Home › Best tools › Best Help Desk Software
Last updated: October 29, 2026
TechCurato is reader-supported. Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Best Help Desk Software in 2026: 6 Tools Compared by Price and Fit
The best help desk for most small teams is Help Scout: it is free for up to 5 users and costs $25 per user on Standard. Freshdesk and Zendesk are the best full ticketing systems from $19 per agent (annual), Gorgias is best for ecommerce stores, Crisp is best for flat pricing, and Intercom is best if you want AI to resolve conversations. Each tool bills differently, which matters more than the headline price.
- Best for small teams: Help Scout (free for 5 users; Standard $25/user).
- Best full ticketing at entry price: Freshdesk Growth or Zendesk Support Team ($19/agent, annual).
- Best for ecommerce: Gorgias (from $10/month for 50 tickets).
- Best flat pricing: Crisp (free for 2 seats; $45/month for 4 seats).
- Best AI-first: Intercom ($19/seat Essential + $0.99 per AI resolution).
Comparison table
| Help desk | Free plan | Entry price | Pricing model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | Yes, 5 users | $25/user (Standard) | Per user | Small teams, email support |
| Freshdesk | No | $19/agent (Growth, annual) | Per agent | Growing teams |
| Zendesk | No | $19/agent (Support Team, annual) | Per agent | Large teams |
| Gorgias | No | $10/month for 50 tickets | Per ticket | Shopify stores |
| Crisp | Yes, 2 seats | $45/month for 4 seats | Per workspace | Small teams wanting flat pricing |
| Intercom | No | $19/seat (Essential, annual) + $0.99 per AI outcome | Per seat + per outcome | AI-first support |
Understand the pricing models first
| Model | How it works | Cheapest when | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per agent / per user | Each support person is a paid seat | Few agents, many tickets | Freshdesk, Zendesk, Help Scout |
| Per ticket | You pay for ticket volume | Low ticket volume | Gorgias |
| Per workspace | Flat fee for a group of seats | Several part-time agents | Crisp |
| Per AI outcome | You pay each time AI resolves a conversation | AI handles a large share | Intercom Fin ($0.99) |
1. Help Scout: best for small teams
Free for up to 5 users with 1 inbox and 1 docs site. Paid plans cost $25 (Standard), $45 (Plus) and $75 (Pro) per user, with a 15-day trial and no card on Standard and Plus. It feels like a shared email inbox, so teams adopt it instantly. Its AI add-on costs $0.75 per resolution.
Start Help Scout free → Free for 5 users, no credit card
2. Freshdesk: best full ticketing at entry price
Growth costs $19 per agent per month on annual billing, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89, with a 14-day trial of all features. A strong choice for teams that want Zendesk-style ticketing at a lower price at higher tiers.
3. Zendesk: best for large support teams
Support Team costs $19 per agent (annual), Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115, with a 14-day trial. Mature ticketing, reporting and a large app marketplace, at a premium on Suite plans. See Zendesk pricing.
4. Gorgias: best for ecommerce
Built for Shopify stores and priced by tickets: Starter $10 a month for 50 tickets, Basic $50 a month (annual) for 300 and Pro $300 (annual) for 2,000, with a 7-day trial. Cheaper than per-agent tools when volume is low and several people help part-time.
5. Crisp: best flat pricing
Free for 2 seats and 100 customer profiles. Paid plans are priced per workspace: Mini $45 a month for 4 seats, Essentials $95 for 10 seats and Plus $295 for 20+ seats. Ideal when several people answer occasionally.
6. Intercom: best AI-first support
Essential costs $19 per seat on annual billing ($29 monthly), Advanced $85 and Expert $132, plus $0.99 per conversation resolved by its Fin AI agent. Powerful, but the AI cost grows with volume. See Intercom pricing.
What a 5-person team pays per month
| Help desk | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | $0 (Free) or $125 (Standard) | Free covers 5 users |
| Freshdesk Growth | $95 (annual) | 5 × $19 |
| Zendesk Support Team | $95 (annual) | 5 × $19 |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 | Up to 10 seats |
| Gorgias Basic | $50 (annual) | 300 tickets, whatever the number of agents |
| Intercom Essential | $95 (annual) + AI outcomes | 5 × $19 + $0.99 per AI resolution |
How to choose
- Count tickets and agents. Many agents, few tickets → per-ticket or per-workspace pricing. Few agents, many tickets → per-agent pricing.
- List your channels: email only, or chat, social and phone too.
- Decide on AI: measure how many questions are repetitive before paying per outcome.
- Check integrations: ecommerce platform, CRM, Slack.
- Run a trial with real tickets for one week.
Common mistakes
- Paying per agent for part-time helpers.
- Underestimating AI costs. At 1,000 resolutions a month, Intercom's AI costs $990.
- Buying an enterprise suite for a 3-person team.
- Skipping the help center. A good knowledge base reduces tickets on any tool.
Must-have features for a small support team
- Shared inbox so nobody answers the same customer twice.
- Assignment and status (open, pending, solved) for every conversation.
- Saved replies for frequent questions.
- Knowledge base so customers can help themselves.
- Basic reports: volume, first response time, resolution time.
- Integrations with your ecommerce platform, CRM and Slack.
When to upgrade your help desk
Upgrade when tickets get lost, when several people answer the same customer, when you need reports to staff the team, or when customers ask for live chat. Before upgrading, check whether better saved replies and a help center would reduce volume instead.
Help desk costs for a growing team
| Agents | Freshdesk Growth (annual) | Zendesk Support Team (annual) | Help Scout Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $57/month | $57/month | Free (up to 5) or $75 |
| 10 | $190/month | $190/month | $250/month |
| 20 | $380/month | $380/month | $500/month |
Our verdict
For a small team, Help Scout is the easiest recommendation: it is free for up to 5 users, feels like a shared inbox and grows with you. Teams that need full ticketing at a low entry price should compare Freshdesk Growth and Zendesk Support Team, both at $19 per agent on annual billing, then choose on workflow and integrations. Ecommerce stores should look at Gorgias first, because ticket-based pricing often beats per-agent pricing when several people help part-time. Choose Intercom when you want AI to absorb a large share of conversations, but measure resolution rates during the trial so the per-outcome cost doesn't surprise you. Whatever you pick, invest in a help center: answering a question once, publicly, is cheaper than answering it a hundred times.
How we compiled this page
We compared help desks — Help Scout, Freshdesk, Zendesk, Gorgias, Crisp and Intercom — using each vendor's official pricing and documentation, checked on October 29, 2026, and focused on what matters to small teams: a shared inbox, saved replies and the monthly cost for 3, 5 and 10 agents. Where a vendor hides its prices behind a calculator or a sales call, we used recent pricing guides and marked those figures with an asterisk. Prices and plans change often, so check the vendor's page before you buy, and tell us if something here is out of date.
FAQ
What is the best help desk software for small businesses?
Help Scout, because it is free for up to 5 users and simple to adopt.
What is the cheapest help desk software?
Help Scout and Crisp have free plans. Among paid plans, Gorgias Starter costs $10 a month for 50 tickets.
Is Freshdesk better than Zendesk?
At entry level both cost $19 per agent on annual billing. Freshdesk is cheaper at higher tiers; Zendesk is more mature for large teams. See Zendesk alternatives.
What is the best help desk for Shopify?
Gorgias, which is built for ecommerce and priced by tickets.
Do I need a help desk if I only get a few emails a day?
Not necessarily. A shared inbox may be enough. Help Scout's free plan for up to 5 users is a good middle ground: it feels like email but adds assignment, saved replies and history.
Can a help desk reduce support volume?
Yes, mainly through a knowledge base and saved replies. Publishing answers to the questions you receive most often lets customers help themselves before they contact you.
Is AI support worth it for small teams?
It can be when many questions repeat. Measure how many conversations AI resolves during a trial, and compare its per-resolution cost with the cost of agent time.
Sources
helpscout.com/pricing, Freshdesk pricing, zendesk.com/pricing, gorgias.com/pricing, crisp.chat/pricing and intercom.com/pricing, checked October 29, 2026.