Help desk and customer support · Comparison
Freshdesk vs Front vs Help Scout
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Freshdesk | Front | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceEmail, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox, with a knowledge base and SAML SSO, from $29 per agent on annual terms. | Easy to adoptOne shared inbox where the whole team works email, chat, SMS and social messages together, with tickets, SLAs and CSAT on top. | Worth the priceEmail, live chat, social messaging and a Docs knowledge base on one $25 seat, with SLA policies and CSAT surveys already included. |
| Overall score | 6.7Best | 6.3 | 6.2 |
| Free option | 14-day free trial | 14-day free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | No card needed | No card needed | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $19/agent/mo | $25/seat/mo | $25/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per agent per month; AI agent sessions, WhatsApp messages and phone billed separately | Per seat per month; Autopilot AI agent billed per conversation | Per user per month; AI Answers and Messages above 2,000 viewers billed by usage |
| Free option | No free plan on the pricing page; 14-day trial, no card; 6-month Free Program for 2 agents in the help center | No free plan; 14-day trial of Professional, no card | Free plan for 5 users (1 Inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts/mo, no live chat); 15-day trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (5 agents, annual) | $145/mo on Freshdesk Omni Growth ($29 × 5), computed | $325/mo on Professional ($65 × 5), computed; Starter allows one channel type | $125/mo on Standard ($25 × 5), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $35 per agent on Omni Growth ($35 / $95 / $143 Omni; $23 / $66 / $107 Freshdesk) | $85 per seat on Professional ($35 on Starter; Enterprise is annual only) | $30 per user on Standard ($30 / $54 / $90 for the three paid plans) |
| AI agent pricing | First 500 sessions included once per account; then $49 per 100 sessions | Autopilot per conversation: Triage $0.05, Handoff $0.39, Resolution $0.89 | $0.75 per resolution (AI Answers) with a monthly spending limit; 3-month free trial for new accounts |
| Phone | Through Freshcaller, a separately billed Freshworks product; own carrier on Omni Pro and up | Through partner integrations such as Aircall and Dialpad, Professional and up | Through integrations only, such as Aircall (add-on, price not listed) |
| SLA policies and CSAT | Default SLA policies on Growth; multiple SLAs and CSAT surveys from Pro ($79 Omni) | Professional ($65), the scenario plan | Standard: one basic SLA policy and CSAT surveys; conditional SLAs from Plus |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 (report on request); ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (report and certificate on request) | SOC 2 Type II (report by email request); ISO 27001 not stated |
| HIPAA BAA | Mutually executed with Freshworks; the HIPAA guide lists Freshdesk Enterprise ($89), not the current Omni plans | When the annual contract price meets a threshold Front does not state | Pro only per the help article (demo, 10-user minimum); plan table shows an unpriced Plus add-on |
| EU data hosting | EEA data center chosen at sign-up, every plan | US or EEA, chosen by contacting support; no plan limit stated | No EU option described; hosted on AWS servers in the United States |
| SSO | SAML on every plan of both editions | SAML SSO and SCIM from Professional; Google and Office 365 sign-in on every plan | SAML on Pro per the help article; plan table shows an unpriced add-on on Standard and Plus |
| Data export | Whole-account export (XML in the app, JSON through the API) | Full export by request to Front Support; Core API on every plan | Inbox API only; report CSV/XLSX exports leave out conversation threads |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Freshdesk Omni offers chat, social messaging, a knowledge base, SAML SSO and EU hosting from $29 per agent, with every plan priced in public. CSAT, multiple SLAs and custom roles start on Pro, and a few pages disagree on payment and plan details. | From its public pages, Front is a team shared inbox with ticketing, SLAs, CSAT and SAML SSO on Professional and an audit log on every plan. Email plus chat starts at $65 per seat, phone runs through partners, and the HIPAA BAA depends on contract size. | From its public pages, Help Scout is the lowest-priced of these five for email, chat, social messaging and a knowledge base for 5 agents, with SLAs, CSAT and a free plan. Phone, EU hosting and a file export of conversations are outside it, and SSO and HIPAA sit on Pro. |
Evidence: Freshdesk: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Front: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Help Scout: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Freshdesk review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Freshdesk when
- You need SAML SSO, ISO 27001 or EU hosting without a sales call.
- Pick Help Scout when
- You want a permanent free plan for up to 5 users, or CSAT and two Docs sites on the entry paid plan ($25 per user, annual).
From our Front review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Front when
- You need SAML SSO, an admin audit log and EU data hosting on a plan bought online.
- Pick Help Scout when
- You want a free plan for up to 5 users, or a lower 5-agent cost ($125 a month on Standard, annual).
From our Help Scout review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Help Scout when
- You want CSAT surveys and several knowledge bases on the entry paid plan, or a free plan for up to 5 users.
- Pick Freshdesk when
- You want SAML SSO on every plan, EU hosting chosen at sign-up and a full account export, from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual).
From our Help Scout review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Help Scout when
- You want email plus live chat for 5 agents at $125 a month rather than $325, or a free plan to start.
- Pick Front when
- You want SAML SSO, ISO 27001, EEA hosting and an admin audit log, at $65 per seat (Professional, annual).
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- FreshdeskFreshdesk Growth$19/agent/moBilled annually; $23 month to month
- Email and Facebook ticketing, shared inbox
- Customer portal and knowledge base
- SAML SSO
- Freddy AI Agent, first 500 sessions once per account
- No live chat
- FrontStarter$25/seat/moBilled annually; $35 month to month; up to 10 seats
- One channel type: email, Front Chat or SMS
- Shared inbox, ticketing, up to 10 rules per workspace
- 1 workspace and 1 public knowledge base, with Front branding on it and on the chat widget
- Admin audit log, Google and Office 365 sign-in, API 50 requests/min
- Help ScoutStandard$25/user/moBilled annually; $30 month to month; up to 25 users
- Live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger
- 2 Inboxes and 2 Docs sites
- One basic SLA policy; CSAT and NPS surveys
- API (200 calls a minute) and webhooks
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Freshdesk 2026-10-15, Front 2026-10-15, Help Scout 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- FreshdeskSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (6.7/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Help ScoutFree plan, no card needed; scored 6.2/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Freshdesk$19/agent/mo for the Growth (Freshdesk, billed annually) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Freshdesk6.7/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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