Freshservice vs Zoho Desk
We give Freshservice a 2.4 GPA and Zoho Desk a 3.4, out of 4.0. Zoho Desk grades higher on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Freshservice
IT service desk for employee requests, assets and changes
Zoho Desk
Low-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFreshserviceFair | 3.4GPAZoho DeskVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against its own alternatives, as it's an IT desk for staff. Starter is $19 an agent a month billed yearly ($29 monthly), level with Freshdesk and Zendesk. But a service catalog and SLAs need Growth at $49, and change and problem management need Pro at $99. | AExpress is $7 a user a month billed yearly ($9 monthly), the lowest start among help desks here and under 60% of the cheaper quarter. Standard, which adds chat and a knowledge base, is $14, still in the cheaper quarter. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but a 14-day free trial with every feature switched on. That's long enough to put a week of real IT requests through it. | BFree for up to 3 users doing email ticketing from one support address, with no cap on tickets in the listing. A tiny team could live on that, but there's no knowledge base, automation or AI. Paid plans have a 15-day trial with no card. |
| Features | CIt does the IT desk job fully: tickets from email, chat, a portal or Teams and Slack, asset tracking, on-call, and problem, change and release management on Pro. But it's built for your own staff rather than customers, which is a different job from this category's. | BTickets from email, social, web forms, chat and WhatsApp, a knowledge base and community forum, AI agents, workflows, Blueprints, phone with IVR and multi-brand help centers. Across the plans, it covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | B4.54 from 2,440 App Store ratings. Expect some setting up, though: portals, service catalogs, approvals and asset records all need building before IT runs on it. | A4.7 from 1,636 App Store ratings for the agent app, the top band. Email tickets on the free plan are easy to start with, and the bigger features can wait until you need them. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, TeamViewer, Azure AD and SecPod. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, tied into Zoho CRM, Analytics, SalesIQ and Cliq, plus Salesforce, Slack, Jira, Zapier and Google Chat. There's no desktop app, so it stops at a B. |
| Best for | IT teams handling their own staff's requests | a cheap ticketing help desk for small teams |
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: Freshservice and Zoho Desk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Freshservice starts at $19 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Desk starts at $7 a month for each person and scores 3.3.
Zoho Desk scores higher and starts $12 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Freshservice for less, and none scores higher than Zoho Desk 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
- Freshservice starts at $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly). Zoho Desk starts at $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly).
- Zoho Desk has a free plan. Freshservice does not, though it has a free trial.
- Freshservice also covers workflow automation.
- Zoho Desk also covers reports and live chat.
At a glance
| Freshservice | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly) | $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Free edition: email ticketing for up to 3 users with one support email address. No knowledge base, automation, SLAs or AI features. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with access to every Freshservice feature | 15-day free trial of any paid plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Freshworks Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | freshworks.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Freshservice
- IT teams handling employee incidents, requests and changes
- Companies that want ITIL processes and asset tracking in one tool
- Service providers running IT support for several client companies
Zoho Desk
- Small teams wanting a free or low-cost ticketing system
- Businesses already using Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps
- Teams that need phone, chat and email support on one plan
Worth knowing
Freshservice
- It is an IT service desk for a company's own staff, narrower than the customer help desks here; Freshworks sells Freshdesk for customer support.
- There is no free plan: a 14-day trial, then Starter at $19 per agent / month billed annually. Enterprise is priced through sales.
- Problem, change and release management start on Pro at $99 per agent / month billed annually; Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent / month on top.
- Orchestration past the monthly allowance costs $250 per 1,000 actions. Occasional agents use Day Passes from $3 after 3 free ones.
Zoho Desk
- The Free edition stops at 3 users and email only, and Express stops at 5 users.
- A public knowledge base, the chat widget and WhatsApp start on Standard; telephony starts on Professional.
- Generative AI features such as smart replies need your own OpenAI API key; Zia's built-in AI starts on Professional.
- Light agents who only view and comment cost $6 a month each on Professional; Enterprise includes 50.
Key features
Freshservice
- Incident and request tickets
- Employees raise issues by email, phone, chat, a portal widget or a ServiceBot in Microsoft Teams and Slack, and agents work them as tickets.
- Service catalog and portal
- From Growth, a shopping-style catalog for requests such as hardware or access. Starter and Growth have one support portal; Pro and Enterprise up to 50.
- ITIL processes
- Pro adds problem, change, release and major-incident management, with a change advisory board, change calendars and service health monitoring.
- IT asset management
- A configuration database tracks hardware and software, licensed in asset units sold in packs of 500. The mobile app adds assets by scanning barcodes and QR codes.
- Workflow automation
- A drag-and-drop Workflow Automator with multi-step approvals. Actions in other apps are capped from 1,000 a month on Starter to 20,000 on Enterprise.
- Freddy AI
- Copilot drafts replies, ticket summaries and help articles for $29 per agent a month on Pro and Enterprise; Enterprise includes the Freddy AI Agent for chat.
Zoho Desk
- Multichannel ticketing
- Email, social posts, web forms and, from Standard, chat and messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and LINE all become tickets.
- Knowledge base and help center
- A public knowledge base and community forum from Standard, a help center in 40+ languages on Professional and one per brand on Enterprise.
- AI agents and Zia
- AI agents run on Zoho's model or your own key with up to 30M free tokens a month. Zia's built-in AI starts on Professional.
- Automation
- Workflows and escalation rules from Express, with Blueprints for step-by-step processes and round-robin assignment on Professional.
- Phone and IVR
- Professional connects telephony providers for inbound and outbound calls; Enterprise adds a multi-level IVR.
- Zoho app links
- Ties into Zoho CRM, Analytics, Projects, SalesIQ and Cliq, plus Salesforce, Slack, Jira and Zapier.
Plans
Freshservice
Starter$19
per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
Incident, knowledge and task management, one support portal, a ServiceBot in Teams and Slack, and 1,000 orchestration actions a month.
Growth$49
per agent / month, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
Adds a service catalog, SLA policies, MSP mode for several clients, on-call and cloud management, time tracking and 2,000 orchestration actions.
Pro$99
per agent / month, billed annually ($119 billed monthly)
Adds problem, change, release and major-incident management, workload management, employee journeys, a status page and up to 50 portals.
EnterpriseCustom
Sold through sales. Adds a sandbox, audit logs, Freddy AI Insights and the Freddy AI Agent with 1,200 sessions per license a year.
Zoho Desk
Free$0
Email ticketing for up to 3 users with one support email address.
Express$7
per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly)
Up to 5 users. Email, Instagram, Facebook and X tickets, web forms, AI agents, workflows, escalations and contact management.
Standard$14
per user / month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Unlimited users. Adds a live chat widget, WhatsApp and other messaging apps, an answer bot, a public knowledge base, a community forum and custom reports.
Professional$23
per user / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Adds phone support through telephony providers, Zia AI, Blueprints, departments, round-robin assignment, a help center in 40+ languages and webhooks.
Enterprise$40
per user / month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly)
Adds Zoho SalesIQ live chat, guided conversations, skill-based assignment, IVR, multi-brand help centers, custom modules, a sandbox and 50 free light agents.
Ways to pay less
Freshservice
- Annual discount
Lower per-agent price with annual billing
The pricing page lists Starter at $19 per agent a month billed annually against $29 monthly, Growth at $49 against $59 and Pro at $99 against $119.
Zoho Desk
- Annual discount
Save up to 34% with yearly billing
Zoho Desk's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 34%: Professional is $23 per user a month billed annually against $35 billed monthly.
- Nonprofit
Special pricing for nonprofits
The pricing FAQ says Zoho offers special pricing to nonprofit organizations. The discount is not stated on the page.
- Education
Special pricing for educational institutions
The pricing FAQ says Zoho offers special pricing to educational institutions. The discount is not stated on the page.
