FreshchatFreshdeskFreshchat vs Freshdesk

Freshchat vs Freshdesk: messaging or help desk for a small team

A messaging platform against a help desk: Freshchat is $180 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Freshchat and Freshdesk, and a third option for small teams.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Freshchat if you want a free chat inbox for up to ten agents and can add channels later. Pick Freshdesk if your support is email tickets first and you want SLAs, time tracking and field service in one help desk. For five people, Freshchat is $180 a month cheaper than Freshdesk ($95 a month on Freshchat against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $50 under Freshchat. Freshchat and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Freshchat has website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Freshchat and Freshdesk for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceFreshchatFreshchatFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundChat and messaging · tickets live in FreshdeskEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Growth, yearly$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the price$0 · Free: up to 10 agents, widget and email$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agent$49 per 100 sessions · after 500 included$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account
Copilot for agents$29/agent/mo · Pro and up$29/agent/mo · Freddy Copilot
Free planYes · up to 10 agentsNone · 14-day trial

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    FreshchatFreshchat

    As a conversation in the team inbox, from the widget or a messaging app; a ticket means Freshdesk. Freshdesk raises a ticket where Freshchat keeps a conversation.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    As a ticket in an email queue. Chat conversations live in Freshchat and become tickets when escalated. Freshchat has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FreshchatFreshchat

    The free plan covers ten agents on the widget and email; $19 on Growth adds WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS. $95 for five people, against $275 on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    $19 buys email tickets on Growth. Chat and messaging mean adding Freshchat or an Omni bundle. $275 for five people, against $95 on Freshchat.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FreshchatFreshchat

    Freddy AI Agent sessions: 500 included on paid plans, then $49 per 100. Copilot is $29 per agent on Pro. Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats as well.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Freddy AI Agent: 500 trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100. Freddy Copilot is $29 per agent on top. Freshchat meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FreshchatFreshchat

    Web and mobile widget and email on Free; WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS and Line from Growth. website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Email and web forms on every plan; chat, WhatsApp and Instagram arrive with Freshchat. Freshchat adds website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram, which Freshdesk lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FreshchatFreshchat

    Campaigns and bots for the widget; the rest of Freshworks for tickets, IT and sales. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. Freshchat is a messaging platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FreshchatFreshchat

    An hour for the widget; a day to connect the messaging channels. Freshdesk is a day or two.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    A day or two: connect the support address, set groups and SLAs, then add Freshchat for the widget. Freshchat is an hour for the widget.

Sources: Freshchat pricing · Freshdesk pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Freshchat team inbox: the conversation list, the chat and the customer context
FreshchatFreshchat. The Freshchat team inbox: the conversation list, the chat and the customer context
The Freshdesk ticket view: the queue on the left, the ticket thread and the properties panel
FreshdeskFreshdesk. The Freshdesk ticket view: the queue on the left, the ticket thread and the properties panel

What your team would pay

Move the sliders. Yearly-billing rates from each vendor’s pricing page, next to Sellio’s plan for the same number of seats.

5 people who answer customers

50

300 bot sessions on Freshchat, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
FreshchatFreshchat

$95/mo

Messaging channels, 500 AI sessions.

5 × $19 seats
$95
0 bot sessions × $0.49
$0
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. $49 per 100 Freddy AI Agent sessions after the first 500, as printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-13.

FreshdeskFreshdesk

$422/mo

Custom roles, round robin, more automations and reporting.

5 × $55 seats
$275
300 AI agent sessions × $0.49 (rounded to 100-session packs)
$147
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. 500 trial sessions are available once per account, not every month. Recurring estimates exclude that trial and charge $49 per 100-session pack. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

Sellio · Mini

$55/mo

One price for the workspace: 3 channels, 2 AI agents, $5 AI credit a month.

Workspace, 5 of 5 seats
$45
AI past 100 included conversations
$10
Copilot for agents
Included

About $0.05 per AI conversation past the credit, with a daily and monthly cap you set. Yearly billing takes 20% off. See every plan.

Pricing references: Freshchat pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13); Freshdesk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). Calculator uses yearly-billing rates. Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

5 people, website chat plus 2 more channels, 2 AI agents: $45 a month. Start free, no card.

Start freeSee every plan

Freshchat, Freshdesk and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureFreshchatFreshchatFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI sessions in packs
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Up to 10 agents
Not on the pricing page; 14-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
All plans
Via Freshchat or Omni
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
In the inbox
Core of the product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Growth and up
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Growth and up
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Line, not Telegram
Not native
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams integrations
Slack and Teams notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Freddy AI Agent
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
500 sessions, then $49 per 100
500 one-time trial sessions, then $49 per 100
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Bot hands to an agent
Escalates to agents
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Through Freshdesk
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Bots and routing
Automations, form-based
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and CSAT
Reports and CSAT
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile
Browser and mobile only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Freshchat if

  • You want a free chat inbox for up to ten agents and can add channels later.
  • You already use Freshdesk and want chat from the same vendor.
  • Five people cost $180 a month less than on Freshdesk ($95 against $275), before AI.
  • You need website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Freshdesk does not include outright.

Pick Freshdesk if

  • Your support is email tickets first and you want SLAs, time tracking and field service in one help desk.
  • You are already on Freshworks products and want the same admin and billing.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Freshchat does not have.
  • Time to the first reply is a day or two here and an hour for the widget on Freshchat.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $95 a month on Freshchat against $275 on Freshdesk for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Freshchat meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats and Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Freshchat on Growth: $38, $95 and $190 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Freshdesk on Pro: $110, $275 and $550 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $50 less than Freshchat and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $95 under Freshchat and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Freshchat is a messaging platform built around chat and messaging; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Only Freshchat has a free plan (up to 10 agents); Freshdesk offers 14 days of Enterprise. Freshchat and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Freshchat has website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk includes Telegram outright. Freshchat ($49 per 100 sessions) and Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) both meter AI above the seats. Freshdesk has tickets and Freshchat does not, and neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app. Freshchat is an hour for the widget; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

Freshchat: Freddy AI Agent: 500 sessions included on paid plans, then $49 per 100; Freddy Copilot $29 per agent on Pro and up. Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Beside Freshchat's $49 per 100 sessions and Freshdesk's $49 per 100 sessions, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    FreshchatFreshchat$0.49$0
    FreshdeskFreshdesk$0.49$245
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    FreshchatFreshchat · 14-day trial of Enterprise
    FreshdeskFreshdesk · 14 days of Enterprise
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Freshchat vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

Freshchat is a messaging platform built around chat and messaging; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Freshdesk has tickets and Freshchat does not, and neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Freshchat $19/agent/mo (Growth, yearly); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: Freshchat $0 (Free: up to 10 agents, widget and email); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Freshchat nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Freshchat and Freshdesk on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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