The Best Free Customer Service Software List
Here are the top 10 free customer service software I’d like to highlight out of the 25 I cover in this article:
- 5. DiamanteDesk — Best free customer service software for eCommerce companies that need customization
- 10. Zoho Desk — Best for omnichannel communication through social media, email, chat, and video calling
Online support is key to providing a smooth and efficient experience for your customers when they need to connect with your business. The great news is that you don't need to break the bank to offer stellar digital support; the best free customer service software platforms provide a host of valuable features, completely free of charge.
Live chat bots, templates, ticket management and support, service level agreement (SLA) management, shared inboxes, integration, and collaboration features are just the tip of the iceberg. The customer service systems on this list offer maximum functionality at minimal cost.
In this article I’ll quickly evaluate and take you through my list of the best free customer service software. Let's dive in.
What is free customer service software?
Customer service software helps customer support teams resolve client issues in a timely and accurate fashion. These tools for customer support keep customer requests organized via a ticketing system, help the customer service team to communicate and collaborate with each other, and track customer issues as they are transferred or escalated.
Free customer service software provides many of the fantastic features of paid software for customer support, without a monthly or annual fee. These tools are an excellent way for startups and small businesses to enhance customer support while remaining within a tight budget.
Overviews Of The 25 Best Free Customer Service Software
Here’s a brief description of each of the best free customer service software on my list showing what it does best, plus screenshots to showcase some of the features.
LiveAgent
Best to manage a help desk and knowledge base
LiveAgent is a multi-channel customer support software with help desk and knowledge base management features. Customer support teams can view and manage tickets from the shared inbox, and set up auto-assignment so every request is accounted for. Email, live chat, and phone are all supported by the system for multi-channel customer request management. The software's automation capabilities help reduce repetitive tasks like sending follow-up messages and filtering out spam.
Support teams can set up a knowledge base for clients with various types of self-serve content to manage common problems. The WYSIWYG content editor is simple to use and customizable themes provide an opportunity for branding your help center. The software also has reporting tools to gain insights into your customer support operations and productivity.
While a free-forever plan is not offered, a 7-day free trial gives teams a chance to test out the tool's functionality and get a feel for the system. Several pricing tiers are available to cater to varying business needs and team sizes. Paid plans start from $12/agent/month.
HubSpot
Best CX software for small businesses
If you’re looking for a heavyweight option, HubSpot is a marketing, customer service, sales, and content management system all within one easy-to-use software. Their platform uses an inbounding strategy to build and maintain meaningful relationships with your customers by taking a customer at a “prospect stage” and turning them into a promoter. HubSpot also offers a great customer feedback system, and allows your team to create custom surveys, objects, and videos.
HubSpot offers free plans for their CRM, sales, service experience, and marketing tools that never expire.
Freshdesk
Best for teams who need Microsoft, Slack, or WhatsApp integrations
Used by over 40,000 customer teams such as Panasonic, HP, and American Express, Freshdesk sticks to its “delighting its customers for life” slogan. With their simplified support features such as support tickets, collaboration, help widgets, and analytics, it’s easy to find a help desk solution no matter the industry, use case, or size of your team.
Another thing I really like about their software is the ability to access their Freshworks Academy and Resource Center to learn and improve customer relations.
Their “sprout” plan allows for unlimited free agents, ticketing, knowledge bases, and datacenter locations. If you want to try out any of their other paid plans, Freshdesk provides a 21-day free trial.
User.com
Best for marketing, sales, and management teams
User.com is a flexible, free help desk software for your whole company—sales, marketing, management, and support will be able to collaborate and automate all on the same interface.
The personalized and customizable solutions let automation take over and deliver a great omnichannel communication system so the right customer receives the right message all the time. With User.com’s customer tracking, your team will be equipped with accurate customer data and timelines.
The free plan gives you a nice range of basic features that are free forever. If you’re looking for more, pricing for the personal plan starts at $49/month to help you scale up fast.
DiamanteDesk
Best free customer service software for eCommerce companies that need customization
With DiamanteDesk’s fully open-source software, you have control over everything—the code base, customizations, development, and seamless integrations.
The learning curve is a bit more steep than others on this list, and it’s aimed at companies who have teams that are familiar with Stack and Bootstrap. This is a unique software service with a diverse team with multiple language, programming, and managerial backgrounds that will help you along the way.
The software offers ticket system management functionality, a helpdesk, customer relations, customer requests, and data organization solutions.
Taimer
Best software for managing customer invoices, expenses, and bills all from one place
Another cloud-based help desk, Taimer can be accessed from any device, anywhere. They aim to replace your applications with their business management solution that helps to eliminate switching between them.
As you can see, Taimer is all about unified solutions, so they combine CRM, project management, resource planning, invoicing, and reporting to simplify work. Get real-time data with the account manager, which measures customer KPIs and metrics to measure risk and customer progress.
With their free plan, Taimer allows up to 2 users. Features with the free plan include mobile use (android and iOs compatible), CRM, sales, marketing, and team chat options. Their most popular “sales management” plan starts at $16/month/user.
NABD
Best multi channel service for healthcare and medical businesses
NABD is an all-in-one customer support software that provides your team with a plethora of useful tools to help streamline work and engage customers at all times of the day. The selective case management engine helps you define your business’s needs and rules for automation.
On top of everything, NABD provides mobile, live chat, and third party app integrations so you can access anything anywhere while using the apps and chats your customers are already familiar with, such as Salesforce or Microsoft products.
The free plan provides you with a lot of tools and features. This includes communication channel use, customer support, case management, automation, and customer self service.
ServiceSight
Best free customer service software for home service businesses
ServiceSight, by Protean Software, was created for small businesses—they know how vital startups and small businesses are to the economy. By providing a functional cloud based software, ServiceSight offers scheduling, quote creation, tracking, and collaborative updates with your customers and support team.
ServiceSight allows up to 5 free users with everything a business needs to manage jobs, workers, and customers.
Tidio
Best build-your-own AI chat widget for SMBs
Tidio is a customer service platform that can help you level up your customer support and generate more sales. Tidio comes with an easily accessible live chat widget that makes your business available 24/7, while AI-powered chatbots engage your customers in real-time. Tidio is currently being used on 300,000+ websites worldwide.
Tidio is designed and built for small businesses. It is delightfully easy to set up and use, so you can transform your customer service into a sales machine in no time.
Connect Messenger, Instagram, live chat, and email to Tidio’s multichannel tool and answer all messages from one place, also on mobile. Tidio easily integrates with all websites and platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Wix, BigCommerce, and many others.
Tidio is free for 3 operators and up to 100 unique visitors. Paid plans costs from $39/month and come with a 7-day free trial.
Zoho Desk
Best for omnichannel communication through social media, email, chat, and video calling
Zoho Desk has created tidal waves within automation, customer support, and productivity. As a leader in customer service software, this company used a context-focused outlook to improve agent productivity and customer self-service. Zia, Zoho Desk’s AI system, aids the context-focused process by creating a huge base of knowledge from current and previous customer interactions to ensure solutions and fix loose-ends.
Free for up to 3 agents, Zoho Desk’s plan includes email ticketing, customer management, help and knowledge centers, various integrations, and a multi-language help desk.
The Best Free Customer Service Software Summary Table
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LiveAgent Best to manage a help desk and knowledge base | 30-day free trial | From $15/agent/month | Visit Website |
2 | HubSpot Best CX software for small businesses | 14-day free trial + freemium version | From $45/month | Visit Website |
3 | Freshdesk Best for teams who need Microsoft, Slack, or WhatsApp integrations | 21-day free trial | From $18/agent/month | Visit Website |
4 | User.com Best for marketing, sales, and management teams | Free Plan | From $49/month to help you scale up fast | Visit Website |
5 | DiamanteDesk Best free customer service software for eCommerce companies that need customization | Not available | Visit Website | |
6 | Taimer Best software for managing customer invoices, expenses, and bills all from one place | Not available | From $16/month/user | Visit Website |
7 | NABD Best multi channel service for healthcare and medical businesses | Not available | Visit Website | |
8 | ServiceSight Best free customer service software for home service businesses | Not available | Visit Website | |
9 | Tidio Best build-your-own AI chat widget for SMBs | 7-day free trial | From $19/user/month | Visit Website |
10 | Zoho Desk Best for omnichannel communication through social media, email, chat, and video calling | 15-day free trial | From $20/agent/month | Visit Website |
Need expert help selecting the right Customer Service Software?
We’ve joined up with the software comparison platform Crozdesk.com to assist you in finding the right software. Crozdesk’s Customer Service Software advisors can create a personalized shortlist of software solutions with unbiased recommendations to help you identify the solutions that best suit your business's needs. Through our partnership you get free access to their bespoke software selection advice, removing both time and hassle from the research process.
It only takes a minute to submit your requirements and they will give you a quick call at no cost or commitment. Based on your needs you’ll receive customized software shortlists listing the best-fitting solutions from their team of software advisors (via phone or email). They can even connect you with your selected vendor choices along with community negotiated discounts. To get started, please complete the form below:
Other Free Customer Service Software Options
Here’s a few more that didn’t make the top list, in case you’re looking for something specific.
- Jira Service Management
Best for communication between development and operation teams
- ProProfs Help Desk
Best issue tracker and smart reports
- EngageBay
Best for teams who need telephony, sales automation, and multi-deal pipelines
- Kommunicate
Best for customer chat support
- Bitrix24
Best for solo entrepreneurs
- Spiceworks Help Desk
Best for IT professionals and tech brands
- Userlike
Best advanced features for data privacy
- Froged
Best for fixing and avoiding churn rate with customers
- SysAid
Best for manufacturing sectors
- Customer Thermometer
Best for customer service surveys
- Mint Service Desk
Best for incident and asset management
- LiveAgent
Best for social media integrations
- Agile CRM
Best for integration with Google and Twilio
- Qubicles
Best software for matching agents with call centers
How I Selected The Best Free Customer Service Software
What do I look for when selecting the best customer service software? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): What kind of customization does the software provide? Is the navigation and UI well-organized? Are there too many features or options for your business?
- Usability: Is it easy to learn and master? Does the company offer good tech support, user support, tutorials, and training? Does the free version offer enough tools to make the software useful for your business or team? Is there a mobile app?
- Integrations: How easy is it to connect with other tools? Are there pre-built integrations? How many third party applications can the software integrate with?
- Value for $: How appropriate is the free plan for the features and capabilities, with respect to your use case?
Best Free Customer Service Software Key Features
- Real-time, instant customer feedback
- Data and end user analysis capabilities
- Active team communication
- Mobile usability
- Lead capturing
- Chat and messaging history and analytics
- Customer reports
- Shared inboxes
- Internal and external help desks
- Language optimization
You might also like: 10 Best Customer Service for Small Business.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your customer service team is looking for a free online customer system, you might have a few questions before signing on. Let's take a look at some FAQs regarding the free customer service software solutions contained on this list.
What are the benefits of free customer service software?
Free customer service software has many benefits. The leading customer service software generally share the following:
- Helping teams organize incoming customer issues via a ticketing system
- Tracking customer issues so that customers do not need to repeat themselves as an issue is escalated
- Service level agreement (SLA) management
- Fast and easy support for your customers
- FREE and therefore perfect for small business and startup budgets
How does free customer service software work?
Free customer service software allows customers to connect with your company via the web. Customers can use a live chat bot directly on your website, or connect with you on social media.
The best customer support solutions offer omnichannel support, meaning that all customer issues are contained within a singular interface whether they originate on your website, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
When a customer submits a request, the online customer service system delivers it to your team according to routing rules that you establish. From there, customer issues can be tracked as they are escalated and eventually resolved.
Other Free Software Reviews
Curious what other customer software you can get for free? Here are some of my other reivews.
What Do You Think?
A recent study by Kayako shows 52% of customers are more likely to remain loyal to a company that has live chat. When your company chooses to upgrade customer service with the best software for customer support, you're not only enhancing customer experience, but also brand loyalty.
So what’s the bottom line? If you run a small business or have a small customer support team that isn’t making use of customer service software yet, it's time to get started.
Have you tried any of the customer service software listed above? Do you have a CX tool or customer experience management software that you would add to the list? Let me know in the comments!
For more about digital experience management and customer experience management, I invite you to subscribe to The CX Lead newsletter. You can also join the waitlist for The CX community.
Related Read: 10 Best Customer Relation Management Software In 2023