Customer Support software

Open-source customer engagement platform you can self-host

Best for: Technical teams that want an open-source, self-hosted support tool

Chatwoot is an open-source customer support platform that unifies live chat, email, social channels and messaging apps in one inbox. Because the Community Edition…

• API access
• Canned responses
• Knowledge base
• Live chat

Affordable live chat and unified inbox for small businesses

Best for: Startups and small ecommerce teams wanting affordable live chat

Crisp provides live chat, a shared inbox, a chatbot, a knowledge base and a basic CRM in one product aimed at small businesses and…

• Canned responses
• Chatbots
• Co-browsing
• Contact management

Conversational marketing and chat platform, now part of Salesloft

Best for: B2B sales and marketing teams with high-intent web traffic and rep capacity to staff chat

B2B conversational marketing and chat platform, now part of Salesloft. Quote-based annual contracts.

• Chatbots
• CRM integration
• Lead management
• Live chat

Messaging platform with free plan, AI agent and WhatsApp, SMS and social channels

Best for: Teams already using Freshworks products, and startups that want a free start for chat

Messaging platform from Freshworks with a free plan, Freddy AI agent and WhatsApp, SMS and social channels.

• AI assistant
• Chatbots
• Live chat
• Multichannel messaging

Value-priced help desk with automation, a free starter program and Freddy AI

Best for: Small and mid-sized teams that want strong capability at a lower price

Freshdesk is the help desk product from Freshworks. It collects email, chat, phone and social conversations into one ticket queue and gives agents canned…

• AI assistant
• Canned responses
• Collision detection
• Knowledge base

Collaborative shared inbox for teams that live in email

Best for: Customer-facing teams that prefer a collaborative inbox over rigid tickets

Front combines email, SMS, chat and social channels into a shared inbox that feels familiar but adds assignment, internal comments, rules and analytics. Teams…

• AI assistant
• Collision detection
• Knowledge base
• Live chat

Person-centered customer service platform built around the customer, not the ticket

Best for: Established consumer brands that want a single, continuous conversation per customer

Customer-centric service platform with one continuous conversation per customer across every channel. Quote-based, enterprise-oriented pricing.

• AI assistant
• Automation
• Customer data sidebar
• Multichannel messaging

Help desk built for ecommerce stores with deep Shopify integration

Best for: Ecommerce brands with high order-related ticket volume

Gorgias is a help desk designed for online stores. It pulls order, customer and shipping data from platforms such as Shopify into each ticket,…

• AI assistant
• Canned responses
• Customer data sidebar
• Live chat

Simple shared inbox and help desk for small support teams

Best for: Small teams that want a simple, email-first help desk

Simple shared inbox and help desk for small teams, with knowledge base, reporting and a 30-day free trial.

• AI assistant
• Knowledge base
• Reporting and analytics
• Shared inbox

Human-feeling shared inbox and help desk for small support teams

Best for: Small teams that want a human-feeling shared inbox

Help Scout is a help desk designed to feel like email rather than a ticket queue. Teams share inboxes, add internal notes, assign conversations…

• AI assistant
• Canned responses
• Collision detection
• Contact management

Ticketing system with AI agents for small teams, from the makers of LiveChat

Best for: Small teams that want an affordable ticketing system with built-in AI assistance

Affordable ticketing system with built-in AI agents, from the LiveChat team. Plans from $19 per user per month billed yearly.

• AI assistant
• Canned responses
• Live chat
• Reporting and analytics

Gmail-based help desk that turns shared inboxes into tickets

Best for: Google Workspace teams handling support by email

Hiver is a customer service tool that works inside Gmail. Teams share inboxes such as support@ or sales@, assign emails, add notes and track…

• Collision detection
• Email assignment
• Email templates
• Knowledge base