FrontFreshdeskFront vs Freshdesk

Front vs Freshdesk: $650 or $550 for ten people

A team inbox against a help desk: Freshdesk is $50 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

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 Front if email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread. 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, Freshdesk is $50 a month cheaper than Front ($325 a month on Front against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $230 under Freshdesk. Front and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Front has website chat and Instagram. Neither Front nor Freshdesk includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Front and Freshdesk sell here at one price.

At a glanceFrontFrontFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundShared email · comments and drafts on every threadEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel type$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the price$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannel$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agentFrom $0.05 per conversation · Autopilot$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account
Copilot for agents$20/seat/mo$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

    FrontFront

    As a thread in a shared inbox that teammates comment on and draft together; it is email first. Freshdesk raises a ticket where Front keeps a conversation.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

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

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FrontFront

    $25 buys one channel type and up to ten seats. Omnichannel and fifty seats start at Professional, $65. $325 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 $325 on Front.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FrontFront

    Autopilot, the AI agent, from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat and Smart QA $20 per seat. 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. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. website chat and Instagram are here and not on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

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

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. Front is a team inbox instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FrontFront

    A day: connect the mailboxes, set rules and assignments, then add the chat widget. 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. Front is a day.

Sources: Front 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 Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
FrontFront. The Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
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 Autopilot conversations on Front, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
FrontFront

$340/mo

Omnichannel, up to fifty seats.

5 × $65 seats
$325
300 Autopilot conversations × $0.05
$15
Copilot, 5 × $20
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. From $0.05 per conversation handled by Autopilot, as printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

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: Front pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); 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

Front, 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.

FeatureFrontFrontFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
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
Chat channel; Starter allows one channel type.
Via Freshchat or Omni
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Core of the product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Professional and up, via add-on.
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Professional and up.
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
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
Autopilot.
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
500 one-time trial sessions, then $49 per 100
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to teammates.
Escalates to agents
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with tags and status.
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Rules engine; visual on higher plans.
Automations, form-based
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Analytics on Professional and up.
Reports and CSAT
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

Pick Front if

  • Email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread.
  • You run logistics, finance or account management where a thread is a piece of work.
  • You need website chat and Instagram in the price, which Freshdesk does not include outright.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Freshdesk does not ship.

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.
  • Five people cost $50 a month less than on Front ($275 against $325), before AI.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Front does not have.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Front or Freshdesk who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $325 a month on Front against $275 on Freshdesk for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats, Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and a free plan with no trial clock, which neither Front nor Freshdesk includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Front on Professional: $130, $325 and $650 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, $280 less than Front and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $555 under Front and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Neither has a free plan: Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional, Freshdesk 14 days of Enterprise. Front and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Front has website chat and Instagram. Neither Front nor Freshdesk includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Front (from $0.05 per conversation) and Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) both meter AI above the seats. Freshdesk has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps. Front is a day; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

Front: Autopilot AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat per month and Smart QA $20 per seat (included on Enterprise). Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Beside Front's from $0.05 per conversation 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
    FrontFront$0.05$24
    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.

    FrontFront · 14-day trial of Professional
    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

Front vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Freshdesk has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Front nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Front 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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