Helpdesk Software for Small Business: 10 Tools Compared

TL;DR. For most small businesses, the right helpdesk software is the one that matches where your customers already write to you. Help Scout and Freshdesk are the safe picks for email-first support. Zoho Desk is the cheapest per agent. HubSpot Service Hub makes sense if you already run HubSpot CRM. Gorgias fits online stores. Zendesk is the most complete but gets expensive as you add AI. If most requests come through your website chat, an AI-chat-first tool like Feedbot (ours) can handle the repeat questions and hand the rest to you.

• Entry plans start around $7 to $25 per agent per month on annual billing. Several tools have free plans for 2 to 5 users.
• AI is often billed separately: per resolution (Zendesk, Help Scout), per conversation or session (Front, Freshdesk), or with credits (Crisp).
• Pick by channel first, then by price at your real team size, then by AI cost at your real volume.

Every price below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026, and is linked. Prices are in USD. We make Feedbot, and it’s included as the AI-chat-first option, not as a full helpdesk replacement for every team.

What to look for in small business helpdesk software

A help desk does four jobs. Make sure the tool you pick does the ones you need:

1. Shared inbox and ticketing. Every email, chat and form submission becomes a conversation with an owner and a status, so nothing gets lost and two people don’t answer the same customer.
2. Self-service. A knowledge base or help center so customers can find answers without writing in.
3. Channels. Email at minimum. Live chat, social messages and phone if your customers use them.
4. Automation and AI. Saved replies, routing rules, and increasingly an AI agent that answers routine questions.

For a team of 1 to 10 people, the things that usually matter most are setup time (hours, not weeks), a price that doesn’t jump when you add a second person, and AI pricing you can predict.

Helpdesk software compared

Tool	Free plan	Paid plans from (as of Oct 2026)	Pricing unit	AI agent pricing	Best for
Freshdesk	Not listed (14-day trial)	$19/agent/mo, billed annually	Per agent	500 free Freddy AI Agent sessions, then $49 per 100 sessions	Growing teams that want room to scale
Zoho Desk	Yes, 3 users, email ticketing	$7/agent/mo annually ($9 monthly)	Per agent	Varies by plan	Lowest per-agent cost
Zendesk	No	$19/agent/mo annually ($25 monthly) for Support Team	Per agent	5 automated resolutions per agent/mo included, then $1.50–$2.00 each	Teams that will grow into a full suite
Help Scout	Yes, 5 users, 100 contacts/mo	$25/user/mo monthly, 16% less annually	Per user	$0.75 per resolution	Email-first support with a personal feel
HubSpot Service Hub	Yes, up to 2 users	$7/seat/mo annually ($20 monthly)	Per seat	HubSpot Credits included by plan	Teams already on HubSpot CRM
Front	No (14-day trial)	$25/seat/mo annually, up to 10 seats	Per seat	Autopilot from $0.05/conversation; Copilot $20/seat	Teams that live in email and want shared inboxes
Gorgias	No (free trial)	$10/mo for 50 tickets (monthly billing only)	Per ticket volume	AI Agent add-on	Shopify and ecommerce stores
Tidio	Yes	$24.17/mo billed annually, 100 billable conversations	Per conversation	Lyro AI priced separately	Small stores that want live chat first
Crisp	Yes, 2 seats, no AI	$45/mo per workspace, 4 seats	Per workspace	$5 of AI credits included on Mini	Multichannel chat on a fixed budget
Feedbot (ours)	Yes, 50 conversations/mo	$5/mo, 100 conversations	Per conversation, no seats	Included in plan	AI chat on your website with handoff to a person

A note on comparing: per-agent prices look cheap until you multiply them. A 4-person team on a $55/agent plan pays $220 a month before any AI add-on. Per-workspace and per-conversation pricing work out better for teams with several part-time responders.

The 10 best helpdesk tools for small businesses

1. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a full helpdesk with ticketing, a shared inbox, a customer portal and knowledge base on its entry plan. As of October 2026, Freshdesk pricing starts at $19 per agent per month on Growth, $55 on Pro and $89 on Enterprise, all billed annually. Freddy AI Agent comes with 500 free sessions, and more cost $49 per 100 sessions. Freddy AI Copilot for agents is $29 per agent per month.

• Pros: mature ticketing, lots of integrations, room to grow into routing and SLAs.
• Cons: the pricing page doesn’t list a free plan anymore; AI and copilot add up per agent and per session.
• Choose it if you have a few agents handling mostly email and want a mainstream tool you won’t outgrow.

2. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is the budget option with a long feature list. As of October 2026, Zoho Desk pricing in the US is $7 per agent per month on Express with annual billing ($9 monthly), $14 on Standard ($20), $23 on Professional ($35) and $40 on Enterprise ($50). A free edition covers 3 users with email ticketing.

• Pros: lowest per-agent price here; fits naturally if you use other Zoho apps.
• Cons: the interface takes longer to learn; in Zoho’s plan list, live chat (via Zoho SalesIQ) appears only on Enterprise.
• Choose it if price per agent is your main constraint, or you’re already in the Zoho ecosystem.

3. Zendesk

Zendesk is the reference product in the category. As of October 2026, Zendesk pricing starts at $19 per agent per month for Support Team ($25 monthly), which covers email ticketing, routing and automations. Messaging, live chat, a knowledge base and AI agents start with Suite Team at $55 per agent per month annually ($69 monthly). Each plan includes a small number of automated AI resolutions per agent (5 on Team plans), then $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.

• Pros: deep feature set, huge app marketplace, scales to large teams.
• Cons: the jump from Support Team to Suite is steep for a small team; AI costs grow with every resolution.
• Choose it if you expect to grow quickly and want a platform you won’t have to migrate off.

4. Help Scout

Help Scout feels like email, which is the point: customers get normal-looking replies, not ticket numbers. As of October 2026, Help Scout pricing has a free plan (5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts a month), then Standard at $25 per user per month, Plus at $45 and Pro at $75 on monthly billing, with 16% off annually. AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution.

• Pros: fast to set up, clean interface, good knowledge base (Docs) included.
• Cons: the free plan’s 100 contacts a month is tight for a business with steady volume.
• Choose it if most of your support is email and you care about replies feeling personal.

5. HubSpot Service Hub

Service Hub is HubSpot’s helpdesk, sharing the same contact records as HubSpot’s CRM and marketing tools. As of October 2026, HubSpot Service Hub pricing has a free tier for up to 2 users with live chat (HubSpot branded), basic bots, limited ticketing and a knowledge base. Starter is $7 per seat per month with annual billing ($20 monthly). Professional is $90 per seat annually plus a $1,500 one-time onboarding fee.

• Pros: support and sales see the same customer history; the free tier is generous for two people.
• Cons: big price jump from Starter to Professional, plus onboarding fees.
• Choose it if you already use HubSpot CRM or plan to.

6. Front

Front turns shared email addresses into a collaborative inbox with assignments, comments and rules. As of October 2026, Front pricing is $25 per seat per month on Starter (up to 10 seats) and $65 on Professional (up to 50 seats), billed annually. Its Autopilot AI agent starts at $0.05 per conversation, and Copilot is $20 per seat per month on Starter and Professional.

• Pros: the most natural option for teams that think in email threads; strong collaboration.
• Cons: no free plan; less of a classic help center and self-service focus than others.
• Choose it if your “support” is really a team inbox shared by sales, ops and support.

7. Gorgias

Gorgias is built for ecommerce, with deep Shopify integration so agents see orders next to the conversation. As of October 2026, Gorgias pricing starts at $10 a month for 50 tickets on Starter (monthly billing only) and $60 a month for 300 tickets on Basic ($50 a month billed annually). Its AI Agent is an add-on priced by automated interactions.

• Pros: order data in every conversation, pricing by ticket volume rather than seats.
• Cons: less suited to non-ecommerce businesses; costs scale with ticket count.
• Choose it if you run a Shopify or similar store and order questions are most of your support.

8. Tidio

Tidio started as live chat for small stores and now bundles a helpdesk, the Lyro AI agent and automation flows. As of October 2026, Tidio pricing includes a free plan, then Starter at $24.17 a month billed annually with 100 billable conversations. Lyro AI is priced separately by AI conversations. Our Tidio alternatives post breaks down the full price list.

• Pros: easy live chat setup, good for small online stores.
• Cons: three separate meters (human conversations, AI conversations, flows) make costs harder to predict.
• Choose it if live chat on your store is the main channel and you want AI as an add-on.

9. Crisp

Crisp is a multichannel inbox (chat, email, social) priced per workspace instead of per agent. As of October 2026, Crisp pricing has a free plan with 2 seats and no AI, then Mini at $45 a month for 4 seats with $5 of AI credits, Essentials at $95 for 10 seats and Plus at $295 for 20 seats. Extra seats cost $10 a month.

• Pros: predictable price for small teams; lots of channels.
• Cons: the free plan has no AI; AI usage beyond included credits is extra.
• Choose it if several people share the inbox and you want one flat bill.

10. Feedbot (ours)

Feedbot is the AI-chat-first option on this list, and we make it. It isn’t a classic email helpdesk. It’s an AI chatbot you add to your website with one script tag that answers from your knowledge base (your website, documents, text and FAQ), says when it doesn’t know and hands the conversation to a person. Your team gets notified in Telegram, Slack, Discord or email and can reply live from Telegram or the inbox. If the visitor has left, the reply continues by email. Requests only your team can handle, like refunds or cancellations, become tickets with status, assignee and priority, and the inbox has reply templates.

As of October 2026, Feedbot pricing is flat by conversations, with no seats: Free with 50 conversations a month (knowledge from text and FAQ you add), Starter at $5 (100 conversations, website import), Pro at $19 (1,000 conversations) and Business at $49 (5,000 conversations). Extra conversations are $10 per 500.

• Pros: AI answers included in the price; no per-seat or per-resolution fees; one bot also qualifies leads and collects feedback.
• Cons: no shared email inbox, phone support channel, or WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger channels; no native CRM integrations (leads go out via CSV or webhook). Not a fit if email is your main support channel.
• Choose it if most questions come through your website, you’re a small team without someone watching chat all day, and you want the bot to take the repeat questions. Many teams use it next to a help desk rather than instead of one.

See the chatbot for small business page for how that setup works.

How to choose helpdesk software for a small business

Work through these in order:

1. List your channels by volume. Look at last month: how many requests came by email, website chat, social, phone? Pick a tool that’s strong on your top channel. Email-heavy: Help Scout, Front, Freshdesk. Chat-heavy: Tidio, Crisp, Feedbot. Store orders: Gorgias.
2. Count who answers. Full-time agents favor per-agent tools. Several part-time responders (founders, ops, a developer on rotation) favor per-workspace or per-conversation pricing.
3. Price it at your real size, for 12 months. Multiply the per-agent price by your team, add AI at your expected volume, and compare annual vs monthly. Watch for onboarding fees and minimum seats.
4. Estimate AI usage. If half your questions are repeats answered in your docs, AI will handle a lot of volume, and per-resolution pricing will grow with it. Our AI chatbot pricing post shows how different billing models compare at 500 to 5,000 conversations.
5. Check the integrations you can’t live without: your store, CRM, billing system, Slack.
6. Run a real trial. Forward a week of real requests, have everyone who answers support use it, and test the AI on your top 20 questions before you commit.

If you…	Start with
Answer mostly email and want it to feel personal	Help Scout
Want the lowest per-agent price	Zoho Desk
Expect to grow into a large support team	Zendesk or Freshdesk
Already use HubSpot CRM	HubSpot Service Hub
Share an inbox across sales, ops and support	Front
Run a Shopify store	Gorgias
Want live chat with an AI add-on on a store	Tidio or Crisp
Get most questions through your website and want AI to answer first	Feedbot, alone or next to a help desk

Do you need a full help desk yet?

Many small businesses buy a help desk too early. If you get a few dozen requests a week, a shared inbox plus an AI chatbot on your website that handles the repeated questions and passes the rest to you is often enough. The point to move to a full help desk is when several people answer across several channels and you need routing, SLAs and reporting per agent.

If you’re weighing a bot against people answering chat, see chatbot vs live chat. For a broader look at what to automate in support, see customer service automation.

Sources

All prices checked on the vendors’ pricing pages in October 2026:

• Freshdesk: https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/
• Zoho Desk (US): https://www.zoho.com/us/desk/pricing.html
• Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/
• Help Scout: https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
• HubSpot Service Hub: https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service
• Front: https://front.com/pricing
• Gorgias: https://www.gorgias.com/pricing
• Tidio: https://www.tidio.com/pricing/
• Crisp: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/
• Feedbot: https://feedbotai.com/pricing/