10 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Customer Service in 2026

If you're deep in the Freshworks ecosystem, you may be considering getting Freshdesk for your customer service operations. It has a decent feature set and seemingly affordable pricing, yet many people look for Freshdesk alternatives every day.

Whether you have already tried Freshdesk as a customer service platform or you're just shopping around for the best tools in the market, we have your back.

These are some of the very best Freshdesk alternatives in 2025, with their features, pricing, and most important reasons to give them a try. 👇

TL;DR – The best Freshdesk alternatives:

1. ✨ Featurebase – Best modern support & feedback platform for fast-growing SaaS
2. Zoho Desk – Budget-friendly omnichannel desk with a knowledge base
3. Intercom – Messaging-first support with contextual help and automation
4. Zendesk – Omnichannel desk with enterprise-ready knowledge base tools
5. ProProfs Help Desk – Simple ticketing with built-in knowledge base and chat
6. Tidio – Chat-first support with embedded FAQ and chatbot features
7. Help Scout – Email-based help desk with conversational live chat and docs
8. Kustomer – Robust customer support software with customer timeline
9. Hubspot Service Hub – CRM-native help desk with knowledge base
10. Crisp – Messaging-first platform for growing teams

Why look for Freshdesk alternatives in the first place?

Freshdesk has a lot going for it, but if you scratch a bit under the surface, you can see some obvious reasons why people look for Freshdesk alternatives.

1. The pricing plans

At just $15 per agent, Freshdesk's pricing makes it a pretty affordable customer support platform. The problem is, you don't get much for that price.

All of the most valuable features are locked into more expensive plans that begin at $49 per month. Custom workflow automation, knowledge base customization, AI tools, and more will all set you back at least $49, but you're more likely to spend $78 per agent per month for the Pro + AI Copilot license.

2. Steep learning curve

Freshdesk is an advanced piece of customer service software that can be set up to work for your specific use case. The problem is that getting to this point can require a lot of customization and setup. In other words, if this is your first customer service software, set aside some time to get started.

• "While setting up rules was initially easy, we later discovered that the logic didn’t meet our specific needs, and we had to manually fix over 300 rules. Navigating the platform is also difficult, especially with multiple departments (like accounting and customer service) using the system. This overlap makes it hard to keep workflows streamlined and user-specific." (source)
• "The automation isn't always great and we spend a fair amount of time either experimenting with filters, or manually routing tickets to the correct user/area." (source)

This all wouldn't be a problem if Freshdesk itself had a solid customer support system. But ironically, that is not the case...

3. Poor customer support

If you get stuck and need help with your own customer support processes, you're better off troubleshooting on your own. Getting in touch with Freshdesk won't solve too many problems.

• "Their support is pretty bad. We had a set of requirements going in and we’re executing against those requirements. Their support just tried to force us off the phone and could never really solve the basic functionality. We need in a support system.. for instance, showing a users own tickets. It was not easy to integrate, and all the documentation was different." (source)

The best Freshdesk alternatives for your customer service operations in 2025

If you're looking for a more efficient way to manage customer interactions, there are a ton of options on the market. Fortunately for you, we filtered out the best, most popular Freshdesk alternatives for you:

1. Featurebase ✨

Featurebase is a modern AI-powered Freshdesk alternative built for SaaS teams. It comes with an AI support agent, human inbox, help center, feedback collection, email support, and much more. It's loved by thousands of support teams from companies like Lovable, Raycast, and Beehiiv. 💫

Top features:

• Unified inbox – manage your live chat & email conversations in one place with your whole team
• AI agent & automations – fully automate your support with AI and endless custom workflows, like extending trials, offering discounts, qualifying leads, etc.
• Messenger widget – provide AI and human support from anywhere with a customizable in-app widget
• AI-powered Help Center – a branded knowledge base with instant AI answers
• Email support – Seamlessly provide support to your customers via email sync
• Multi-language & custom domain support – serve content in 40+ languages with your domain and branding
• Feedback tracking & roadmaps – centralize & keep track of all customer requests in one place, and show a public roadmap
• Changelogs & product updates – publish and schedule public updates, push in-app notifications, and automatically email users
• Embedded surveys – run NPS, CSAT, or custom surveys targeted by user behavior or cohort
• Mobile app – respond to customers, receive notifications, and unblock users on the go
• Integrations – Slack, Linear, Jira, Discord, Hubspot, and many more

How it’s better than Freshdesk: Featurebase lets you replace all your customer-facing tools by bringing your support, help center, product updates, and feedback collection to one place, providing powerful ecosystem advantages in modern support.

Pricing: Featurebase offers a generous Free plan, which includes unlimited support conversations. The paid plans start at $29 per user per month + $0.29 for each AI resolution. The onboarding is super fast, so there's no downside to trying it. 👇

✨ Automate your support with the fastest AI-enhanced Inbox today →

2. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk solution built for fast-growing support teams that need ticketing, automation, and knowledge management aligned with broader business apps. It’s a great fit for teams that want AI-assistive workflows and self-service customer support without exceeding a tight budget.

Top features:

• Omnichannel ticketing: supports email, live chat, phone, web forms, and social messages in a single interface.
• Knowledge base publishing: create internal or public help articles with editor support and basic SEO tracking.
• Blueprint automation: drag-and-drop rule builder for auto-routing, collision detection, and status escalation.
• SLA and time tracking: monitor response and resolution targets per ticket with real-time alerts.
• Reports and Zia AI assistant: dashboards cover ticket trends, agent performance, search bottlenecks; Zia offers sentiment detection and answer suggestions.

Pricing: Zoho Desk's pricing starts at $0 for up to 3 agents with limited features; paid plans begin at $14 per agent per month (Standard), Professional at $24, and Enterprise at $40 per agent per month.

How it's better than Freshdesk: Zoho Desk offers equal or more self-service, automation blueprints, and multi-channel messaging starting at lower tier pricing. Its AI assistant and reporting tools arrive sooner in the plan hierarchy, making it a more cost-efficient choice than Freshdesk.

3. Intercom

Intercom delivers live chat, in-app messaging, a shared team inbox, and a built-in help center in one interface. It is tailored to product teams that want to offer support and guided user engagement directly within the app experience.

Top features:

• Messenger chat and chatbot: chat widget supports live conversations and bots that automatically field FAQs or route users to the right team.
• Help center: host searchable documentation that’s surfaced inside chat or accessible via public help articles.
• Shared inbox with contextual routing: messages from chat, email, and social channels flow into a central inbox with user metadata for personalized replies.
• Proactive messaging & campaigns: send in-app announcements, banners, product tours and follow-ups based on user segmentation.
• Built-in analytics and surveys: monitor team performance, NPS & CSAT, ticket volumes or conversion rates without third-party tools.

Pricing: Intercom's pricing starts at $29 per seat per month for the Essential plan (billed annually); advanced tiers add automation builders, multilingual help center, and guest user seats.

How it's better than Freshdesk: Intercom's customer service solution immerses help next to the product with chat-first support, contextual content delivery, and messaging-based outreach. It sidesteps full ticket queues while raising engagement and self-help, compared to Freshdesk’s form-based approach.

4. Zendesk

Zendesk Support is a scalable help desk platform that combines email, chat, phone, and social messaging with a fully integrated knowledge base. This customer service software is designed for medium-sized and enterprise support teams that require flexible routing, SLA enforcement, and multibranding within a single system.

Top features:

• Omnichannel ticketing: capture and respond to support inquiries across email, web chat, voice, and social networks using a unified inbox view.
• Help center and community forums: offer public and private articles plus community Q&A with multibrand and multilingual access built in.
• AI agent and Copilot automation: AI suggests relevant articles, auto-classifies tickets, and drafts responses using no-code workflows.
• SLA targets and skills-based routing: route and escalate tickets automatically based on priority, agent skills, or custom rules.
• Explore analytics dashboards: prebuilt and custom reporting on ticket volume, csat, agent team performance, and knowledge center impact.

Pricing: Zendek's pricing starts at $19 per agent per month for Support Team (email-only); full suite including live chat, help center, and AI begins at $55 per agent per month.

How it's better than Freshdesk: Zendesk scales more effectively as support needs grow, offering multibrand knowledge support, advanced SLA rules, and AI-powered workflows at mid-tier pricing. Its analytics, community features, and routing flexibility exceed what Freshdesk delivers in equivalent plans.

5. ProProfs

ProProfs help desk gives teams a shared inbox, automated ticket rules, and article publishing in one affordable package. It fits small growing teams looking for core help desk features without complex setup or high fees. It also plugs into ProProfs' live chat and survey tools for a full support suite and more control of your customer communications.

Top features:

• Shared inbox and ticket management: view and assign support emails with ticket statuses, priorities, and agent ownership
• Canned replies and automations: configure automatic responses, ticket routing, labeling and reminders for easy self service options
• Child tickets and multi-department support: break issues into sub-tasks and manage workflows per team or division
• Knowledge base integration: embed self-help articles within tickets and public forums to deflect repeat issues and resolve customer inquiries on autopilot
• Reporting and performance analytics: track first response time, ticket volume and agent efficiency

Pricing: starts at $15 per user per month when billed annually for the essentials plan; premium and enterprise tiers start at $20 and $25, respectively.

How it’s better than Freshdesk: ProProfs is easier to set up for teams that just want basic ticketing and self-service features without paying for unused automation or CRM extras that streamline customer support processes. Its lighter interface and simpler pricing make it more affordable for lean orgs that need a simple way to manage customer inquiries.

6. Tidio

Tidio blends live chat, chatbot automation, shared inbox, and faq content into a single platform. It works best for e-commerce and small teams who want fast visitor engagement through chat without spinning up a full ticketing system. Its centralized interface helps deliver immediate responses to common queries.

Top features:

• Custom chat widget: brandable chat interface with mobile support, live typing preview, and multilingual capabilities
• Lyro AI chatbot: handles up to 70 percent of routine questions automatically, learns from faqs or website copy
• Shared inbox for messaging channels: chat, email and social messages routed to one dashboard to maintain context
• Bisitor tracking and targeting: real-time user monitoring with triggers to send proactive messages based on behavior
• Prebuilt chatbot flows and templates: drag-and-drop automation for engagement, support or lead capture without coding

Pricing: Tidio's pricing starts at $29 per month (billed annually) for the starter plan covering 100 agent-handled conversations; free tier available with up to 50 conversations and 100 chatbot users.

How it’s better than Freshdesk: Tidio delivers chat and bot-based support at a lower entry cost and with quicker deployment than Freshdesk’s ticket-focused system. Its chat-first approach drives live engagement and deflects support demand without setting up full help desk workflows for all customer interactions.

7. Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer service platform that offers a shared inbox, knowledge base, and Beacon live chat widget for teams that rely on email-first support. It charges per contact helped rather than per user and offers unlimited staff seats in all plans. It’s ideal for startups or service brands that emphasize human connection and simple operations.

Top features:

• Shared inboxes for multiple email addresses: allow teams to collaborate on incoming messages using private notes and collision alerts for all customer interactions
• Docs knowledge base with search and seo support: publish help articles that customers and team members can search easily
• Beacon widget for chat and article suggestions: integrate help docs inside a chat pop-up to redirect users during live or proactive conversations
• Automations and tagging tools: set up rules to tag, assign or notify agents based on inbox activity across customer inquiries
• Customer history and csat surveys: review past conversations and gather satisfaction scores to improve support quality

Pricing: standard plan starts at $25 per month for up to 100 contacts with unlimited users; free plan covers up to 100 contacts per month with basic inbox and docs tools.

How it’s better than Freshdesk: Help Scout removes per-user licensing concerns by charging per contact helped rather than per seat, which can save costs for high-volume interactions. Its conversation-centered design delivers more natural support experiences than Freshdesk’s ticket-centric interface.

8. Kustomer

Kustomer combines a shared inbox, automation, analytics, and a built‑in knowledge base on top of a customer‑centric platform. It is built for larger teams that support customers across email, chat, voice, and messaging apps, all linked to one unified history.

Top features:

• Customer timeline: view every touchpoint (purchase, chat, email) in a single feed for complete context
• Omnichannel messaging: support via email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, or voic,e all in one thread
• Automation and routing: route cases with custom rules, based on intent, customer value or team workload
• AI agent add‑ons: optional AI assistants for customers or support reps, billed per chat conversation
• Built‑in knowledge base: support both internal and public help articles for teams and customers

Pricing: starts at $89 per seat per month (seat‑based Enterprise version); alternatively, you can pay from $0.35 per customer conversation under usage‑based plans.

Why it is better than Freshdesk: Kustomer keeps all customer data in one timeline so reps can access full context before replying. Its automation tools and usage‑based pricing can cut costs when support volume is high, making it more efficient than a ticket‑count model like Freshdesk’s

9. Hubspot Service Hub

Service Hub is built on HubSpot’s customer relationship management platform, combining ticketing, chat, surveys, and knowledge‑base tools in one system. It is ideal for teams that already use HubSpot or need closer alignment between support, sales, and marketing.

Top features:

• Universal conversations inbox: receive emails, live chat and tickets in one feed, enriched with CRM context to simplify customer support processes
• Live chat and smart bots: guide visitors to the right teams or articles with conversational routing
• Help centre builder: create a branded knowledge base to reduce ticket volume and make self‑service smarter
• Feedback and CSAT surveys: track NPS, and collect user feedback and tie scores back into live customer profiles
• Built‑in reporting and CRM integration: support data lives alongside deal and contact records, giving full visibility into customer health

Pricing: starts at $0 per month for up to two users (free plan); ongoing plans start at $15 per seat per month (Starter tier)

Why it is better than Freshdesk: Service Hub pulls support, CRM, and feedback into a single customer communications platform, making it easier to share data across teams. You also get a knowledge base and in-product tools without buying extra add‑ons, delivering cleaner value than Freshdesk when HubSpot is in use.

10. Crisp

Crisp brings website chat, email, and social messages into a single shared inbox, alongside a built-in help centre and chatbot automation. It works best for small to midsize teams that want live chat, customer messaging, and self‑service help in one affordable workspace.

Top features:

• Multichannel inbox: combine email, live chat, and social conversations into a unified inbox for better visibility and improved customer satisfaction
• Chat and bot widget: live chat paired with automated bot workflows to answer common queries
• Knowledge base builder: create help‑centre articles that users can search or browse
• Automation and triggers: route messages, send canned replies or tag tickets based on rules
• Team collaboration tools: assign chats, add private notes and avoid customer support agent collisions

Pricing: Crisp's pricing starts at $0 per month (free plan for up to two seats); paid plans begin at $45 per workspace each month.

Why it is better than Freshdesk: Crisp bundles chat, messaging, a knowledge base, and CRM‑style contact profiles into one tool with a clear pricing model. Its free or low‑cost plans make it faster to launch than Freshdesk for teams focused on chat‑driven support.

Conclusion

Freshdesk is a solid way to manage customer interactions, but it's far from the best. You get a wide range of features, but they're all locked in expensive pricing plans. Behind the user-friendly interface, there are workflows that take quite a bit to figure out... And the customer support isn't there to help you.

Featurebase is a modern Freshdesk alternative for an AI-powered support & help center. It comes with native ticketing, custom automation, workflows, and much more. It's loved by thousands of companies like Lovable, Polymarket, and Raycast.

What's best is that it comes with a Free plan, and the onboarding is super fast, so there's no downside to trying it out! 👇

✨ Switch from Freshdesk and get the fastest AI-powered inbox & help center →