LiveAgentFreshdeskLiveAgent vs Freshdesk

LiveAgent vs Freshdesk: $130 apart for five people

A help desk with live chat and calls against a help desk: LiveAgent is $130 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between LiveAgent 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 LiveAgent if you want email, chat and a call center in one ticket queue at a low seat price. 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, LiveAgent is $130 a month cheaper than Freshdesk ($145 a month on LiveAgent against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $100 under LiveAgent. LiveAgent and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only LiveAgent has website chat. Neither LiveAgent nor Freshdesk includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between LiveAgent and Freshdesk for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceLiveAgentLiveAgentFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundA universal inbox · email, chat and callsEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$15/agent/mo · Small Business, yearly$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the price$15/agent/mo · chat on every plan$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agentIncluded · chatbot and answer assistant$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account
Copilot for agentsIncluded$29/agent/mo · Freddy Copilot
Free planNone · 30-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

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    As a ticket in the universal inbox, whether it came by email, chat or a call. 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. LiveAgent raises tickets too, from a universal inbox.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    $15 buys email and two chat buttons on Small Business; the call center starts on Medium at $29. $145 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 $145 on LiveAgent.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    The chatbot, answer assistant and triage are included in the paid plans; no per-conversation meter. Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Freddy AI Agent: 500 trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100. Freddy Copilot is $29 per agent on top. LiveAgent folds AI (included) into the plan instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    Email and chat on every plan; calls from Medium; WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram and Facebook on Large and up. website chat is here and not on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

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

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    A call center with IVR, a knowledge base and a customer portal. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. LiveAgent is a help desk with live chat and calls instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    LiveAgentLiveAgent

    A day: connect the mailbox, add the chat button, set the departments. 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. LiveAgent is a day.

Sources: LiveAgent 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 LiveAgent universal inbox: the ticket list with email, chat and call tickets together
LiveAgentLiveAgent. The LiveAgent universal inbox: the ticket list with email, chat and call tickets together
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 LiveAgent, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
LiveAgentLiveAgent

$145/mo

Adds the call center.

5 × $29 seats
$145
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. LiveAgent includes its chatbot and answer assistant in the seat; no per-conversation rate is 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: LiveAgent 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

LiveAgent, 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.

FeatureLiveAgentLiveAgentFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI included
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 30-day trial
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
All plans
Core of the product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Large and up
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Add-on below Large
Via Freshchat or Omni
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Viber, not Telegram
Not native
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack integration
Slack and Teams notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

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

Support operations

Tickets
Universal inbox
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Rules and time rules
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)
Windows and macOS apps
Browser and mobile only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick LiveAgent if

  • You want email, chat and a call center in one ticket queue at a low seat price.
  • AI included in the seat matters more than a tunable AI meter.
  • Five people cost $130 a month less than on Freshdesk ($145 against $275), before AI.
  • You need website chat 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.
  • Time to the first reply is a day or two here and a day on LiveAgent.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than LiveAgent'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 $145 a month on LiveAgent against $275 on Freshdesk for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: LiveAgent folds AI (included) into the plan 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 a free plan with no trial clock, which neither LiveAgent nor Freshdesk includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

LiveAgent on Medium Business: $58, $145 and $290 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, $100 less than LiveAgent and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $195 under LiveAgent and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

LiveAgent is a help desk with live chat and calls built around a universal inbox; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Neither has a free plan: LiveAgent offers a 30-day trial, no card, Freshdesk 14 days of Enterprise. LiveAgent and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only LiveAgent has website chat. Neither LiveAgent nor Freshdesk includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. LiveAgent folds AI (included) into the plan; Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats. LiveAgent and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and only LiveAgent ships desktop apps. LiveAgent is a day; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

LiveAgent: Chatbot, answer assistant, autoresponder and triage included in the paid plans. Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Beside LiveAgent's included 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
    LiveAgentLiveAgentAssumed $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.

    LiveAgentLiveAgent · 30-day trial, no card
    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

LiveAgent vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

LiveAgent is a help desk with live chat and calls built around a universal inbox; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. LiveAgent and Freshdesk both raise tickets, and only LiveAgent ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: LiveAgent $15/agent/mo (Small Business, yearly); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: LiveAgent $15/agent/mo (chat on every plan); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither LiveAgent nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the LiveAgent 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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