On this page16 sections
- Ratings and complaints
- Freshdesk vs. competitors
- Pricing
- Step by step
- Freshdesk legitimacy and licensing
- Freshdesk pricing explained
- What you get with Freshdesk
- How Freshdesk Works
- Freshdesk Features
- Freshdesk vs Freshservice
- Contract, renewal and cancellation terms
- Freshdesk complaints and how to avoid problems
- Who should skip Freshdesk
- What customers say
- Alternatives
- FAQ
Freshdesk suits small and midsize support teams that work mostly by email and want ticketing, a knowledge base and automations at $19, $55 or $89 per agent a month billed yearly. It is a legitimate, widely used help desk from Freshworks Inc., a public company in San Mateo, California with about 4,500 employees. Plan the contract carefully: the terms make payments non-refundable, bar cutting seats or downgrading mid-term, renew automatically unless you give 30 days' notice, and let Freshworks raise fees at renewal. Those billing rules drive most of its 1.5 Trustpilot score and its BBB C+.
- Company
- Freshworks Inc., San Mateo, California; Nasdaq: FRSH; about 4,500 employees, mostly in India; BBB lists the business as started August 18, 20104
- Plans
- Growth $19, Pro $55, Enterprise $89 per agent a month billed annually; monthly billing costs about 20% more, as listed October 20261
- Free plan
- None listed; 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan, then the account is suspended unless you pay1
- AI
- First 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions included once per account, then $49 per 100; Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent a month on Pro and Enterprise1
- Omnichannel
- Chat, phone and messaging need Freshdesk Omni: $29, $79 or $119 per agent a month billed annually2
- Contract terms
- Fees non-refundable; no seat cuts or downgrades mid-term; auto-renews unless you give 30 days' written notice; fees can rise at renewal with 30 days' notice3
- After you leave
- Data available to export for 14 days after the account closes3
- Payment
- Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express; no PayPal1
Pros
- Low $19 entry price billed annually
- 500 AI agent sessions included on every plan
- SAML single sign-on and role-based access on every plan
- Day passes for occasional agents from $2
- Agent app rated 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store
Cons
- No free plan anymore, only a 14-day trial
- Payments non-refundable and seats can't be cut mid-term
- Fees can rise at renewal
- Chat and phone need Freshdesk Omni at a higher price
- Trustpilot 1.5 out of 5 and BBB C+, mostly over billing
Best for: Small and midsize teams that handle support mostly by email and want ticketing, a knowledge base and automations at a low per-agent price.
Skip it if: You need a free plan, want to change seat counts often, or need chat and phone in the base product.
Freshdesk vs. competitors
| Company | Free plan | Starting price | AI agent pricing | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk | No | $19 per agent a month, billed annually (Growth) | 500 sessions included, then $49 per 100 sessions | 14 days |
| Zendesk | No | $19 per agent a month, billed annually (Support Team) | 5 to 10 resolutions per agent included, then $1.50 to $2.00 each | 14 days |
| SparrowDesk | Yes, up to 3 users, 500 conversations a month | $16 per agent a month | $0.49 per resolution | 14 days, no card |
Freshdesk pricing at a glance
Freshdesk plans, per agent per month billed annually, as listed October 20261
| Plan | Price | Day pass | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $19 | $2 | Ticketing and shared inbox, customer portal and knowledge base, automations, standard reports, roles, SAML single sign-on, 500 AI agent sessions |
| Pro | $55 | $7 | Multilingual help desk, custom dashboards, round-robin and load-balanced routing, multiple SLA policies, 5,000 external collaborators; Copilot available |
| Enterprise | $89 | $12 | Skill-based routing, Freddy AI Insights, sandbox, audit logs, IP allowlisting; Copilot available |
| Add-ons | Copilot $29 per agent; AI sessions $49 per 100 | Not applicable | Connector app tasks $80 per 5,000; MCP actions $15 per 1,000 |
The 500 included AI agent sessions are a one-time allowance per account. Freshworks says annual billing saves 20%. Chat, phone and social channels need Freshdesk Omni at $29, $79 or $119 per agent a month billed annually.
Freshdesk, step by step
Start the 14-day trial
You get the Enterprise plan for 14 days. Export any data you want to keep before it ends, since trial data can be deleted.
Connect your support email
Forward your support address so emails become tickets, then add a knowledge base and customer portal.
Set rules and SLAs
Build automations for routing, follow-ups and escalations. Multiple SLA policies and round-robin routing need Pro.
Pick a plan and term
Pay monthly to keep flexibility. On an annual plan you can't cut seats or downgrade until renewal.
Cancel before renewal
Give written notice at least 30 days before the term ends, and export your data; it's available for only 14 days after closure.
Freshdesk legitimacy and licensing
Yes. Freshdesk is made by Freshworks Inc., a Nasdaq-listed software company (FRSH) headquartered in San Mateo, California, with its main engineering center in Chennai, India. Its 2025 annual report lists about 4,500 employees and nearly 75,000 companies using Freshworks products.
Customer sentiment about the company is weaker than about the software. The BBB rates Freshworks C+ and it isn’t accredited, with 16 complaints in three years. Trustpilot shows 1.5 out of 5 from 412 reviews, with most complaints about billing, renewals and cancellations. The Freshdesk agent app rates 4.5 out of 5 from about 3,000 App Store ratings.
Freshdesk pricing explained
Billed annually, Freshdesk costs $19 per agent a month for Growth, $55 for Pro and $89 for Enterprise. Monthly billing costs more; Freshworks says paying yearly saves 20%. Every plan includes 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Freddy AI Copilot costs $29 per agent a month on Pro and Enterprise.
A 5-agent team on Pro pays $3,300 a year before AI add-ons. Freshdesk’s base plans center on email; chat, phone and messaging are in Freshdesk Omni at $29, $79 or $119 per agent a month billed annually. Older articles describing a free plan for small teams are out of date; the pricing page now lists only the 14-day trial.
What you get with Freshdesk
All plans include ticketing with a shared inbox, internal threads and tasks, a customer portal and knowledge base, ticket dispatch rules and time- or event-based automations, standard reports, role-based access and SAML single sign-on. Pro adds a multilingual help desk, custom dashboards, multiple SLA policies, round-robin routing, community forums and up to 5,000 external collaborators. Enterprise adds skill-based routing, a sandbox, audit logs, IP allowlisting and AI insights with root cause analysis.
How Freshdesk Works
Ticketing and Omnichannel
Freshdesk converts email, chat, phone, and social inquiries into trackable tickets in a single inbox, with collision detection and canned responses. Full multichannel support across web, SMS, social, and messaging sits in Freshdesk Omni, a separate product line from about $29 per agent per month; the standard Freshdesk plans center on email and ticketing.
Automations and SLAs
No-code rules route tickets, trigger responses, and escalate by keyword or customer attribute, with SLA policies and escalation chains that warn or reassign tickets as deadlines approach. Core automation is not in the Free Program; it starts at Growth.
Freddy AI
Freshdesk’s AI is branded Freddy. Copilot assists agents by drafting replies, summarizing threads, and suggesting articles; AI Agent is the customer-facing bot that auto-resolves routine queries. Both are paid add-ons rather than bundled into the base plans, the single biggest gap between Freshdesk’s marketing and its invoice.
Freshdesk Features
Omnichannel ticketing: Email, chat, phone, social, and a self-service knowledge base funnel into one ticket view, cutting the context-switching that fragments support.
Automation and SLAs: No-code triggers assign, prioritize, and notify on ticket changes, with SLA policies and escalation chains to keep response times on track.
Knowledge base and self-service: A searchable help center lets customers resolve common issues themselves, cutting repeat ticket volume.
Freddy AI: Agent-assist (Copilot) and a customer-facing bot (AI Agent) handle drafting, summaries, and routine deflection, priced as add-ons on top of your plan.
Marketplace integrations: A large app marketplace covers CRM, e-commerce, and collaboration tools, plus a documented API. Quality varies, so confirm an app is actively maintained before relying on it.
Freshdesk vs Freshservice
Freshdesk and Freshservice are sister products from Freshworks that are easy to confuse, and the difference is who they serve. Freshdesk is built for external customer support, managing conversations with your customers across email, chat, phone, and social. Freshservice is an IT service management (ITSM) platform for internal teams, handling employee IT requests, incidents, assets, and change management. They share an interface and can be used together, but if your priority is supporting customers, Freshdesk is the right product; if it is supporting employees and IT operations, see our Freshservice review.
What customers say about Freshdesk
Recurring themes across the review sites and complaint records listed above, not individual quotes.
Common praise
- Core ticketing works well once set up
- Easy to learn for new agents
- Highly rated mobile agent app
Common complaints
- Unexpected charges, auto-renewals and seat overages
- Slow or unhelpful support, including chatbot replies
- Hard cancellations and data deletion deadlines
- Outages, broken integrations and removed features
- A confusing layout
Contract, renewal and cancellation terms
Freshworks’ terms (effective April 1, 2026) say payments are non-cancelable and non-refundable, and you can’t reduce agent seats or downgrade during a paid term. Plans renew automatically for the same term and seat count unless you give written notice of non-renewal or downgrade at least 30 days before the term ends. At renewal Freshworks may raise fees with 30 days’ notice, and past discounts may not carry over.
You can cancel any time with no cancellation fee, but it takes effect at the end of the term. After the account closes, your data is available to export for only 14 days, so export first.
Freshdesk complaints and how to avoid problems
Recurring complaints are unexpected charges, automatic renewals and seat overages, slow or unhelpful support, hard cancellations with data deletion deadlines, outages and broken integrations. Most praise is for the core ticketing tool.
- Start on monthly billing until you know your agent count.
- Put your renewal date in a calendar with a reminder 45 days ahead.
- Watch AI session use, since the 500 free sessions don’t reset.
- Export tickets and articles on a schedule.
Who should skip Freshdesk
Teams that want a free tier should look at SparrowDesk, which has a free plan for up to 3 users. If your volume swings and you add and remove agents often, Freshdesk’s no-mid-term-reductions rule can cost you; use day passes or monthly billing instead. If you need chat, phone and social in one inbox from the start, price Freshdesk Omni or Zendesk’s Suite plans side by side.
Alternatives to Freshdesk
- Zendesk Same $19 entry price with a larger app marketplace and more channels on its Suite plans.
- SparrowDesk A free plan for up to 3 users and cheaper AI resolutions for small teams. Read review
- HubSpot Service Hub Keeps tickets next to your CRM if sales and marketing already run in HubSpot. Read review
- A shared inbox A one or two person team with light volume can start with a shared Gmail or Outlook inbox at no extra cost.
Freshdesk reviews
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Frequently asked questions
How much does Freshdesk cost?
$19, $55 or $89 per agent a month for Growth, Pro or Enterprise, billed annually, as listed October 2026. Monthly billing costs more, and AI Copilot is $29 per agent a month extra.
Is Freshdesk free?
No free plan is listed now. You get a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan, and the account is suspended if you don't pick a paid plan.
Can I get a refund from Freshdesk?
Freshworks' terms say payments are non-refundable except where the agreement allows. You can cancel without a fee, but it takes effect at the end of your term.
How do I cancel Freshdesk?
Use the Billing section in your account, and give written notice at least 30 days before your term ends to stop automatic renewal. Export your data first; it's kept for 14 days after closure.
Can I reduce agents on a Freshdesk annual plan?
Not during the term. The terms bar reducing users or downgrading until renewal, so use day passes for temporary agents.
Who owns Freshdesk?
Freshworks Inc., a public company traded on Nasdaq as FRSH and headquartered in San Mateo, California.
What is Freddy AI?
Freshworks' AI tools. Freddy AI Agent answers customer emails, with 500 sessions included and then $49 per 100. Freddy AI Copilot helps agents draft and summarize replies for $29 per agent a month.
What is the difference between Freshdesk and Freshdesk Omni?
Freshdesk centers on email ticketing. Freshdesk Omni adds chat, phone and messaging in one workspace for $29 to $119 per agent a month billed annually.
Freshdesk vs Zendesk: which is cheaper?
Both start at $19 per agent a month billed annually. Freshdesk includes 500 AI agent sessions; Zendesk includes a few AI resolutions per agent and then charges per resolution.
What is the difference between Freshdesk and Freshservice?
Freshdesk is for customer support. Freshservice is Freshworks' IT service management tool for internal help desks.
Sources (9)
Facts on this page come from company websites, government agencies and regulators, checked on the dates shown. Editorial standards
- Freshworks: Freshdesk pricing and FAQ (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Freshworks: Freshdesk Omni pricing (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Freshworks: Terms of Service (effective April 1, 2026) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- SEC EDGAR: Freshworks Inc. Form 10-K for 2025 (filed February 26, 2026) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- BBB: Freshworks Inc (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Trustpilot: Freshdesk reviews (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Apple App Store: Freshdesk (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Zendesk: Pricing (accessed October 12, 2026)
- SparrowDesk: Pricing (accessed October 12, 2026)
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