FreshserviceFreshdeskFreshservice vs Freshdesk

Freshservice vs Freshdesk: five seats for $245 or $275

An IT service desk against a help desk: Freshservice is $30 a month cheaper for five people. Where Freshservice and Freshdesk 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 Freshservice if the requests come from employees, not customers, and involve assets and approvals. 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, Freshservice is $30 a month cheaper than Freshdesk ($245 a month on Freshservice against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $200 below Freshservice. Freshservice and Freshdesk both include email in the price. Neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk includes website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Freshservice against Freshdesk, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceFreshserviceFreshserviceFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundInternal IT requests · not a customer help deskEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Starter, yearly$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the pricePortal and Slack · no customer widget$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agentEnterprise plan · Freddy AI Agent$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 planNone · 14-day trialNone · 14-day trial

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    As an employee request from the portal, email, Slack or Teams, with assets and approvals behind it. Freshdesk raises tickets too, from email tickets.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    As a ticket in an email queue. Chat conversations live in Freshchat and become tickets when escalated. Freshservice raises tickets too, from internal IT requests.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    $19 buys incidents and a knowledge base on Starter; SLAs and a service catalog start on Growth at $49. $245 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 $245 on Freshservice.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    Freddy AI Agent comes with Enterprise; Freddy Copilot is $29 per agent on Pro and Enterprise. 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. Freshservice meters AI (Enterprise plan) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    Portal, email, Slack and Teams for employees; no website chat, WhatsApp or Instagram. The same set as Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Email and web forms on every plan; chat, WhatsApp and Instagram arrive with Freshchat. The same set as Freshservice.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    Asset, change, problem and release management; on-call and major incidents. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. Freshservice is an IT service desk instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FreshserviceFreshservice

    A week or more: catalog, approvals, assets and SLAs before the first request. 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. Freshservice is a week or more.

Sources: Freshservice 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 Freshservice agent view: the incident with the asset, the approvals and the SLA timer
FreshserviceFreshservice. The Freshservice agent view: the incident with the asset, the approvals and the SLA timer
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 AI conversations on Freshservice, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
FreshserviceFreshservice

$245/mo

Service catalog, SLAs, on-call.

5 × $49 seats
$245
300 AI conversations × $0
$0
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Freddy AI Agent comes with the Enterprise plan rather than a per-conversation rate; the AI line stays at zero. 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: Freshservice 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

Freshservice, 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.

FeatureFreshserviceFreshserviceFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
Employee portal, no customer widget
Via Freshchat or Omni
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Employee requests
Core of the product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not offered
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not offered
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not offered
Not native
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams servicebot
Slack and Teams notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Enterprise plan
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Copilot $29 per agent
500 one-time trial sessions, then $49 per 100
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Creates a ticket for an agent
Escalates to agents
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Incidents, requests, changes
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflow automator
Automations, form-based
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and SLAs
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 Freshservice if

  • The requests come from employees, not customers, and involve assets and approvals.
  • You need change, problem and release management.
  • Five people cost $30 a month less than on Freshdesk ($245 against $275), before AI.
  • Time to the first reply is a week or more here and a day or two on Freshdesk.

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.
  • Time to the first reply is a day or two here and a week or more on Freshservice.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Freshservice's: per agent per month, billed yearly. Day passes for occasional agents.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $245 a month on Freshservice against $275 on Freshdesk for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Freshservice meters AI (Enterprise plan) above the seats, Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Freshservice on Growth: $98, $245 and $490 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, $200 less than Freshservice and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $395 under Freshservice and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Freshservice is an IT service desk built around internal IT requests; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Neither has a free plan: Freshservice offers a 14-day trial, Freshdesk 14 days of Enterprise. Freshservice and Freshdesk both include email in the price. Neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk includes website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Freshservice (Enterprise plan) and Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) both meter AI above the seats. Freshservice and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app. Freshservice is a week or more; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

Freshservice: Freddy AI Agent on Enterprise; Freddy Copilot $29 per agent per month 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 Freshservice's Enterprise plan 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
    FreshserviceFreshserviceAssumed $0$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.

    FreshserviceFreshservice · 14-day trial
    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

Freshservice vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

Freshservice is an IT service desk built around internal IT requests; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Freshservice and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Freshservice $19/agent/mo (Starter, yearly); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: Freshservice Portal and Slack (no customer widget); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Freshservice nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Freshservice and Freshdesk rows is on the shared inbox page.

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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