Help desk software pricing for small business 2026
Every tier from every major vendor, with what is included and what is not. Plus a calculator that finds the cheapest plan that meets your real requirements.
What will it cost you?
Tier by tier breakdown
What you actually get at each price point. Verified from official vendor pricing pages April 2026. Prices shown for annual billing.
Freshdesk
4 tiers- Unlimited agents
- Email and social ticketing
- Basic knowledge base
- Not included: Automation rules
- Not included: SLA management
- Not included: Custom roles
- Automation
- Time tracking
- Custom dashboards
- SLA management
- Custom roles
- Multilingual KB
- Advanced reporting
- Freddy AI add-on eligible
- Skill based routing
- Sandbox
- Audit log
- Email bot
- · Freddy AI Copilot is around $29/agent/mo extra
- · Phone channel uses Freshcaller credits
- · Onboarding and migration billed separately for Pro and above
Zendesk Suite
3 tiers- Email, chat, voice, social
- AI agents (basic)
- Reporting
- Not included: Skill based routing
- Not included: Custom workflows
- Self service portal
- Multilingual content
- Light access licenses
- Custom roles
- Advanced AI
- Skill routing
- HIPAA enabled
- · Suite plans bundle ticketing, chat, voice and KB. Support only plans (Team $19, Growth $49, Professional $99) are stripped down
- · AI agent usage and Talk minutes are metered separately
- · Implementation and partner fees common for Professional and above
Zoho Desk
5 tiers- 3 agents
- Email ticketing
- Basic help center
- Up to 10 agents
- Workflow rules
- Mobile apps
- Not included: Multichannel
- Multichannel
- Help center
- Customer happiness ratings
- Multi department
- Round robin
- SLAs and contracts
- Zia AI
- Custom modules
- Live chat
- Multi brand
- · Zia AI features only available at Enterprise
- · Some integrations require a paid Zoho One bundle
- · Telephony billed via partner provider
Help Scout
3 tiers- Up to 25 users
- 2 inboxes
- Live chat
- Knowledge base
- Unlimited users
- Multi brand
- Salesforce sync
- Advanced reporting
- Custom contract
- Dedicated CSM
- HIPAA
- · No phone channel, integrate via Aircall or similar
- · AI features require Plus plan
- · Annual commitment for advertised pricing
HubSpot Service Hub
4 tiers- Unlimited users
- Tickets, live chat, shared inbox
- Basic CRM included
- Multiple ticket pipelines
- Snippets, templates
- Conversation routing
- Service analytics
- Customer feedback
- Customer portal
- Forecasting
- Custom objects
- Advanced permissions
- Workflow extensions
- · Professional billed per seat with a minimum of 5 seats in some regions
- · Onboarding fees apply at Professional and Enterprise
- · Add-on services like Smart CRM require separate purchase
Intercom
3 tiers- Inbox, tickets, basic AI Compose
- Help center
- Outbound messaging
- Workflows
- Multiple teams
- Round robin
- AI Copilot
- SSO and security suite
- Advanced reporting
- Service level agreements
- · Fin AI agent priced separately at around $0.99 per resolution
- · Proactive Support add-on adds outbound costs
- · Phone add-on roughly $15 per seat per month
By budget
Honest picks at each spend level for a typical small business team of 5 to 15 agents.
$0 / month
Start with Freshdesk Free for unlimited agents on email and social. HubSpot Free is the strongest if you also want chat and a real CRM behind it.
Under $500 / mo
For a 5 to 10 agent team, Zoho Desk Express is the cheapest paid option. Freshdesk Growth costs slightly more but unlocks SLA management and richer automation.
$500 to $2,000 / mo
This is the sweet spot for growing teams of 10 to 25. You get full automation, AI add-ons, multilingual KB, and analytics. Pick by channel mix and CRM stack.
Above $2,000 / mo
Consider this only if you need enterprise security, omnichannel volume above 5,000 tickets a month, or complex multi brand setups. Most small businesses do not need this tier.