How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- Zoho Desk has the best hosted free tier: 3 agents, free forever, with email ticketing and basic SLAs.
- Tawk.to is the most generous free hosted tool overall: unlimited agents, unlimited sites, live chat plus ticketing at $0.
- Freshdesk's old unlimited free plan is gone; it is now a 6-month program for 2 agents, so do not choose it expecting free forever.
- Open source options (osTicket, Zammad, Hesk, UVdesk) cost nothing in licenses but need a server and someone to maintain it.
- Spiceworks is free and hosted, but ad-supported, which rules it out for customer-facing support at many companies.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Zoho Desk | small teams that want a real hosted desk for free | $0 (free plan, up to 3 agents) | Yes |
 HubSpot Service Hub | teams already living in HubSpot's CRM | $0 (free tools) | Yes |
 Tawk.to | unlimited free live chat with ticketing built in | $0 | Yes |
 Spiceworks | internal IT help desks with zero budget | $0 | Yes |
 Hesk | the simplest possible self-hosted ticket desk | $0 (self-hosted) | Yes |
 osTicket | the classic open source ticket system | $0 (open source) | Yes |
 Zammad | a modern open source desk that feels current | $0 (self-hosted) | Yes |
 UVdesk | ecommerce teams that want a free open source desk | $0 (community edition) | Yes |
 Freshdesk | teams that want the big brand and will pay | $19 per agent/month (Growth, billed annually) | Free trial (14 days) |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best free help desk software
#1
Zoho Desk
Best for: small teams that want a real hosted desk for free
Visit zoho.com
Starting price$0 (free plan, up to 3 agents)
Free planYes
Zoho Desk's free edition is the closest thing this category has to a genuine free lunch. Three agents get email ticketing, a customer portal, a private knowledge base, predefined SLAs and mobile apps, with no time limit and no credit card. For a startup or a small support team, that covers the actual job. When you outgrow it, the paid ladder is gentle: Express at $7 and Standard at $14 per agent a month.
The limits are honest ones. Three agents is three agents, and features like the Answer Bot, telephony and multi-department ticketing sit on paid tiers. Zoho's interface also packs a lot in, so expect a learning curve. But as a free ticketing service that a business can run its support on without paying, Zoho Desk is the benchmark everything else gets compared to.
What we like- Free forever for 3 agents
- Email ticketing, knowledge base and SLAs included
- Clean upgrade path to cheap paid plans
Watch out for- Only 3 agents on free
- Advanced automation needs paid tiers
- Interface takes some learning
#2
HubSpot Service Hub
Best for: teams already living in HubSpot's CRM
Visit hubspot.com
Starting price$0 (free tools)
Free planYes
HubSpot's free tools include ticketing, a shared team inbox, live chat, email templates and basic reporting, all wired into the free CRM. That integration is the selling point: when a ticket arrives, the agent sees the customer's deal history, marketing touches and past conversations without switching tools. For a small business already using HubSpot for sales or marketing, adding free support ticketing is close to a no-brainer.
The catch is the upsell architecture. The features that make a help desk hum, a knowledge base, ticket automation, SLA management, live behind Starter (from $20 a seat a month) and Professional. HubSpot also moved to seat-based pricing with tighter free seat limits, so count your agents carefully. Use the free tier as long as it serves you, and budget for the jump before you need it.
What we like- Ticketing tied directly to the free CRM
- Shared inbox and live chat included
- Generous free contact management
Watch out for- Knowledge base and automation need paid tiers
- Free seat limits tightened in recent years
#3
Tawk.to
Best for: unlimited free live chat with ticketing built in
Visit tawk.to
Starting price$0
Free planYes
Tawk.to's pricing model is the inverse of everyone else's: the software is free, forever, with no per-agent fees and no conversation quotas. Unlimited agents, unlimited websites, unlimited chat history, plus a built-in ticketing system, a hosted knowledge base and a lightweight CRM. The company makes money on optional add-ons (branding removal, AI Assist, voice) and on hired human agents at about $1 an hour.
That generosity comes with trade-offs. The ticketing side is serviceable but not deep; this is a chat tool with tickets attached, not a ticketing platform with chat attached. The free tier carries tawk.to branding, removable for $29 a month per property. And if you ever need the add-ons across many sites, the per-property pricing adds up. For a small business that wants always-on chat and a place for tickets to land, nothing free comes close.
What we like- Unlimited agents, sites and chat history
- Ticketing and knowledge base included
- Genuinely free core with no quotas
Watch out for- "Powered by tawk.to" branding unless you pay
- Support automation needs paid add-ons
- Chat-first, ticket workflows are basic
Starting price$0
Free planYes
Spiceworks has offered a free help desk for nearly two decades, and it shows in the maturity of the basics: ticket management, a user portal, knowledge base, reporting and integrations with IT tools. The cloud version needs no server, and there is a self-hosted option for teams that want control. For an internal IT help desk at a school, nonprofit or small company, the price is exactly right.
The price you pay is attention. The interface is ad-supported, which is fine for internal IT staff and awkward for customer-facing support. The product is also built for IT workflows first; if you need polished customer support with branding and SLAs, look elsewhere. A paid option exists to remove ads, but at that point you are paying for a tool whose main virtue was being free.
What we like- Free cloud-hosted help desk
- Built for IT teams with asset tracking
- Huge community for troubleshooting
Watch out for- Ad-supported interface
- IT-focused, not ideal for customer support
- Limited customization
#5
Hesk
Best for: the simplest possible self-hosted ticket desk
Visit hesk.com
Starting price$0 (self-hosted)
Free planYes
Hesk is a reminder that simple still works. It is a free PHP and MySQL help desk, actively maintained (version 3.7.x releases continued through 2026), with unlimited staff accounts, ticket categories, canned responses, a knowledge base, custom fields and spam protection. It runs on ordinary shared hosting, and the free license asks only that you keep the "Powered by Hesk" credit visible.
What you do not get is modern SaaS polish: no native mobile apps, no deep automation, no AI anything. You also own the server, the backups and the updates. For a small business or hosting company that wants a straightforward ticket portal without per-agent fees, Hesk remains one of the most practical free options, provided someone technical is around to keep it running.
What we like- Free PHP help desk, actively maintained
- Unlimited staff and categories
- Simple setup on basic hosting
Watch out for- You host and maintain it
- Interface is dated
- Advanced features are thinner than modern SaaS
Starting price$0 (open source)
Free planYes
osTicket is the granddaddy of open source ticketing, and it is still going. It pulls inquiries from email, web forms and phone into a multi-user web interface, with ticket assignment, canned responses, SLAs and reporting. The community is large, documentation is everywhere, and because it is open source, there are no seat limits, no feature gates and no vendor deciding your pricing next year.
The trade-offs are the classic open source ones. You install it, secure it, update it and back it up. The interface feels its age next to modern tools, and anything beyond the basics means editing PHP or finding a plugin. For organizations with technical staff and a strict zero budget, osTicket is a workhorse. For everyone else, a hosted free tier will cost less in time.
What we like- Completely free and open source
- Email, web and phone ticket intake
- Mature and widely documented
Watch out for- Self-hosted only
- Dated interface
- Customization needs a developer
#7
Zammad
Best for: a modern open source desk that feels current
Visit zammad.org
Starting price$0 (self-hosted)
Free planYes
Zammad is what osTicket would be if it were designed this decade. It is free and open source, with a clean interface that pulls email, chat, phone, Twitter and Facebook into a single ticket view. Search is fast, the knowledge base is built in, and the whole thing feels like a modern SaaS product that happens to run on your server.
That last part is the catch. Zammad needs a proper Linux server and someone comfortable maintaining it; it is not a shared-hosting install like Hesk. If you would rather not host, the company sells a managed version starting at 5 euros per user a month, which is reasonable but not free. For technical teams that want a genuinely modern free help desk and can run it themselves, Zammad is the best open source pick on this list.
What we like- Free and open source to self-host
- Clean modern interface
- Email, chat, phone and social channels in one
Watch out for- Self-hosting needs real server skills
- Hosted version starts at 5 euros a user a month
- Smaller plugin ecosystem
#8
UVdesk
Best for: ecommerce teams that want a free open source desk
Visit uvdesk.com
Starting price$0 (community edition)
Free planYes
UVdesk comes from Webkul, an ecommerce software company, and that DNA shows. The free open source community edition handles email, web and social tickets with a knowledge base and workflow automation, and the available apps connect to Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop and other store platforms. For a small online store that wants order-aware support without paying per agent, that combination is distinctive.
Like all open source entries here, the free edition means you host it. The company's SaaS version starts at $11 a month if you would rather not. Community documentation exists but is thinner than osTicket's or Zammad's. If your support is tied to an online store and you have technical help, UVdesk deserves a serious look. Otherwise, the hosted free tiers above will get you running faster.
What we like- Free open source community edition
- Strong ecommerce integrations
- Multichannel ticket management
Watch out for- Community edition needs hosting and setup
- SaaS version starts at $11 a month
- Documentation can be thin
Starting price$19 per agent/month (Growth, billed annually)
Free planFree trial (14 days)
Freshdesk earned its place in every "free help desk" article for years with an unlimited-agent free plan. That era is over. As of 2026, the free offering is a program for new businesses: up to 2 agents for 6 months on classic Freshdesk, and it no longer appears as a plan card on the pricing page. After that, Growth starts at $19 per agent a month, with Pro at $55 and Enterprise at $89.
We include it here for honesty, not as a free recommendation. Freshdesk remains an excellent help desk, with mature ticketing, good automation and a real 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan. But if "free" is the requirement, every tool above beats it. Do not migrate your tickets to Freshdesk expecting the old free plan to still be there.
What we like- Mature, polished ticketing
- Strong automation and integrations
- Generous 14-day Enterprise trial
Watch out for- No more free-forever plan
- Free program limited to 2 agents for 6 months
- AI features add significant cost
How we chose
We checked each vendor's current pricing page and plan documentation in October 2026, with special attention to what "free" actually means: agent limits, time limits, ads, and self-hosting requirements. We included hosted free tiers, ad-supported tools and open source options so the list covers every real definition of free. We did not run hands-on trials. The Freshdesk free-plan change was verified against Freshworks' own support documentation and multiple September 2026 pricing reviews.
Free forever, free trial, or free to host: pick your meaning of free
Before choosing, decide which kind of free fits your situation. Free forever with limits (Zoho Desk, HubSpot, Tawk.to) is best when you want zero maintenance and can live within agent or feature caps. These are real products run by real companies, and the limit is the point: they want you to grow into a paid plan, which is a fair trade.
Free but ad-supported (Spiceworks) works for internal IT desks where nobody customer-facing sees the interface. It rarely works for customer support, where ads undermine the professional impression you are paying nothing to create.
Free to host (Hesk, osTicket, Zammad, UVdesk) is best when you have technical staff and a hard zero budget, or when data must stay on your own servers. The license costs nothing; the server, the maintenance time and the security responsibility are the real price. Budget those honestly. A "free" tool that eats five hours of sysadmin time a month costs more than a $20-a-month SaaS plan at any reasonable hourly rate.
And free for now (Freshdesk's 6-month program) is a trial by another name. Use it to evaluate, not to build on. Migrating a help desk is painful enough once; do not do it twice because the free plan expired.
Watch the limits that actually bite
Every free plan has a limit designed to convert you to paid, and the smart move is to know which limit will hit you first. Agent caps are the obvious one: Zoho Desk's 3 agents is fine until you hire a fourth support person. Ticket or conversation volume is the sneakier one: a free tier that covers your current 200 tickets a month breaks at 800, usually right when support load is spiking for other reasons.
Feature gates are the third kind. Knowledge bases, automation rules, SLAs and reporting are the features most often held back, and they are also the features that make a help desk scale. If you know you will need automation within a year, price the paid tier now rather than discovering the gate mid-crisis. Finally, check data export before you commit. A free tool that will not let your tickets out is not free; it is a trap with a $0 entry fee.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best completely free help desk software?
Tawk.to is the most generous: unlimited agents, unlimited sites, live chat, ticketing and a knowledge base at $0 with no time limit. For a traditional ticket-focused desk, Zoho Desk's free plan (3 agents, free forever) is the strongest hosted option.
Is Freshdesk still free?
Not really. Freshdesk's old unlimited free plan was replaced with a free program for new businesses: up to 2 agents for 6 months. After that, paid plans start at $19 per agent a month. There is also a 14-day free trial of the Enterprise plan.
What is the best free help desk software for IT teams?
Spiceworks is built for IT with asset tracking and a large technician community, free and cloud-hosted but ad-supported. For a more modern open source option, Zammad gives IT teams a clean multichannel desk they control completely.
Can I get a free help desk without hosting anything myself?
Yes. Zoho Desk, HubSpot Service Hub, Tawk.to and Spiceworks are all cloud-hosted with real free tiers. Only the open source options (Hesk, osTicket, Zammad, UVdesk) require your own server.
What is the catch with open source help desk software?
The license is free, but you provide the server, the installation, the security updates and the backups. For a team with technical staff, that is a good trade. For a non-technical team, a hosted free tier usually costs less in time and stress.
How many agents can I have on a free plan?
It varies widely: Tawk.to is unlimited, Zoho Desk allows 3, Freshdesk's program allows 2 for 6 months, and the open source tools are uncapped because you host them. Count your current agents and your likely hires for the next year before choosing.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://www.zoho.com/desk/
- https://www.hubspot.com/products/service
- https://www.tawk.to
- https://www.spiceworks.com
- https://www.hesk.com
- https://osticket.com
- https://zammad.org
- https://www.uvdesk.com
- https://www.freshdesk.com
- https://www.getmacha.com/blog/best-free-freshdesk-alternatives
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.