Free help-desk comparison
Best free help desk software
Compare genuinely free help-desk options with time-limited trials, including user limits, ticketing, live chat, knowledge-base access and upgrade costs.
Separate a permanent free plan from a free trial before investing setup time.
Record user, channel, automation, history and export limits alongside the £0 price.
Calculate the paid upgrade before importing customer history or publishing a help centre.
Product shortlist
Two free plans and four trial routes
Only Zoho Desk and HubSpot offer the permanent free entry routes highlighted here. The other products are included to show the paid destination a team may test before buying.
Zoho Desk
Best for: Budget-conscious teams and businesses already using the Zoho ecosystem
The free edition covers three users and email ticketing. Paid tiers add broader messaging, knowledge-base, reporting, automation and telephony capabilities in stages.
Free for 3 usersPaid plans vary by selected billing currency; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- Three-user free edition
- Broad channel and Zoho integration range
Watch for
- Plan and currency selectors make budgeting less immediate
- Live chat and advanced routing are plan-dependent
- 15-day trial
- Free edition
- Three users on free plan
HubSpot Service Hub
Best for: Businesses that want support, sales and marketing activity on one customer record
Free tools cover basic ticketing, inbox and live chat. The dedicated advanced help-desk workspace, knowledge base, SLAs and deeper routing are concentrated in Professional and Enterprise.
Free for up to 2 usersProfessional from $90/seat/month annually plus onboarding; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- Support history beside CRM, sales and marketing data
- Free entry tools and a large integration marketplace
Watch for
- Advanced help desk features require a large price jump
- Professional has mandatory onboarding cost
- 14-day trial
- CRM-connected service
- Two users on free tools
HelpDesk
Best for: Small teams that want ticketing, website chat and useful automation without an enterprise platform
A focused support workspace combining ticketing, a shared inbox, website chat, messaging channels, automation and reporting in one entry plan.
$19 per user/monthEssential, billed annually; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- Ticketing, website chat and messaging channels on Essential
- 14-day trial without a credit card
Watch for
- There is no permanent free plan
- Extra AI resolutions can add usage cost
- 14-day trial
- Email, chat and messaging
- Per-user pricing
Freshdesk
Best for: Growing teams that need proper ticketing, self-service, automation and reporting
A broad email-first help desk with ticketing, a shared inbox, a customer portal, knowledge base and out-of-the-box reporting on its entry paid plan.
$19 per agent/monthGrowth, billed annually; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- Ticketing, shared inbox and knowledge base on Growth
- Clearer route into routing, SLAs and custom reporting
Watch for
- Omnichannel needs differ from the email-first Freshdesk plan
- AI and connector usage can add cost
- Free trial
- Email-first help desk
- Per-agent pricing
Zendesk
Best for: Teams that expect multiple channels, mature routing and increasing operational complexity
The Support Team plan supplies core email ticketing, routing, analytics and automations. The broader Suite adds live chat, messaging, telephony and a knowledge base.
£15 per agent/monthSupport Team, paid yearly; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- GBP pricing and a clear entry ticketing plan
- Strong upgrade path for multichannel operations
Watch for
- Suite Team rises to £45 per agent/month
- Small teams may buy more process than they need
- 14-day trial
- GBP pricing available
- Per-agent pricing
Gorgias
Best for: Online shops that need order context and ecommerce actions inside support conversations
Unlike per-seat tools, Gorgias prices its help desk by billable ticket volume. Its strongest case is the depth of its Shopify and ecommerce workflow integrations.
$10/month for 50 ticketsStarter includes 3 agent seats; checked September 2026
Useful strengths
- Deep Shopify order context and actions
- Costs scale by tickets rather than only by agent seats
Watch for
- Overages and AI resolutions need modelling
- Entry plan is email-only and has limited operations features
- 7-day trial
- Shopify-focused
- Ticket-volume pricing
The best free help desk software is not simply the product with a £0 signup button. It must create a workable queue, support the required number of people and provide a credible route to export or upgrade. A time-limited trial is not a free plan, and a free plan can become expensive if its limits force manual work.
For a three-person ticketing team, Zoho Desk is the strongest permanent free option in this shortlist. HubSpot is the better two-user route when live chat and CRM context matter. HelpDesk, Freshdesk, Zendesk and Gorgias offer useful trials or inexpensive entry plans, but they should not be described as permanent free help desks on the evidence checked for this guide.
Free plans versus trials
| Software | Free route | Useful for | Paid destination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Desk | Permanent free edition for 3 users | Basic email ticketing and ownership | Paid editions add channels, reports and automation |
| HubSpot | Free service tools for 2 users | CRM records, basic tickets and live chat | Professional starts at $90/seat/month annually |
| HelpDesk | 14-day trial, no card required | Testing a focused ticketing and chat workflow | Essential $19/user/month annually |
| Freshdesk | Free trial | Testing ticketing, portal, knowledge base and reports | Growth $19/agent/month annually |
| Zendesk | 14-day trial | Testing a more complete service suite | Support Team £15/agent/month annually |
| Gorgias | 7-day trial | Testing ecommerce ticket and order workflows | Starter $10/month for 50 tickets |
What free should include
At minimum, a free help desk should accept customer email, show an owner and status, preserve history, support internal coordination and allow data export. A small team also benefits from saved replies, basic priorities, web forms and simple response targets.
Check the limits that affect daily work: users, support addresses, monthly tickets, history, attachments, rules and reports. Check the limits that affect leaving: whether tickets, contacts and articles can be exported in a useful format.
Zoho Desk: best permanent free ticketing plan
Zoho Desk's free edition supports three users. Current documentation lists one support email address, web forms, a customer help centre, basic service targets, two macros, canned templates and a private knowledge base among its free capabilities.
That makes it suitable for a small team moving from email and spreadsheets. The main constraint is growth: broader messaging, public knowledge features, custom reports and deeper automation sit in paid editions. Confirm the future edition before designing a workflow around paid-only capabilities.
HubSpot: best free CRM-led route
HubSpot's free service tools support up to two users and include a team inbox, basic tickets, live chat and CRM contact management. It is useful when the same people handle leads, onboarding and customer questions.
The advanced help-desk workspace, knowledge base and customer portal are part of Professional, which starts at $90 per seat each month annually and requires paid onboarding. That is a steep destination if the business only needs an inbox, but it can make sense when the wider HubSpot platform is already valuable.
Why the other products are not listed as free plans
HelpDesk offers a 14-day trial without a card, followed by Essential at $19 per user monthly on annual billing. Freshdesk offers a trial, followed by Growth at $19 per agent. Zendesk offers a 14-day trial, followed by Support Team at £15 per agent annually. Gorgias offers a seven-day trial and starts at $10 monthly for 50 billable tickets.
Trials are useful for evaluation because they let a team test real workflows. They are not a sustainable £0 operating model. Record the exact plan active during the trial, because a trial may include capabilities that disappear on the paid tier being considered.
The hidden cost of a free plan
Free software still consumes setup, training and migration time. If the plan lacks reporting, a manager may rebuild metrics manually. If it allows only one support address, the team may split customer history across systems. If permissions are too broad, free can introduce avoidable risk.
The correct comparison is therefore free plan plus manual work versus the paid plan that removes the constraint. Upgrading is justified when the monthly price is lower than the time, risk or missed revenue created by the limit.
A safe free-plan test
Use a new or low-risk support address rather than moving the entire operation on day one. Recreate 20 representative tickets, invite every intended user, test assignment and collision handling, generate the available reports and export the data.
Then write down the first three limits the team is likely to hit. Calculate the upgrade at today's headcount and the next hiring point. A free plan is a good choice when the team can use it honestly for several months—not when it is merely the first screen before an unavoidable expensive upgrade.
Our verdict
Zoho Desk is the best free help desk for a three-person team that wants basic ticket ownership. HubSpot is the better two-user option when CRM history and live chat matter. The paid products are worth trialling only when their specific workflow or scaling route justifies the subscription.
Treat £0 as a plan condition, not the buying decision. Reliability, export and the next-tier cost matter more than the absence of an initial invoice.
Sources
- Zoho Desk pricing
- Zoho Desk free-plan documentation
- HubSpot Service Hub pricing
- HelpDesk pricing
- Freshdesk pricing
- Zendesk UK pricing
- Gorgias plan guide
All plan facts come from provider sources. Product-fit conclusions are Support Sorted's editorial judgement.
Frequently asked questions
Questions readers ask before choosing
Is there a completely free help desk for a small team?
Yes. Zoho Desk has a permanent free edition for three users, and HubSpot provides free service tools for up to two users. Both have limits, so compare the workflow and future paid tier before importing important support history.
Is a free trial the same as a free help-desk plan?
No. A trial expires after a defined period and may expose features from a higher plan. A permanent free plan continues without subscription payment but normally limits users, channels, automation, reporting or branding.
What are the common limits of free help-desk software?
Common limits include a small number of users, one support address, basic reporting, limited automation, provider branding and no advanced routing. Export and knowledge-base capabilities should also be checked.
When should a team upgrade from a free help desk?
Upgrade when a limit creates missed work, manual reporting, weak permissions or an unreliable customer experience. Do not upgrade only because a paid feature looks useful; tie the cost to a specific operational problem.