FreshdeskKayakoFreshdesk vs Kayako

Freshdesk vs Kayako: who includes website chat

Two help desks: one prints a price and one quotes. Where Freshdesk and Kayako split, 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 Freshdesk if your support is email tickets first and you want SLAs, time tracking and field service in one help desk. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $275 a month on Freshdesk, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Freshdesk and Kayako both include email in the price; only Kayako has website chat. Neither Freshdesk nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Freshdesk against Kayako, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceFreshdeskFreshdeskKayakoKayako
Built aroundEmail tickets · chat is the separate FreshchatTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and ticketsQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on topQuote · widget included
AI agent$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agents$29/agent/mo · Freddy CopilotIn Kay
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · talk to a pricing expert

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    As a ticket in an email queue. Chat conversations live in Freshchat and become tickets when escalated. Kayako raises tickets too, from tickets and a customer journey.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. Freshdesk raises tickets too, from email tickets.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    $19 buys email tickets on Growth. Chat and messaging mean adding Freshchat or an Omni bundle. $275 for five people; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; Freshdesk prints $275.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Freddy AI Agent: 500 trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100. Freddy Copilot is $29 per agent on top. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

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

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. website chat is here and not on Freshdesk.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. Kayako is the same kind of product, a help desk.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. Freshdesk is the same kind of product, a help desk.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    A day or two: connect the support address, set groups and SLAs, then add Freshchat for the widget. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Freshdesk is a day or two.

Sources: Freshdesk pricing · Kayako 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 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
The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

Pricing references: Freshdesk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); Kayako pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Freshdesk, Kayako 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.

FeatureFreshdeskFreshdeskKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Quote; AI per resolution
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Not on the pricing page; 14-day trial
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

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

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
500 one-time trial sessions, then $49 per 100
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Escalates to agents
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

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

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

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.
  • It prints its price ($275 a month for five) where Kayako quotes.
  • Time to the first reply is a day or two here and a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding on Kayako.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need website chat in the price, which Freshdesk does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding here and a day or two on Freshdesk.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $275 a month on Freshdesk, and a quote on Kayako for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Freshdesk nor Kayako includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Freshdesk on Pro: $110, $275 and $550 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $230 less than Freshdesk and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Both Freshdesk and Kayako are help desks, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Freshdesk is built around email tickets, Kayako around tickets and a customer journey. Neither has a free plan: Freshdesk offers 14 days of Enterprise, Kayako no trial. Freshdesk and Kayako both include email in the price; only Kayako has website chat. Neither Freshdesk nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Freshdesk and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither Freshdesk nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Freshdesk is a day or two; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Freshdesk's $49 per 100 sessions and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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 these figures were read

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Freshdesk's, and Kayako's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

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
    FreshdeskFreshdesk$0.49$245
    KayakoKayakoSee vendorNot quoted
    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.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk · 14 days of Enterprise
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Freshdesk vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Both Freshdesk and Kayako are help desks, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Freshdesk is built around email tickets, Kayako around tickets and a customer journey.

  • Entry plan: Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Freshdesk nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Freshdesk and Kayako 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.

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