Comparison
FyneDesk vs Freshdesk
Freshdesk's free plan is gone, and Freddy AI Copilot costs an extra $29/agent/month on top of your base plan. FyneDesk includes AI summaries, drafted replies, portal, knowledge base, SLA tracking, and routing on the free plan.
True monthly cost per agent — including AI
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 customisable | Growth plan ($15/mo) |
| Multiple SLA policies | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | 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 ($6/agent/mo) | Growth plan ($15/agent/mo) |
| Dependent / conditional fields | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Canned responses & macros | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Yes, all plans |
| Response templates | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Yes, all plans |
| Custom reports | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Advanced automations | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Growth ($15/agent/mo) |
| Skill-based routing | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Enterprise ($79/agent/mo) |
| Custom branding | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Growth plan ($15/agent/mo) |
| Data import & migration support | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Paid add-on service |
| SSO & advanced security | Enterprise | Enterprise ($79/agent/mo) |
| API access | Enterprise | Yes, all plans |
| Parent-child tickets & merging | Yes, free | Pro plan ($49/agent/mo) |
| Bulk ticket actions | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Yes, all plans |
| Export & CSV download | Pro ($6/agent/mo) | Yes, all plans |
| Multilingual portal | Yes, free | Growth plan ($15/agent/mo) |
| Themes & branding | 5 built-in themes + logo, free | Portal customisation on paid |
Why teams switch to FyneDesk
- Freshdesk's free plan is gone. Freshdesk ended their permanent free plan in 2025. What they offer now expires after 6 months, then you're paying $15+/agent/month. FyneDesk's free plan has no expiry — up to 3 agents, free forever.
- AI costs extra on Freshdesk. Freddy Copilot is $29/agent/month on top of your base plan. FyneDesk includes AI summaries, drafted replies, and suggested resolutions on every plan — including Free.
- More included at every tier. To get SLA tracking, ticket routing, webhooks, and a customer portal on Freshdesk, you're paying $15–$49/agent/month. FyneDesk includes all of that free, plus asset tracking and a full audit trail that Freshdesk doesn't offer at any price.
- Predictable pricing. FyneDesk is $0 free forever (up to 3 agents) or $6/agent/month Pro. No expiring trials, no Freddy add-on bill, no surprise charges.
- Your data stays yours. FyneDesk uses row-level security to isolate your data at the database level. Your ticket content is never used to train AI models.
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 custom branding, the Pro plan is $6 per agent per month.
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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