8.0
review

Freshdesk review

What Freshdesk costs once the AI is switched on, how its plans and billing units work, where your data is hosted, and who it fits. Scored on a published rubric, with every figure sourced.

By the help-desk.reviews teamPublished September 19, 2026Updated September 19, 2026Prices and figures verified September 18, 2026

Freshdesk is Freshworks' help desk, sold in two versions: standalone Freshdesk for email ticketing, and Freshdesk Omni, which adds chat, phone and messaging. Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent per month on annual billing and Omni at $29. The Freddy AI Agent is sold in packs of 100 sessions for $49, and a session is charged whether or not the AI solves the customer's problem.

Bottom line

  • Best for: Budget-conscious teams that want EU hosting and a cheap per-agent entry price
  • Not for: Teams that want to pay for AI only when it actually resolves a conversation
  • Price from: $19 per agent per month
  • The catch: Freddy AI Agent sessions are used up whether or not the issue gets resolved, and the price per session is now several times what Freshworks' own June 2025 price list showed: $49 per 100 sessions, against $100 per 1,000 then.

Score breakdown

8.0

Freshdesk scores 8.0 out of 10 on rubric v1.0. The rubric rates list prices and public documentation, not hands-on performance.

True cost with AI onWeight 30% · Level 3/5 · computed from list prices

From $100 to under $150 per agent per month. Computed: $109 per agent per month at 10 agents.

Pricing transparencyWeight 20% · Level 4/5

Plan prices and AI prices are public, but the billable unit, the minimums or the overage rules are not fully defined in writing.

AI, as documentedWeight 15% · Level 5/5

Everything in level 4, plus a published statement on whether customer data trains AI models and which AI sub-processors are used.

Access and switchingWeight 10% · Level 3/5

Self-serve trial with no mandatory fees; no free plan and no documented import tool.

Channels and languagesWeight 10% · Level 5/5

Email, live chat, a help center, native phone and native messaging, with the agent interface documented in both German and Spanish.

Data protection and complianceWeight 15% · Level 5/5

Everything in level 4, plus a documented HIPAA business associate agreement and a published list of sub-processors.

Strengths

  • Low entry price: Freshdesk Growth costs $19 per agent per month on annual billing.
  • EEA data hosting can be chosen at sign-up on any plan, with no surcharge documented.
  • Occasional agents are free to add and pay by day pass ($2 a day on Growth, with 3 free passes), and Pro and Enterprise include up to 5,000 collaborators who can add notes.
  • Freddy AI Copilot can be bought for only the agents who need it, at $29 per agent per month.
  • Freshworks publishes its own euro and pound price lists, and every plan and AI add-on has a public price.

Weaknesses

  • AI Agent sessions are billed per conversation window, not per resolution, so unresolved chats and even bot previews cost money.
  • List prices have risen since June 2025: Growth went from $15 to $19, Pro from $49 to $55 and Enterprise from $79 to $89.
  • Standalone Freshdesk is email-first; chat, phone and WhatsApp need Freshdesk Omni, which costs $29 to $119 per agent.
  • Copilot is not sold on Growth, and the multilingual help center and collaborators start at Pro.
  • The terms forbid cutting seats or downgrading mid-term, fees are non-refundable, and Freshworks may raise fees at each renewal with 30 days' notice.

Pricing

Standalone Freshdesk costs $19 (Growth), $55 (Pro) and $89 (Enterprise) per agent per month on annual billing, or $23, $66 and $107 monthly. Freshdesk Omni costs $29, $79 and $119 on annual billing. These prices are higher than Freshworks' own price list dated June 2025, which showed $15, $49 and $79 for Freshdesk and $69 and $109 for Omni Pro and Enterprise; Omni Growth did not change. We found no announcement of the rise from Freshworks, and the old PDF is still online, so third-party price data often shows the lower figures. On top of seats come Freddy AI Copilot at $29 per agent (Pro and Enterprise), AI Agent session packs at $49 per 100, and metered MCP actions at $15 per 1,000 beyond the yearly allowance.

PlanBilled annuallyBilled monthlyKey limits and included AI
Freshdesk Growth$19 per agent per month$23 per agent per monthEmail-first ticketing with a knowledge base. No multilingual help center, no collaborators, API at 100 calls a minute and 1,200 MCP actions a year. 500 one-off AI Agent sessions; Copilot cannot be added.
Freshdesk Pro$55 per agent per month$66 per agent per monthAdds the multilingual help center, custom dashboards, multiple SLA policies, 5,000 collaborators and 6,000 MCP actions a year. 500 one-off AI Agent sessions; Copilot available as an add-on.
Freshdesk Enterprise$89 per agent per month$107 per agent per monthAdds skill-based routing, sandbox, audit logs and IP allow-listing, and is the plan required for a HIPAA agreement. Freddy AI Insights included; Copilot is an add-on.
Freshdesk Omni Growth$29 per agent per month$35 per agent per monthEmail, chat, phone and messaging in one workspace. 500 one-off AI Agent sessions; no Copilot.
Freshdesk Omni Pro$79 per agent per month$95 per agent per monthOmnichannel with the multilingual help center, advanced analytics and external collaborators. Copilot available as an add-on.
Freshdesk Omni Enterprise$119 per agent per month$143 per agent per monthAdds skill-based routing, custom objects, sandbox and audit logs. Freddy AI Insights included; Copilot is an add-on.
Source

AI and paid add-ons

Add-onPriceSource
Freddy AI Copilot (Pro and Enterprise only; any number of agents)$29 per agent per monthSource
Freddy AI Agent sessions (pack of 100)$49 per packSource
MCP actions (per 1,000 beyond the yearly allowance)$15 per packSource
Connector app tasks (per 5,000)$80 per packSource
Day pass for an occasional agent (Growth)$2 one-timeSource

True cost at 3, 10 and 50 agents

PlanSeats and planAgent-assist add-onAI resolutionsMonthly totalper agent
3 agents · Entry tierFreshdesk Growth$57$0$98$155$52 — No agent-assist add-on is sold on this plan.
10 agents · Mid tierFreshdesk Pro$550$290$245$1,085$109
50 agents · Mid tierFreshdesk Pro$2,750$1,450$1,225$5,425$109
3 agents: 750 tickets a month, 150 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent. 10 agents: 2,500 tickets a month, 500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent. 50 agents: 12,500 tickets a month, 2,500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent. Estimates from vendors' published USD list prices with annual billing, verified on the date shown on this page. Taxes, discounts, onboarding fees and telephony usage are not included.

Freshdesk: entry tier is Freshdesk Growth, mid tier is Freshdesk Pro, top tier is Freshdesk Enterprise (standalone Freshdesk, not Omni). Copilot costs $29 per agent and is not available on Growth. AI Agent sessions are priced at $49 per pack of 100 with none included monthly, and because sessions count whether or not they resolve, the real bill is higher than the resolutions entered here suggest. Freshdesk pricing explained · Help desk true-cost calculator

AI features and how they are billed

Freshdesk sells two kinds of AI. Freddy AI Copilot helps agents draft and summarise; it costs $29 per agent per month on annual billing ($35 monthly), can be assigned to any subset of agents, and is sold on Pro and Enterprise only. The Freddy AI Agent answers customers on chat and email and is billed by the session: every interaction between one customer and the AI within 24 hours on chat, or within 72 hours of the first email, counts as one session. Sessions are used up whether or not the issue is resolved, and previews of the bot count too. Each account gets 500 free sessions once, not every month; after that you buy packs of 100 for $49, which expire at the end of the billing cycle. Auto-recharge adds a pack when fewer than 50 sessions remain. That works out to $490 per 1,000 sessions, against $100 in Freshworks' June 2025 price list. See whether you need the AI add-on.

Key facts

Vendor
Freshworks
Founded
2010
Headquarters
San Mateo, United States
Pricing model
Per seat, plus AI usage
Price from
$19 per agent per month
Free plan
No
Free trial
Yes
Mandatory extra fees
No
Channels
Email, Live chat, Phone, WhatsApp, Social messaging
Agent interface languages
49 languages · German: Yes · Spanish: Yes
EU data hosting
Yes
UK data hosting
No
HIPAA (BAA available)
Yes
Certifications
ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27701:2019, SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 3, Cyber Essentials Plus, CSA STAR Level 1, EU-US Data Privacy Framework (with UK Extension), HIPAA BAA (Enterprise plan only)
Integrations
Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Shopify, HubSpot, Stripe
Named customers
iPostal1, Hobbycraft, Woolacombe Bay, Ryan Specialty

Data hosting and compliance

Freshworks hosts data in the US, the EEA, the UAE, India and Australia, and the region is chosen at sign-up on any plan; there is no UK region. The trust center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 and 27701, and a HIPAA business associate agreement is available on Enterprise only, with required security settings. Freddy's generative features run on Microsoft Azure OpenAI, and some features are fine-tuned on the customer's own data per account, which customers can opt out of. Freshworks publishes a data processing agreement and a sub-processor list; the agreement notes that data may be stored in or outside the EU depending on the Freshworks product, so confirm the region for every product you add.

For buyers in the United States: A help desk holds your customers' personal information, so the vendor's contract has to meet state privacy law: California and about twenty other states require written limits on what a vendor may do with that data. Healthcare teams also need a signed business associate agreement before any patient information reaches a ticket. Help desk software and data protection law in the United States

Vendor claims vs named-customer figures

FigureWhat it measuresWho says soSource
80%"Up to" AI resolution rate claimed on the Freshdesk product pageFreshworks — Vendor claimSource
71%Share of new enterprise deals that include Freddy AI Copilot, per Freshworks' Q2 2026 resultsFreshworks — Vendor claimSource
54%Share of iPostal1's queries resolved with AI, from a customer tile on Freshworks' siteiPostal1 — Named customer, published by the vendorSource
30%Share of Hobbycraft's queries handled by AI, from a customer tile on Freshworks' siteHobbycraft — Named customer, published by the vendorSource
69%Reduction in Woolacombe Bay's average resolution time, from a customer tile on Freshworks' siteWoolacombe Bay — Named customer, published by the vendorSource
75%Ryan Specialty's first-contact resolution rate, from a customer tile on Freshworks' siteRyan Specialty — Named customer, published by the vendorSource
$15,412Median yearly contract value across Vendr's Freshworks purchases (all Freshworks products)Vendr — Independent third partySource
14.9%Average saving off list price Vendr reports for Freshworks purchasesVendr — Independent third partySource

The vendor's "up to" resolution figure is a ceiling, not an average. The named customers report AI handling between 30% and 54% of queries, and those figures come from short tiles on Freshworks' own site rather than full case studies. Vendr's data covers all Freshworks products and predates the current list prices, so treat it as a guide to negotiating room, not to what Freshdesk costs today.

Verdict

Freshdesk is a strong fit for a small team that wants cheap email ticketing with EU hosting and can live without AI, or with AI help for a few agents. Its AI agent is where the bill gets hard to predict: sessions cost money whether or not they resolve anything, the free allowance is one-off, and the session price has risen sharply. Before you commit, compare it with Zendesk and Help Scout, and cost your own volumes in the true cost calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Freshdesk cost?

Freshdesk costs $19 (Growth), $55 (Pro) and $89 (Enterprise) per agent per month on annual billing, or $23, $66 and $107 billed monthly. Freshdesk Omni, which adds chat, phone and messaging, costs $29, $79 and $119. See Freshdesk pricing for worked examples.

Is Freshdesk still free?

Not permanently. The old free-forever plan has become a Free program: 2 agents for 6 months, after which you need a paid plan, and it comes with no AI sessions. There is also a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan. For permanent free plans, see free help desk software.

How is the Freddy AI Agent billed?

By session, in packs of 100 for $49. A session covers one customer's conversation with the AI over 24 hours on chat or 72 hours on email, and it is charged whether or not the problem gets solved. The first 500 sessions are free once per account, and unused packs expire at the end of the billing cycle. See per-seat vs per-resolution pricing.

Did Freshdesk raise its prices?

Yes. Freshworks' own price list dated June 2025 showed $15, $49 and $79 for Growth, Pro and Enterprise; the pricing page now shows $19, $55 and $89. AI Agent sessions went from $100 to $490 per 1,000. We found no official announcement, and the terms let Freshworks adjust fees at each renewal.

Can Freshdesk store data in the EU?

Yes. You can choose the EEA data center when you sign up, on any plan, with no fee documented; moving later needs a support ticket. There is no UK region. See help desks with EU data hosting.

Sources

  1. Freshdesk pricing Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  2. Freshdesk Omni pricing Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  3. Freshworks price list (current as of June 13, 2025) Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  4. Understanding Freshdesk pricing plans Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  5. Explore Freshdesk free plan Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  6. Understanding full-time vs occasional agents Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  7. Add and use collaborators to assist in ticketing Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  8. Freddy AI Agent and chatbot sessions FAQs Freshworks Support · September 18, 2026
  9. Manage Freddy AI add-ons Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  10. Freshworks Terms of Service Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  11. Manage languages Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  12. Where is your data (servers) located? Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  13. Freshworks Data Processing Agreement Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  14. Freshworks sub-processors Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  15. Freshworks Trust Center Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  16. HIPAA configuration guide Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  17. The Freddy AI trust framework Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  18. Freshdesk API: rate limit Freshworks Developers · September 18, 2026
  19. Freshdesk upcoming changes (December 2025 to June 2026) Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
  20. Freshdesk Omni Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  21. Freshdesk apps Freshworks Marketplace · September 18, 2026
  22. Freshdesk Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  23. Freshworks reports fourth quarter and full year 2025 results Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  24. Freshworks reports record second quarter 2026 results Freshworks · September 18, 2026
  25. Freshworks pricing and buyer data Vendr · September 18, 2026

This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review