Free Help Desk Software: What's Actually Free in 2026
Free Help Desk Software: What's Actually Free in 2026
Two hosted help desks still have a genuinely permanent free plan: Zoho Desk at 3 users and HubSpot Service at 2 users. Freshdesk no longer lists one, whatever the older roundups say. If you want free without a seat cap, you are looking at self-hosted open source, where the licence is free and the hosting is not.
Start with the word itself, because three very different things get sold as "free".
"Free" Means Three Different Things
| Kind | What you actually get | What it really costs |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | A permanent plan with a hard seat cap | Usually branding, and the features you need are one tier up |
| Free and open source | The whole product, no seat cap | Hosting, upgrades, and email deliverability |
| Free trial | The full product for 14 days | Nothing, then everything |
Most listicles mix all three into one table, which is how Freshdesk keeps appearing on free help desk lists when its pricing page no longer offers a free plan at all.
The Correction: Freshdesk Has No Permanent Free Plan
Freshdesk's pricing page lists three plans, and none of them is free. Growth is $19 per agent per month billed annually, Pro is $55, Enterprise is $89. The only free option on that page is a 14-day trial of Enterprise, after which, in their words, "your account will be suspended." There is a separate startup program covering 2 agents for six months, but six months is a runway, not a free tier, and you are shopping again in month seven.
One detail worth knowing if you are comparing quotes: the page's own meta description still claims pricing starts at $15, while the plan cards say $19. Trust the cards.
We compared the paid field in Freshdesk alternatives if that is where you landed.
Or own the front end outright: Help Desk Kit
The Help Desk Kit is a Next.js help desk you buy once and keep: 110 screens with inbox and SLA tracking, ticket detail with internal notes separated from customer replies, a knowledge base editor, automations as TypeScript files, and reporting. No per-agent fee, ever. $131 solo, $199 team, $349 agency.
Get the Help Desk Kit → or get every kit (18 total) for $749 via All UI Kits →
Free Hosted: The Two Real Options
Zoho Desk Free Edition
Three user licences, labelled "Free Forever" on Zoho's own pricing page, separate from their 15-day trial. It is email ticketing, described on the page as "easy email ticketing, right out of the box."
What you don't get: Zoho is explicit that automation, multi-department support, SLAs, AI features and custom roles are not in the free edition. Light users are not available either. If you need an SLA policy, you are on a paid plan.
Best for: a three-person team whose support is email and who want zero infrastructure.
HubSpot Service Free Tools
Two users, $0 a month, no credit card. More generous than Zoho on channels: live chat, conversational bots with limited features, Facebook Messenger, ticketing, calling, and a reporting dashboard with 10 dashboards.
What you don't get: no knowledge base, no SLAs, no help desk workspace, no skill-based routing, no macros, no WhatsApp. Snippets cap at 3 and email templates at 3 per account. Paid tiers raise those to thousands.
The catch that matters: HubSpot branding is required on the free tier. Live chat "includes HubSpot branding", so does 1-to-1 email, and you get one personal meetings link with HubSpot branding on it. Removing branding starts at Starter, which the page lists from $7 per seat per month.
Best for: two-person teams who want live chat included and do not mind the badge.
Free Without a Seat Cap: Self-Hosted
No seat limit, no branding, no upgrade prompt. You pay in hosting and attention instead. The short version:
| Tool | Stack | Free means |
|---|---|---|
| osTicket | PHP + MySQL | Unlimited agents, no branding |
| FreeScout | PHP + MySQL | Free core, SLA and automation are paid modules |
| Zammad | Ruby on Rails | Fully free, heaviest to host of the three |
| Chatwoot | Ruby on Rails | Free self-hosted, cloud from $19/agent |
| UVdesk | PHP (Symfony) | Unlimited agents, stated on their pricing page |
Realistic hosting for a small team is $20 to $60 a month, and the ongoing cost is upgrades and email deliverability rather than money. We go tool by tool in Open Source Ticketing System: 7 Self-Hosted Options, and covered why these deployments quietly fail in Why Self-Hosted Help Desks Stall After Six Months.
One That Looks Open Source But Isn't
Hesk appears on nearly every open source help desk list. It is free to download and genuinely well maintained, with version 3.7.12 released on 3 September 2026. But its site never names an open source licence, and the free version carries "Powered by Hesk" branding that you remove by buying a licence: $49.99 one-time for one installation, $199.99 for five.
That makes it free software in the price sense, not the licence sense. Fine if free is what you wanted. Not fine if you needed to read or modify the code.
How to Choose in Sixty Seconds
- Two or three agents, email only, no infrastructure appetite. Zoho Desk free.
- Two agents, want live chat, fine with a badge. HubSpot Service free tools.
- Four or more agents, someone can run a server. osTicket, or FreeScout if you want it lighter.
- Support should live inside your product. Build the front end, or start from the Help Desk Kit.
- You are only free-shopping because Zendesk got expensive. Read open source Zendesk alternatives instead, since the honest answer there is usually a cheaper paid tool rather than a free one.
Skip the Build: Help Desk Kit
The Help Desk Kit is the front end already built. 110 screens, Next.js + Tailwind + shadcn/ui. Inbox with SLA tracking, ticket detail with internal notes visually separated from customer replies, live chat, knowledge base editor, automations as TypeScript files, and reporting designed to hold up as volume grows.
It is a frontend kit. You bring the email infrastructure and the database. $131 solo, $199 team, $349 agency. Or every kit (18 total) for $749 via All UI Kits.
Get the Help Desk Kit → or See All UI Kits →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any genuinely free help desk software?
Yes, two kinds. Zoho Desk has a free-forever plan for 3 users and HubSpot Service has free tools for 2 users, both hosted with no cost at all. Separately, osTicket, Zammad, FreeScout, Chatwoot and UVdesk are free to licence with no agent limit, but you host them yourself, which realistically costs $20 to $60 a month plus your time.
Does Freshdesk still have a free plan?
Not a permanent one. Freshdesk's pricing page lists Growth at $19 per agent per month billed annually, Pro at $55 and Enterprise at $89, plus a 14-day Enterprise trial that suspends the account when it ends. A separate startup program covers 2 agents for six months. Older roundups that list Freshdesk as permanently free have not been updated.
What is the best free help desk for a small team?
For three people or fewer who only need email, Zoho Desk's free edition. For two people who want live chat as well, HubSpot's free tools, as long as HubSpot branding on your chat widget is acceptable. Past three or four agents, a self-hosted osTicket install usually beats both, because the seat caps are what push teams onto paid plans.
What is the catch with free help desk tiers?
Three catches, in order of how often they bite. Seat caps, which is why teams outgrow free in month four. Branding, since HubSpot requires its badge on free live chat and email. And missing essentials: Zoho's free edition excludes SLAs and automation entirely, so the first time you need an escalation rule you are on a paid plan.
Is free help desk software good enough for a real business?
For a small team, yes. Email ticketing, a shared queue and basic reporting are solved problems, and the free tiers do them properly. The limits that matter are people and process, not features: once you need SLAs, routing rules or more than three agents, the question stops being "is it free" and becomes "what does it cost at our size in two years."
Is Hesk free and open source?
Free, yes. Open source, no. The free version is fully functional but displays "Powered by Hesk" branding, and Hesk's own site never names an open source licence. A one-time $49.99 licence removes the branding on one installation.
