Desk365 vs Freshdesk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Desk365 grades higher than Freshdesk: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Desk365 grades higher on value for money and features. Freshdesk grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Desk365
Help desk built around Microsoft Teams, with a lifetime free plan
Freshdesk
Email ticketing help desk with a knowledge base and AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Desk365 if
- Fits if your IT or support team already works in Microsoft Teams and 365
- Works for small teams that want asset tracking beside the help desk
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 50 tickets a month
- Watch out: the AI agent is $50 per 1,000 credits, and Plus and Premium include only a few
- Skip it if you want round-robin assignment or CSAT surveys, which start on Plus at $22
- Watch out: asset management, audit logs and PII encryption need Premium at $32
Pick Freshdesk if
- Fits if your support team works mainly from email
- Works for teams that want a help center and ticket portal on the $19 plan
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if most of your customers reach you by chat or WhatsApp, which needs Freshdesk Omni from $29 an agent
- Pricey if you want AI help drafting replies, at $29 an agent extra ($35 monthly) and not on Growth
- Skip it if you lean on the AI agent: 500 sessions are free once per account, then $49 per 100
- Tight if you need round-robin routing, several SLA policies or custom dashboards, which start on Pro at $55
- Watch out: the $19 is the yearly price, monthly billing costs more, and there's no free plan after the 14-day trial
How we grade them
| 2.6GPADesk365Good | 2.4GPAFreshdeskFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$12 an agent a month billed yearly ($16 monthly), under the category's $19 cheaper quarter. | CGrowth is $19 an agent a month billed yearly, a little under this category's middle of $24, and paying monthly loses the 20% yearly discount. A portal and knowledge base are included, but chat means Freshdesk Omni from $29. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan up to 50 tickets a month for one person, after a 21-day trial. A busy inbox will pass 50 quickly. | CA 14-day free trial of the Enterprise plan with no card needed, so you see everything. There's no free plan, and the 500 free AI agent sessions come once per account, not every month. |
| Features | BTickets, automation, SLAs, a knowledge base, reports, an AI copilot, and asset management on Premium. Nothing in the listing is missing. | CEmail ticketing, a shared inbox, a portal and knowledge base, routing, SLAs, reports and an email AI agent. The gap is named in the listing: chat and messaging channels aren't in Freshdesk at all, they're sold as Freshdesk Omni. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Automations, SLAs and Microsoft connections to set up. | B4.5 from 2,996 App Store ratings for the agent app. Emails turning into tickets is a simple idea to pick up, and occasional helpers can come in on day passes instead of full seats. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Microsoft Teams, 365, Entra ID, Intune, Power BI, Jira, Asana and Azure DevOps. No phone apps are listed. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Stripe. There's no desktop app, so it stops at a B. |
| Best for | a ticketing help desk for Microsoft Teams shops | email support with a help center from day one |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Desk365 and Freshdesk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Desk365 starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Freshdesk starts at $19 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Desk365 starts $7 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Desk365 for less, and 1 scores higher than Freshdesk for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Desk365 also covers workflow automation.
- Freshdesk also covers reports.
At a glance
| Desk365 | Freshdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $12 per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly) | $19 per agent / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | Up to 50 tickets a month, for solo use or personal projects. It starts automatically at the end of the trial and has no end date. | None |
| Free trial | 21-day free trial | 14-day free trial of the Enterprise plan, no credit card needed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Desk365 | Freshworks Inc. |
| Price read from | desk365.io | freshworks.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Desk365
- The free plan stops at 50 tickets a month.
- The AI agent is an add-on at $50 per 1,000 credits; Plus and Premium include only limited free credits.
- Asset management, audit logs and the encrypted PII and PHI fields need Premium; the vendor says a BAA is offered on qualifying annual contracts.
- The page shows other currencies as well; the dollar prices are quoted here.
Freshdesk
- Freshdesk plans are built around email; chat and messaging channels come with Freshdesk Omni, from $29 per agent / month billed annually.
- Only 500 AI agent sessions are free, once per account; after that sessions cost $49 per 100.
- Freddy AI Copilot costs $29 per agent / month billed annually ($35 monthly) and is not offered on Growth.
- The pricing page shows annual prices only; monthly billing costs more, as the page offers 20% off for paying annually.
Key features
Desk365
- Tickets from Teams, email and web
- Handle requests from Microsoft Teams, an email inbox, a support portal and web forms or widgets in one helpdesk.
- Automation and SLAs
- Workflow rules, SLA reminders and escalations, and canned responses on every paid plan; time-based triggers start at Plus.
- AI copilot and AI agent
- Plus drafts replies, summarizes tickets and turns a ticket into a help article. An AI agent is a separate add-on.
- Asset and change management
- Premium tracks assets and software licenses from purchase to retirement; Plus has change approval workflows.
- Knowledge base and portal
- A visual editor for articles and a self-service portal, which can run on your own domain.
- Reports and dashboards
- Productivity, ticket trend and agent performance reports, with multiple dashboards and scheduled exports from Plus.
Freshdesk
- Ticketing and shared inbox
- Incoming emails become tickets that can be prioritized, assigned and tracked, with internal threads and linked tasks for teammates.
- Freddy AI Agent for email
- An email AI agent replies to customers and works through back-and-forth threads. Each account gets 500 sessions once; more cost $49 per 100.
- Customer portal and knowledge base
- Customers submit tickets and read help articles in a portal. Pro adds portal branding, community forums and article versioning.
- Routing and SLAs
- Business rules dispatch tickets on every plan. Pro adds round-robin and load-balanced assignment and multiple SLA policies; Enterprise adds skill-based routing.
- Freddy AI Copilot
- A paid add-on from Pro up that drafts replies, summarizes long threads, translates in 60+ languages and suggests similar tickets.
- Reports and dashboards
- Standard reports and real-time dashboards on all plans, with custom dashboards on Pro and conversational AI insights on Enterprise.
Plans
Desk365
Free$0
Up to 50 tickets a month; starts automatically when the trial ends.
Standard$12
per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly)
Email, Teams, portal and web-form tickets, workflow automation, SLA reminders, canned responses, custom fields and roles, a knowledge base and custom reports.
Plus$22
per agent / month, billed annually ($28 billed monthly)
Adds approval workflows, round-robin and load-based assignment, time tracking, CSAT surveys, Entra ID sync, multiple dashboards and AI drafting, summaries and article generation.
Premium$32
per agent / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
Adds asset and software management, Intune sync, audit logs, scheduled tickets, encrypted PII and PHI fields, data redaction and group management.
Freshdesk
Growth$19
per agent / month, billed annually
Email ticketing and a shared inbox, a customer portal and knowledge base, standard reports, threads and tasks, and roles.
Pro$55
per agent / month, billed annually
Adds a multilingual help desk, custom dashboards, round-robin routing, multiple SLA policies, community forums and 5,000 outside collaborators.
Enterprise$89
per agent / month, billed annually
Adds Freddy AI Insights, skill-based routing, a sandbox, audit logs, IP allowlisting and an approval step for knowledge base articles.
Ways to pay less
Desk365
- Annual discount
Save up to 25% with yearly plans
The pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 25%; Standard is $12 per agent a month yearly against $16 monthly.
Freshdesk
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Freshdesk's pricing page offers 20% off when plans are paid annually rather than monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Desk365 or Freshdesk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Desk365 is cheaper to start with: $12 a month for each person, against $19 a month for each person for Freshdesk. Desk365 starts at $12 per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly), and Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent / month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Desk365 or Freshdesk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Desk365 has a free plan. Freshdesk does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Desk365 and Freshdesk run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Freshdesk lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.