Freshdesk vs Kayako (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Freshdesk grades higher than Kayako: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Freshdesk grades higher on the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Freshdesk
Email ticketing help desk with a knowledge base and AI agents
Free trial · from $19/mo
Which one is for you
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
Pick Kayako if
- Fits if refunds and exchanges are most of your tickets and you want to pay per resolution
- Works for a team that wants the vendor to do the setup
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to see a price for the help desk, as Kayako One's is not published
- Not for you if you want to sign up and start alone, since the vendor sets it up
- Watch out: only fully resolved tickets cost $1, and a resolution means Kay solved it with no human agent
- Watch out: no free plan or trial is on record
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFreshdeskFair | 1.8GPAKayakoWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CKay is $1 per resolved ticket with no seat fees, but no price is published for Kayako One, so it can't be set against the category's $29 middle. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | FNo free plan and no trial are on record, and the pages we read show nothing to try before paying. |
| Features | 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. | CA help desk with ticketing, shared inbox and knowledge base, plus Kay, which acts through connected systems. The listing says little about the help desk's own limits, and a resolution counts only if no human was needed. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo store rating on record, and the page says Kayako's team sets up the platform for you. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb only, with 7 listed integrations. No phone or desktop app on record. |
| Best for | email support with a help center from day one | an AI agent paid per resolved ticket |
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: Freshdesk and Kayako. How we grade
Where they differ
- Freshdesk also covers reports.
- Kayako also covers live chat.
In commonWebShared inboxHelp deskHelp centerAI support agent
At a glance
| Freshdesk | Kayako | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $19 per agent / month, billed annually | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the Enterprise plan, no credit card needed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Freshworks Inc. | ESW Operations, LLC |
| Price read from | freshworks.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Kayako
- Kay costs $1 per resolved ticket; escalations to humans and partial resolutions are not charged, and the page says there are no seat or setup fees.
- No price for Kayako One is published, so this listing records its pricing as unverified.
- A resolution means Kay solved the issue without a human agent, by acting or giving an answer the customer confirms.
- Kayako says its team sets up the platform for you, so it is less of a self-serve sign-up.
Key features
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.
Kayako
- Kay AI agent
- Resolves tickets end to end by acting through connected tools, for example processing a refund, sending a return label or resetting a password.
- Phased AI rollout
- Kayako's team introduces AI in three phases: ticket triage, drafted answers, then continuous learning with escalation to agents.
- Kayako One platform
- A full help desk with a unified inbox, ticketing system, knowledge base, live chat widget, automation rules and reporting.
- Works with your stack
- Kay connects to systems such as Slack, Stripe, Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, Twilio and HubSpot, or to any system with an API.
- Add Kay to an existing help desk
- Kayako says Kay can also run on top of a help desk you already use, instead of replacing it.
Plans
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.
Kayako
Pricing could not be confirmed. See kayako.com.
Ways to pay less
Freshdesk
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Freshdesk's pricing page offers 20% off when plans are paid annually rather than monthly.
Kayako
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Freshdesk or Kayako?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent / month, billed annually, and Kayako has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Freshdesk or Kayako?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Freshdesk nor Kayako has a free plan. Freshdesk has a free trial.
Which platforms do Freshdesk and Kayako 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.