Comparison
FyneDesk vs Freshdesk
Freshdesk discontinued its free plan in June 2025. FyneDesk gives you a complete customer support platform with AI, knowledge base, customer portal, SLA tracking, routing, and webhooks included on the free plan.
The short version
Freshdesk's free plan is gone. Their cheapest option is now $15/agent/month, and AI features cost an extra $29/agent/month on top of a Pro plan ($49/agent/month). Costs add up fast.
FyneDesk includes ticket management, AI-powered summaries and suggestions, knowledge base, customer portal, email-to-ticket, SLA tracking, teams, routing, webhooks, asset management, CRM, dashboard analytics, and a full audit trail -- all free, with no time limit. Need custom fields, advanced automations, or API access? The Pro plan is available by contacting us.
Create Free Account →What happened to Freshdesk's free plan?
Freshdesk originally offered a free tier called "Sprout" that supported up to 3 agents. Over the years, they reduced it to 2 agents, then converted it to a 6-month "Free Program." In 2025, Freshdesk began emailing users that the free plan would be fully discontinued as of June 9, 2025. Users on the free plan were given the choice: upgrade to a paid plan or lose access.
This left many small businesses, schools, nonprofits, and startups without the support tool they depended on — often with only weeks of notice. Community forums filled with users sharing their frustration about a "free forever" promise being reversed.
FyneDesk was built with a different philosophy. The free plan is not a marketing funnel. It is a real, fully-featured product with no expiration date and no bait-and-switch.
Pricing at a glance
- Tickets, KB, CRM, portal, email-to-ticket
- AI summaries & suggested replies
- SLA tracking, teams, routing, webhooks
- Asset management & full audit trail
What Freshdesk charges for, FyneDesk includes free
| Feature | FyneDesk | Freshdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Customer portal | Free | $15/agent/mo Growth |
| SLA tracking | Free | $15/agent/mo Growth |
| AI summaries & suggestions | Free | +$29/agent/mo Copilot add-on |
| Audit trail | Free | $79/agent/mo Enterprise |
| Webhooks | Free | $49/agent/mo Pro |
| Role-based access | Free | $49/agent/mo Pro |
| Asset management | Free | Not available |
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | FyneDesk | Freshdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, permanent | Limited (6 months only) |
| Ticket management | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Customer portal | Yes, free | Growth plan ($15/mo) |
| Live chat | Yes, free | Freshchat (separate product) |
| Knowledge base | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Email-to-ticket | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| AI ticket summaries | Yes, free | $29/agent/mo add-on |
| AI suggested replies | Yes, free | $29/agent/mo add-on |
| SLA tracking | Yes, free and fully customizable | Growth plan ($15/mo) |
| Multiple SLA policies | Yes, free | Pro ($49/agent/mo) |
| Dashboard analytics | Yes, free | Basic on free, custom on Pro ($49/mo) |
| Teams & assignment | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Round-robin assignment | Yes, free | Growth ($15/agent/mo) |
| Ticket routing | Yes, free | Growth ($15/agent/mo) |
| Role-based access | Yes, free | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Asset management | Yes, free | Not included |
| Contact/customer CRM | Yes, free | Basic contact info only |
| Audit trail | Yes, free | Enterprise plan ($79/agent/mo) |
| Webhooks | Yes, free | Pro ($49/agent/mo) |
| Multi-tenant data isolation | Yes, row-level security | Yes |
| File attachments | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Custom fields on tickets | Pro (contact us) | Growth plan ($15/agent/mo) |
| Dependent / conditional fields | Pro (contact us) | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Canned responses & macros | Pro (contact us) | Yes, all plans |
| Custom reports | Pro (contact us) | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Advanced automations | Pro (contact us) | Growth ($15/agent/mo) |
| Skill-based routing | Pro (contact us) | Enterprise ($79/agent/mo) |
| SSO & advanced security | Pro (contact us) | Enterprise ($79/agent/mo) |
| API access | Pro (contact us) | Yes, all plans |
| Parent-child tickets & merging | Yes, free | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Bulk ticket actions | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Export & CSV download | Yes, free | Yes, all plans |
| Multilingual portal | Yes, free | Growth plan ($15/agent/mo) |
| Themes & branding | 5 built-in themes + logo, free | Portal customization on paid |
Where Freshdesk is stronger
This is a fair comparison, not a marketing stunt. Freshdesk has been around since 2010 and has capabilities that FyneDesk doesn't — yet.
- Marketplace integrations: Freshdesk has 1,000+ third-party app integrations. FyneDesk includes outbound webhooks on the free plan, with REST API access available on Pro.
- Phone and voice support: Freshdesk offers Freshcaller for phone support with IVR and call routing. FyneDesk does not include voice channels.
- Messaging app integrations: Freshdesk offers Freshchat with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple Business Chat. FyneDesk includes built-in live chat on the customer portal for free, but does not currently integrate with third-party messaging platforms.
- Social media ticketing: Freshdesk can create tickets from Twitter and Facebook. FyneDesk supports email, portal, website widget, and live chat channels. Outbound webhooks connect FyneDesk to Slack, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, n8n, and any custom API endpoint.
- Scale for large enterprises: Freshdesk is battle-tested with millions of tickets across large organizations. FyneDesk is built for small-to-medium teams.
If you need phone support, social media ticketing, or deep integrations with hundreds of tools, Freshdesk's paid plans may be the better fit. But if your team manages customer support through email, a support portal, a website widget, and live chat, and you need AI assistance, knowledge base, SLA tracking, routing, and webhooks without paying per agent, FyneDesk does all of that for free.
Who switches from Freshdesk to FyneDesk?
Teams that switch typically share a few things in common:
- They were on Freshdesk's free plan and lost access when it was discontinued
- They're a small team (2-5 agents) and can't justify $15-49 per agent per month
- They want AI features without paying $29/agent/month on top of an existing plan
- They need a knowledge base and customer portal without upgrading to a paid tier
- They're a school, nonprofit, or startup that needs professional support tools on a tight budget
- They want something that works out of the box without months of configuration
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Freshdesk replaced their permanent free plan (previously called Sprout) with a limited free program in mid-2025 that expires after 6 months. After the trial window, teams must move to a paid plan starting at $15 per agent per month. This is not a permanent free option.
Freshdesk's cheapest paid plan (Growth) starts at $15 per agent per month when billed annually. The Pro plan is $49/agent/month and Enterprise is $79/agent/month. AI features (Freddy Copilot) cost an additional $29/agent/month on top of Pro or Enterprise plans. AI Agent sessions are billed separately at $100 per 1,000 sessions.
Yes. FyneDesk's free plan includes ticket management, knowledge base, customer portal, email-to-ticket, AI-powered summaries and suggestions, SLA tracking, teams, routing, webhooks, asset management, CRM, dashboard analytics, and a full audit trail. There is no trial period and no time limit. For teams that need custom fields, canned responses, advanced automations, or API access, the Pro plan is available by contacting us.
You can start using FyneDesk immediately by creating a free account. Set up your workspace, invite your team, and start managing tickets right away. Your Freshdesk data (tickets, contacts) can be recreated in FyneDesk as you transition. For migration assistance, contact us at support@fynedesk.io.
FyneDesk includes AI-powered ticket summaries, suggested replies, and resolution suggestions on the free plan. Freshdesk's comparable AI features (Freddy Copilot) cost $29 per agent per month as an add-on and are only available on Pro or Enterprise plans. Additionally, Freshdesk's AI Agent sessions are billed separately at $100 per 1,000 sessions and expire at the end of each billing cycle.
Freshdesk has a larger marketplace of third-party integrations, phone/voice support (via Freshcaller), messaging app integrations (via Freshchat), and social media ticketing. FyneDesk supports four channels: email, a self-service customer portal, an embeddable website widget, and built-in live chat. FyneDesk also includes outbound webhooks for connecting to Slack, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, n8n, and any custom endpoint. For teams that need deeper integrations or API access, the Pro plan is available.
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