Customers are hungry for help to a level we’ve never seen. One frustrating experience on a website hurts a customer’s opinion of your brand at a rate of 66%. And one bad customer experience spreads faster than a good one. The majority of customers share a good customer experience with 6 or more people. But if it’s a bad experience? 13% of customers will tell 15 or more about it.
Almost every company with a website is entering a veritable “arms race” of customer service. One survey found 49.5% of respondents are already putting their efforts into customer experience over issues like product (33%) and pricing (20%). It can be a struggle to keep up.
Enter customer support software services like FreshDesk. Software like this brings a “customer help desk” to your website. Even a small company can go from a plain and simple website to running all sorts of features, including:
- Ticketed issues for customer support tracking
- Online help “widgets” customers can click on
- Collaboration tools for getting your team in sync on specific customer issues
- Resolving customer questions with bots and AI that nudge them in the right direction
But what if you don’t feel like using FreshDesk? What if it’s too intimidating, or you don’t like the price?
Then remember that FreshDesk is just one potential tool in your toolbox for dealing with customers. And there are plenty of alternatives worth considering.
Here are some of our favorites.
Alternative #1: Groove
Groove is the shared inbox for small businesses looking for an alternative to Gmail. Organize all your support emails in one place, route them to the right people, and get more work done as a team.
Features:
Groove has a ton of features. Here are a few of the most notable.
- Shared Inbox
- Knowledge Base
- 30+ Integrations
- Internal Notes
- Templates
- Workflows / Rules / Automations
For more info on Groove’s features, consult this list.
Education and Support: Groove’s Knowledge Base is extensive and extremely well organized. All of the Knowledge Base articles we looked at contained detailed instructions and screenshots. Groove also boasts an incredibly insightful blog which is filled with valuable information about customer support, remote work, and growing as a business.
Ease of Use + User Experience: Groove feels fresh and easy to use. The design is modern, the writing and explanations are easy to understand. We think you’ll enjoy using Groove’s help desk software.
Integrations: Groove integrates with the software tools you’re likely to use and they’re well-known for these integrations. More on integrations here.
Ability to Scale: Groove is a great option for small companies that have never had help desk software. But Groove can scale with your brand–big companies use it, too.
Alternative #2: HelpScout
HelpScout’s role as a FreshDesk alternative deserves mention because it’s great for people who just want a customer service solution up and running. There are minimal frills and thrills, but for a bare-bones business getting off the ground, it’s a great alternative.
Key Features
HelpScout’s best feature isn’t any one particular outreach. It’s the “out-of-the-box” customer service experience you can create when you get HelpScout up and running. There are seven key features that they highlight on their site:
- Shared Inbox for handling customer conversations when they’re coming in fast
- Knowledge base creation for customer reference
- Messages for onboarding customers or offering new features
- Customer management that makes important customer data easy to see when you interact with one
- Reporting so you can track your customer experience progress
- Live chat for a more responsive website
- Integrations with HubSpot, Jira, and Salesforce
Pricing and Plan Comparison
HelpScout’s pricing plans reflect this quick-unboxing mentality. For many new websites, you won’t have to go far above standard—and you may not find that the additional features beyond that pricing tier are going to add a lot more, except in specific situations. Here are the tiers:
- Standard: $20/user/month. Live chat, messages, “customer properties,” and reports all included for a team of up to three customer service inboxes.
- Plus: $30/user/month. Take the “Standard” features up to 10 possible inboxes, and some additional sophistication like HIPAA compliance for health-related websites.
- Company: Prices quoted via contact. If you’re a larger company that needs to unlock limited inboxes, you’ll have to reach out to HelpScout directly for more details.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.3 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros:
- Simple setup, easy to get running “out of the box”
- Free 15-day trial offered
- Relatively low price for companies, with easy to use, clean inboxes
Cons:
- Not robust if your goal is an optimized customer experience
- Limited customization for reporting and interface
- Pricing tiers can vary depending on your total inbox needs
Alternative #3: eDesk
With eDesk, the goal is to bring the customer service experience of a big-box retailer to a website—also helpful if you sell retail. It integrates with services like Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and Facebook, which means that you can meet your retail customers where they are. It will feel more intuitive for them as they do their online shopping. But how is it for you? It may depend on how in-depth your customer service needs end up being.
Key Features
- Shared inbox they call “smart inbox,” with enhanced category view for organizing
- Knowledge base
- Reporting via “Insights” to track your progress
- eCommerce Helpdesk that provides support for browsing shoppers
- Live chat
- Reviews and feedback gathering to give you a sense of where your customer support team is scoring
Pricing and Plan Comparison
Since eDesk targets retail, you can expect it to be more appropriate for larger stores. That means bigger teams, bigger customer service needs, and bigger budgets. And bigger prices. Here are the current pricing tiers at eDesk:
- Team: $65/month/user. Billed annually, or $79/month when billed monthly. Includes unlimited rules, ticket merging, internal notes, and phone support.
- Professional: $85/month/user. Billed annually, or $105/month when billed monthly. Includes additional features like auto-translate and AI-powered responses.
- Enterprise: $135/month/user, or $169/month billed monthly. Additional features included free included chat and API access for more customization.
Additionally, eDesk includes pay-able add-ons. Notice how we mentioned “free included chat”? That’s an add-on feature for the Team and Professional tiers, at $25/month/user, billed annually.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.9 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Well-reviewed software that’s explicitly built for retail, making it ideal for specific types of stores
- Integrations with Amazon, eBay, Shopify, and more make it easy to manage a pre-existing store on other platforms
Cons
- More expensive than simpler, out-of-box versions
- May not be ideal if you don’t own retail and have a service-based company
Alternative #4: Intercom
Dubbed a “Conversational Relationship Platform” at G2, the focus at Intercom is all about the communication between you and the customer—or potential customer. This is a FreshDesk alternative that’s more ideal for someone who wants to get a nice, friendly chat going on their website—but doesn’t want to prioritize the other typical features.
Key Features
- Live chat
- Shared inbox
- Support bots for increased chatting automation when you’re not around
- Rules and automated workflows
- Integrations
Pricing and Plan Comparison
Intercom is slightly different than the other solutions, requiring you to check out a demo of their services before you find out what the pricing might be for you. For “very small businesses,” it does include a “Starter” plan with one “seat” available at $79 per month. For that, you can reach 1,000 people per month.
G2/Capterra Rankings
- G2: 4.4 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Highly engaging features for people who want to focus on live chat customer support
- Personal messaging templates make a site feel more authentic and real
Cons
- Pricing designed for larger companies, with only one limited pricing tier for smaller companies available
- Might be difficult if you have an issue, with consistently poor customer service ratings themselves. The irony!
Alternative #5: HelpJuice
HelpJuice can be frustrating for some, or a shot in the arm for others. Why the discrepancy? HelpJuice gives you plenty of customization to handle customer service on your own terms. But if you prefer an “out-of-the-box” solution, it may not be right for you. For others, the impressive search function means that once you get it up and running, it’s a pleasure to navigate.
HelpJuice focuses on the “knowledge base” portion of customer support, which means that if you have a lot of information you want to refer customers to, its search function may be paramount for the way your company does things.
Key Features
- Analytics
- “Google-like” search feature
- Theme templates and customization for knowledge base
- Integrations with apps like Slack
Pricing and Plan Comparison
Since HelpJuice is focused on the “knowledge base” end of customer management, you might expect the pricing tiers to look different. Here’s how they stack up:
- Starter: $120/month for up to 4 users
- Run-Up: $200/month for up to 6 users
- Premium Limited: $289 for up to 60 users
- Premium Unlimited: $369 for unlimited users
It’s on the pricier range of our FreshDesk alternatives for sure, but it may be a cost you’re willing to foot if you need a highly customizable knowledge base.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.4 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Positive reviews in terms of customization and building themes for unique knowledge base situations
- Easy to deploy a vast content library, which is important for businesses with a lot of customer education to do
Cons
- Expensive for limited user base on your end; only 4 users for the “Starter” package
- Not for people who want a more interactive customer service experience
Alternative #6: Gorgias
With a high price tag, Gorgias makes no bones about it: it is here to help already-existing Shopify sites and other online stores improve their customer service solutions. It does a good degree of optimization if you already have customers: it can quickly engage them when they’re on your site while providing you with the customer details you need to make a sale. But is it the right FreshDesk alternative for growing a company from the ground up?
Key Features
- Live chat
- Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce integration
- Automatic customer data display
- Automation
- Social media management
Pricing and Plan Comparison
Fortunately for us, the “Basic” feature here is a nice introductory price to get familiar with Gorgias, and potentially use the platform to help grow your customer base:
- Basic: $50/month. Includes only 350 customer tickets, but does allow unlimited users.
- Pro: $250/month. 2,000 monthly tickets. Expanded features such as satisfaction surveys.
- Advanced: $625/month. 6,000 monthly tickets. Adds features like revenue statistics in addition to what’s already there in Basic and Pro.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing. Noteworthy here is “custom ticket volume,” but still not unlimited ticket volume.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.6 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Allows lower pricing tiers on a limited “customer ticket” basis to familiarize you with its system and allow your store to grow with the software
- Especially effective in integrating with its target market: people with Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento stores already existing
Cons
- Never unlock “unlimited” customers support tickets
- The specific design for stores on pre-existing platforms may be too restrictive for users with their own websites
Alternative #7: HappyFox
The name “HappyFox” makes you think: light, easy, fun. And that’s exactly what the software tries to deliver with its help desk: it’s easy to set up, easy to use, and intuitive enough to immediately begin helping your own customers, whether they’re coming from social media or search engines.
Key Features
- Live chat
- Knowledge base
- Automation
- Help desk reports / analytics
- Automation ticket deletion or redaction
Pricing and Plan Comparison
Pricing at HappyFox isn’t quite like the other FreshDesk alternatives. It splits it up into two categories: “Agent-Sized Pricing” for small to medium-sized companies, and “Unlimited Agents” for large teams. Where will you fall on the spectrum? The most popular within “Agent-Sized Pricing” is Enterprise, which includes 24/7 customer support, custom ticket queues, a knowledge base, and omnichannel ticket creation.
Want to know more? Unfortunately, every pricing tier requires you to fill out a “request pricing” form.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- More of an “out-of-the-box” solution that’s great for smaller companies that want to get started and not think about complicated integration
- Robust features even in the lower pricing tiers, so you may not feel like you have to upgrade for quite a while
Cons
- Opaque pricing tiers means you might be surprised, or might not be—there’s no way to tell
- All plans require using at least 5 help agents, or paying for them
Alternative #8: LiveAgent
LiveAgent has very low friction for starting up: no credit card required, a 14-day free trial, and a “cancel any time” policy. That’s a good start. But do its live chat support features add up to a “bargain bin” FreshDesk alternative, or does it provide a surprising amount of value for the price?
Key Features
- Ticketing system
- “Universal” inbox
- Time tracking for each ticket
- Analytics / customer insights
- Live chat
- Knowledge base
- Call center
Pricing and Plan Comparison
One nice addition here: a “forever free” account that comes with limitations. No doubt it’s supposed to entice you to one of the (budget-friendly) pricing tiers, but otherwise, it’s a nice entry point for companies who need a help desk and have no budgetary wiggle room.
- Free: Limited account with one chat button, one phone number, and one email address.
- Ticket: $15/user/month. Unlock unlimited ticket histories, reporting, API integrations, and more
- Ticket + Chat: $29/user/month. Unlock your chat features here, in addition to the Ticket items.
- All-inclusive. $39/user/month. Add the call center features, including call routing and transfers.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.5 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.7 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Low, low pricing, including a free feature. However, if you need live chat, you may have to immediately move up to the higher pricing tiers
- Easy to unlock unlimited users such as email addresses, helping it rate “best value” at the review sites
Cons
- More advanced features can be a bit unintuitive to navigate and figure out
- Questionable spam filter
- If you run into any troubles, there have been user complaints about LiveAgent’s own customer support
Alternative #9: Kayako
Kayako’s main attraction as a help desk is that it can bring in a variety of connections to ensure that your customer support remains easy, intuitive, and simple to manage. If you have a lot of “siloed” departments where you run your website, you may find that Kayako’s features are exactly what the doctor ordered to get your team on the same page.
Key Features
- Live chat
- Collaboration
- Integrations
- Customer self-service
- Singular panel for talking to customers from wide-ranging sources
Pricing and Plan Comparison
One thing to like about Kayako is its simplicity: it makes customer support simple, and it keeps its pricing simple. There aren’t many tricks that we have to explain here:
- Inbox: $15/user/month. Live chat, help center, and basic performance reports available with the lowest pricing tier.
- Growth: $30/user/month. Introduce workflow automation to keep things simpler, and unlock Zapier automation.
- Scale: $60/user/month. Everything in Growth, but adding more customization for reporting, security policies, and more.
G2/Capterra Ratings
- G2: 4.1 out of 5 stars
- Capterra: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Pros/Cons
Pros
- Helps create one innate “dashboard” for customer communication, even if you have a relatively complicated back-end
- Low pricing tiers unlock most of the features you’ll need to get started with a help desk at your website
Cons
- Ratings on Capterra and G2 are surprisingly low
- Some complaints about its integration features, making it not as robust as some of the other FreshDesk alternatives on this list
Using FreshDesk Alternatives the Right Way
This is a big list. But ultimately, the only way to use a FreshDesk alternative is to select an option with the appropriate pricing, the right features, and enough capacity to handle what your site throws at it. Our recommendation? Pick one that sticks out to you, and commit to it. If your customers immediately get a lot happier, you’ll know you made the right call.
| Live chat | Knowledge Base | Reporting | Integrations | Shared Inbox/Collaboration Tools | Automation | |
| Groove | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HelpScout | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| eDesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | eCommerce focused | “Smart inbox” | Yes |
| Intercom | Yes | No/not mentioned | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| HelpJuice | No/Not mentioned | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Gorgias | Yes | No/Not mentioned | Yes | Focused on BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify | Yes | Platform-dependent |
| HappyFox | Yes, but separate software | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LiveAgent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | “Universal” inbox | Yes |
| Kayako | Yes | Yes | “Basic” performance reports on lowest tier | Yes | Yes | Yes |
