"Free help desk" tends to mean three different things:
- A plan that stays free
- A trial with an expiration date
- A chat widget that cannot receive email.
They are easy to mix up on a pricing page. But they are not the same product, especially if you already have a support@ email address running.
We make Fernand, so you know where this is going. What follows is still just what four free plans include, and the first cap you are likely going to hit. Checked in November 2026.
What free has to cover
A small SaaS team already has a mailbox.
A free plan that is useful on day one has to take all those emails and live chats, not only a widget on the marketing site. Two people in your company have to see the same threads without having to share a password. And there has to be a place for the answers you already repeat.
But what no other tool is offering is a free AI agent. Fernand is the only one that offers an agent in your live chat that can take over repeating questions, onboarding frustrations and can seamlessly escalate to a human when it's needed.
The caps
| Help desk | Stays free? | Email on the free plan | The cap you hit first |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernand | Yes | Yes | 100 messages sent per month |
| Help Scout | Yes | Yes | 100 contacts per month. No live chat, no AI |
| Crisp | Yes | No, chat only | Two seats, and no shared mailbox |
| Freshdesk | For 6 months | Yes | Two agents, then you have to pay |
1. Fernand
Well, this one is obviously ours, so we know it best! Bring up to 5 separate email addresses, hook up live chat with an AI agent you can actually train, build a knowledge base, and handle all of this through a calm shared inbox à la Superhuman Mail.
When we say free, we mean it. No credit card. No fee per AI resolution. Free, really.
The limit is 100 messages sent per month, and a "Sent via Fernand" line on outgoing email. Stripe, Linear, GitHub, Paddle, Polar, and Lemon Squeezy are on the free plan, so billing context and issue tracking can sit next to the thread without an upgrade.
$29 per human who can reply removes the cap and the footer, and adds Slack Connect. Until then, free is the product, not a preview of it.
- Best for
- Founders and small SaaS teams who need email, chat, docs, and AI on day one.
- Pricing
- Free forever with 100 messages a month. $29 per human per month removes the cap.
- Where it falls short
- No phone channel, and 100 outbound messages a month is tight if you already have a busy mailbox.
2. Help Scout
Help Scout's free plan is a real shared inbox. Five users, one inbox, one Docs site with up to ten articles. You can help 100 contacts a month. Email works. There is no live chat, and no AI. Replies go out with a "Sent with Help Scout" line.
The contact cap is the one that shows up first. At 100, mail still arrives. You just cannot reply until the cycle resets, or you upgrade. Standard is $30 per user per month. That is also where live chat and AI start.
Ten help articles fill up quickly once you have billing, login, and an integration to explain. AI Answers are $0.75 per resolution on paid plans.
- Best for
- Email-first teams of a few people, with low volume and a short help center.
- Pricing
- Free for 5 users, 1 inbox, 10 articles, and 100 contacts a month. No live chat, no AI. Standard starts at $30 per user per month.
- Where it falls short
- The contact cap arrives first. Live chat and AI are not on the free plan.
3. Crisp
Crisp's free plan is a chat widget, an inbox for those chats, a contact form, two seats, and mobile apps. It stays free. It does not include a shared email inbox, or AI credits.
That is a reasonable first widget if the site bubble is your only channel. It is a different tool from a help desk for support@. Email is only available as from the Mini tier.
- Best for
- Solo founders who only need a chat widget and two people in the inbox.
- Pricing
- Free forever for chat, two seats, and a contact form. Mini starts at $45 per month per workspace and adds email.
- Where it falls short
- No shared email, no AI, and no knowledge base on the free plan.
4. Freshdesk
Freshdesk calls it a Free Program, but it reads like a free plan. Freshworks documents two agents, for six months, on Freshdesk only. Then, you move to paid, and you cannot return to the program after an upgrade.
So what do you get in those six months? Well ,you get classic ticketing: email, a knowledge base, assignment, basic reports. It is a fair way to try Freshdesk. But it is also a restless place to build a help center you expect to keep.
The Growth plan is $19 per agent per month, billed annually.
- Best for
- Teams that want to try classic ticketing for a few months before paying.
- Pricing
- Free Program for 2 agents, 6 months. Growth from $19 per agent per month, billed annually.
- Where it falls short
- It is a time-boxed program, not a free-forever plan, and AI is not what you are getting for $0.
Where teams tend to land
Teams that already answer email, with two people in the inbox, often want email included and seats that are not the meter. That is the free plan we run.
Teams that like Help Scout's product, with low volume, can start there and watch the 100-contact cap. Teams that only need a bubble for now can stay on Crisp and treat email as a later upgrade. Freshdesk's six months is a test of that way of working.
You can also self-host FreeScout, Zammad, or Chatwoot's community edition. The software is $0, and you can vibe code it to extend it the way you like. Of course, you then become the person who patches, maintain it, host it, and keeps it secure. For a two-person SaaS, that is a second product diverting your attention.
Fernand is free to try on your existing mailbox. Set it up in 5 minutes, and see for yourself if it's a fit or not. No credit card needed anyway!