan, which reflects disclosure rather than which tool answers tickets better.
- Price axis
- One shared logarithmic axis, $10 to $900. A tick further right is genuinely dearer. The tall tick is the cheapest paid tier.
- Diamond
- A flat platform fee, billed per month, not per seat.
- Granted
- Listed on the vendor’s own pages on the verify date.
- Conditional
- Present, but some tiers carry no published price.
- Not on the record
- Absent from the recorded feature set. It means unlisted, not incapable.
01Help ScoutFree tierAll tiers pricedTicketing listedAI chatbot not on the recordKnowledge base listedSLA management not on the recordSocial channels not on the record$30/u90Alternatives to Help Scout
02FreshdeskFree tierAll tiers pricedTicketing listedAI chatbot listedKnowledge base listedSLA management listedSocial channels listed$23/u89Alternatives to Freshdesk
03GorgiasNo free tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedTicketing listedAI chatbot listedKnowledge base not on the recordSLA management not on the recordSocial channels listed$10flat80Alternatives to Gorgias
04CrispFree tier1 of 5 tiers unpricedTicketing not on the recordAI chatbot listedKnowledge base listedSLA management not on the recordSocial channels not on the record$45flat78Alternatives to Crisp
05LiveChatNo free tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedTicketing listedAI chatbot listedKnowledge base not on the recordSLA management not on the recordSocial channels not on the record$25/u75Alternatives to LiveChat
06ZendeskNo free tier1 of 4 tiers unpricedTicketing listedAI chatbot listedKnowledge base listedSLA management listedSocial channels listed$19/u72Alternatives to Zendesk
GrantedSome tiers sealedNot on the recordCheapest paid seatFlat account fee, not per seatScore ranks pricing transparency and user ratings, not capability. Capability is the grid.
6 vendorsMedian entry $24Coverage span 5 → 2 of fiveSealed tiers 4 / 26
Scroll the console sideways to reach the remaining conditions.
02 / 07
Shortlist a help desk by agent count and what it really costs
The shortlist ranks by what the plan actually costs your team, not by list price. Flat plans are folded into a per-team number so they compare like for like. Only vendors rated 85 and up are eligible.
Seats
6
Budget / seat
For 6 seats at $24 per seat, start with these
Ranked by monthly team cost, vendors rated 85 and up · Your ceiling for this team: $144 / mo
Over your ceilingHelp Scout $30 / seat
Not sure what to weigh? Five questions narrow it faster than the grid.Answer 5 questions
03 / 07
Every help desk's plans, verdicts and the date we checked each price
Every row expands into that vendor's full plan table, with the date its price was last checked. Rank puts disclosure first, which is not the same as being best at the daily job. And these six are not built to one template: two run full ticketing, two lead with a chat widget, one is a shared inbox, and one wires into a store.
Transparency scorePricing transparency 60%User satisfaction 40%
Small teams that run support out of a shared inbox and want structure without a full ticketing rig. Help Scout prices every plan it sells, and its Pro tier folds in the HIPAA, SSO and IP controls that the Standard and Plus plans treat as paid add-ons. Two soft costs sit in the plans too: an extra inbox and an extra Docs site each bill a monthly line of their own.
Critical gapThe platform lacks offline capabilities and exhibits volatile pricing structures.
Plan table and expert take
Help Scout: expert take
Help Scout hides a staircase of add-ons: HIPAA, SSO and IP controls are paid extras until the Pro tier, and every extra inbox or Docs site bills on its own. Still, it prices each plan openly.
Where Help Scout holds up
- Clean, email-like interface agents love
- Docs knowledge base is excellent
- Great for customer-centric teams
- No per-ticket fees or clutter
4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 427 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2011Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Standard | $30 | $25 |
| Plus | $54 | $45 |
| Pro | $90 | $75 |
Small and mid-size teams that want tickets, SLAs and social channels in one help desk, priced in the open. Freshdesk ships a free tier. It also undercuts the enterprise suites at every paid step, and its Pro plan bundles a batch of Freddy AI sessions before the meter starts.
Critical gapSalesforce integration creates significant UI latency for agents.
Plan table and expert take
Freshdesk: expert take
Freshdesk bills per agent with a real free tier and undercuts Zendesk feature-for-feature. The catch is metered AI: the Pro and Enterprise plans include 500 Freddy sessions once per account, then sell more in packs.
Where Freshdesk holds up
- Generous free plan supports up to 10 agents with ticketing & knowledge base
- Freddy AI provides bot and agent-assist features on all paid plans
- Omnichannel support consolidates email, phone, chat, and social media
- Built-in gamification features to motivate support agents
- Significantly more affordable than competitors like Zendesk at each tier
4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 3,744 reviewsCapterra 4.5Founded 2010Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Growth | $23 | $19 |
| Pro | $66 | $55 |
| Enterprise | $107 | $89 |
Above the line, every plan is priced. Below it, the top tier turns into a quote.
Wrong fit for a general helpdesk or a team without a storefront; right fit for Shopify and BigCommerce brands that want support wired into order and refund data. Gorgias bills by monthly ticket volume with unlimited seats, so it stays cheap for a quiet store and turns steep for a busy one. Its AI agent is a separate line, charged for each conversation it resolves.
Critical gapThe Pro tier requires a $360 monthly expenditure for full functionality.
Plan table and expert take
Gorgias: expert take
Gorgias inverts the model: it charges by billable tickets a month with unlimited seats, cheap for a quiet Shopify store and steep once volume rises. Its AI agent bills separately, per resolved conversation, so automation is a line the ticket plan never shows.
Where Gorgias holds up
- Deep Shopify integration: edit orders & issue refunds in the helpdesk
- Attribute support interactions directly to sales revenue
- Automate responses using 100+ e-commerce data points (e.g., order status)
- Pre-built macros and rules specifically for e-commerce inquiries
- Consolidates social media comments and DMs into one ticket view
4.7CE scoreG2 4.6 · 560 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2017Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $10 | Not published |
| Basic | $60 | $50 |
| Pro | $360 | $300 |
| Advanced | $900 | $750 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Not a per-seat tool, and not built for a big support floor. Crisp suits startups that want live chat, a chatbot and a help center on one flat workspace fee. Extra agents beyond the included seats cost a small monthly add-on each, and the free plan leaves out unlimited message retention, which starts with Mini.
Critical gapThe software lacks native integration for complex supply chain data synchronization.
Plan table and expert take
Crisp: expert take
Crisp's soft spot is its free plan, which keeps chat running but not your archive: unlimited data retention only arrives with Mini. It prices flat per workspace, not per seat, so it stays cheap as a team grows, though extra agents cost a monthly fee each and AI runs on a euro credit quota.
Where Crisp holds up
- MagicBrowse co-browsing for hands-on support
- Built-in CRM and marketing automation tools
- Free plan includes a chatbot and shared inbox
- Transparent, seat-based pricing is very affordable
- Video calls and screen sharing directly within chat
4.6CE scoreG2 4.5 · 194 reviewsCapterra 4.5Founded 2015Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free |
| Mini | $45 | Not published |
| Essentials | $95 | Not published |
| Plus | $295 | Not published |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Teams after a dedicated live-chat widget with a ticketing system waiting behind it for whatever comes in after hours. LiveChat prices by the seat. Its Starter plan is a single seat by definition, so a second agent means the Team plan. The chatbot is not part of the price: it is a separate product with its own subscription.
Critical gapThe platform experiences persistent latency during authentication and account registration.
Plan table and expert take
LiveChat: expert take
LiveChat prices by the seat, but its Starter plan is one user by definition, so a second agent forces the Team plan. The bigger surprise is the chatbot: a separate product on its own subscription, not part of the chat plan. The knowledge base is the same story: the KnowledgeBase product sells separately, from $49 a month.
Where LiveChat holds up
- Rich chat widgets with eye-catchers and custom branding
- Built-in ticketing system to manage issues after chats end
- Detailed performance reports and agent dashboards
- Excellent, full-featured mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Chat supervision tools for real-time agent monitoring
4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 806 reviewsCapterra 4.6Founded 2002Verified July 8, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $25 | $19 |
| Team | $59 | $49 |
| Business | $89 | $79 |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | |
Not the transparent pick here, and not the cheapest. Zendesk earns its place with larger teams that need broad channel coverage and heavy configuration. Its entry plan is a bare email-and-ticketing seat, and the step up to Suite Team, where the AI and omnichannel live, nearly triples what a single seat costs. The Enterprise tier stays a custom quote, and a six-month Suite trial exists for early-stage startups.
Critical gapThe platform necessitates dedicated administrative resources to manage complex API-based integrations.
Plan table and expert take
Zendesk: expert take
Zendesk drags on satisfaction, not features: setup is famously heavy. Its Support Team seat is email-only, and moving to Suite Team for AI and omnichannel nearly triples the rate. Both the AI resolutions and the Enterprise price stay off the published page.
Where Zendesk holds up
- Industry-leading customer service platform
- Comprehensive feature set
- Strong analytics and reporting
- Excellent third-party integrations
4.4CE scoreG2 4.3 · 6,936 reviewsCapterra 4.4Founded 2007Verified July 16, 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Support Team | $19 | Not published |
| Suite Team | $55 | Not published |
| Suite Professional | $115 | Not published |
| Suite Enterprise | Contact sales | |
04 / 07
Compare any two help desks: plans, agent limits and our score
vs
What the records say
Freshdesk starts cheaper: $23 / seat against $30 from Help Scout, $7 apart at the door.
For 6 seats, Freshdesk bills $138 / mo and Help Scout bills $180 / mo, $42 / mo between them.
Freshdesk carries 5 of the 5 capability columns on the record; Help Scout shows 2.
Users rate them level: 4.4 on G2 apiece.
Both run a free tier, so either can be tried before the bill starts.
Both publish every tier they sell.
Pick Help Scout for: Small teams that run support out of a shared inbox and want structure without a full ticketing rig.
Pick Freshdesk for: Small and mid-size teams that want tickets, SLAs and social channels in one help desk, priced in the open.
Help Scout
CE 90 · G2 4.4Published plans, US$/mo
FreeFree
Standard$30
Pro$90
Team of 6$180 / mo
Verified July 16, 2026
Freshdesk
CE 89 · G2 4.4Published plans, US$/mo
FreeFree
Growth$23
Enterprise$107
Team of 6$138 / mo
Verified July 16, 2026
Both price lists on the category axis
Help Scout
Freshdesk
Where they differ
Only Help Scout has on the record
—
Only Freshdesk has on the record
- AI chatbot
- SLA management
- Social channels
05 / 07
Help desk questions: Freshdesk against Zendesk, agent seats, AI fees
Is Freshdesk cheaper than Zendesk?
On the entry price they look close, but the plans are not the same. Zendesk's cheapest seat is email and ticketing only, with no free plan of any kind. Freshdesk offers a free plan Zendesk does not. And the Zendesk plan that matches Freshdesk's paid entry on features, Suite Team, sits about three times its own starter seat. So feature-for-feature, Freshdesk is the cheaper desk.
Is the cheapest plan on a help desk pricing page enough to run support?
Rarely, and the gaps are deliberate. Zendesk's $19 Support Team plan carries no chat and no AI agent. No SLA either. A real desk starts at Suite Team. LiveChat's $25 Starter seat allows one user and sixty days of history, and Gorgias caps its Starter plan at fifty tickets a month. Price the plan that does the job.
Does every person who touches a ticket need a paid seat?
No, and it is worth checking before you count heads. Freshdesk bundles 5,000 collaborators into its Growth plan alongside the paid agents. Help Scout includes fifteen light users on Plus and up to fifty on Pro. Gorgias drops seat counting from its Basic plan up and bills tickets instead. Count the agents who reply. Read-only staff often ride along free.
What is the difference between help desk software and live chat tools?
A help desk revolves around the ticket. Zendesk and Freshdesk queue, route and track a conversation to resolution, with SLAs on top. A live-chat tool revolves around the widget on your site, for talking to a visitor in the moment. Crisp and LiveChat lead with chat and attach ticketing behind it. Help Scout lands in the middle on a shared inbox, and Gorgias is a help desk wired into a Shopify store.
Why is help desk pricing so hard to compare?
The unit under the price is not the same everywhere. Most bill per agent seat, one bills per monthly ticket, and one charges a flat workspace fee, so the same starting figure means different things. On top of that, four of the six keep their Enterprise tier as a quote, and every one meters AI separately. You cannot line them up on the entry price alone.
Can you run a support desk for free?
For a while, yes. Freshdesk, Help Scout and Crisp each offer one free, enough to test the tool or cover a solo founder. The limits show fast. Free plans cap agents, contacts or channels, and Crisp's free tier leaves out unlimited message history, which starts with its paid Mini plan. Zendesk, Gorgias and LiveChat have no free plan, only a trial.
Why does Gorgias charge by ticket instead of per agent?
Gorgias is built for e-commerce, where support volume tracks orders, not team size. It gives you unlimited seats and bills the number of billable tickets a month instead, with overage after the plan's ticket allowance runs out. For a store with steady sales, that model is predictable. For a support team without a store behind it, per-ticket pricing is usually the wrong shape.
How much does the AI cost on top of a help desk?
More than the pricing page suggests, and always separately. Gorgias and Help Scout bill each AI resolution as its own charge. Freshdesk includes a batch of Freddy sessions once, then sells more in packs. Crisp gives each plan a credit balance the bot spends down. Zendesk meters automated resolutions, and LiveChat's chatbot is a separate product entirely. None of it is in the seat price.
Which help desk is cheapest for a very small team?
It depends on whether you can live on a free tier. Help Scout, Freshdesk and Crisp each have one, so a founder or a pair of agents can begin free. Among paid entry plans, Gorgias opens lowest on its Starter tier, but that plan is built for a small store, not a general team. For a couple of agents who want real ticketing, Freshdesk's paid entry is normally the best value.
Is it cheaper to pay a help desk annually?
Usually, yes. Freshdesk, Help Scout, LiveChat and Gorgias all discount the annual plan against paying month to month, often enough to matter across a full team. Gorgias also shaves its per-resolution AI charge on annual billing. The catch is the lock-in: you commit to a year, so it only pays off once you know the tool fits. Trial on monthly first, then switch.
The per-agent price multiplies faster than the headline suggests
Most of these desks bill by the seat, so that headline is one agent's rate, and it multiplies across a full support floor. The limits that push you into a higher tier, reporting depth and automation rules, tend to arrive before you run out of seats. The tier you land on is rarely the one you first priced.
Two vendors break the seat model. One bills by monthly ticket volume, cheap for a quiet store and steep for a busy one. One charges a flat workspace fee and lets you add agents for a small monthly amount each. Neither bill tracks your headcount, which makes them hard to compare against a seat price until you know your own volume.
The AI fees that never appear on the pricing page
The cost that surprises people after they buy is automation. Chatbots and AI resolutions are billed on their own meter, added to the seat or workspace fee, and the pricing page rarely spells that out. One vendor includes a batch of AI sessions once, then charges for more. Another bills each resolved conversation. A third hands you a credit balance that empties as the bot works.
Work out the tier you will really sit on, at the agent count and the ticket volume you expect, and add the AI on top as its own line. Treat the Enterprise plans that four of these keep as a quote as a number you will have to request, not one you can plan around.
The verdict on help desk softwareSigned review · Updated
The per-agent price is only half the bill now: AI resolutions meter separately on most paid desks, and the included allowance runs out precisely when the tool starts earning its keep. Price the seat and the sessions together, at your real ticket volume.
The free tiers are real. They are also narrow. Two meters run on this market, the seat and the AI. Score follows whoever shows both.
MethodEvery price on this page is read from the vendor's own pricing page: 26 plans across six vendors, last verified .
DisclosureCollection is tool-assisted; every verdict is written and signed by a human analyst.
06 / 07
Not sure which? Answer one, take a shortlist.Pick the line that sounds like your team. Each one opens the vendor built for it.
Small teams that run support out of a shared inbox and want structure without a full ticketing rigHelp ScoutSmall and mid-size teams that want tickets, SLAs and social channels in one help desk, priced in the openFreshdeskWrong fit for a general helpdesk or a team without a storefront; right fit for Shopify and BigCommerce brands that want support wired into order and refund dataGorgiasNot a per-seat tool, and not built for a big support floorCrispTeams after a dedicated live-chat widget with a ticketing system waiting behind it for whatever comes in after hoursLiveChatNot the transparent pick here, and not the cheapestZendeskStill weighing it? Answer 5 questions, take a shortlist.
07 / 07
Read next: cost guides for help desk software, plus related categories
How this review is made. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked on the dates shown against each product. Condition columns reflect the feature set recorded on the vendor’s own pages on that date. ComparEdge sells no help desk software and takes no vendor payment for placement. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this page says so rather than estimating. Ranking is by transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. What a product can do is shown in the condition columns and carries no weight in the number.