Professional services software

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

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

Help desk built on the HubSpot CRM so support sees the whole customer

Best for: Teams already using HubSpot CRM, sales or marketing

HubSpot Service Hub adds ticketing, a knowledge base, customer feedback surveys and a customer portal on top of the HubSpot CRM. Because tickets live…

• AI assistant
• Customer surveys
• Knowledge base
• Live chat

All-in-one help desk with live chat, call centre and ticketing

Best for: Teams that want ticketing, chat and calling in a single tool

LiveAgent is a help desk that combines ticketing, live chat, a call centre, social channels and a knowledge base in a single product. Agents…

• Departments and tags
• Knowledge base
• Live chat
• Mobile app

Live chat and AI chatbot for small online businesses

Best for: Small online businesses wanting chat plus a chatbot quickly

Tidio combines a website live chat widget, chatbots and a lightweight inbox in one product. Small online businesses use it to answer visitor questions,…

• AI assistant
• Canned responses
• Chatbots
• Integrations

Context-aware help desk that fits neatly into the wider Zoho ecosystem

Best for: Budget-conscious teams and Zoho CRM users

Zoho Desk is the customer service product from Zoho. It manages tickets across email, phone, chat, social and web forms, with an agent workspace…

• AI assistant
• Customer surveys
• Customisation
• Knowledge base