Jira Service ManagementFreshdeskJira Service Management vs Freshdesk

Jira Service Management vs Freshdesk: $100 against $275 a month

A service desk on Jira against a help desk: Jira Service Management is $175 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Jira Service Management 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 Jira Service Management if your engineers already live in Jira and support should land in the same place. 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, Jira Service Management is $175 a month cheaper than Freshdesk ($100 a month on Jira Service Management against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $55 under Jira Service Management. Jira Service Management and Freshdesk both include email in the price. Neither Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk includes website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Jira Service Management and Freshdesk for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceJira Service ManagementJira Service ManagementFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundRequests and queues on Jira · IT and customer serviceEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$20/agent/mo · Standard$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the pricePortal, email, widget · no messaging apps$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agentPremium plan · virtual service agent$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account
Copilot for agentsRovo credits · Standard and up$29/agent/mo · Freddy Copilot
Free planYes · 3 agentsNone · 14-day trial

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    As a request in a Jira queue, raised from the portal, email, the widget or Slack and Teams. 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. Jira Service Management raises tickets too, from requests and queues on Jira.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    Free for three agents; Standard is $20 an agent and Premium, with the virtual agent, $51.42. $100 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 $100 on Jira Service Management.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    The virtual service agent comes with Premium; Rovo credits for AI search and chat come with Standard and up. 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. Jira Service Management meters AI (Premium plan) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    Portal, email, an embedded widget, Slack and Teams; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. The same set as Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

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

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    Incidents, on-call, change management and assets, and the whole Jira ecosystem. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. Jira Service Management is a service desk on Jira instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

    A day for a queue; longer for catalog, SLAs and automation. 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. Jira Service Management is a day for a queue.

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

Inside Freshdesk

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

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 Jira Service Management, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management

$100/mo

Queues, SLAs, Rovo credits.

5 × $20 seats
$100
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. The virtual service agent comes with the Premium seat 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: Jira Service Management 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

Jira Service Management, 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.

FeatureJira Service ManagementJira Service ManagementFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; customers are free
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
3 agents
Not on the pricing page; 14-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Embedded widget and portal
Via Freshchat or Omni
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
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
Slack and Teams notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Premium plan
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
In the Premium 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
Raises a request
Escalates to agents
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Requests and incidents
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Automation rules by plan
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 Jira Service Management if

  • Your engineers already live in Jira and support should land in the same place.
  • Requests come through a portal, email or Slack and Teams.
  • Five people cost $175 a month less than on Freshdesk ($100 against $275), before AI.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Freshdesk offers 14 days of Enterprise.

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 day for a queue on Jira Service Management.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Jira Service Management's: per agent per month, billed yearly. Day passes for occasional agents.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $100 a month on Jira Service Management against $275 on Freshdesk for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Jira Service Management meters AI (Premium plan) 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 Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Jira Service Management on Standard: $40, $100 and $200 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, $55 less than Jira Service Management and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $105 under Jira Service Management and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Jira Service Management is a service desk on Jira built around requests and queues on Jira; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Only Jira Service Management has a free plan (3 agents); Freshdesk offers 14 days of Enterprise. Jira Service Management and Freshdesk both include email in the price. Neither Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk includes website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Jira Service Management (Premium plan) and Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) both meter AI above the seats. Jira Service Management and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and neither Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app. Jira Service Management is a day for a queue; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

Jira Service Management: Virtual service agent on Premium; Rovo credits by plan. Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Beside Jira Service Management's Premium 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
    Jira Service ManagementJira Service ManagementAssumed $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.

    Jira Service ManagementJira Service Management · Free plan; paid plans have a 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

Jira Service Management vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

Jira Service Management is a service desk on Jira built around requests and queues on Jira; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Jira Service Management and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and neither Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Jira Service Management $20/agent/mo (Standard); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: Jira Service Management Portal, email, widget (no messaging apps); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio's inbox: website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Jira Service Management nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Jira Service Management 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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