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Free Zendesk Alternatives (2027): 10 Help Desks and Live Chat Tools With Real Free Plans, and Why Zendesk Only Has a Trial

Free Zendesk Alternatives in 2027: 10 Help Desks and Live Chat Tools With Real Free Plans

Is there a free version of Zendesk? No. Zendesk has no free plan: its pricing page offers a 14-day free trial of Suite Professional and then paid plans per agent. Eligible startups can get Zendesk free for six months or longer through its startup programme, but for everyone else the cheapest plan is £15 or €19 per agent a month, billed yearly, and that plan does not include live chat. If you are a founder answering customer emails and chats yourself, a help desk with a permanent free plan is often all you need in year one. We checked the free plan of every tool below on its official pricing page in October 2026, and we say clearly which tools are free and which only offer a trial.
Quick answer: for a free shared email inbox and help centre for a small team, use Help Scout (5 users, 100 contacts a month); if you already use HubSpot as your CRM, its free customer service tools add ticketing, a shared inbox and live chat for 2 users; for free email ticketing for 3 agents, use Zoho Desk or Jira Service Management; and for free website live chat, use tawk.to, Tidio or Crisp. Want software you host yourself instead? See our open-source Zendesk alternatives.
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Does Zendesk Have a Free Plan in 2027?

No. The Zendesk pricing page (checked 29 October 2026; zendesk.com sends European visitors to the UK and Dutch sites, so prices are in pounds and euros) lists only paid plans. Its FAQ explains the free trial: 14 days with every feature of Suite Professional, Copilot included. Zendesk's homepage says no credit card is needed. After the trial you choose a plan:
  • Support Team: £15 / €19 per agent a month, paid yearly. Email and ticketing, routing, dashboards, saved replies, automations and triggers. No live chat.
  • Suite Team: £45 / €55 per agent a month, paid yearly. Adds AI agents, a knowledge base, messaging and live chat, and telephony.
  • Suite Professional: £89 / €115 per agent a month, paid yearly. Adds advanced routing, reporting and AI tools.
  • Zendesk for Startups: the pricing page says eligible startups can get up to 2 years of Zendesk free; the standard programme is 6 months of Zendesk Suite for up to 50 agents. It is for new customers with funding up to Series B, fewer than 250 employees and a company younger than 10 years. If you qualify, apply before you pick a free alternative.
For the full picture of Zendesk's plans, AI billing and startup offer, read our Zendesk vs Olark comparison.

Free Zendesk Alternatives Compared

ToolFree plan (Oct 2026)What the free plan includesMain catchPaid from
HubSpot customer serviceYes, free toolsTicketing, shared inbox, live chat, basic integrations2 users; HubSpot branding on chatStarter, per seat
Zoho DeskYes, free editionEmail ticketing for 3 usersNo automation, SLAs or departmentsPrice shown by region
Help ScoutYes, free plan5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs (help centre) site100 contacts a month$25 per user/month, yearly
Jira Service ManagementYes, free plan3 agents, portal, email and chat intake, knowledge base2 GB storage, community support$21.50 per agent/month
Spiceworks Cloud Help DeskYes, Core plan1-5 IT seats, unlimited end users, portal, reportsBuilt for IT support; adsPremium plan
TidioYes, free planLive chat and ticketing, 10 seats50 conversations a month$24.17/month, yearly
CrispYes, free foreverWebsite chat, shared inbox, 2 seats, mobile appsEmail inbox and AI are paid45 a month per workspace
tawk.toYes, free for lifeLive chat, inbox, knowledge base, CRMBranding unless you pay $29/monthAdd-ons from $29/month
Chatwoot CloudYes, Hacker plan2 agents, live chat, 500 conversations a month30-day data retention, no help centre$19 per agent/month
ProProfs Help DeskYes, single user1 agent, unlimited inboxes, 100 email tickets a monthOne user onlyTeam plans for 2+ users
ZendeskNo: 14-day trialSuite Professional with Copilot for 14 daysPaid after the trial£15 / €19 per agent/month
Sources: each tool's official pricing page, checked 29 October 2026 in the default view. Prices change often and some are shown in your local currency, so check before you buy.

The Best Free Zendesk Alternatives in 2027

1. HubSpot free customer service tools: best if you already use HubSpot CRM

HubSpot's customer service software has a Free tier that its pricing page describes as free for up to 2 users, with no credit card. According to HubSpot's help desk page, the free tier includes essential ticketing, a shared inbox, live chat and basic integrations, and everything sits on the free HubSpot CRM, so each ticket is linked to the contact and company. The limits: live chat shows HubSpot branding, and automation rules, reporting, a customer portal and API access need a paid tier. Starter is priced per seat and was on a limited-time discount when we checked, so look at the price for your region.

2. Zoho Desk: free email ticketing for 3 agents

Zoho Desk has a free edition that its pricing page calls free forever. It gives you 3 user licences and ticket management for email, so a small team can turn support@ into a shared ticket queue. New accounts start with a 15-day trial of a paid edition without a credit card and are moved to the free plan automatically when it ends, so nothing is lost. Automation, multiple departments, SLAs and AI features need a paid edition, and the free edition has no light users. Prices are shown in your local currency.

3. Help Scout: free shared inbox and help centre for up to 5 users

Help Scout now has a Free plan, which the old version of this list said it lacked. It includes 5 users, 1 shared inbox and 1 Docs site (a public help centre), with 100 contacts a month. A contact is anyone who got a reply from your team, and several conversations with the same person count once. You also get 10 saved replies, 10 tags, 150 basic workflows and one basic SLA policy, and free accounts need no payment method. Standard costs $25 per user a month on annual billing, Plus $45 and Pro $75, with a 15-day trial of Standard or Plus. Its AI agent, Envoy, costs $0.75 per resolution after a 3-month free trial. This is the closest free match to a classic Zendesk email help desk for a team of founders.

4. Jira Service Management: free for 3 agents with a portal and knowledge base

Jira Service Management is now sold inside Atlassian's Service Collection, and its Free plan is listed as free forever for 3 agents. Customers who send requests are free and unlimited. Requests come in through a customer portal, email, Microsoft Teams, Slack or an embedded widget, and the plan includes a knowledge base, alerts and on-call schedules, and 1,250 automation steps a month. The FAQ adds 2 GB of storage and support from the Atlassian Community only. Standard was listed at $21.50 per agent a month in the default view, with a 14-day trial. It suits technical products and IT-style support better than consumer chat.

5. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk: a free IT help desk

Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk has a free Core Plan with 1 to 5 tech and admin seats, unlimited end users, an end-user portal, ticketing, incident tracking, alerts, reporting and multi-factor authentication. The paid Premium Plan adds an ad-free experience, task lists, bulk actions and custom ticket statuses, so expect ads on the free plan. It is built for internal IT support (laptops, accounts, networks), so pick it for your own team's IT requests rather than for customer chat.
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6. Tidio: free live chat and ticketing with a small AI allowance

Tidio's Free plan costs $0 and includes live chat and ticketing for up to 10 seats, but only 50 billable conversations a month (live chats and tickets handled by your team). Every account also gets its first 50 Lyro AI agent conversations for free (once, not monthly) and 100 visitors reached with Flows automations a month. Paid plans start with Starter at $24.17 a month on annual billing, and paid plans can be tried for 7 days without a card; after the trial the account drops back to Free.

7. Crisp: a free shared inbox for website chat

Crisp's Free plan is free forever and made for solo founders: a website chat widget, a shared inbox, mobile apps, a contact form and e-commerce integrations for 2 seats and 100 customer profiles. It includes no AI credits, and the shared email inbox starts with the Mini plan at 45 a month per workspace (shown in euros or dollars depending on where you are). Every new account can try the paid features for 14 days first.

8. tawk.to: free live chat, paid add-ons

tawk.to is the most generous free option for website chat. Its founder's "Why free" page says the software is free for life and that the company makes money from add-ons instead: removing the small "Powered by tawk.to" branding costs $29 a month, the AI Assist chatbot starts at $29 a month (with a forever-free plan for sites with low chat volume), and hired chat agents cost $1 an hour. Its product list includes live chat, an omnichannel inbox, a knowledge base and a CRM. Check the limits of each feature in your account, as the page does not list them all.

9. Chatwoot Cloud: the hosted free plan of an open-source tool

Chatwoot is open source, but you do not have to host it: the Hacker plan on Chatwoot Cloud costs $0 for up to 2 agents and 500 conversations a month on the live chat channel, with 30 days of data retention. The help centre, Captain AI, teams and automation rules are not included; Startups costs $19 per agent a month, with a 15-day trial. If you want Chatwoot without those limits, our open-source Zendesk alternatives guide explains self-hosting.

10. ProProfs Help Desk: free for a single agent

ProProfs Help Desk offers a forever free account for one user. It covers unlimited inboxes (support@, sales@, billing@), email ticketing for 100 tickets a month, canned responses and a mobile app. It fits a solo founder who wants tickets instead of a crowded Gmail inbox; once a second person helps with support, you need a team plan.

Not Free, or Free Only if You Host It: What Changed Since the Last Version

The 2025 version of this list included tools that no longer belong on a list of free help desks. When we checked them again in October 2026:
  • Freshdesk: the Freshdesk pricing page no longer lists a free plan. Sign-up gives a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan; if you do not pay, the account is suspended. Growth costs $19 per agent a month, billed annually. For a self-hosted option, see our open-source Freshdesk alternatives.
  • LiveAgent: the old list said it had a free plan; its pricing page now shows a 30-day free trial without a card and paid plans only (Starter at a $15 offer price per agent a month, regularly $19, billed monthly).
  • Hiver: a 7-day free trial, after which the account is suspended if you do not upgrade; the Hiver pricing page starts at $25 per user a month on annual billing.
  • HelpDesk (helpdesk.com): a 14-day free trial with no card and no free plan; the HelpDesk pricing page starts at $19 per user a month.
  • osTicket: free and open source, but you install and run it on your own server. It is covered with Zammad, FreeScout and others in our open-source Zendesk alternatives.
  • Help Scout moved the other way: the old list doubted it had a free plan, and it now has one for 5 users. New on this list: Tidio, Crisp, tawk.to, Chatwoot Cloud and ProProfs Help Desk.

Which Free Zendesk Alternative Should You Choose?

  • You answer customer emails as a team of 2 to 5: Help Scout, while you stay under 100 contacts a month.
  • You already keep your leads in HubSpot: HubSpot's free customer service tools, for 2 users.
  • You want free email ticketing for 3 people: Zoho Desk.
  • You run a technical or B2B product with a request portal: Jira Service Management, free for 3 agents.
  • You need free website live chat with no monthly chat cap stated: tawk.to, if you can live with its branding.
  • You want live chat plus a small AI chatbot trial: Tidio, as long as you stay under 50 conversations a month.
  • You are a solo founder: Crisp for chat or ProProfs Help Desk for email tickets.
  • You handle your own team's IT requests: Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk.
  • You have raised money and have fewer than 250 people: apply to Zendesk for Startups before you settle for a free plan.
  • You want no limits and can run a server: one of the open-source help desks.

How Founders Run Customer Support on a Free Plan

Early support is customer research. Every question shows what confuses visitors and what stops them from buying, so read every conversation yourself before you automate anything. Start with one channel (a support@ inbox or a chat box on your pricing page), tag each conversation, and turn the questions that repeat into saved replies and help articles. Our guide to customer support strategies for startups covers the basics, the benefits of live chat for customer service explains when chat pays off, and our list of customer support tools for startups shows the paid market. Keep customer history in one place with one of the CRM tools for startups.
Still comparing paid tools? See Zendesk vs Intercom, Olark vs Intercom and ManyChat vs Chatfuel for chatbots on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and open-source Intercom alternatives for live chat you host yourself. We also keep a shorter list of free Zendesk alternatives for startups. Free plans work for the rest of your stack too: see our free Hootsuite alternatives for social media scheduling.
Support answers are also content. Turn the questions customers ask most into articles with the F/MS AI SEO Tool so people find the answers in Google and AI assistants before they write to you, and validate your startup idea with the customers who already talk to you.
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FAQ About Free Zendesk Alternatives

Is there a free version of Zendesk in 2027?

No. When we checked in October 2026, Zendesk offered only paid plans and a 14-day free trial of Suite Professional with Copilot. Eligible startups can get 6 months or more free through Zendesk for Startups.

How much does Zendesk cost after the trial?

Billed yearly, Support Team cost £15 (€19) per agent a month, Suite Team £45 (€55) and Suite Professional £89 (€115) in October 2026. Live chat starts with Suite Team.

What is the best free alternative to Zendesk?

For an email help desk, Help Scout: its Free plan has 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 help centre site for up to 100 contacts a month. For website live chat, tawk.to is free for life, and Tidio and Crisp have free plans with lower limits.

Which free help desk has the most free agents?

Tidio's free plan has 10 seats but only 50 conversations a month, Help Scout allows 5 users, Spiceworks up to 5 IT seats, Zoho Desk and Jira Service Management 3 agents, and HubSpot 2 users. tawk.to's "Why free" page does not state a seat limit.

Does Freshdesk still have a free plan?

No. In October 2026 the Freshdesk pricing page listed only paid plans and a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan; accounts that do not upgrade are suspended. Growth costs $19 per agent a month, billed annually.

Is Help Scout free?

Yes, Help Scout now has a Free plan with 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts a month, and no payment method is needed. Paid plans start at $25 per user a month on annual billing.

Which free Zendesk alternative includes a knowledge base?

Help Scout includes 1 Docs site on its Free plan, Jira Service Management includes an embedded knowledge base, and tawk.to lists a knowledge base among its products. Chatwoot's free Hacker plan does not include its help centre.

Can I use a free help desk for live chat?

Yes. HubSpot's free tier includes live chat with HubSpot branding, tawk.to is free live chat, Tidio's free plan covers 50 conversations a month, Crisp's free plan includes a website chat widget for 2 seats, and Chatwoot Cloud's Hacker plan covers 500 conversations a month.

Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Zendesk?

Yes. Open-source help desks such as osTicket, Zammad and FreeScout can be installed on your own server for free; we compare them in our open-source Zendesk alternatives guide. You pay for hosting and setup time instead of a subscription.

Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?

You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
2026-10-29 04:49 Top Alternatives