14 Best Free Help Desk Software For CX Teams In 2023

LiveAgent is a popular online help desk system. It supports live chat, ticket management, self-service portals, and license management.

Each ticket contains the complete history of conversations with that particular customer. This includes emails, chat messages, phone calls, or communications via other channels.

The software can be customized to scale with companies as they grow. LiveAgent is available in both cloud-based and on-premise versions.

This tool integrates with business platforms such as Shopify, Mail.ru, PipeDrive, and ‎Twilio.

LiveAgent offers a ‘forever free’ plan with limited features.

ServiceDesk Plus is the full-stack service management software for enterprises from ManageEngine. It provides a wide range of IT solutions that support IT service management (ITSM) workflows, no-code customizations, advanced reporting, native integrations, and smart automation.

One of the key features of ServiceDesk Plus is its 13 distinct ITIL4-compatible practices including incident management, change enablement, and request management to help you improve your operations. The software also comes with comprehensive problem management features that provide IT support teams the ability to categorize, analyze, and resolve issues, while also identifying issues that are similar or repetitive so they can close tickets at a much faster pace.

The platform’s change management system is another feature that is designed to help IT teams better implement IT modifications with reduced risk, thanks to more streamlined planning, approval, and implementation processes. ServiceDesk Plus also has an integrated knowledge management system, a virtual assistant feature, and AI capabilities.

On the client side, the platform offers self-service portals where people can create requests and follow up on the status. It also has a live chat for real-time support, a knowledge base where you can record solutions to common problems for users, and help desk mobile apps that can help you get support whenever you need it.

Other capabilities of ServiceDesk Plus include automatic ticket routing, and escalation rule creation to avoid SLA violations.

LiveAgent is help desk software with plenty of features and integrations. You can connect the tool to all your communication channels including calls, chat, email, video, and social. And you can bring in customer data from the other platforms your business uses including Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Shopify. The tool also has a powerful chat widget you can connect to your website.

This has features like the ability to proactively message customers based on triggers like time on site or the number of pages they visit. There’s also phone support with features like call recordings, IVR, transfers, and automated callbacks.

It has outbound calling features so you can contact customers when needed. And agents can login to handle calls anywhere with softphones.

LiveAgent starts at $15 per agent per month for the ticketing software. The all-inclusive plan with call center support costs $49 per agent per month. You can try each plan for free on the website.

ProProfs Help Desk is a customer service tool that helps support teams keep track of customer request issues. Managers can prioritize, assign, and label tickets to ensure they are handled most appropriately.

Core features include a shared inbox, canned responses, collaborative email, ticket prioritization, and reporting. You can apply filters and sort by labels, assignees, milestones, status, or workflow configuration.

You can also use Round-Robin or advanced ticket assignment to ensure that tickets are evenly distributed. The Gmail-style interface ensures that agents will feel comfortable using the system.

This tool integrates with business tools such as Survey Maker, Chat, and Knowledge Base.

ProProfs allows you to start with a free plan and upgrade when you are ready.

Using HubSpot’s help desk software, you can capture, organize, and track all customer inquiries in one dashboard. You can easily track metrics such as agent response time and support ticket volume. The routing and automation features reduce manual data entry and improve efficiency.

The system automatically converts customer emails or chats into tickets and routes them to the right person. Requests can be prioritized so that critical issues are handled first. You can also assign owners to individual tickets and organize them into a personal pipeline of work.

This tool integrates with software applications such as Salesforce, Survey Monkey, HotJar, and GoToWebinar.

HubSpot offers a free starter plan for new users.

HelpScout is help desk software built for email and live chat. All contact is collected in the shared inbox which has plenty of features like private messaging, ticket management, and the ability for managers to assign tasks.

Agents can access customer data from within the inbox, including information from other apps. For example, you can connect Shopify to see the customer’s purchase history.

You can also create automations using a simple if/then No-Code builder. Just choose an action to act as a trigger and then select what happens when this occurs. For example, you could assign all messages with the keyword “product demo” to someone in your sales team.

The tool has a powerful website chat widget. This allows customers to contact your support team from the webpage they are browsing. You can also add information to the widget, for example, documents or a knowledge base search bar. With thisin place, customers can access the information they need without contacting your support team, therefore reducing inbound contact volume.

You can also provide relevant help by proactively sending automated messages to people as they browse your website. HelpScout integrates with plenty of business tools including Slack, Google Apps, and Mailchimp. Further integrations are available via Zapier.

The tool starts at $25 per user per month but proactive messaging to over 2,000 unique website viewers costs extra. You can sign up for a free trial on the website.

It lets customers contact your support team from within your product or website, as well as via channels like social media and email. Meanwhile, agents can access important customer information such as past conversations and issue details. The stand out features are all the self-help options.

You can add resources to your chat widget and even customize what shows up depending on the page.Or you can use proactive support functionality to solve customer problems before they even occur. For example, you can send automated messages when users perform a particular action, such as spending a certain amount of time on a particular page.

Other self-help options include the ability to create product tours to help people get up to speed with your features, and automated messages that go out when customers show signs of struggling with your product.

The tool also has plenty of features that streamline live help. These include a help desk ticketing system, collaboration, ticket routing, and templated responses.

Intercom has a starter plan for very small businesses that costs $74 per month when billed annually. Larger businesses should contact the sales team for pricing information.

Freshdesk is a ticketing system that converts all incoming emails and social media conversations into tickets. Thanks to the built-in workflow automations, you can simplify ticket routing and assign tickets to the right people.

Agents can change ticket status and priority as required, as well as collaborate with other team members directly from the ticket interface. Using the knowledge base, customers can find answers to their questions so that agents are free to focus on more complex matters.

The software keeps track of critical metrics relating to ticket creation, deletion, and lifecycle. You can also monitor real-time trends in the dashboard to identify bottlenecks before they become serious.

This help desk tool integrates with popular apps such as Whatsapp, Slack, Shopify, and Microsoft Teams.

The free plan supports up to 10 agents.

Zendesk is customer service software with powerful help desk functionality. It lets you organize support from multiple channels including messaging, email, voice, and social media in a single inbox.

The tool has features to help your team offer fast support. You can create routing rules so agents can answer tickets that best match their abilities, whether that is language or a particular type of product expertise. You can also use the chat widget to automatically collect extra details about the customer problem or identify intent so you can route them to the most relevant agent.

Another cool feature is the ability to create a customer community you can use to offer support. Your team can use this as an extra support channel, or you can encourage members to help each other.

It’s particularly useful because any community member can benefit from help you give in the community, not just the people who ask the question.

Basic Zendesk Service starts at $19 per agent per month when billed annually. The Zendesk Suite plan starts at $49 per agent per month when billed annually.

HelpDesk is easy-to-use software with all the features you need to manage support. The tool brings email, messaging, and chat into a single dashboard so you can respond to communication easily. And it gives each agent full visibility into the customer’s support history to provide context into their issues.

I like the collaboration features. They make it easy for agents to tag other people in a post to get specialist help. And these conversations are clearly marked as private so you know the customer can’t see it. It’s also easy for agents to see when people are already working on a ticket to avoid collisions.

The tool has several automation features that speed up support. A useful one is that you can automate replies based on keywords in the message. For example, if the text contains the word “refund,” you can automatically send a message with instructions about how to request a refund.

Other time-saving features include the ability to create templated responses and perform bulk actions.HelpDesk connects with Zapier to enable integrations.

It costs $34 per agent per month for the team plan. This also comes with unlimited viewer roles. You can sign up for a free trial on the website.