Help desk pricing index 2026: what 24 support tools charge

Help desk pricing in 2026 runs from $0 to $177 a month for a team of three, or $0 to $165 on annual billing, and AI agents cost anything from nothing to about $2.00 per resolved conversation. This index lists what 24 tools used by support teams charge, Convot included, each figure read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 30 September or 1 October 2026. Six of those pages no longer matched figures that are still widely quoted, including two price rises.

Disclosure: Convot publishes this index and is one of the tools in it. Convot’s figures follow the same rules as everyone else’s: list price, billing period stated, no discounts.

What is in this index

• Key findings
• Help desk prices for a team of three
• AI agent prices
• What the rest of the support stack costs
• Prices that changed or are often misquoted
• How each vendor prices
• Method
• Cite or reuse this index
• FAQ

Key findings

• Three people on a help desk cost $0 to $165 a month billed annually, or up to $177 billed monthly, on the cheapest plan that fits. tawk.to is free, Gorgias Starter is $10 for 50 tickets, and Zendesk Suite Team is $165 billed annually.
• AI agent pricing uses at least five different units. Vendors charge per resolution, per conversation, per automated interaction, per session or in credits, so a lower headline number is not always a lower bill.
• The cheapest per-unit AI is free or near free. tawk.to lists its AI agents as free forever for limited volume, Front’s Autopilot starts at $0.05 per conversation, and Crisp bundles AI credits into its plans.
• The most expensive per-unit AI is Zendesk, reported by third parties at about $2.00 per automated resolution on pay as you go, with lower committed rates. Zendesk’s own pricing page explains the billing but shows no dollar rate.
• Two vendors raised prices. Front Starter is now $25 per seat billed annually, up from the $19 still widely quoted, and Plain Foundation is $45 per user, up from $35.
• Annual and monthly prices get mixed up. Tidio Starter’s $24.17 headline is its annual price; billed monthly it is $29. Most vendors in this index show an annual price first.

Help desk prices for a team of three

Help desk prices for three people range from $0 on tawk.to to $165 on Zendesk Suite Team, on the cheapest plan that covers three people with live chat or email, as each vendor lists it. Prices are per month in US dollars, with the billing period stated, because many vendors lead with their annual price.

Some cheap entries carry tight limits. Gorgias Starter covers 50 tickets a month, Tidio Starter 100 billable conversations, Crisp lists its knowledge base and AI chatbot from Essentials, and Front Starter supports a single channel type, so live chat plus email needs Front Professional at $65 per seat billed annually. Zendesk Support Team is $19 per agent billed annually, $57 for three; its channel and help center limits were not checked here, and Suite Team lists one help center.

The ranking changes with team size and with the number of products you support. Per-seat tools grow in a straight line with every hire. Gorgias and Tidio grow with ticket or conversation volume. Crisp charges per website workspace, so each extra product is a new subscription. Convot charges by app with seats included, adding $20 per app and $10 per seat. For a side-by-side at 3, 7 and 12 agents, see the best help desks with flat pricing.

AI agent prices

The AI agent is the line that varies most between vendors, and it is often billed on top of the seat price. The unit matters as much as the number, so it is listed for each tool.

A per-conversation price and a per-resolution price are not the same deal. A tool that charges per conversation bills every conversation the AI touches, including ones a person later has to finish; a per-resolution tool bills only the ones the AI closes. To compare at your own volume, use the AI support cost calculator, or the help desk price calculator for the full monthly bill including seats and extra products.

What the rest of the support stack costs

Support teams often pay for feedback boards, a changelog, a status page, scheduling and revenue reporting separately. These are the tools most often bought beside a help desk.

Bought separately, a feedback board, a status page and a scheduler on their first paid plans add about $118 a month for one seat, before any help desk. Canny Pro, Statuspage Hobby and Calendly Standard come to $79, $29 and $10. Several help desks bundle one or more of these: Re:amaze lists a status page on Pro, Crisp lists one from Essentials, Featurebase includes a changelog and roadmap, and Convot includes a changelog, roadmap, status page and scheduling for each app. The comparison of help desks with a built-in changelog and status page covers that question in detail.

Prices that changed or are often misquoted

Six vendors’ own pricing pages did not match figures that still circulate in roundups, including some on convot.io before this check.

• Front raised its prices. Front Starter is $25 per seat billed annually ($35 monthly), Front Professional $65 ($85), and Enterprise $105, annual only. The widely quoted $19 and $49.40 are the old prices.
• Plain raised its prices. Plain Foundation is $45 per user billed annually ($55 monthly), up to 5 users, and Horizon is $99 per user with a 3-seat minimum. The older $35 Foundation and “$299 for 3 seats” Horizon figures no longer apply.
• Tidio’s headline is an annual price. Tidio Starter shows $24.17, which is the annual rate; billed monthly it is $29. Lyro is $39 for 50 conversations billed monthly, about $0.78 each, not the $0.50 often quoted.
• Gorgias AI is sold in bundles, priced by billing period. As of 3 October 2026, Gorgias AI Agent comes in bundles of 30, 30, 190 and 530 automated interactions, which work out to $1.00 each billed monthly and $0.90 billed annually on every plan; the earlier $0.85 on Advanced no longer applies. The pricing page says you pay only when it resolves a conversation.
• tawk.to’s AI agents are listed as free. tawk.to’s automation page lists up to 10 AI agents per account as free forever with no per-resolution fee, while its pricing letter still sells AI Assist from $29 a month above a free tier for limited chat volume.
• Beamer’s roadmap has a free tier. Beamer’s Feedback add-on includes a public ideas portal, unlimited votes and a public roadmap free; Feedback Pro, at $99 a month billed yearly, adds private boards, moderation and branding.

Canny’s free plan also includes a changelog and private boards, and Canny custom domains start on Pro, not Business. Re:amaze lists a status page on its Pro plan.

How each vendor prices

The pricing unit predicts how a bill grows better than the entry price does.

• Per seat, agent or user: Intercom, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Front, LiveChat, Re:amaze, Chatwoot, Plain and Featurebase. Every hire adds a fixed amount.
• Per ticket or conversation: Gorgias by tickets, Tidio by billable conversations. A busy month costs more even with the same team.
• Per workspace: Crisp, where each website or product is its own subscription.
• Per app, seats included: Convot, where each extra product costs $20 and each extra seat $10.
• Free, with paid add-ons: tawk.to, which charges for branding removal, AI Assist and hired agents.
• Per tracked or active user: Canny by tracked users and Beamer by monthly active users, so growth in your user base raises the bill.
• Per ARR band: ChartMogul and Baremetrics, priced by the revenue they report on.

For teams that support more than one product, the per-workspace and per-brand rules matter most. Crisp charges per website, Intercom limits multiple brands to Expert, Featurebase lists multi-brand on Enterprise, Re:amaze adds brands on Pro and Front adds workspaces on Professional. The guide to help desks for teams running more than one app compares those rules.

Method

Every figure in this index comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, read on 30 September or 1 October 2026, with AI prices re-checked on 3 October 2026. The one exception is Zendesk’s per-resolution AI rate, which Zendesk does not publish; that figure is a third-party estimate and is marked as one. Where a page does not state a billing period, the table says so. Where a page renders prices in the browser and a fetch could not read them, the figure is confirmed against at least two third-party pricing trackers and marked; that applies to Instatus Pro at $20 and Business at $300. Zendesk shows its committed AI rate in local currency only, and the US dollar committed rate was not confirmed, so only the $2.00 pay-as-you-go rate is listed.

The rules applied to every tool, including Convot:

• List price only. No startup programs, non-profit discounts or negotiated rates, though several vendors offer them: Featurebase lists 86% off for young startups, Plain 50% off, ChartMogul $50 a month off for a year and Instatus a free Pro plan for open-source projects.
• Billing period stated. Where a vendor shows both, both are given.
• The cheapest plan that fits. For the three-person table, the cheapest plan that covers three people with live chat or email, with its limits noted.
• Units as the vendor defines them. A resolution, an outcome, a session and an automated interaction are each the vendor’s own term.

Prices change. This index records one date, 1 October 2026, and will be rechecked monthly; check the vendor’s page before you buy.

Cite or reuse this index

You are welcome to quote, chart or republish any table in this index, in whole or in part, with a link back to this page. Suggested citation:

Convot, “Help desk pricing index 2026: what 24 support tools charge”, checked 1 October 2026, convot.io/blog/help-desk-pricing-index-2026/

If you spot a price that has changed, email [email protected] and the index will be corrected with the date of the change.

For wider context, the AI customer service statistics page collects 131 sourced figures on AI adoption, customer attitudes, support jobs and chatbot regulation, including the AI prices from this index.

FAQ

What is the cheapest help desk for a small team?

For three people, tawk.to is free with no stated agent limit, and Gorgias Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets. Among paid plans with a help center and no ticket cap, Convot Starter is $49 a month billed monthly for 1 app and 3 seats, Freshdesk Growth is $57 billed annually for three agents (email ticketing; live chat is not listed on its pricing page), and Chatwoot Startups is $57 for three agents (billing period not stated). Help Scout’s free plan covers up to 5 users, 1 inbox and 100 contacts a month.

Which help desk has the cheapest AI agent?

By headline price, tawk.to lists its AI agents as free for limited volume, then Front’s Autopilot from $0.05 per conversation and Crisp’s bundled credits at about $0.055 per automated conversation. Among tools that charge per resolution, Convot’s Cove AI is $0.20, Featurebase’s Fibi $0.49, Help Scout’s AI Answers $0.75 and Intercom’s Fin $0.99 per outcome. Zendesk does not publish its rate; third parties report about $2.00 pay as you go.

How much does Zendesk cost for a small team?

Zendesk Suite Team is $55 per agent a month billed annually, so $165 for three, and Zendesk Support Team is $19 per agent. Zendesk’s AI agents are billed per automated resolution, reported by third parties at about $2.00 on pay as you go. The Zendesk pricing breakdown covers the plans in detail.

How much does Intercom cost?

Intercom Essential is $29 per seat a month billed annually, Advanced $85 and Expert $132, and Fin AI is $0.99 per outcome on top. Three seats on Essential cost $87 a month before Fin. Intercom’s page also showed a $19 new-customer Essential price on 1 October 2026, an offer it has switched on and off since June. The Intercom pricing breakdown covers seats, Fin outcomes and add-ons.

How often is this index updated?

Monthly. Each refresh rechecks every vendor’s pricing page and records what changed and when; the next check is 1 November 2026.