The Freshservice Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Freshservice in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Freshservice
The Insider’s Guide
IT service desk for employee requests, assets and changes
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among help desk and live chat tools, read from Freshservice’s own pages.
Made by Freshworks Inc. · checked Oct 18, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Freshservice’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Freshservice’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 18, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.4
GPA, above 6 of the 22 other help desk and live chat tools we grade
Freshservice is an IT service desk from Freshworks for the requests employees send to their IT team: incidents, service requests, changes and the assets behind them. It follows ITIL practices, adds a service catalog, on-call tools and change management on higher plans, and can be shared with HR, facilities and finance teams. It is sold per agent, with a 14-day trial and no free plan.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Freshservice, taken from its own pages and our grades.
Expect some setting up, though: portals, service catalogs, approvals and asset records all need building before IT runs on it.
- 1
Best for IT teams handling their own staff's requests
It follows ITIL and the phone app is well liked.
- 2
Paid plans start at $19 a month for each person
As its pricing page puts it: $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly).
- 3
You can try it first
14-day free trial with access to every Freshservice feature
- 4
It runs on 3 platforms
Web, iOS and Android.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
- 7
ITIL processes
Pro adds problem, change, release and major-incident management, with a change advisory board, change calendars and service health monitoring.
- 8
A 2.4 GPA, above 6 of 22
That is against the other help desk and live chat tools we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace Freshservice you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Freshservice at a glance
- Pricing
- Free trial, from $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 14-day free trial with access to every Freshservice feature
- Runs on
- Web, iOS, Android
- Made by
- Freshworks Inc.
- Category
- Help Desks & Live Chat
- Our grade
- 2.4 GPA, fair
- Store rating
- 4.5 on the App Store, 2,440 ratings
The report card
Best for IT teams handling their own staff's requests
Freshservice is the help desk your IT team uses for everyone else in the company: "my laptop's broken", "I need access to the finance drive", plus the assets and changes behind them. It follows ITIL and the phone app is well liked. But it's not for customer support, and change management only arrives on Pro at $99 an agent.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | Graded 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. |
| Free plan and trial | C | No 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. |
| Features | C | It 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. |
| Ease of use | B | 4.54 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. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | Web, iPhone and Android, with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, TeamViewer, Azure AD and SecPod. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Freshservice is for
- Great if your IT team is drowning in "can you reset my password" emails
- Handy when you need to track laptops and software licenses alongside the tickets
- Good for IT providers looking after several client companies at once
Who it is not for
- Skip it if you're answering customers rather than staff, which is what Freshdesk is for
- Pricey if you need change management, as that starts on Pro at $99 an agent a month
- Tight if you lean on automations, as actions in other apps cap at 1,000 a month on Starter
Good to know
Good for
- 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
Worth knowing
- 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.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$19
A month to start, for each person
Freshservice is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly).
Graded against its own alternatives, as it's an IT desk for staff.
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.
Enterprise
Custom
Sold through sales. Adds a sandbox, audit logs, Freddy AI Insights and the Freddy AI Agent with 1,200 sessions per license a year.
Trying it first
14-day free trial with access to every Freshservice feature
Read from freshworks.com on Oct 18, 2026.
Ways to pay less
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.
Stated on freshworks.com
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
3
Places it runs: Web, iOS and Android
IT service desk for employee requests, assets and changes. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: AI features, workflow automation, help desk, help center, AI support agent.
But it's built for your own staff rather than customers, which is a different job from this category's.
- 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.
Where it runs
- Web
- iOS
- Android
What it works with
- Microsoft Teams
- Slack
- Jira
- TeamViewer
- Azure AD
- SecPod
Freshservice is made by Freshworks Inc.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
6/22
Other help desk and live chat tools it is graded above
Freshservice's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 6 of the 22 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 7.
It stands best on ease of use (B, above 18 of 22) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $19 a month for each person, against a middle price of $21.59 for the category: 6 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 23 help desk and live chat tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Freshservice’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 6 of 22
- CFree plan and trialAbove 1 of 22
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 22
- BEase of useAbove 18 of 22
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 22
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 22 help desk and live chat tools. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Freshservice is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace Freshservice you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 9 of the 22 other help desk and live chat tools grade higher. It costs $228 a year.
What you could make
- Help desk and help center: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
What this rests on. Freshservice’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Freshdesk, Zendesk, Zoho Desk and Deskpro
The 4 tools Freshservice is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.4GPA
Freshdesk
Free trial · from $19/mo
Email ticketing help desk with a knowledge base and AI agents.
- Freshservice also covers workflow automation.
- Freshdesk also covers shared inbox and reports.
- 2.4GPA
Zendesk
Free trial · from $19/mo
Ticketing, messaging, help center and AI agents for support teams.
- Freshservice also covers workflow automation.
- Zendesk also covers reports and live chat.
- 3.4GPA
Zoho Desk
Free plan · from $7/mo
Low-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users.
- 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.
- 1.8GPA
Deskpro
From $39/mo
Help desk for cloud or self-hosted use, with seat minimums.
- Deskpro is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Freshservice also covers workflow automation.
- Deskpro also covers live chat.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
14
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Freshservice free?
No, Freshservice is a paid product, but you can try it first. 14-day free trial with access to every Freshservice feature.
How much does Freshservice cost?
Freshservice lists 4 plans. Starter: $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly).
What platforms does Freshservice work on?
Freshservice is available on Web, iOS and Android.
Does Freshservice offer any discounts?
Freshservice publicly lists the following: Lower per-agent price with annual billing.
How is Freshservice rated?
Freshservice's iPhone and iPad app averages 4.5 out of 5 from 2,440 ratings on the App Store in the United States, as read on Oct 18, 2026.
Does Freshservice have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 18, 2026. Freshservice is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Freshservice have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 18, 2026. Freshservice is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Freshservice open source?
Freshservice is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 18, 2026.
What does Freshservice integrate with?
Freshservice's listing names Microsoft Teams, Slack, Jira, TeamViewer, Azure AD and SecPod.
Who makes Freshservice?
Freshservice is made by Freshworks Inc.
What are the alternatives to Freshservice?
The closest alternatives to Freshservice in our directory are Freshdesk, Zendesk, Zoho Desk and Deskpro.
How does Freshservice compare with other help desk and live chat tools?
Freshservice's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 6 of the 22 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 7.
Is Freshservice good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Freshservice C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $19 a month for each person, against a middle price of $21.59 for the category: 6 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Freshservice?
To replace Freshservice you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Freshservice’s own pages on Oct 18, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 18, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Freshworks' own pages on 18 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Freshworks Inc. Prices change, so check freshworks.com before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
2,021
Tools graded, in 54 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
ToolGPA is free to read. It may earn a commission from affiliate links and it works with sponsors, but anything paid for is labelled and no one can pay for a grade. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
2,021
tools graded
54
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Freshservice, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/freshservice
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Freshservice: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 18, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/freshservice
Know someone choosing between help desk and live chat tools?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/freshservice/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded help desk and live chat tools after Freshservice, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Help Desks & Live Chat Insider's GuideEvery one of the 23 help desk and live chat tools we grade, compared
- Zoho Desk Insider's GuideLow-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users3.4 GPA
- Tidio Insider's GuideLive chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations3.2 GPA
- tawk.to Insider's GuideFree live chat, ticketing and help center, with paid add-ons3.0 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Freshservice’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. ToolGPA uses affiliate links and may earn a commission from them, and it works with sponsors; anything paid for is labelled, and no one can pay for a grade. Freshservice is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Freshworks Inc. Prices and plans change: check freshworks.com before you buy.