Plan details checked September 25, 2026 on each vendor's own site. US dollars, before tax, per agent or user per month. Vendors change plans and promotions often, so confirm before you buy.
Once customer emails outgrow a shared inbox, questions start slipping through: two people answer the same message, or nobody does. Help desk software turns each request into a ticket with an owner and a status, and most tools add a knowledge base so customers can answer common questions themselves. This guide covers five widely used help desks, starting with the free plans, and ends with a short method for choosing.
How this guide was built: it draws on each vendor's own pricing page. We have not hands-on tested every product, so we give no ratings or scores. Where a page doesn't state something, we say so instead of guessing.
1. Start with the free plans
Help Scout. The Free plan includes up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs (knowledge base) site with up to 10 articles, and up to 100 contacts a month. Help Scout counts a contact as someone who received a reply or had a question resolved by its AI assistant.
Zoho Desk. The Free edition offers email ticketing for 3 users, free forever.
HubSpot. Service Hub has a Free plan for up to 2 users, with no credit card required. Its live chat and 1-to-1 email carry HubSpot branding on the free plan.
Zendesk and Freshdesk don't list free plans on their pricing pages. Both offer 14-day free trials instead.
2. Paid plans, tool by tool
Zoho Desk. Billed annually, Express is $7 per user per month, Standard is $14, Professional is $23 and Enterprise is $40. Express covers email, social media, web forms, workflows and contact management. Standard adds instant messaging, a knowledge base, a community forum, customer happiness ratings and custom reports. Professional adds telephony, Zoho's Zia AI, round-robin assignment and a multilingual help center. Enterprise adds live chat through Zoho SalesIQ and skill-based assignment. Zoho says yearly billing saves up to 34%.
HubSpot Service Hub. Starter is $7 per seat per month billed annually, or $20 billed monthly, and adds ticketing, calling (500 minutes) and live chat and meeting scheduling without HubSpot branding. Professional is $90 per seat per month billed annually ($100 billed monthly) and adds a help desk workspace, a knowledge base (1 per account, up to 2,000 articles), a customer portal, feedback surveys and HubSpot's AI customer agent. Watch the footnote: Professional requires a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500, and Enterprise ($150 per seat) requires $3,500. HubSpot fits if you already use, or plan to use, its CRM. See our CRM comparison.
Freshdesk. Billed annually, Growth is $19 per agent per month, Pro is $55 and Enterprise is $89. Growth includes ticketing and a shared inbox, a customer portal and knowledge base, analytics, and Freddy AI Agent with the first 500 sessions included. Pro adds a multilingual help desk, custom dashboards, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies. Enterprise adds skill-based routing, a sandbox and audit logs. Add-ons include extra AI Agent sessions at $49 per 100 and Freddy AI Copilot at $29 per agent per month (Pro and up). The 14-day trial starts on the Enterprise plan.
Zendesk. Billed yearly, Support Team is $19 per agent per month and covers email ticketing, routing, prebuilt dashboards, pre-written responses and automations. Suite Team is $55 and adds AI agents, a knowledge base, messaging and live chat, and telephony. Suite Professional is $115 and adds skills-based routing, an IVR phone tree and AI writing tools. Copilot is a $50-per-agent add-on. Zendesk says its AI agents are billed per automated resolution, and some features are usage-billed beyond plan allowances. The 14-day trial runs on Suite Professional.
Help Scout. Help Scout charges per user. Billed annually, Standard is $25 per user per month, Plus is $45 and Pro is $75. Billed monthly, they are $30, $54 and $90. Standard includes multiple inboxes, live chat and SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, multiple knowledge bases and 150 basic workflows. Plus adds advanced workflows, a secure customer portal, round-robin routing and integrations with Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot. Pro requires at least 10 users and adds SSO and HIPAA compliance. AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, with the first 3 months free. Standard and Plus have 15-day free trials.
Watch the extras
- AI is often billed separately: Freshdesk charges $49 per 100 extra AI Agent sessions, Help Scout charges $0.75 per AI resolution, and Zendesk bills AI agents per automated resolution.
- Onboarding fees: HubSpot Service Hub Professional and Enterprise require one-time fees of $1,500 and $3,500.
- Minimums: Help Scout Pro requires at least 10 users.
- Branding: HubSpot's free live chat and email show HubSpot branding until you move to Starter.
- Billing basis: most of these prices assume annual billing. Help Scout and HubSpot show both, so compare monthly and annual on the same footing.
How to choose
- Start free. Help Scout's free plan covers 5 users, Zoho Desk's covers 3 and HubSpot's covers 2.
- List your channels. If you only answer email, an entry plan is enough. Chat, phone, WhatsApp and social push you into middle tiers.
- Decide whether you need a knowledge base. It's included from Zoho Desk Standard, Freshdesk Growth, Zendesk Suite Team, Help Scout Standard and HubSpot Service Professional.
- Estimate your AI usage. If you plan to let AI answer customers, price the per-resolution or per-session charges, not just the seats.
- Test with real tickets. Forward a week of actual support email into the trial.
Quick math for a 3-agent team, at each page's displayed annual price:
- Zoho Desk Standard: 3 × $14 = $42 a month (Express is 3 × $7 = $21).
- HubSpot Service Hub Starter: 3 × $7 = $21 a month billed annually (3 × $20 = $60 billed monthly). Professional is 3 × $90 = $270 plus the $1,500 onboarding fee.
- Freshdesk Growth: 3 × $19 = $57 a month.
- Zendesk Support Team: 3 × $19 = $57 a month. Suite Team is 3 × $55 = $165.
- Help Scout Standard: 3 × $25 = $75 a month billed annually (3 × $30 = $90 billed monthly).
Treat these as list-price comparisons. Channels, knowledge base access and AI limits differ between these plans, so the cheapest one may not cover what your team needs.
FAQ
Is there a free way to start? Yes. Help Scout, Zoho Desk and HubSpot all have free plans. Zendesk and Freshdesk offer 14-day trials.
Which one is cheapest? At the entry paid tier, Zoho Desk Express and HubSpot Service Hub Starter (billed annually) are both $7 per user per month. Features differ, so compare what each entry plan includes.
Do I need a knowledge base? If customers ask the same questions repeatedly, a knowledge base can answer them before they reach your inbox. Check which tier includes one before you buy.
This guide contains no affiliate links.