20 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Small-Medium Business Support

Nov 12, 2024

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20 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Small-Medium Business Support

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As your business grows, it’s only natural to expect customer inquiries to rise. When this happens, a help desk can be a lifesaver, allowing you to organize, prioritize, and assign all incoming tickets so no customer gets left behind. But, not all help desk tools are created equal. For instance, while Freshdesk offers a solid free plan and a range of features, its premium packages can be pricey. So, if you’ve outgrown Freshdesk or are looking for Freshdesk alternatives, you’re not alone. This article will explore the best help desk software options for your 24/7 Customer Support needs, budget, and business goals.

One tool to help you assess your needs is AI customer support. This solution from ChatBee simulates human interactions, so you can get a clearer picture of how automating your customer service can improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

What is Freshdesk and Why Consider Freshdesk Alternatives?

Freshdesk is a customer support platform that helps businesses manage customer conversations and issues. Part of the Freshworks suite of products, Freshdesk packs a lot of features into its platform, including:

Ticketing

Collaboration tools

Automation

Multichannel support

There’s even a free plan for new users.

What Makes Freshdesk Popular?

Freshdesk is popular because it offers an all-inclusive software solution that lets businesses manage their customers from one central dashboard. Access all your communication tools in one place, including:

Social messages

Telephony

Live chats

Knowledge bases

Advanced collaboration tools make it easy for agents to work with field service teams. Users can also create custom reports, although this requires some learning.

Freshdesk uses gamification to make customer service fun for agents. Everyday tasks become quests, and agents complete tasks to score points and unlock achievements. The free plan for new clients makes it affordable for beginners.

Why Are Businesses Looking for Freshdesk Competitors?

Freshdesk is a powerful platform, no doubt. But like any tool, it’s imperfect, and understanding its limitations can help you decide if it’s the right fit for your team or if you should explore Freshdesk alternatives.

Agent Limits on the Free Plan

The free plan might catch your eye if you’re a small team or startup. But here’s the thing: it only supports up to two agents. If you need more hands on deck or plan to grow your support team, this limitation can quickly become a major hurdle.

Customization Constraints

Do you need to tweak workflows or build a more customized ticketing system? Freshdesk offers some customization, but if your business thrives on tailored processes, you might find the options more manageable, especially on lower-tier plans.

“Customization options for the interface and workflows can be somewhat limited compared to other platforms, especially for larger teams with more complex needs.” — G2 Reviewer, Mid-Market Business

Cost of Advanced Features

Budget matters. While Freshdesk’s higher-tier plans offer fantastic advanced features—like custom reporting and audit logs—they aren’t cheap. The jump to Pro or Enterprise can be steep for smaller teams or businesses watching their expenses.

Integration Limitations

Freshdesk integrates with many tools, but only some things. If your team relies on niche or industry-specific software, you might need help getting everything to work seamlessly.

User Interface and Load Times

Freshdesk has a lot going on, which is excellent for features but only sometimes for usability. Some users find the interface cluttered and harder to navigate, especially at first.

Limited Automation on Lower Plans

While Freshdesk offers automation tools, the depth and flexibility can vary based on your plan. If you want to create complex automation rules that can handle intricate workflows, you may feel constrained unless you’re on one of the more expensive plans.

“Automation features are great but some of the more advanced functionalities are often locked behind higher-tier plans, making it more expensive for teams that need them.” — G2 Reviewer, Mid-Market Business

What Should You Look for in a Freshdesk Alternative?

While there are many Freshdesk alternatives out there, it’s important to find one that matches the needs and budget of your business. It’s also worth remembering that a good customer service platform makes for happy support teams which, in turn, creates quality customer service.

These are some elements to look out for:

An intuitive interface with multi-channel support options, like email, messaging, and social media integration, plus chatbots

Ticketing software that logs issues and then tracks support tickets to resolution

A self-service portal with a solid knowledge base to give customers quick answers to commonly asked questions

Project management software that helps with priority management so your customer support teams work on the right things at the right time

A customer relationship management (CRM) system that stores customer data and records every customer interaction

A customizable dashboard that measures the right metrics and makes project monitoring easy so you always know what’s happening

Project management collaboration tools that help your team work together seamlessly to resolve issues

AI Customer Experience

Omni Channel Customer Support

Help Desk Ticket Workflow

How to Scale Customer Support

What is a Support Ticket

What is a Help Desk

Help Desk Software Requirements

Helpdesk Best Practices

20 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Small-Medium Businesses

1. ChatBees: The AI Solution for Internal Operations

ChatBees optimizes RAG for internal operations like:

Customer support

Employee support

Our AI customer support software provides:

Highly accurate responses

Easy integration into workflows with low-code or no-code setup

ChatBees' agentic framework automatically chooses the best strategies to improve response quality for these use cases, enhancing:

Predictability and accuracy

Query handling capacity for operations teams

Key Features

No DevOps is required to deploy and maintain the service.

10x Support Automation with Chatbees AI Customer Support Solution

AI Agent with knowledge graphs from historical tickets and internal knowledge bases to automate and reduce ticket resolution time by up to 52%!

Build Knowledge Graphs from Your Tickets

Build Knowledge Graphs from the popular ticket systems, such as HubSpot Tickets

Resolve the new tickets faster with insights from the historical tickets.

Integrate your Support and Sales Pipelines to different collections.

Train Private AI on Your Knowledge Base

Train your AI using internal knowledge bases (PDFs/DOCs, Web Help Center, Notion, Confluence, and Google Drive).

ChatBees periodically updates your AI to keep it current.

AI Customer Support Starts Working

ChatBees takes care of the rest by automatically analyzing and researching incoming tickets

Provides actionable insights directly into your ticket system

Copilot the support agent to resolve the ticket quickly and efficiently

Connectors and Integrations

ChatBess supports a growing list of knowledge bases and messaging platforms, including:

Confluence

Notion

Drive

Slack

Discord

Hubspot

Use Cases

Streamline Your Workflows with Chatbees and HubSpot

Integrate HubSpot CRM with Chatbees to enhance your Customer Support and Sales efficiency

Discover how Chatbees and HubSpot together improve efficiency and customer satisfaction

Automated Workflows

AI auto reference resolution, offering relevant information and potential solutions at their fingertips of support agents.

Improved Accuracy

AI Copilot helps agents delve deeper into ticket-related inquiries and handle complex issues more accurately.

Increased Productivity

With proactive support and streamlined processes, agents can handle more tickets in less time, leading to faster resolution and higher productivity.

Auto Knowledge Graph Building

The ChatBees App automatically scans your historical tickets when you connect a HubSpot Ticket pipeline.

A comprehensive Knowledge Graph is built from this data, enabling faster, insight-driven ticket resolution.

ChatBees actively monitors ticket closure events in real-time, incorporating each closed ticket into the Knowledge Graph as soon as it’s marked closed.

This dynamic process continuously expands and evolves your Knowledge Graph, capturing the latest customer interactions and resolutions for a more robust, up-to-date support tool.

Auto Maintain Knowledge Base

As products evolve and new features are added, knowledge bases can become outdated.

ChatBees addresses this challenge by automatically identifying and filling gaps in your existing knowledge repository.

It does this by intelligently extracting valuable insights from historical support tickets.

This continuous, automated process ensures your knowledge base remains current and comprehensive, even as your product landscape changes.

Ticket Copilot

Support agents can directly access the ChatBees user interface, allowing deeper exploration into ticket-related inquiries for comprehensive insights.

ChatBees’ advanced AI assists agents by drafting customer reply emails based on proposed resolutions.

Streamlines communication, ensuring that responses are:

Accurate and aligned with the solution
Consistently professional and well-crafted

Agents can leverage ChatBees' advanced AI to draft customer reply emails based on the proposed resolution. This functionality streamlines the communication process, ensuring that responses are not only accurate and consistent with the solution, but also professionally crafted.

2. Zoho Desk: The Omnichannel Alternative to Freshdesk

This alternative to Freshdesk is an omnichannel solution that improves service desk agent productivity while creating customer happiness.

Centralized Ticket Management

The customer service software gathers support tickets from web forms, emails, live chat, social media, and telephone calls to your inbound call center and stores them all in one central place. Simply set up assignment rules to route those tickets to the correct department for resolution. Tickets can also be sorted using customer type, urgency, or ticket status filters.

Enhanced Customer Support Efficiency

The ticket history functionality plus integration with Zoho CRM allows you to pull customer data through to the ticket screen to give your agents all the information they need, making customer conversations easy and productive. And if you have different departments that support customers, the multi-department functionality can handle it all.

Best Features

Reduce your call center costs by having Zia, the Zoho chatbot, deal with routine questions and requests

Use built-in AI to analyze customer sentiment so you can deal with recurring problems early on

Create service level agreements (SLAs) for different types of customers, for example, specifying priority and resolution time

Use custom APIs to integrate with other Zoho and third-party software

Desk Limitations

Artificial intelligence is only available on the Enterprise plan

Although the user interface is quite user-friendly, it can take some time to get to grips with some of the more advanced features

Pricing

Free Trial: 15 days

Standard: $14/month per user

Professional: $23/month per user

Enterprise: $40/month per user

3. Drag: The Gmail Helpdesk

Drag uses Gmail to create one centralized support team workspace, making collaboration easy. Support customers, create and manage tasks, and make notes about progress or interactions, all from a shared inbox, for example, support@example.com. You can reply as yourself or on behalf of your team.

This platform organizes incoming emails for you, allows you to create rules to automate your workflows, and visualizes and manages them using shared boards.

Best Features

Save time by using email templates and automating email follow-ups

Quickly identify opportunities for improvement using insights from reports on team performance

Use the Zapier integration to connect your customer support software to more than 5,000 other apps, like:

Google
Slack
Asana

Get all the help you need from the award-winning Drag support team

Limitations

The functionality and customization options are fairly limited, so if your customer support process is more complex, you’ll need to look elsewhere

The Drag software does slow down your mailbox, especially if you’re also using other integrations

Pricing

Free: Up to 3 users

Starter: $8/month per user

Plus: $12/month per user

Pro: $16/month per user

4. SpiceWorks: A Free Helpdesk Solution

SpiceWorks is a free cloud-based helpdesk and ticket management solution. It helps you track and prioritize user requests and related tasks, simplifying customer service management.

SpiceWorks manages tickets using a customizable web portal. You can configure this to automatically assign tasks with due dates based on categories or priorities. Free up your customer service team further with automated responses that answer frequently asked questions (FAQs).

You can also set up a customized knowledge base for your team to fully equip them to provide great service.

Best Features

Save money by using this completely free customer support tool.

Stay on top of your tasks with in-depth reports available daily or monthly.

Request help from experts in the SpiceWorks Community Forum when you need it.

Use SpiceWorks anywhere via the native mobile app, which is available for Android or iOS.

Limitations

While it offers a lot for a free tool, the functionality might not be suitable for large enterprise applications, especially if you have dispersed support teams.

The reports aren’t as customizable as some users would like

Spiceworks

Pricing

Free

5. Help Scout: A Freshdesk Alternative for Customer Engagement

Help Scout is a scalable Freshdesk alternative that prioritizes customer engagement. Designed for small and mid-sized businesses, it helps manage customer conversations via email, live chat support, and in-app messaging, all routed into a shared inbox. Conversations can then be assigned to specific agents with private notes attached.

The database gives your support team access to customer information, including website history and details of previous interactions. If you move your customer data from another platform, Help Scout makes it very easy, requiring no IT involvement.

Best Features

Quickly get up to speed on how to use the platform’s intuitive interface

Create a self-service knowledge base for customers to free up your support team to help others who need more personalized support

Use automation to speed up repetitive tasks

Track team metrics and customer happiness with reports from the customer portal

Limitations

Social channels and unlimited report history are only available on the Plus and Pro plans

Some users feel that the knowledge platform isn’t as easy to use as it could be.

Pricing

Free trial: 15 days

Standard: $20/month per user

Plus: $40/month per user

Pro: $65/month per user

6. HubSpot Service Hub: Connect Your Customer Data and Service Channels

HubSpot Service Hub is part of the broader HubSpot software suite. It connects your customer information and your service channels on one platform.

Accept customer queries via inbound calls, emails, live chat, or social media channels like Facebook Messenger. A customer portal keeps conversations between customers and your service agents in one place, no matter where they started. This gives your front office team all the data and context they need to offer fast, personalized service.

Best Features

Support your customers where they are using the ticketing system and omnichannel management tools.

Use the knowledge base to create a library of answers to frequently asked questions so customers can help themselves.

Call your customers back using the built-in VoIP software.

Stay on top of everything going on using the reporting dashboard

HubSpot offers 24/7 customer service so you can contact them at any time for help with the system

Limitations

You need to use the HubSpot CRM, too if you want seamless access to all your customer data.

Automation features are only available on the paid plans, and the customer portal is only available online from the Professional plan upwards.

Pricing

Starter: $45/month for 2 users

Professional: $450/month for 5 users

Enterprise: $1,200/month for 10 users

7. Salesforce Service Cloud: The Salesforce Customer Service Solution

Salesforce Service Cloud is the customer service solution for the Salesforce CRM platform. With its 360-degree view of your customer base, this help desk software streamlines customer support across multiple channels.

AI-Powered Remote Support

The platform features a remote assistance tool that enables desktop sharing. This allows your service agents to see exactly what the customer sees on their screen to identify the issue. AI recognizes parts of images from the remote view and recommends steps to the support team members to help them quickly solve customer problems.

They can easily escalate to a higher level if they can't resolve the issue. The AI tool also refers agents to articles in the knowledge management system to help improve productivity and service levels.

Best Features

Offer support on the phone, through a chatbot on an e-commerce site, or via social media apps like:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Use the Service Cloud for Slack app to help agents collaborate with experts to resolve support queries.

Monitor risks to customer relationships with incident detection and management tools so you can address issues early on.

Use the AI to capture and automate workflows, saving time and cost

Limitations

You need to use the Service Cloud with Salesforce CRM so you have access to customer data

Many of the software features like AI, omnichannel routing, and the self-service platform cost extra

Pricing

Free trial: 30 days

Starter: $25/month per user

Professional: $80/month per user

Enterprise: $165/month per user

Unlimited: $330/month per user

8. LiveAgent: The Fastest Help Desk Software

LiveAgent is a customer support platform that has the fastest and easiest setup and implementation. This Freshdesk alternative is known for its practical and user-friendly LiveChat software.

LiveAgent offers customer service by phone with a LiveAgent call center solution, as well as support via WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, and social media channels like:

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

The ticketing system gathers customer communication in one place, so you can resolve issues quickly and efficiently without switching platforms.

Best Features

Adapt the user interface for your business with custom fields and filters

Set up automated answers to FAQs so agents can focus where they’re needed

Motivate your customer support team with badges, rewards, and leaderboards

Create a knowledge base to offer customers solutions via the customer portal

Integrate with over 200 other tools and apps, like:

Gmail
Facebook
WhatsApp
Shopify
Mailchimp
WordPress

Limitations

There are so many features that it can take a while to find and learn to use them all

Some users find the analytics and reporting functionality to be a little basic for their needs

Pricing

Free trial: 30 days

Small: $9/month per user

Medium: $29/month per user

Large: $49/month per user

Enterprise: $69/month per user

9. ProProfs Help Desk: The Collaborative Help Desk Software

ProProfs Help Desk aims to provide multichannel customer service while improving agent and team productivity. Internal and external customer conversations are organized in a central support management system. Together with internal notes and chats, this makes it easy to collaborate to solve customer issues.

All incoming requests to this Freshdesk alternative are tracked in shared inboxes with helpful addresses, like support@, help@, or contact@.

Best Features

Dedicated onboarding manager to help you get started

Use automation to assign tickets fairly using a round-robin system or advanced ticket rules.

Avoid confusion and crossed messages with agent collision detection.

Create a knowledge base so customers can quickly get answers to frequently asked questions.

Measure customer experience using metrics like First Call Resolution (FCR) and Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSATs)

Limitations

Their third-party integration options are pretty limited and might need to be more for a larger business.

ProProfs doesn’t offer support via social media, which may be a dealbreaker for some users.

Pricing

Free trial: 15 days

Annual Plan: $20/month per user

10. Zendesk: An Established Freshdesk Competitor

This well-known alternative to Freshdesk is designed for larger businesses and focuses on creating great customer experiences through personalized interactions. It combines human support with AI functionality to give you the best of both worlds.

Automated Customer Routing and Workflow

Depending on what they need, customers are routed to the self-service portal for common questions or to the service agent most qualified to resolve their query. AI workflow automation tools ensure all your service processes are as streamlined as possible.

While a range of plans is available for different business sizes, in case you only need a ticketing system, they also have a basic plan starting at €19.

Best Features

Manage requests that come in via email, phone, SMS, or social media

Use Zendesk on the web, or Android or iOS mobile devices via integrations

Integrate with more than 1,000 other apps, including Jira, Tymeshift, Teamviewer, and Harvest

Use the analytics and reporting tools to uncover insights about your customer service process

Limitations

While you can create custom views, you can’t export them, so you need to create them for each user manually

You’ll pay an extra €50 per month per agent for Advanced AI assistance

Pricing

Free trial: 30 days

Suite Team: $55/month per user

Suite Growth: $89/month per user

Suite Professional: $115/month per user

Suite Enterprise: Contact for pricing

Suite Enterprise Plus: Contact for pricing

Advanced AI (add-on): $50/month per user

11. Tidio: A Live Chat and Chatbot Solution

Tidio increases your business’s customer support capabilities through intuitive live chat software, AI chatbot tools, and automated helpdesk. Real-time chat enables you to connect with customers proactively, whereas bot automation allows your business to be available 24/7.

But we aren’t going to toot our own horn here. Instead, you can try our platform for free and compare your experience to the reviews left by thousands of users. Then, you can decide for yourself whether we deserve this position on the list.

Main Features

AI and NLP chatbots

Fully customizable live chat widget

Smart helpdesk workflows

Mobile app for iOS and Android available

Visitor notifications for proactive support

Shared inbox for all client communication

Pricing

A 7-day free trial available

Free version available

Starter: $29/mo

Growth: Starts at $59/mo

Plus: Starts at $749/mo

Premium: Starts at $2999/mo

12. Intercom: The Customer Engagement Software

What sets Intercom apart from the other Freshchat alternatives is its diversity and adaptability, which makes it perfect for SaaS companies. This customer engagement software can improve project management and self-service your website visitors.

The intercom has all the bells and whistles expected of a CRM system. But they also offer a lead qualification system to help users drive more real-time sales. The focus on customer experience stays consistent, but extra effort is placed on nurturing the most qualified clients.

Pros

Lead qualification features Sales-oriented service packages Great customization options

Various integrations (Slack, Salesforce, etc.)

Cons

Relatively high cost in comparison to competitors Steep learning curve

Pricing

Free 14-day trial

Essential: $39/mo/seal

Advanced: $99/mo/seat

Expert: $139/mo/seat

13. Happyfox: A Versatile Help Desk Software

Happyfox is a SaaS help desk software used in IT departments to replace old and non-performing ticketing systems. Your employees can easily enjoy a unified user experience portal to report all their IT-related customer issues. While the software is useful as an internal help desk, it also acts as a customer portal for diverse sectors.

This alternative to Freshdesk centralizes all consumer communication, eliminating the need for support emails, limiting delays. Admins can:

Assign tickets to different departments

Customize the platform using smart rules

Deploy auto-tagging for priority tickets

The software promotes transparency within an organization by accurately tracking tickets and correspondence between team members and clients.

Pros

Slack integration available

Ability to create triggers based on certain criteria

Automated ticket assignment

CRM capabilities

Cons

Delayed ticket notifications to agents

Inaccurate ticket due dates lead to missed resolution deadlines

Pricing

Mighty: $39/mo/agent

Fantastic: $59/mo/agent

Enterprise: $79/mo/agent

Enterprise Plus: $99/mo/agent

14. Enchant: A Simple Freshdesk Alternative

Enchant has been designed with ease of use in mind. The product is similar to Freshdesk in many ways and offers a range of features to help you take care of your customers. Enchant is a great Freshdesk Alternative if you want something lighter on its feet.

Enchant boasts an intuitive interface that will seem familiar if you’ve used common business tools like Gmail. That means a shallow learning curve, so your team can start immediately. Enchant is suited to teams from 3-300, so there’s plenty of room to grow.

With built-in automation and collaboration tools, your team can keep its focus on delivering excellent customer service. Many of our customers migrated from Freshdesk and have successfully grown their businesses with Enchant, and you can too!

What Enchant Offers

Shared inboxes with customizable folders, automations, and collaboration tools.

There is a built-in live chat and knowledge base for quick answers. This is great for customers who want to resolve their issues without speaking to an agent.

Customer Satisfaction Ratings (CSAT) so it’s easy to find out how happy your customers are.

Omnichannel Support: Receive and respond to customers via:

Voice calls
SMS
WhatsApp
Facebook Messenger
Instagram channels.

AI Response Writer that generates replies based on your knowledge base and past conversations.

In-depth analysis and reports that give you insights on trends, team performance, and customer satisfaction.

Easy integration with popular apps such as Shopify, Slack, etc.

Simple, affordable pricing: $15 per user, per month. No annual contracts or nasty surprises.

Pros

No ticket numbers or log-ins means Enchant is invisible to customers. They only see the stellar customer service they receive.

Easy and intuitive interface.

Get set up quickly, with no need for additional training.

Multiple inboxes with their permissions and settings. Handle requests individually or in a single unified queue.

Manage all your brands and departments separately but through one single account.

Supports over 20 languages

Cons

No customer forums or customer dashboards.

Proactive messaging is not supported.

15. Kayako: An Alternative With a Traditional Approach

Kayako offers a more traditional approach to managing customer support. Kayako gathers all communications with each customer across channels and pulls them into a single long thread.

Kayako helps you provide a personalized customer support experience by bringing together events from external systems. Along with the messages across multiple channels, Kayako can show events like:

The customer made a purchase

Viewed an article on a knowledge base

Although the commitment to keeping all communications in one place is fantastic, Kayako’s features aren’t up to par with Freshdesk’s. They revamped their solution in 2016 but it still doesn’t feel very modern or user-friendly.

Kayako's Workflow Limitations

Kayako needs help with workflows. Even common help desk workflows could be more challenging to set up. Say you want to set follow-up reminders. With Kayako, you must dance adding a custom date field for when to follow up. Then you have to set up monitoring for that date field. It’s all too easy to squander precious time on all these fiddly little tasks.

What Kayako Offers

Single-view omnichannel communication, including:

Social channels
Purchases
Knowledge base use.

Advanced collaboration features

Self-service customer portal

Live chat widget

Native iOS and Android apps

Pros

See the customer journey alongside the conversation so agents always have the full context.

Social integration is included even on the basic plan.

Lets you collaborate internally with personnel from outside your customer support team.

More straightforward pricing plans than Zendesk or Freshdesk.

Cons

Poorer help desk functionality than Zendesk or Freshdesk.

The forever single thread feature makes it harder to analyze customer interactions with different agents.

Help desk customizations are only available at higher price points.

No way to sort or search tickets by custom fields.

16. Front: A Collaborative Email Tool for Customer Support

Front makes things easy by keeping their app familiar and intuitive. That means the learning curve isn’t too steep, so you can get set up quickly. Front users can manage their personal and shared inboxes in the same place.

Omnichannel Support and Collaboration

Front also supports social channels and SMS so customers can use their favorite way to get in touch. Customers are looking for fast responses to queries across all channels, so social media integration is vital. Front offers robust collaboration features to enable teams to work together efficiently.

Front's Strengths and Limitations

If your team relies heavily on cross-collaboration for most requests, Front could be a great Freshdesk alternative for you. But it might need to be more flexible if your team has a certain way it likes to work or you need something beyond basic workflow customization.

Pricing and Scalability Considerations

Front is ideal for smaller teams but can get expensive for teams of 10 or more. All pricing plans require a commitment of a year in advance, so you might find it challenging to grow your team with Front.

What Front Offers

Unified inbox with email and SMS threads in one place

Social media integration

Ability to manage both personal and shared emails within the same app.

Custom workflow automation (available on higher-priced plans only.)

Integrates with popular sales and CRM tools like:

Salesforce
Hubspot

Pros

Makes collaboration a breeze with team-oriented tools such as collaborative drafts and tasks.

Omnichannel communication

Strong integrations with external apps and custom plugins.

User-friendly interface and it’s quick and easy to set up.

Cons

Ticketing system isn’t robust enough for teams with higher support volumes.

Not flexible enough for teams that need customized workflows. The more affordable price points only offer limited workflow customizations.

Requires an annual contract, making it hard to switch tools later if you want to.

Higher plans can be pricey for small-medium companies.

Some bigger teams (50+ people) notice performance issues.

17. Reamaze: The Help Desk for E-Commerce Businesses

Reamaze was designed for businesses with online stores. If you’re an online retail business looking for a customer support solution, Reamaze could be the one for you. It integrates well with popular ecommerce solutions such as:

Shopify

WooCommerce

BigCommerce to bring in relevant information such as order details.

Reamaze also offers multi-channel support, including:

Social media

Live chat

Ecommerce-Centric Helpdesk with Room for Improvement

It is one of the best Freshdesk competitors for e-commerce businesses. Its deep e-commerce integration features, such as giving refunds for a Shopify store, make it a powerful tool. But if you need more robust email handling, such as adding BCC recipients or classic email forward support, you should look at some of our other options in this list. Some users feel that the reporting on certain data points could be better, too.

What Reamaze Offers

Email-based ticketing support

Omnichannel integration with social media

Robust integration with popular ecommerce tools

Live chat tool with chatbots

Customer community portal

A self-help FAQ center

Pros

Deeper ecommerce integrations allow you to connect multiple stores to one help desk.

Automated workflows based on customer intent make it easy for your agents to help customers at every stage of their journey.

Customizable live chat with chatbots

Live view of site visitors on higher-priced plans

Cons

Weaker reporting of data points compared to some other solutions on this list.

Some users report a poor experience when liking or sharing social messages.

Other users report performance issues with the chat app.

Attaching media such as images to the FAQ is not supported.

18. Groove: A Shared Inbox Help Desk Software

Groove is a help desk software with a shared inbox that helps agents collaborate on requests in an “email-style” interface. It also offers live customizable chat tools, to better match your brand and a knowledge base for 24/7 self-service support. Organizations can embed the knowledge base widget on any page of their website.

The workflow rule builder allows businesses to automate repetitive tasks, such as assigning tickets to agents, sending follow-up emails, and updating customer records. Round-robin assignment with load balancing ensures that tickets are distributed evenly among agents.

Features

Omnichannel agent workspace

Integrations

Knowledge base widget

Workflow rule builder

Round-robin assignment

Shared inbox

Pricing

Plans start at $16 per user/month, billed annually

A seven-day free trial is available

19. Jira Service Management: Best for Internal IT Help Desk Teams

Most of the tools on this list have focused on serving external customers, but some teams handle mostly internal requests and that’s where Jira Service Management shines. You can create custom request portals for different teams, making it easy for employees to get access to the right people. You can also create self-service portals where employees can find answers on their own.

Standout Features

Dynamic forms

Prebuilt integrations

Request template library

Customizable SLAs

AI features

Jira Service management may not be the best solution for primarily customer-facing teams, but it’s a great option for those focused mostly on internal requests.

Pricing

Free Plan: Available

Paid Plans: Start at $17.65/agent per month

20. DevRev: Best For Startups Bridging Support and Development

Best For: Startups and businesses looking to bridge customer support with product development for a unified approach.

Key Features

Integrated Dev and Support Platform: Unlike Freshdesk’s separated service tools, DevRev merges development and support to enhance product iteration based on real user feedback.

AI-Powered Support: This feature features AI agents and assistants for ticket deflection and support, streamlining the process compared to standard support bots in Freshdesk.

Omnichannel Ticketing: A modern, integrated ticketing platform allowing smooth support across various channels.

Custom Analytics and Reporting: Delivers robust reporting capabilities tailored to monitor both customer satisfaction and development impact.

Pricing

Starter Plan: $19.99/user/month

Pro Plan: $59.99/user/month

Ultimate Plan: Custom pricing available upon request

Help Desk Benefits

Customer Experience Automation

SaaS Help Desk

Ticket Escalation

Self Service Customer Support

Service Desk Automation Ideas

Help Desk Benefits

Common Help Desk Problems and Solutions

Best Help Desk Software for Small Business

Generative Ai for Customer Support

Best Incident Management Software

Best Open Source Ticketing System

How to Choose the Best Freshdesk Alternative for Your Business?

Choosing the best alternative to Freshdesk starts with carefully evaluating your unique business needs. You can begin to outline your requirements by identifying key support features that will help your team. Next, consider your team’s technical proficiency. This will help ensure a smooth transition to the new help desk software.

Take into account the volume and complexity of your support queries and your future growth plans. This will ensure that the new software can scale with your business as you grow.

Budget Considerations: How Much Can You Afford to Spend?

Evaluate what you can afford to spend on a Freshdesk alternative. Look beyond the initial subscription costs to calculate the total cost of ownership. This should include:

Training

Integrations

Additional fees

Consider the return on investment. Evaluate how the software can:

Improve efficiency

Reduce operational costs

Boost customer satisfaction

Also, look for flexible pricing plans that align with your business size and growth trajectory. Look for hidden costs or potential add-ons that could affect your budget.

Ease of Transition: How Will You Move from Freshdesk to the New System?

To minimize operational downtime, assess how easy it will be to transition from Freshdesk to your new help desk software. Start by looking at the data migration capabilities. Ensure the new platform can smoothly import data from Freshdesk or other systems. Next, check the availability and quality of training resources and support. Outline a plan for the transition that minimizes operational downtime.

Trial and Testing: What Features Does the Software Offer?

Before making the switch, conduct thorough testing to ensure the software meets your needs. Start by using free trials or demos to get a hands-on feel for the software. During the trial period, test key features to ensure they meet your requirements. Gather feedback from your team. Their insight will help you make an informed decision.

Customer Reviews and Feedback: What Are Other Users Saying?

Before choosing an alternative to Freshdesk, research what other users have to say about the software. Start by looking at independent reviews and ratings for unbiased insights. Then, look for testimonials or case studies from businesses similar to yours. Explore user communities and forums for honest feedback and tips.

Support and Reliability: What Happens If Something Goes Wrong?

Before deciding, evaluate the quality of customer support for your Freshdesk alternative. Look for information on the responsiveness and effectiveness of the vendor’s customer support. Next, check the platform’s historical uptime and reliability metrics. Consider the availability of support in emergencies.

Future-Proofing: Will the Software Grow with Your Business?

Look for a Freshdesk alternative that will adapt to your changing business needs over time. Ensure the platform keeps up with the latest customer service trends and technologies. Also, look for a commitment to regular updates and feature enhancements. Evaluate the vendor’s stability and position in the market.

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