9 Best Freshdesk Alternatives in 2026, Picked by Why You're Leaving

Halfway through the month, Freshdesk auto-recharges your Freddy AI Agent sessions again. Each new agent on Pro also adds $66 a month, plus $35 for Freddy AI Copilot ($55 and $29 billed annually).

Then someone asks for live chat on the website. On Freshdesk, chat means moving to Freshdesk Omni. On Pro, you go from paying $66 to $95 per agent a month ($55 to $79 billed annually).

The Freddy bill, the per-agent price and paid chat are three reasons to leave Freshdesk. A CRM kept apart from support is the fourth. Start with your main reason, and you'll compare three Freshdesk alternatives or fewer instead of nine.

Freshdesk Alternatives Compared: Price, AI Billing and Best Fit

Prices are monthly list prices, with annual billing in parentheses and Zammad in euros. Help Scout, Intercom, Zendesk, Front and HubSpot bill AI per resolution, outcome or conversation, and Freshdesk sells Freddy sessions in packs of 100. Helply bills AI work in credits by effort, and Zoho Desk bills standard-tier Zoho-hosted tokens past 30 million a month.

What Does Freshdesk Cost Once Freddy AI Is On?

With Copilot for all 10 agents and Freddy AI Agent on 1,000 email conversations, Freshdesk Pro costs $1,500 a month ($1,330 billed annually). The figure assumes you've used the one-time 500 sessions and each conversation takes one session.

Add live chat, and 10 agents on Freshdesk Omni Pro cost you $950 a month ($790 billed annually) before Copilot and sessions. Each new hire on Freshdesk Pro adds $101 a month on monthly billing: $66 for the agent and $35 for Copilot.

On Helply, the same 1,000 conversations use about 4,000 to 7,000 credits, depending on the kind of support. For that range, Helply charges $249 or $399 a month ($212 or $339 billed annually), against Freshdesk's $1,500 ($1,330 billed annually). Users are unlimited, and the Assist Agent needs no separate license.

Your own totals depend on session use, team size and the credit weight of each task. Compare both bills on the Helply and Freshdesk comparison page.

Leaving Over the Freddy AI Bill: Helply, Help Scout and Intercom

After a one-time grant of 500 sessions per account, Freshworks charges $49 for each further pack of 100. An email session covers 72 hours from the customer's first email, and unused sessions expire at the end of each billing cycle. Freshworks sells Freddy AI Copilot only on Pro and Enterprise, where each agent adds $35 a month ($29 billed annually).

Without auto-recharge, the AI agent stops taking new tickets once the sessions run out. With it on, Freshworks adds session packs when your balance drops below the threshold you set (50 sessions by default). Auto-recharge needs an online payment method.

Help Scout charges per resolution and Intercom per outcome, so a handoff to a person costs nothing. Helply prices each task in credits by effort, and retries and failed actions never cost credits.

1. Helply: Best for Handling More Support Without Growing Headcount

On Helply, the help desk and its AI agents come as one product. Ticketing, a shared inbox, messaging and a knowledge base sit beside a Support Agent, an Assist Agent and Background Agents.

One monthly credit block replaces Freshdesk's agent licenses, Freddy AI Copilot and session packs. Your whole team joins at no extra cost, and you pay for the AI work you use. Helply's agents draw on that same block for a shopper's refund request and a software customer's API error.

Key Features

• AI that resolves and acts. The Support Agent investigates with your knowledge, Skills and connected Tools, then can take supported Actions to resolve the request. If it needs a person, it hands the conversation over with its findings attached.
• Drafts and actions for your team. The Assist Agent drafts replies and, when your team directs it, updates records, creates issues or triggers workflows without leaving the conversation.
• Agents that watch for signals. Background Agents start when signals appear, then alert teammates, update systems or create work.
• Website chat beside email. Live chat, WhatsApp, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord and Telegram share one queue with email. Phone and SMS connect through supported phone tools.
• Limits you set. In escalation rules, you set the confidence levels and customer conditions that send a conversation to a person.

Pricing

Every plan has unlimited users. Your smallest choice is 500 credits for $49 a month ($42 billed annually). The top block, 32,000 credits, runs $1,549 a month ($1,317 billed annually), and you talk to sales above that.

Credits follow effort: 1 to draft a reply and 4 for a lookup bounded to one or two systems. Chained work across systems with a judgment call at the end takes 12. Retries, failed actions, spam, setup work and drafts your team throws out cost nothing.

Trials need no card and last 14 days, with 1,000 credits. Compare every credit block in the estimator.

Pros

• Adding a teammate never changes the bill, so engineers, ops staff and success managers can work tickets too.
• Support, Assist and Background Agents are part of every plan and draw on its credit block, with no Copilot license on top.
• With auto top-up on, Helply refills credits at your block's rate until you reach your monthly ceiling. Leftover credits on monthly billing carry one month forward.
• Freshdesk can stay live while Helply takes a slice of the queue, so you can switch in stages.

Cons

• Credits are a new unit to budget. A typical conversation takes about 4 to 7, depending on the kind of support you run.
• Phone and SMS depend on a supported phone tool that you connect.
• Enterprise plans include dedicated migration. On other plans, you run the self-serve Freshdesk import.

Best for

Growing teams that want unlimited users, credit-priced AI work and AI agents that can resolve tickets and take supported actions.

2. Help Scout: Best for Email-First Teams and Per-Resolution AI

Help Scout is a shared inbox built around email, with a help center and live chat beside it. Its AI agent, Scout, comes as the Envoy add-on at $0.75 per resolution.

Coming from Freshdesk, you swap session packs for a per-resolution price. Scout answers in Beacon chat, and Help Scout marks email as coming soon. Help Scout charges once for each session Scout resolves without human help, and nothing when the customer asks for more help.

Key Features

• Scout. Help Scout gives new accounts three free months of unlimited resolutions and lets you cap Scout's monthly spend.
• Channels on every paid plan. Email, live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, with SMS built in from Plus.
• A free plan. Up to five users can help 100 contacts a month from one inbox, with one Docs site.

Pricing

Help Scout's Standard plan runs $30 per user a month, Plus $54 and Pro $90 ($25, $45 and $75 billed annually). Standard caps out at 25 users and Plus at 50, while Pro has a 10-user minimum.

You can add Scout to any paid plan at $0.75 per resolution.

Pros

• No AI charge when the customer asks for more help.
• Help Scout's Import2 partner moves up to 500,000 Freshdesk records free.

Cons

• The import skips knowledge base articles, saved replies, macros, automations and custom fields.
• Phone works only through an integration such as Aircall.
• Help Scout lists Scout's payment and CRM connections as coming soon. Its MCP connections are read-only today, so custom actions run through its API.

Best for

Email-first teams that can live with per-user pricing and want AI charged per resolved session.

Helply vs. Help Scout: Pricing, AI Billing and Actions

Help Scout bills each user $30 to $90 a month ($25 to $75 billed annually), plus $0.75 per Scout resolution. Helply charges credits for AI work, with no per-user fee, and its Support Agent can take supported actions in the tools you connect.

Compare Helply and Help Scout side by side.

3. Intercom: Best for Chat-Led Teams, or Fin on Top of Freshdesk

Intercom's help desk centers on live chat. Fin, its AI agent, costs $0.99 per outcome, and Intercom charges at most one outcome per conversation.

Fin also runs on top of Freshdesk, so your team stays on Freshdesk while Fin takes over from Freddy. Fin on Freshdesk has a $49 monthly minimum that covers 50 outcomes, then $0.99 per extra outcome, with no seat costs.

Key features

• Fin billing. Intercom charges nothing if Fin can't answer, fails an action or the customer asks for a person.
• Fin on Freshdesk. Fin syncs your Solution Articles and customer data, follows your automation rules and handles refunds, cancellations and account changes.
• Free inbound channels. Live chat, inbound email, inbound WhatsApp, Telegram and Discord come with every plan.

Pricing

Intercom seats cost $39 a month on Essential, $99 on Advanced and $139 on Expert ($29, $85 and $132 billed annually). New customers get Essential at $29 a month ($19 billed annually) for as long as they stay subscribed.

Fin costs $0.99 per outcome on top, and Intercom's Copilot runs $35 per agent a month ($29 billed annually).

Pros

• You can keep Freshdesk and change only the AI agent.
• A customer who asks for a person costs you no outcome.

Cons

• SMS, outbound WhatsApp, phone numbers and calls bill by usage on top of seats.
• Intercom has no built-in Freshdesk ticket import, so a full move runs through its API.
• Intercom bills seats, Fin outcomes and Copilot on separate lines, so your total grows with team size and AI volume.

Best for

Chat-led teams leaving Freshdesk, or Freshdesk teams that want a different AI agent without migrating.

Helply vs. Intercom: Pricing, Fin Billing and Keeping Freshdesk

Intercom adds $0.99 per Fin outcome to Intercom seats, or to a $49 monthly minimum when Fin runs on Freshdesk. Helply replaces the help desk and the AI layer, with unlimited users and credits priced by effort.

See the full Helply and Intercom comparison, or compare more Intercom Fin alternatives.

Leaving Over the Cost of Chat and Phone: Zendesk, LiveAgent and Front

Plain Freshdesk covers email, a customer portal, web forms and Facebook. Web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, LINE and SMS need Freshdesk Omni. Omni costs $35, $95 or $143 per agent a month ($29, $79 or $119 billed annually).

Phone is a Voice add-on on Omni, from $18 per agent a month ($15 billed annually). You pay for calls from separate Voice credits. On plain Freshdesk, phone means buying Freshcaller on its own.

Zendesk and LiveAgent build phone into the help desk, and Front puts chat and WhatsApp in one inbox with email. Each still leaves some channel costs outside the plan price, such as phone minutes or WhatsApp fees.

4. Zendesk: Best for Messaging, Social and Voice in One Suite

Zendesk's Suite plans put email, messaging, live chat, social channels and voice in one help desk. Every Zendesk plan includes AI agents, and Zendesk bills each automated resolution past 5 or 10 included per agent a month.

Zendesk includes chat and phone from Suite Team up, at $69 per agent a month ($55 billed annually). Suite Team's $69 falls between Freshdesk Omni Growth at $35 and Omni Pro at $95 ($29 and $79 billed annually). Zendesk still charges phone numbers, call minutes and texts as add-ons.

Key features

• Channels from Suite Team. Messaging and live chat, plus Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Slack and other messaging apps, with voicemail and call routing. Social and messaging channels carry extra fees.
• AI agents that act. Zendesk's AI agents can clarify what a customer wants, then act across connected systems on multi-step requests.
• Copilot. Agent assist for Suite Professional and above, listed at $50 per agent a month billed annually.

Pricing

Zendesk's Support Team costs $25, Suite Team $69 and Suite Professional $149 per agent a month ($19, $55 and $115 billed annually). Enterprise is quote-only.

Every plan bundles automated resolutions: 5 per agent monthly on the two Team plans and 10 on Suite Professional. Beyond the bundle, each resolution costs $1.50 under a commitment, or $2.00 if you pay as you go. In May 2026, Zendesk started moving accounts to resolution tiers that its sales team prices, so confirm which model your quote uses.

Pros

• Zendesk bills a resolution only when the AI agent resolves the request without escalating to a person.
• Suite Team covers messaging, social channels and voice without a separate channel product.

Cons

• Copilot is a $50 add-on per agent a month, billed annually, for Suite Professional and above.
• No built-in Freshdesk importer, and imported tickets keep no first-reply or resolution-time metrics.

Best for

Teams that need social channels and phone from one vendor and can budget per agent plus phone add-ons.

Helply vs. Zendesk: Pricing, AI Resolutions and Channels

Each Zendesk agent costs $25 to $149 a month ($19 to $115 billed annually), and AI resolutions past the bundle cost extra. On Helply, you pay for AI work alone. Users are unlimited on every plan, and the Assist Agent comes included.

Read the full Helply and Zendesk comparison, or see more Zendesk alternatives.

5. LiveAgent: Best for a Call Center Inside the Help Desk

LiveAgent runs email, live chat, social channels and a call center from a single help desk. Calls run through your own VoIP provider, and LiveAgent charges nothing for them.

LiveAgent's Team plan and Freshdesk Omni Growth cost the same $35 per agent a month ($29 billed annually). Team has the call center built in, while Omni needs a Voice add-on at $18 per agent a month ($15 billed annually). Every LiveAgent plan includes AI, and you pay your own AI provider rather than buying session packs.

Key features

• A call center from Team up. Inbound and outbound calls, IVR, queueing, call recording and AI call transcripts sit beside your tickets.
• AI on every plan. An AI chatbot answers from your knowledge sources and hands complex chats to your team. The AI Answer Assistant drafts replies for agents to review.
• AI agents that work tickets. Once a rule fires, an AI agent can tag, assign, transfer, resolve or reply inside LiveAgent.

Pricing

LiveAgent's Starter costs $19, Team $35 and Business $59 per agent a month ($15, $29 and $49 billed annually). Until 22 November 2026, offer prices run $15, $26 and $44 ($11, $22 and $38 billed annually). You keep an offer price for as long as you keep the plan.

Enterprise is a flat $3,999 a month ($3,199 billed annually) with 80 agents included. LiveAgent sends no AI bill of its own, and it estimates you'll pay your AI provider 1 to 2 cents per AI-resolved chat.

Pros

• Free migration of Freshdesk tickets, contacts and knowledge base through a built-in importer.
• No per-resolution AI fee from LiveAgent itself.

Cons

• Starter leaves out social channels, the call center and reporting.
• To check store orders, LiveAgent's AI needs an order tool, such as FlowHunt's Shopify tool. LiveAgent documents AI actions inside its own help desk only.
• Team stops at 15 agents, so larger teams move to Business at $59 ($49 billed annually).

Best for

Teams that take support calls and want them in the same queue as chat and email, at a per-agent price.

Helply vs. LiveAgent: Pricing, AI Billing and Phone

LiveAgent fits a phone-heavy team that brings its own AI provider and needs AI actions only inside the help desk. On LiveAgent, every agent adds $19 to $59 a month ($15 to $49 billed annually). Helply has unlimited users, and its agents can take supported actions in connected tools.

See Helply's credit blocks and estimator.

6. Front: Best for Email, Chat and WhatsApp in One Shared Inbox

Front turns shared addresses such as support@ and billing@ into one team inbox. Email, chat, WhatsApp, Slack, social channels and third-party SMS share that inbox, with most channels from Professional up.

Starter supports one channel type, so chat and WhatsApp join email on Professional, at $85 per seat a month ($65 billed annually). Freshdesk Omni costs $35 on Growth and $95 on Pro per agent a month ($29 and $79 billed annually). Calls still arrive through integrations such as Aircall and Dialpad.

Key features

• Autopilot. An AI agent that can triage, hand off or resolve conversations in shared inboxes and take action in connected tools.
• Copilot. Drafting help for teammates: a $20 monthly add-on per seat on Starter and Professional, included in Enterprise.

Pricing

Front's Starter costs $35 and Professional $85 per seat a month ($25 and $65 billed annually). Enterprise is annual only, at $105 per seat a month.

Front charges Autopilot once per conversation, at the furthest step it reaches. A triage is $0.05 and a handoff $0.39, while a resolution costs $0.89. A resolution counts when no teammate follows up within 24 hours on chat, SMS and WhatsApp, or 72 hours on email.

Pros

• Chat and WhatsApp share one inbox with email from Professional up.
• Autopilot's resolution price applies only if no teammate follows up inside the window.

Cons

• Starter covers one channel type and 10 seats, and Professional caps you at 50 seats.
• Native WhatsApp adds Meta's costs plus a 20% admin fee, and calls need a separate phone tool.
• Front's help center calls its built-in Freshdesk importer "not actively maintained," and it stops at your 9,000 most recent tickets.

Best for

Teams where support and billing staff share inboxes and already take calls in Aircall or Dialpad.

Helply vs. Front: Pricing, AI Billing and Channels

Front and Helply both price AI by the work it does, and both agents can act in connected tools. Front charges $35 to $85 per seat a month ($25 to $65 billed annually), so each teammate adds to the bill. On Helply, every plan has unlimited users, and three agent types draw on one credit block.

Compare Helply and Front in detail.

Leaving Over the Per-Agent Price: Zoho Desk and Zammad

On Freshdesk Growth, each agent costs $23 a month ($19 billed annually). Multiple SLA policies, load-balanced assignment and custom real-time dashboards start on Pro, at $66 a month ($55 billed annually). Every hire then adds another license at that price.

You can trim the cost with day passes for occasional agents, at $2 to $12 a day. Pro and Enterprise also include up to 5,000 collaborators, who can view tickets and add private notes but can't reply to customers.

Zoho Desk lowers the per-user price, and a self-hosted Zammad removes it. Helply removes it too, with unlimited users on every plan.

7. Zoho Desk: Best for a Low Per-User Price

Zoho Desk has a free plan for three users. Express covers up to five users at $9 per user a month ($7 billed annually). Zoho's Zia Agents cost nothing to build, and standard-tier Zoho-hosted tokens past 30 million a month cost $1 per million.

Zoho's Zwitch tool migrates Freshdesk data for free and keeps your ticket IDs. With a yearly subscription, Zoho offers Zoho Desk free for the rest of your Freshdesk contract, up to six months. Terms apply.

Key features

• Free migration with Zwitch. Tickets with threads, comments and attachments, plus contacts, companies and knowledge base articles. The move can take two weeks or more.
• Zia Actions and pre-built agents. Enterprise adds Zia Actions, plus Zoho's pre-built Desk AI agents in the US and India data centers.
• Channels by plan. Social pages from Express, WhatsApp and one messaging channel from Standard, and telephony integrations from Professional.

Pricing

Zoho Desk Express costs $9, Standard $20, Professional $35 and Enterprise $50 per user a month ($7, $14, $23 and $40 billed annually). The free plan covers three users with email tickets and a help center. Standard and above have no user cap.

On Express and Standard, the built-in generative features run on an OpenAI key you supply. Zoho's native model starts on Professional.

Pros

• A free plan for three users and paid plans from $9 per user a month ($7 billed annually).
• Free migration that carries your Freshdesk ticket IDs.

Cons

• Live chat on Standard serves logged-in customers only, and full live chat needs Enterprise.
• Telephony starts on Professional, with call rates from your phone provider.

Best for

Small teams that want a free plan or a low per-user price and don't need full live chat below Enterprise.

Helply vs. Zoho Desk: Pricing, AI Billing and Channels

Zoho Desk charges from $9 per user a month ($7 billed annually) and bills AI by the token. Helply drops the per-user cost and prices each AI task in credits by effort. A drafted reply costs less than a full investigation.

Estimate your monthly credits.

9. Zammad: Best for an Open-Source Help Desk You Host Yourself

Zammad is open-source help desk software, free to run on your own servers. Hosted Zammad's Starter covers up to five agents at €9 per agent a month (€7 billed annually).

On a self-hosted install, your own team runs the server and pays no per-agent fee. Zammad's built-in migrator moves your Freshdesk tickets into a new instance.

Key features

• Self-hosted vs. hosted channels. Self-hosted Zammad covers email, web forms, SMS, chat, Telegram, Facebook and WhatsApp, with phone through CTI integrations. Hosted Starter has email, web forms and SMS; chat and Telegram start on Professional, and Facebook and WhatsApp on Plus.
• AI helpers. AI agents categorize, route, prioritize and tag tickets when a trigger, scheduler job or macro calls them. Ticket summaries and a writing assistant sit beside them.
• A Freshdesk migrator. It moves tickets, groups, organizations, agents and customers into a new Zammad instance.

Pricing

Self-hosted Zammad is free under the AGPL-3.0 license. Zammad's hosted Starter costs €9, Professional €18 and Plus €27 per agent a month (€7, €16 and €25 billed annually). AI on Professional and Plus adds €0.03 per AI call.

Pros

• AI runs on the provider you choose, including a local model through Ollama.
• A documented Freshdesk migrator built into Zammad.

Cons

• Self-hosting needs at least 2 CPU cores and 6 GB of RAM, plus someone to run it.
• The migrator makes one all-or-nothing pass into a new instance and offers no later sync.
• Its AI agents sort and route tickets, and the docs describe no agent that replies to customers on its own.

Best for

Teams with engineers to run a server who want an open-source help desk and no per-agent fee.

Helply vs. Zammad: Cost, Hosting and AI

Self-hosted Zammad removes the license fee and hands you the hosting. Helply runs the hosting and keeps users unlimited. Its Support Agent can answer customers, take supported actions and escalate with its findings.

See how a Freshdesk move to Helply works.

Leaving to Keep Support Next to Your CRM: HubSpot Service Hub

Freshdesk keeps its own contact and company records, and Freshworks sells its CRM, Freshsales, as a separate product. If sales and marketing run on HubSpot or Salesforce, support history sits in a second system. HubSpot Service Hub runs support on HubSpot's own platform, and Helply connects to either CRM with write-back where supported and configured.

9. HubSpot Service Hub: Best for Support on the HubSpot CRM

HubSpot Service Hub connects support to the marketing and sales data in HubSpot. Its help desk workspace, knowledge base and AI customer agent start on Professional.

HubSpot's Smart Transfer syncs Freshdesk contacts, companies, tickets, agents and groups, then copies attachments in a one-time transfer.

Key features

• Help desk workspace. Chat, email, forms, calling, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp connect on Professional and Enterprise.
• SLAs and routing. SLA goals and a knowledge base from Professional, and skill-based routing on Enterprise.

Pricing

HubSpot Service Hub Professional starts at $100 per seat a month ($90 billed annually). HubSpot lists Starter at $20 per seat a month and cuts that price for new customers for a limited time. HubSpot's free tools cover up to 2 users.

The customer agent costs $0.50 per resolved conversation. HubSpot counts a resolution once 72 hours pass without a handoff to a person. The agent runs on HubSpot Credits, needs Professional or Enterprise, and can take action in your CRM and other tools.

Pros

• Support sits next to your HubSpot marketing and sales data.
• Smart Transfer covers Freshdesk on every HubSpot plan.

Cons

• Professional and Enterprise require a one-time onboarding purchase.
• Smart Transfer's docs don't list reply threads, notes or knowledge base articles among the data it moves.

Best for

HubSpot CRM teams paying from $100 per seat a month ($90 billed annually) to keep support in one system.

Helply vs. HubSpot Service Hub: Pricing, AI Billing and CRM

HubSpot keeps support inside its own CRM. Professional starts at $100 per seat a month ($90 billed annually), plus a one-time onboarding purchase. Helply works beside the CRM you already run and writes back to HubSpot or Salesforce where supported and configured.

See how Helply works with HubSpot.

Which Freshdesk Alternative Fits Your Reason for Leaving?

Name your main reason for leaving Freshdesk, then put the matching question to every tool on your shortlist.

If you run an online store, compare the Gorgias alternatives for ecommerce help desks.

Moving Off Freshdesk: How Each Alternative Imports Your Data

Freshdesk admins can export tickets, solutions, forums and customers as XML from Account Details. Freshdesk charges no cancellation fee and deletes account data 14 days after you cancel, so export first.

You keep Freshdesk running while Helply works part of your queue, then move the rest once you're happy with the results. Freddy session packs keep renewing every cycle until you lower them, so trim them as Helply takes on more of the queue.

Enterprise plans include dedicated migration. On other plans, you run the Freshdesk migration yourself.

Buy More Freddy Sessions, or Move to a Help Desk Priced on AI Work?

For chat, phone or a HubSpot CRM, look at Zendesk, LiveAgent, Front or HubSpot, each priced per agent or seat. To cut the per-user price, pick Zoho Desk or a self-hosted Zammad. If only the Freddy bill bothers you, Help Scout bills AI per resolution, or Fin runs on top of Freshdesk.

Helply fits when the Freddy bill and the per-agent bill are both the problem. Every plan has unlimited users, so your next five hires add nothing to the bill. All three agent types share one credit block.

The monthly ceiling starts at your block price, and you decide whether AI work continues past the block. Raise the ceiling, and top-up buys credits at the block's rate; turn top-up off, and the AI agents pause at the cap. On monthly billing, unused credits carry into the next month, while leftover Freddy sessions lapse when each cycle ends.

LingQ's Head of Customer Support, Zoran Simicic: "We grew 50% and our support workload went down 50%, same team the whole time."

Start with the website chat someone asked for, or with one mailbox, and keep Freshdesk on the rest.