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9 Best Freshdesk Alternatives To Upgrade from a Clunky UI

If you’re looking to replace Freshdesk with a new support tool this year, create a shortlist of options to consider using this list of the best Freshdesk alternatives.
9 Best Freshdesk Alternatives To Upgrade from a Clunky UI
Mara Calvello
June 1, 2023
9 Best Freshdesk Alternatives To Upgrade from a Clunky UI
Table of Contents

Looking to replace Freshdesk?

You're not the only one. Despite its popularity, Freshdesk has its drawbacks, including limited customization, inadequate reporting tools, high costs, and sometimes disappointing customer support.

Thankfully, there's a whole world of Freshdesk competitors out there, and we've done the legwork to find the best Freshdesk alternatives for you.

Short on time? Here's a quick summary:

Option Best for Pricing
HubSpot Service Hub Feature-rich Freshdesk alternative with a free plan. Pricing starts at $25 per agent/month.
Zendesk Top contender for feature parity with Freshdesk. Pricing starts at $19 per user/month (billed annually).
Help Scout Best Freshdesk alternative for startups, offering a 6-month free plan. Pricing starts at $20 per user/month.

Why you can trust TestBox’s guides: Unlike other publications, we have no incentive to encourage you to buy a specific tool. Our goal at TestBox is to help software buyers find the absolute best tools for their companies. Our free software lets you test and compare popular tools side-by-side, and our guides are designed solely to give you the information you need to decide which tools you want to test!

8 best Freshdesk alternatives and competitors

Before diving in, we’ll share how we came up with these Freshdesk alternatives, including: 

  • Feature parity: Platforms that offer the core features you’ll also find when using Freshdesk. 
  • Customer reviews: Pulling the best alternatives from sources like G2.
  • Commonly compared software: Using data from TestBox, we also included the products that Freshdesk is most commonly compared with. 

1. Zendesk

Zendesk is the platform users are looking for when they want their agents to give the best possible support across all types of channels. It was built to cater to every unique need of the customer, while also being a unified workspace for teams to provide a personalized customer experience -- every time. No matter the size of your team, Zendesk is easy to use and can scale along with your organization.

Key features

Zendesk offers a long list of features, including:

  • Integrated ticketing system that is a central hub for customer questions, concerns, and requests
  • An intelligent knowledge base for enhanced self-service, created to empower agents
  • 24/7 support with automation and AI for a personal touch with customers
  • Data and analytics to measure how teams provide an exceptional customer experience and where they can improve
  • The ability to build custom experiences on your mobile, web, or social apps

Key integrations 

Zendesk natively integrates with the tools and apps you already love using, including:

  • Zoom
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Intercom
  • Monday.com
  • Survey Monkey

Pricing

A free trial of Zendesk is available upon signing up. Pricing starts at $19/per user billed annually and can go up to $99/per user billed annually.

Test drive Zendesk for free using TestBox and compare it side-by-side with other popular customer support tools.

Related Reading: The Best Zendesk Alternatives

2. HubSpot Service Hub

These days, customers expect resolutions in minutes and are personalized to their unique needs. HubSpot Service Hub makes this possible as it brings all customer service data and channels together and helps scale your support through automation and self-service. HubSpot Service Hub makes it possible for customer service teams to customize the support given to each customer to ensure retention for the long haul.

Key features

Regardless of how your team chooses to use HubSpot Service Hub, a long list of innovative features awaits, including:

  • Knowledge base
  • Social media management
  • Email tracking 
  • Built-in analytics, reports, and dashboards
  • Live chat

Key integrations

The HubSpot Marketplace is full of integrations that effortlessly become streamlined with your other favorite apps and tools in your tech stack. Some include:

  • Zoom
  • Asana
  • Jira
  • Hootsuite
  • Pandadoc

Pricing

HubSpot Service Hub prices start at $25/agent per month. 

Test drive HubSpot Service Hub for free using TestBox and compare it side-by-side with other popular customer support tools.

Related Reading: Best Hubspot Service Hub Alternatives

3. Zoho Desk

If you’re looking to manage customer communication over the phone, email, live chat, SMS text, and social media, Zoho Desk makes it all possible! Users can seamlessly assign calls to agents based on their team or department, automatically route customer calls to the best agents for that specific request or problem, and allow users to maintain consistency of service to build meaningful relationships with their customers.  

Key features

Zoho Desk offers users many features that come in handy everyday,  including:

  • Multi-channel ticket management
  • Simple and straight-forward email communication
  • Customizable notification rules
  • Embedded customer self-service capabilities
  • Reports and dashboards

Key integrations

Zoho Desk can seamlessly integrate with some of your favorite apps and tools, including:

  • Salesforce
  • Trello
  • Asana
  • Marketplace
  • Screen Magic

Plus, Zoho Desk effortlessly pairs with other Zoho apps, like Zoho CRM, Bug Tracker, and Sales IQ.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $14/agent/month billed annually and can go up to $40/agent/month billed annually.

Related Reading: Best Zoho Desk Alternatives

4. Front

Front is a customer communication hub aimed at making information accessible and collaboration a breeze as your team focuses on building positive customer relationships. Whether you have a team of five or 5,000, Front makes it easy to improve team performance and put customers at the center of your support org.

Key features 

Those using Front have numerous features they can take advantage, including:

  • Customized workflows
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Customer experience analytics
  • Enterprise-grade compliance, industry-standard encryption, and governance frameworks

Key integrations

While Front works great independently, it’s even better when paired with some of your other favorite tools. Some integrations include:

  • Drift
  • Asana
  • GitHub
  • ClickUp
  • Scribe
  • Guru

Pricing

Pricing for Front starts at $19/month/user and can go up to $99/month/user.

Test drive Front for free using TestBox and compare it side-by-side with other popular customer support tools.

Related Reading: Best Front Alternatives

5. HappyFox

When you need a simple, easy, and fast live chat software solution, it’s in your best interest to consider HappyFox. It helps teams of all shapes and sizes deliver personalized customer service like never before. Conversations  can take place anywhere, anytime, and anyplace.

Key features

In addition to a simple and fast live chat, HappyFox serves up great  features that will improve your support metrics, including:

  • Canned responses 
  • Dashboards with analytics and reporting
  • Widget customizations
  • Intuitive Agent UI
  • Live Chat work hours 

Key integrations

HappyFox has a ton of useful integrations available to its users. Some are:

  • Salesforce
  • Okta
  • GitLab
  • Shopify
  • Mailchimp

Pricing

Pricing for HappyFox starts at $29/month/user and can go up to $299/month/user.

Related Reading: Best HappyFox Alternatives

6. ProProfs

Users looking for live chat software to assist in getting in touch with daily visitors in real-time without any hassle should consider ProProfs. This tool is best for small businesses looking to provide world-class support to their customers. With a simple interface and various features, ProProfs is built for companies looking to enhance their customer experience.

Key features

ProProfs boasts features customer service teams need to do their job right. Some include:

  • Collaboration with shared inboxes
  • Automation for increased productivity
  • Customer service metrics and reports
  • Customizable workflows to suit how every team works 

Key integrations

ProProfs offers integrations with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Pricing

Pricing for ProProfs starts at $15/month/user and can go up to $25/month/user.

7. Intercom

Intercom is a customer communications platform that unifies every aspect of the customer journey, from conversion to engagement all the way to support. It was created as a hub for sales, marketing, and support to collaborate better. As a result, cross-functional teams can work together to convert more customers, engage at every touchpoint, and support clients at scale.

Key features

Intercom brings a long list of features to your customer support team. Some include:

  • Real-time customer chat
  • Custom bots 
  • Targeted messaging
  • A variety of reporting tools
  • Contextual customer surveys

Key integrations

Intercom offers APIs that make it easy to integrate with the core tools already in your tech stack. You can also explore Intercom integrations through their app store, including:

  • Google Analytics
  • Salesforce
  • Zapier
  • Jira Cloud
  • Calendly

Pricing

Intercom calculates its pricing by:

  1. Seats, giving users access to different tools in Intercom
  2. People reached, the number of unique people reached each month using outbound messaging

Intercom’s starting price is roughly $67/agent/month.

Test drive Intercom for free using TestBox and compare it side-by-side with other popular customer support tools.

8. Help Scout

Help Scout allows organizations to be available everywhere their customers need help. It provides teams of all sizes the collaboration, organization, and automation tools needed to move faster by keeping things simple and focusing on delighting customers.

Key features

Help Scout boasts a long list of really exciting and useful features. Some your team may enjoy are:

  • Conversations over tickets
  • Private notes
  • Saved replies
  • Customer self-service knowledge base

Key integrations

Help Scout perfectly pairs with the tools your team already knows and loves. Some integrations include:

  • Jira
  • Salesforce
  • Shopify
  • Mailchimp
  • Zapier

Pricing

Help Scout pricing starts at $20/user per month.

Test drive Help Scout for free using TestBox and compare it side-by-side with other popular customer support tools.

Which is the best Freshdesk alternative?

Ultimately, it depends on your team's needs and budgets. Based on our analysis, here are the best three Freshdesk alternatives:

Option A: HubSpot Service Hub

If you're seeking a Freshdesk replacement with a free plan, HubSpot Service Hub is a fantastic choice. It offers a comprehensive suite of customer engagement tools, making it an excellent all-rounder for your support needs without breaking the bank.

Option B: Zendesk

When it comes to feature parity, Zendesk stands tall as a powerful alternative to Freshdesk. With its robust platform, you'll have access to a wide array of features that help streamline customer support and enhance overall customer experience.

Option C: Help Scout

For startups, especially early-stage SaaS companies, Help Scout is a great option. They offer a generous 6-month free startup plan, making it an attractive choice for businesses looking to scale their support operations without a hefty price tag.

There are many options for customer service software on the market, so it’s always a good idea to learn more about what else is out there for you to choose from! While it may not be easy to know what makes the most sense for your team and their needs, TestBox is here to help you compare, contrast, and learn all the details. 

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