Often it's the pricing or the AI billing that sends teams away. Freshdesk is now $19 per agent a month for Growth, $55 for Pro and $89 for Enterprise (on annual billing), and there's no longer a free plan on the pricing page. On top of agents, you're charged for AI usage. We've listed 9 alternatives to Freshdesk, with their pricing, how they charge for AI and what each one is missing. Every price was checked on the vendor's own site on 24 October 2026.
Why teams look for a Freshdesk alternative
A Freshdesk bill has three parts: seats, AI usage and add-ons. Seats are the easy bit. Every plan comes with the Freddy AI Agent and its first 500 sessions, and after that, AI Agent sessions cost $49 per 100. Freddy AI Copilot, which helps your agents write replies, is $29 per agent a month on Pro and Enterprise with annual billing. Chat and messaging live in a separate product, Freshdesk Omni, which Freshworks lists from $29.
So take a team of 4 on Pro with Copilot, plus an AI agent handling 300 conversations a month after you've gone through the included sessions. That's 4 × $55 for seats, 4 × $29 for Copilot and 3 × $49 for sessions: $483 a month, or about $5,800 a year.
The other change is the free plan. There isn't one on Freshdesk's pricing page anymore. A new account gets a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan, and Freshdesk's FAQ says the account gets suspended if you don't pick a paid plan after the trial.
How to compare the alternatives
Work out three numbers for each tool you're considering:
- Seats. The number of people who answer customers, times the seat price. Some tools on this list don't charge per seat at all.
- AI at your volume. Per session, per resolution, per outcome or included in the plan. Price the month you expect, not the quiet one.
- The add-ons you'd actually turn on. Copilot, extra channels, onboarding fees.
Then check that the channel you get the most messages on is included in the plan you priced, not one tier up.
Nine Freshdesk alternatives
Every tool below fits some team, and the "Best for" line says which. All prices are taken from each vendor's public pricing page as of 24 October 2026. Prices change often, so check before you subscribe.
Helpo AI
- Best for
- Teams that want an AI agent answering questions in their website chat, based on their help articles, pages and product catalog, with tickets and a shared inbox for the rest.
- What you get
- Free: 100 AI questions a day and 2 team members, the chat widget, human takeover, tickets and lead capture, with no card and no time limit. Pro is $19.99/mo for 500 AI questions a day and up to 6 team members, so AI and seats come in one price. New workspaces start with 14 days of Pro.
- The catch
- Today Helpo answers on your website only. There's no email, phone or social inbox, so it's not a Freshdesk replacement unless most of your conversations start on your site. The free plan gives you 5 knowledge-base pages: enough to get the idea, but not enough for a big help center.
Zendesk
- Best for
- Teams that need deep ticketing, many channels and a large app marketplace, and have someone to set it all up.
- What you get
- $19 per agent a month (billed annually) gets you email ticketing on Support Team. Suite Team is $55 and adds messaging and live chat, AI agents and the knowledge base. Suite Professional is $115.
- The catch
- You pay the same per agent for Zendesk Suite Team as you would for Freshdesk Pro, so it's a switch for features, not savings. There's no free tier, though Zendesk offers startups that meet its criteria up to 2 years free.
Zoho Desk
- Best for
- Teams that want the lowest seat price on this list and are happy inside the Zoho ecosystem.
- What you get
- Free for up to 3 users with email ticketing. Paid plans are $7, $14, $23 and $40 a month per user, billed annually. When your 15-day trial ends, you drop to the free plan instead of being suspended.
- The catch
- Each upgrade is a real jump: you need Standard for the knowledge base and Answer bot, Professional for Zia AI and Enterprise for live chat with any website visitor. Upgrading also removes the 3 included users of the free version, so from then on you pay for every seat.
Help Scout
- Best for
- Teams whose support is mostly email and who like a simple shared inbox more than ticket fields and queues.
- What you get
- A free plan for 5 users with 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts a month. Standard is $25 per user a month billed annually and includes live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Plus is $45 and Pro is $75.
- The catch
- Envoy, the AI agent, costs $0.75 per resolution (after a 3-month free trial), plus seats. The free plan also caps you at 100 contacts a month, 10 saved replies and 10 Docs articles.
Intercom
- Best for
- Online businesses that want AI to handle most first replies and a messenger that looks good inside their product.
- What you get
- Essential is $29 per seat a month on annual billing (new customers were offered $19 when we looked). Advanced is $85 and Expert is $132. The Fin AI Agent comes with all plans.
- The catch
- Fin is $0.99 per outcome in addition to seats. You're not charged if Fin doesn't know the answer or the customer wants to talk to a person, but the cost still climbs as you use more. No free plan; the trial is 14 days.
Gorgias
- Best for
- Ecommerce brands, Shopify stores especially, whose agent count changes with the season.
- What you get
- Pricing is based on tickets per month, not per agent. Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets (billed monthly). Basic is $50 a month for 300 tickets on annual billing, or $77 including the AI Agent.
- The catch
- A promotion or a delivery issue that doubles your tickets can bump you up to a bigger plan. The AI Agent is an extra cost on every plan, and the product targets stores, so it's not as good a fit for other kinds of business.
HubSpot Service Hub
- Best for
- Teams that run sales and marketing in HubSpot and want support history on the same contact record.
- What you get
- Free for up to 2 users, no credit card required. Service Hub Professional, which includes the help desk workspace, knowledge base, customer portal and the Customer Agent, starts at $90 per seat a month on annual billing.
- The catch
- You also pay $1,500 one time for Professional onboarding, and the Customer Agent runs on HubSpot Credits. On the free tools, live chat carries HubSpot branding.
Tidio
- Best for
- Small online stores that mostly need live chat with an AI agent, not a full ticketing system.
- What you get
- Starter is $24.17 a month on annual billing for 100 billable conversations, plus 50 one-off Lyro AI conversations to try. Growth starts at $49.17 a month. There's a 7-day trial.
- The catch
- It's all counted by conversation: human conversations, Lyro AI conversations and visitors reached with Flows are all separate, so if you're busy, you need a bigger plan.
Zammad
- Best for
- European teams that want an open-source ticket system they can host in Germany or run on their own servers.
- What you get
- The hosted Starter plan costs €7 per agent a month on annual billing (€9 monthly) for up to 5 agents, with email, web form and SMS. Professional is €16 and gets you chat, SLAs and a knowledge base. The self-hosted, open-source edition doesn't have a licence fee.
- The catch
- You need Professional for live chat, and AI is extra at €0.03 per AI call on top of seats. If you self-host, you're responsible for updates, backups and keeping it running.
What three agents cost a month
This is the entry plan that includes AI for customers, with annual billing where offered, before any usage charges.
| Tool | Plan | Three agents a month | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk | Growth | $57 | $49 per 100 AI sessions after the first 500 |
| Helpo AI | Pro | $19.99/mo | Seats included up to 6 |
| Zendesk | Suite Team | $165 | |
| Zoho Desk | Standard | $42 | Answer bot included |
| Help Scout | Standard | $75 | $0.75 per AI resolution |
| Intercom | Essential | $87 | $0.99 per Fin outcome |
| Gorgias | Basic with AI Agent | $77 | Covers 300 tickets; no seat charge |
| HubSpot | Professional | $270 | $1,500 one-time onboarding |
| Tidio | Starter | $24.17 | Covers 100 conversations |
| Zammad | Professional, hosted | €48 | €0.03 per AI call |
Seat-based tools get more expensive as you hire. Usage-based tools get more expensive in your busiest month. Work out both numbers before you choose.
Which one to pick
- The lowest seat price: Zoho Desk.
- Email-first support that feels personal: Help Scout.
- Same kind of tool, more channels: Zendesk.
- An online store: Gorgias, Tidio, or Helpo AI if you want product, shipping and returns questions answered in chat.
- AI that takes most first replies: Intercom if per-outcome billing works for you, Helpo AI if you'd rather have AI and seats in one plan.
- Open source: Zammad.
We looked at the best Zendesk alternatives too. And if you run a Shopify or WooCommerce store, our guide to ecommerce customer service covers what to automate first.
When to stay on Freshdesk
If you're running a ticket queue all day with SLA policies and routing, and you also want Freshworks CRM or IT service tools alongside, Freshdesk still does that really well, and switching costs time you won't get back. Before you decide it's too costly, price the AI you actually use. If you only need a few hundred AI sessions a month, the add-on won't be big.
Switching from Freshdesk
- Check your renewal date. Freshdesk cancellations take effect at the end of the term, so plan the move for the last period you've already paid for.
- Export tickets, contacts and companies while you still have full access.
- Move your knowledge base first. Good articles are what any AI agent answers from. With Helpo, add your published help center as a website source and it answers from those pages straight away.
- Rebuild only the canned responses and automations you actually use. Most teams find a handful that matter.
- Run both tools for a week or two before switching off the old one.
An AI agent that answers from your own docs
Frequently asked questions
Does Freshdesk still have a free plan?
Not on its pricing page anymore. New accounts get a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan, and according to Freshdesk's FAQ, the account gets suspended if you don't pick a paid plan. If you're looking for a free help desk, there's Zoho Desk (3 users), Help Scout (5 users), HubSpot's free tools (2 users) or Helpo AI's free plan.
How much does Freddy AI cost?
All Freshdesk plans come with the Freddy AI Agent and its first 500 sessions; after that, sessions are $49 per 100. Freddy AI Copilot, the assistant for your agents, is $29 per agent a month on Pro and Enterprise with annual billing.
What is the best Freshdesk alternative for a small business?
Depends on where your messages come from. For email, Help Scout. For the lowest price per seat, Zoho Desk. For an online shop, Gorgias. For an AI agent that answers in the chat on your website, with seats included in the price, Helpo AI.
Is Zendesk better than Freshdesk?
There's no clear winner. Both have the same entry price ($19 per agent a month when you pay yearly), and Freshdesk Pro costs the same $55 as Zendesk Suite Team. Zendesk packages chat, AI agents and the knowledge base in Suite Team, while Freshworks sells ticketing and omnichannel separately. Think about your channels and how much AI you'll use, and see which one fits.
