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Home › Categories › Customer Support

Help Desk & Customer Support Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing

Bill BelcaminoBy Bill Belcamino · Last updated September 12, 2026 · Our methodologyResearched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team

Side-by-side pricing for Zendesk, Freshdesk and Intercom: entry price, free plan, how each vendor bills for AI, and the date we last checked each figure against the vendor’s own pricing page.

Help Desk & Customer Support Software, ComparedVerified Sep 12, 2026
Bill Belcamino
Bottom line up frontby Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
Editorial assessment

Bottom line up front: What does help desk software really cost once AI starts answering tickets?

More than the seat price, because Zendesk and Intercom both bill for each AI resolution on top of it.

Zendesk and Freshdesk share the lowest entry at $19 a seat (Freshdesk's is Growth), Intercom starts from $29/seat/mo plus $0.99 per Fin outcome, and we recorded no free plan for any of them. Before you switch AI on, fix your help center. An AI agent answers mostly from your articles, so stale or missing ones produce confident wrong answers, and depending on how the vendor defines a resolution, you may pay for those too, so get that definition in writing. Write or update an article for each of your top ticket reasons and pilot AI on that narrow set first. For seasonal peaks, Freshdesk's day passes ($2 on Growth, $7 on Pro, $12 on Enterprise) cover occasional agents without full seats.

Verified data · quick answer
  • Lowest published entry price: Zendesk — From $19/seat/mo + per-resolution AI and Freshdesk — $19/agent/mo (Growth).
  • Free plans: none recorded in our research for Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom; check each vendor for trials.
  • How AI is billed: Zendesk — metered / credit-based; Intercom — metered / credit-based.

My read of the verified data on this page, checked against vendor sources on September 12, 2026. Disagree or spot an error? Tell Bill

Customer Support pricing at a glance

Every row links to the comparison where the figure was verified and to the vendor’s pricing page.

ToolEntry priceFree planAI billingG2 ratingVerifiedSource
ZendeskFrom $19/seat/mo + per-resolution AINo — free trial onlyMetered / credit-based4.3 / 57,075 reviewsSeptember 12, 2026in Intercom vs ZendeskVendor pricing ↗
Freshdesk$19/agent/mo (Growth)No public forever-free tier since 2025—4.4 / 53,771 reviewsSeptember 12, 2026in Zendesk vs FreshdeskVendor pricing ↗
IntercomFrom $29/seat/mo + $0.99 per Fin outcomeNot publishedMetered / credit-based4.5 / 53,912 reviewsSeptember 12, 2026in Intercom vs ZendeskVendor pricing ↗

Head-to-head comparisons

Freshdesk vs IntercomUpdated September 23, 2026Intercom vs ZendeskUpdated September 12, 2026Zendesk vs FreshdeskUpdated September 12, 2026

Switching guides

Freshdesk to IntercomSwitching guideFreshdesk to ZendeskSwitching guideIntercom to FreshdeskSwitching guideIntercom to ZendeskSwitching guideZendesk to FreshdeskSwitching guideZendesk to IntercomSwitching guide
Verified data

Customer Support: security, offline & remote work

The help desk tools we track, side by side on compliance, single sign-on, offline access and remote or office controls. Every value links to the vendor page it came from.

What we checkedZendeskFreshdeskIntercom
Security & compliance
SOC 2 reportSOC 2 Type IIsourceSOC 2 Type IIsourceSOC 2 Type IIsource
ISO/IEC 27001CertifiedsourceCertifiedsourceCertifiedsource
Other certificationsISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 42001, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, CSA STAR Level 2, Cyber Essentials Plus, HDS (France)sourceISO/IEC 27701, CSA STAR Level 1, Cyber Essentials Plus, TX-RAMPsourceISO/IEC 27018, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 42001, HIPAAsource
HIPAA (BAA)BAA availableAdvanced Security or Advanced Compliance add-onsourceBAA availableEnterprisesourceBAA availableExpertsource
GDPR data processing agreementDPA offeredsourceDPA offeredsourceDPA offeredsource
Single sign-on (SAML/OIDC)YesSuite TeamsourceYesGrowthsourceYesExpertsource
SCIM user provisioningNosourceNot publishedYessource
Two-factor authenticationYesEnforcement: Suite TeamsourceYesEnforcement: Yes, org admin policy (plan not stated)sourceYesEnforcement: All planssource
Admin audit logYesSuite EnterprisesourceYesEnterprisesourceYesAll planssource
Data residency choicesUS, EU, UK, Japan, AustraliaSuite Professional (Data Center Location add-on, free)sourceUS, EU, UAE, India, AustraliasourceUS, EU, Australiasource
EncryptionAES-256 at rest (AWS); TLS 1.2 or higher in transitsourceAES-256 at rest; TLS 1.2 in transitsourceTLS/SSL-only endpoints in transit; data encrypted at restsource
Self-hosting optionNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Offline access
Offline modeNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
Desktop appsNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Mobile appsiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, AndroidsourceiOS, Androidsource
Remote, hybrid & in-office
IP allowlistingYesSuite TeamsourceYesEnterprisesourceYessource
Device & session controlsYesSuite TeamAdmin-set inactivity session timeout and maximum session duration, separately for team members and end users.sourceNot publishedNot published
Editorial assessment

What this means for your team

  • Audit reports: all publish a SOC 2 report, and Zendesk, Freshdesk and Intercom also hold ISO/IEC 27001. Ask each vendor for the report under NDA before you sign; security reviews usually want the latest one.
  • Single sign-on: Zendesk includes it on Suite Team; Freshdesk includes it on Growth; Intercom includes it on Expert. If your team signs in through Okta, Microsoft Entra ID or Google, price the plan that includes SSO, not the entry plan.
  • Health data: Zendesk, Freshdesk and Intercom will sign a HIPAA business associate agreement (Zendesk: Advanced Security or Advanced Compliance add-on; Freshdesk: Enterprise; Intercom: Expert).
  • Working offline: Zendesk, Freshdesk and Intercom don’t document an offline mode. Details are in the Offline mode row above.
  • Office-only access: Zendesk can restrict sign-ins to approved IP ranges on Suite Team; Freshdesk can restrict sign-ins to approved IP ranges on Enterprise; Intercom can restrict sign-ins to approved IP ranges. That suits an office network or a company VPN; fully remote teams need a VPN for it to work.
  • Where your data lives: Zendesk lets you choose US, EU, UK, Japan, Australia on Suite Professional (Data Center Location add-on, free); Freshdesk lets you choose US, EU, UAE, India, Australia; Intercom lets you choose US, EU, Australia. This matters for teams hiring across the EU, UK or Australia.

Zendesk: worth knowing

  • SecurityWith IP restrictions on, sign-ins, API calls and page access from outside the allowed IP ranges fail; admins can let customers bypass the restriction, but not agents or admins. source
  • RemoteZendesk hosts Service Data in the US, EEA and Asia Pacific, and Suite Professional and above can pin data to the US, EEA, UK, Japan or Australia at no extra cost. source
  • SecurityDefault session timeouts are 60 minutes for agents and eight hours for end users, and admins can shorten them. source
  • RemoteAgents can create and update tickets and get ticket notifications from the iOS and Android Support mobile app. source

Freshdesk: worth knowing

  • RemoteDay passes give occasional or temporary agents one day of access instead of a full license; the per-pass price is $2 on Growth, $7 on Pro and $12 on Enterprise. source
  • SecurityYou pick the data center region at sign-up. Moving to another region later means contacting Freshdesk support. source
  • SecurityThe Freshworks BAA covers only Freshdesk, Freshchat, Freshcaller and Freshdesk Omnichannel, not other Freshworks products. source

Intercom: worth knowing

  • SecurityThe IP allowlist covers the web app and the mobile conversations app, but not REST API endpoints. source
  • RemoteRegional Data Hosting (US, EU or Australia) is offered to new customers on a contract account, and existing workspace data can't be migrated directly to another region. source
  • SecurityOn top of TLS/SSL-only endpoints, Intercom says it encrypts data at rest. source
  • RemoteTeammates can reply to customer conversations from the Intercom Conversations apps for iOS and Android. source

Checked September 19, 2026 against each vendor’s own trust center, help docs and app pages. Hover or tap “source” to see the exact wording we relied on. “Not published” means we could not find the vendor saying it on its own site; it doesn’t mean the feature is missing. Plan names are the lowest plan the vendor says includes the feature. Security · Offline · Remote vs office · Download the data

Frequently asked questions

Which help desk tool is cheapest?

Of the 3 help desk tools HelpCompare tracks, the lowest published entry price belongs to Zendesk (From $19/seat/mo + per-resolution AI, verified September 12, 2026) and Freshdesk ($19/agent/mo (Growth), verified September 12, 2026). Entry prices are the cheapest paid tier each vendor publishes; the right answer at your team size depends on seat minimums and add-ons, which each head-to-head comparison breaks down.

Which help desk tools have a free plan?

Our research recorded no free plan for Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom; check each vendor for trials.

How do help desk tools charge for AI?

Zendesk: Metered / credit-based (AI resolutions). Intercom: Metered / credit-based (Fin AI outcomes).

Where does this pricing data come from?

Every figure was recorded from the vendor's own pricing page during research for a HelpCompare comparison, and is dated. The most recent check in this category was September 12, 2026. Nothing is estimated: where a vendor publishes no price, we say so. The full dataset is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 at helpcompare.com/data/.

Sources

Figures come from each vendor’s pricing page, recorded on the date shown. Download the full dataset from Open Data (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0).

Cite this page: HelpCompare, “Help Desk & Customer Support Software, Compared: Verified 2026 Pricing”, helpcompare.com/customer-support/ (updated ).

Source links on this site are checked every month; last check . How sources are checked.

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Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
About the author

Bill Belcamino

Founder and author, HelpCompare

Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent eight and a half years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 12, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.

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