Does Freshdesk or Intercom have a free plan?

Freshdesk has a free plan. Intercom does not, though it offers a free trial.

How long is the Freshdesk and Intercom free trial?

Freshdesk offers a 14-day free trial, and Intercom offers a 14-day free trial.

Which is easier to use, Freshdesk or Intercom?

In VERILO's editorial assessment Freshdesk is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for Intercom. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

Freshdesk vs Intercom

A side-by-side look at Freshdesk and Intercom: what each costs to start, whether there is a free plan, how easy they are to pick up, and which features and integrations they cover.

Which should you choose?

Choose Freshdesk if

Small and mid-sized teams running email-first support
Businesses that want traditional ticketing at a lower price than Zendesk
Companies already using other Freshworks products

Visit Freshdesk

Choose Intercom if

SaaS and online businesses that want chat and AI-first support
Teams with enough help center content for an AI agent to deflect volume
Product-led companies combining support with in-app messaging

Visit Intercom

Cheapest to start

Not confirmed

Free plan

Freshdesk

Highest editor rating

Intercom · 4.4

Comparison of Freshdesk and Intercom
Compare	Freshdesk Visit site	Intercom Visit site
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Starting price	From $15/mo	From $29/mo
Editor rating	4.1	4.4
Ease of use	Easy (4/5)	Moderate (3/5)
Category	Customer Support	Customer Support
Pricing model	A free plan supports up to two agents. Paid plans start at $15 per agent per month billed annually for Growth (about $18 monthly), with Pro at $49 and Enterprise at $79 per agent per month annually; Freddy AI Copilot is an extra per-agent add-on.	Essential starts at $29 per seat per month billed annually, Advanced at $85 and Expert at $132 per seat per month annually. The Fin AI agent is charged at $0.99 per outcome on top, and proactive messaging and copilot features are paid add-ons.
Plans	Free — Free Growth — $15/user/mo Pro — $49/user/mo Enterprise — $79/user/mo	Essential — $29/user/mo Advanced — $85/user/mo Expert — $132/user/mo
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, API	Web, iOS, Android, API
Integrations	Facebook & Instagram, HubSpot, Jira, Mailchimp, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Zapier	Facebook & Instagram, GitHub, HubSpot, Jira, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Stripe, WhatsApp, Zapier
Best for	Small and mid-sized teams running email-first support Businesses that want traditional ticketing at a lower price than Zendesk Companies already using other Freshworks products	SaaS and online businesses that want chat and AI-first support Teams with enough help center content for an AI agent to deflect volume Product-led companies combining support with in-app messaging
Pros	Free plan and low entry price for small teams Solid ticketing basics: SLAs, automations, canned responses, parent-child tickets Clean, approachable interface that agents learn quickly Good marketplace of apps and a documented API	Fin AI agent resolves a meaningful share of routine questions from help center content Polished, fast shared inbox with strong keyboard-driven workflows Messenger, help center, tickets and outbound messages live in one product Good developer tooling, API and app ecosystem
Cons	Live chat, bots and phone require the separately priced Freshdesk Omni bundle Freddy AI Copilot is a paid per-agent add-on rather than included Reporting and automation are shallow on the Free and Growth tiers Many capabilities are split across tiers, making plan comparison confusing	Per-seat fees plus $0.99 per Fin outcome plus add-ons make costs hard to forecast Advanced routing, SLAs and multi-brand features require the higher tiers Product tours, surveys and proactive messaging are extra-cost add-ons Overkill for teams that mainly handle email tickets
AI agents	No	Yes
AI assistant	Yes	No
API access	Yes	Yes
Chatbot	No	Yes
Custom fields	Yes	No
Knowledge base / help centre	Yes	Yes
Live chat	No	Yes
Mobile app	Yes	No
Multichannel inbox (email, chat, social)	Yes	Yes
Reporting & dashboards	Yes	Yes
Roles & permissions	Yes	No
Shared inbox	Yes	Yes
SLA management	Yes	No
Ticketing	Yes	Yes
Webhooks	No	Yes
WhatsApp channel	No	Yes
Workflow automation	Yes	Yes

Common questions

Does Freshdesk or Intercom have a free plan?: Freshdesk has a free plan. Intercom does not, though it offers a free trial.
How long is the Freshdesk and Intercom free trial?: Freshdesk offers a 14-day free trial, and Intercom offers a 14-day free trial.
Which is easier to use, Freshdesk or Intercom?: In VERILO's editorial assessment Freshdesk is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for Intercom. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

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