COMPARISON
Customer support tools for small teams, with prices
The five kinds of customer support tool, what each costs on prices read on 23 September 2026, and how the number of people answering tells you which you need.
Customer support tools come in five kinds, and most small teams need only one or two of them. An AI support agent answers customers on your site from your docs. A helpdesk turns every message into a ticket with an owner. A shared inbox lets a few people answer one email address, live chat puts a person in a chat window on your site, and a help centre publishes articles customers can search. Which ones you need depends on how many people answer support, and at a small company that’s usually one person, often the founder.
Deacon is an AI customer support agent built for founders and small teams who handle support themselves. It answers your customers in seconds from your own docs, says so when it doesn’t know, and shows you what customers are stuck on and what they want next. There’s a free plan, and it needs no card.
Every price below was read on the vendor’s own pages on 23 September 2026, and each one links there. Where a pricing page opens on yearly billing, the monthly price is given too.
The five kinds of customer support tool
Each kind does a different job, and each charges for something different.
| Kind | What it does | Named tools | What you pay for | Skip it if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI support agent | Answers customers on your site from your docs, at any hour | Deacon, Fin, Chatbase, Tidio’s Lyro | A plan, outcomes, credits or conversations | Nothing about your product is written down yet |
| Helpdesk | Gives every message a ticket, an owner and a deadline | Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Zoho Desk | Seats, or tickets | One person answers everything |
| Shared inbox | Lets a few people answer one email address without replying twice | Help Scout, Front, Hiver | Seats | You’re the only one on the address |
| Live chat | Puts a person in a chat on your site while the visitor waits | tawk.to, Crisp, Tidio, LiveChat | Seats, a workspace or conversations | Nobody can watch the chat |
| Help centre | Publishes articles customers search, which an AI agent can also read | Help Scout Docs, HelpDocs, Helpjuice, Document360 | A flat monthly plan, or seats | Nobody will write the articles |
AI support agent
- What it does
- Answers customers on your site from your docs, at any hour
- Named tools
- Deacon, Fin, Chatbase, Tidio’s Lyro
- What you pay for
- A plan, outcomes, credits or conversations
- Skip it if
- Nothing about your product is written down yet
Helpdesk
- What it does
- Gives every message a ticket, an owner and a deadline
- Named tools
- Zendesk, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Zoho Desk
- What you pay for
- Seats, or tickets
- Skip it if
- One person answers everything
Shared inbox
- What it does
- Lets a few people answer one email address without replying twice
- Named tools
- Help Scout, Front, Hiver
- What you pay for
- Seats
- Skip it if
- You’re the only one on the address
Live chat
- What it does
- Puts a person in a chat on your site while the visitor waits
- Named tools
- tawk.to, Crisp, Tidio, LiveChat
- What you pay for
- Seats, a workspace or conversations
- Skip it if
- Nobody can watch the chat
Help centre
- What it does
- Publishes articles customers search, which an AI agent can also read
- Named tools
- Help Scout Docs, HelpDocs, Helpjuice, Document360
- What you pay for
- A flat monthly plan, or seats
- Skip it if
- Nobody will write the articles
Four of the five need someone free to reply or to write. An AI support agent is the one that answers customers when nobody is at the desk, which is why a founder answering support alone usually needs it first.
AI support agents
An AI support agent reads your docs and answers customers in a chat on your site, day and night. The good ones say when they don’t know instead of guessing. Some also act in your other systems, and AI agent vs chatbot explains the difference. They differ most in what they count, and in what happens when a plan’s allowance is used up.
| Tool | Free plan | First paid plan | What it counts | When it runs out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deacon | 50 answers a month, every feature, no card | Starter, $50 a month or $40 billed yearly, for 1,000 answers a month | Answers, on the same model on every plan | Nothing more is billed. Visitors get a short reply and are asked for their email if they haven’t left it |
| Fin, by Intercom | None, a 14-day trial | Intercom Essential, $19 or $29 a seat a month billed yearly, plus $0.99 an outcome | Outcomes, at most one a conversation | There’s no allowance. You can set a hard limit, after which conversations go to your team |
| Chatbase | 50 message credits a month, 1 member | Hobby, $40 a month or $32 billed yearly, for 700 credits | Credits, 1 to 6 a reply by model | The agent tells visitors it’s unavailable, unless you’ve switched on auto recharge at $40 for each 1,000 credits |
| Tidio’s Lyro | 50 Lyro conversations, once | From $39 a month, or $32.50 billed yearly, for 50 Lyro conversations | Conversations with at least one Lyro reply | The free 50 never renew. New projects on monthly billing move up a level at 95%, unless you switch that off |
Deacon
- Free plan
- 50 answers a month, every feature, no card
- First paid plan
- Starter, $50 a month or $40 billed yearly, for 1,000 answers a month
- What it counts
- Answers, on the same model on every plan
- When it runs out
- Nothing more is billed. Visitors get a short reply and are asked for their email if they haven’t left it
Fin, by Intercom
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial
- First paid plan
- Intercom Essential, $19 or $29 a seat a month billed yearly, plus $0.99 an outcome
- What it counts
- Outcomes, at most one a conversation
- When it runs out
- There’s no allowance. You can set a hard limit, after which conversations go to your team
Chatbase
- Free plan
- 50 message credits a month, 1 member
- First paid plan
- Hobby, $40 a month or $32 billed yearly, for 700 credits
- What it counts
- Credits, 1 to 6 a reply by model
- When it runs out
- The agent tells visitors it’s unavailable, unless you’ve switched on auto recharge at $40 for each 1,000 credits
Tidio’s Lyro
- Free plan
- 50 Lyro conversations, once
- First paid plan
- From $39 a month, or $32.50 billed yearly, for 50 Lyro conversations
- What it counts
- Conversations with at least one Lyro reply
- When it runs out
- The free 50 never renew. New projects on monthly billing move up a level at 95%, unless you switch that off
Fin suits a team already on Intercom, or one that needs an agent to act in other systems, such as issuing refunds. A resolution is billed when the customer confirms the answer or leaves without asking for more help. Intercom is testing two prices for Essential, so you may see $19 or $29 a seat a month on yearly billing, and $29 or $39 on monthly. Fin on another helpdesk needs no Intercom seat but has a 50-outcome monthly minimum, which is $49.50 a month before anyone writes in.
Chatbase reaches past your website, with WhatsApp from Hobby and phone calls from Standard. Its free plan’s agents are deleted after 14 days without use, a live handover runs through its Helpdesk, which the plan table lists from Standard at $150 a month, and taking “Powered By Chatbase” off costs $99 a month.
Tidio sells Lyro apart from its live chat plans, so the AI and the people answering sit on two meters. These four are a start, and the best AI chatbots for customer service ranks nine, with the plan where a person can take over. The best AI agents for customer service sorts nine agents by who they suit.
The wrong buy here is an agent with nothing to read. It can only answer what you’ve written down, so write down your most common answers first. How to set up an AI chatbot for documentation covers what it needs.
Helpdesks
A helpdesk turns each message into a ticket with a number, an owner and a deadline, so a team can split the work and show it got done. It’s built for several people answering, mostly by email, and it charges per seat or per ticket.
| Tool | Free plan | First paid plan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk | None, a 14-day trial | Support Team, $19 an agent a month billed yearly or $25 monthly | Support Team is email and ticketing. Chat and a help centre start with Suite Team, at $55 billed yearly or $69 monthly |
| Freshdesk | Free for 6 months, for up to 2 agents | Growth, $19 an agent a month billed yearly or $23 monthly | Its 500 AI sessions come once per account, then cost $49 for each 100 |
| Gorgias | None, a 30-day trial | Starter, $10 a month for 50 tickets, or $40 with its AI Agent | Built for online shops, and billed by the ticket, with $0.40 for each one over |
| Zoho Desk | Free for 3 users, with email ticketing | Express, $7 a user a month billed yearly or $9 monthly | Chat with signed-in customers starts on Standard, at $14 billed yearly or $20 monthly. The dollar prices are under USD in the page’s currency menu |
Zendesk
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial
- First paid plan
- Support Team, $19 an agent a month billed yearly or $25 monthly
- The catch
- Support Team is email and ticketing. Chat and a help centre start with Suite Team, at $55 billed yearly or $69 monthly
Freshdesk
- Free plan
- Free for 6 months, for up to 2 agents
- First paid plan
- Growth, $19 an agent a month billed yearly or $23 monthly
- The catch
- Its 500 AI sessions come once per account, then cost $49 for each 100
Gorgias
- Free plan
- None, a 30-day trial
- First paid plan
- Starter, $10 a month for 50 tickets, or $40 with its AI Agent
- The catch
- Built for online shops, and billed by the ticket, with $0.40 for each one over
Zoho Desk
- Free plan
- Free for 3 users, with email ticketing
- First paid plan
- Express, $7 a user a month billed yearly or $9 monthly
- The catch
- Chat with signed-in customers starts on Standard, at $14 billed yearly or $20 monthly. The dollar prices are under USD in the page’s currency menu
Most helpdesks now include an AI agent and bill its use on top of the seats. Zendesk’s AI agents are on every plan, at $1.50 a resolution committed in advance or $2.00 pay as you go past the allowance. Freshdesk’s AI agent answers email on Freshdesk itself, and chat only in its Omni bundle. Zendesk competitors compares what the AI costs on each, Zendesk vs Freshdesk sets those two side by side, Freshdesk pricing goes through Freshdesk’s plans and AI sessions, and AI help desks sets out what each one counts as a billable unit.
The wrong buy is a helpdesk for one person. Ticket numbers and owners exist so two people don’t answer the same customer, and when you’re the only one answering, every ticket is yours the moment it arrives.
Shared inboxes
A shared inbox is one email address that a few people answer together, set up so two of them don’t reply to the same customer. It still works like email, mostly without ticket numbers or deadlines, and it charges per person.
| Tool | Free plan | First paid plan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts a month | Standard, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $30 monthly | Its AI Answers cost $0.75 a resolution, free for a new account’s first 3 months |
| Front | None, a 14-day trial | Starter, $25 a seat a month billed yearly or $35 monthly, for up to 10 seats | Starter takes one channel, email, chat or SMS. Its AI agent costs $0.89 for each conversation it resolves |
| Hiver | None, a 7-day trial | Growth, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $35 monthly | Every plan starts at 2 seats. It runs inside Gmail, or as its own app at the same prices |
Help Scout
- Free plan
- 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts a month
- First paid plan
- Standard, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $30 monthly
- The catch
- Its AI Answers cost $0.75 a resolution, free for a new account’s first 3 months
Front
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial
- First paid plan
- Starter, $25 a seat a month billed yearly or $35 monthly, for up to 10 seats
- The catch
- Starter takes one channel, email, chat or SMS. Its AI agent costs $0.89 for each conversation it resolves
Hiver
- Free plan
- None, a 7-day trial
- First paid plan
- Growth, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $35 monthly
- The catch
- Every plan starts at 2 seats. It runs inside Gmail, or as its own app at the same prices
If two or three of you answer from one address, Help Scout’s free plan covers up to five people while you find out whether you need more. Its pricing page also mentions a startup plan for early-stage companies. Help Scout pricing sets out what comes after the free plan. Front pricing goes through Front’s three plans seat by seat, with its Autopilot and Copilot add-ons, and Front alternatives sets six other tools against Front on seat price, channels and AI.
The wrong buy is a shared inbox with one person on it. You’d pay per person for a feature that only matters once there are two.
Live chat
Live chat puts a chat window on your site with a person behind it. The visitor types and someone on your team replies while they wait, so it only works while someone is watching.
| Tool | Free plan | First paid plan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| tawk.to | Live chat, free for good, for unlimited team members | AI Assist, from $29 a month. Its free tier gives 100 message credits a month | Taking “Powered by tawk.to” off costs $29 a month |
| Crisp | 2 seats, with no AI | Mini, $45 a month for the workspace, with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits, which Crisp puts at around 90 automated conversations | Taking “We run on Crisp” off needs Plus, at $295 a month |
| Tidio | 50 conversations a month that your team replies in, 10 seats | Starter, $29 a month or $24.17 billed yearly, for 100 | Its AI agent, Lyro, is sold separately |
| LiveChat | None, a 14-day trial | Starter, $25 a month or $19 billed yearly, for 1 user | Its AI agent comes with a sister product, Text, from $19 a user a month billed yearly or $25 monthly |
tawk.to
- Free plan
- Live chat, free for good, for unlimited team members
- First paid plan
- AI Assist, from $29 a month. Its free tier gives 100 message credits a month
- The catch
- Taking “Powered by tawk.to” off costs $29 a month
Crisp
- Free plan
- 2 seats, with no AI
- First paid plan
- Mini, $45 a month for the workspace, with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits, which Crisp puts at around 90 automated conversations
- The catch
- Taking “We run on Crisp” off needs Plus, at $295 a month
Tidio
- Free plan
- 50 conversations a month that your team replies in, 10 seats
- First paid plan
- Starter, $29 a month or $24.17 billed yearly, for 100
- The catch
- Its AI agent, Lyro, is sold separately
These four are a start, and live chat software for a small business website ranks eight for a small team. If you’re leaving tawk.to or LiveChat, tawk.to alternatives and LiveChat alternatives compare what to move to, and Tidio is set against the other three in Tidio vs tawk.to, Tidio vs Crisp and Tidio vs LiveChat.
The wrong buy is live chat nobody can watch. A chat that goes unanswered for an hour tells the visitor nobody is there, which is worse than an email address that says you’ll reply tomorrow. Chatbot vs live chat sets out what each covers and costs, and the setup in between.
Try Deacon for free
Install DeaconHelp centres
A help centre is a website of articles your customers search. It answers nobody by itself, but it’s what an AI support agent reads, so the writing does two jobs.
| Tool | Free plan | First paid plan | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout Docs | 1 Docs site, on the free plan | Standard, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $30 monthly, with 2 Docs sites | It comes with Help Scout’s inbox rather than on its own |
| HelpDocs | None, a 14-day trial with no card | Sprout, $99 a month billed yearly or $129 monthly, for 5 editors | AI credits are capped by plan, at 1,000 a month on Sprout |
| Helpjuice | None, a 14-day trial with no card | $249 a month, for 30 users | Its AI writer, search and chatbot start on the $449 plan |
| Document360 | None, a 14-day trial | Not published | Priced by workspaces, languages, team accounts and AI usage, after a form |
Help Scout Docs
- Free plan
- 1 Docs site, on the free plan
- First paid plan
- Standard, $25 a user a month billed yearly or $30 monthly, with 2 Docs sites
- The catch
- It comes with Help Scout’s inbox rather than on its own
HelpDocs
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial with no card
- First paid plan
- Sprout, $99 a month billed yearly or $129 monthly, for 5 editors
- The catch
- AI credits are capped by plan, at 1,000 a month on Sprout
Helpjuice
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial with no card
- First paid plan
- $249 a month, for 30 users
- The catch
- Its AI writer, search and chatbot start on the $449 plan
Document360
- Free plan
- None, a 14-day trial
- First paid plan
- Not published
- The catch
- Priced by workspaces, languages, team accounts and AI usage, after a form
The wrong buy is a help centre nobody writes for. The software is the cheap part, so start small and see whether the writing habit sticks before you pay for more. The best knowledge base software ranks these four and four more for a small team.
Which kind you need
Count the people who answered a customer last month. That number picks your tools better than any feature list.
If it’s one person, usually you, you need answers, not a queue. An AI support agent takes the repeat questions, and a few pages of docs give it something to answer from. Tickets, owners and rotas are for splitting work between people you haven’t hired yet. Customer support for startups puts the rest in the order a startup usually needs them, with the discounts helpdesks give startups.
If it’s two or three people, the first thing that breaks is two of you answering the same customer. A shared inbox fixes that for email. Keep an AI support agent on your site too, so the repeat questions never reach the inbox. Our guide to help desk software for a small business ranks eleven products, with what three people pay on each.
If it’s a team with a rota, and you promise replies within a set time, a helpdesk earns its seat price. Routing and deadlines become things you use every day rather than rows on a comparison table. Helpdesk automation shows which plan unlocks each.
Whichever it is, look through last month’s messages for the ones you answered by pasting a link. Those are the questions an AI support agent takes off your hands. How to reduce support tickets shows how to count them.
Deacon, for founders who answer support themselves
Deacon is an AI support agent, the first kind, built for the founder who answers support alone. It also covers what a founder needs from live chat and a help centre, without a helpdesk to run.
It answers in seconds, at any hour. Deacon replies to your customers from your website, your files, text you paste in and the answers you write, in whatever language they write in. When your docs don’t cover a question, it says it doesn’t know instead of guessing, and asks for the visitor’s email. There are no flows or decision trees to build. You add one script tag to your site, or give the prompt from the Install page to a coding agent such as Claude Code, Cursor or Codex.
You can still reply like live chat, without watching one. When a visitor leaves their email or asks for a person, you get an email. Type your reply in the dashboard, and if they still have the chat open, it appears there under your name. Deacon’s website chat widget gives you the AI and the person behind it in one.
Your site can be the help centre. Give Deacon your website and it reads your home page and the pages visitors ask about first, such as your pricing and help pages. You can untick any it shouldn’t use. It also learns from a single page added by its link, uploaded PDFs, Word files and other documents, and text you paste in. You don’t need a separate help centre for it to answer from.
It gets better as you answer. A question your docs didn’t cover gets an Answer this button in the dashboard. Write the answer once and Deacon can answer the next person who asks. Save & check shows you the reply it now gives and how many other open questions your answer covers.
It shows you what customers need. Every conversation is saved and searchable by what visitors asked. Topics group the questions, count the people who asked and label most of them as a feature ask, a bug report, a how-to and so on, so you hear from everyone who asks and not just the loudest few. The same script runs your website analytics, with visitors, sources, goals and funnels.
Every feature is on every plan, the free one included. Free gives you 50 answers a month, with no card, no end date and nothing deleted if you go quiet. Starter is $50 a month, or $40 a month billed yearly, for 1,000 answers a month and 3 seats. Growth is $150 a month, or $120 a month billed yearly, for 4,000 answers a month and 10 seats. Nothing is billed past a plan’s answers, no plan upgrades itself, and there’s no “powered by” line to pay to remove.
What the price card leaves out
The monthly price is rarely the whole bill. These are the costs that turn up after you sign up.
- Paying per resolution. Fin charges $0.99 an outcome, Front’s AI agent $0.89 a resolved conversation, Help Scout’s AI Answers $0.75 a resolution and HubSpot’s Customer Agent $0.50. Zendesk charges $1.50 or $2.00 a resolution past its allowance. The bill grows as the AI does its job, and again as your customers grow.
- Credits that run dry. Chatbase spends 1 to 6 credits a reply depending on the model, and once they’re gone its agent tells visitors it’s unavailable until the credits renew on the 1st of the month, unless you buy more.
- A badge to pay for. Taking the vendor’s name off your chat costs $99 a month on Chatbase and $29 on tawk.to. On Crisp it needs Plus, at $295 a month. On Help Scout it needs Plus, at $45 a user a month billed yearly or $54 monthly, and on Intercom it needs Advanced, at $85 a seat billed yearly or $99 monthly.
- Free plans that end. Freshdesk’s free program lasts 6 months, Chatbase deletes a free agent after 14 days without use, and Tidio’s 50 free Lyro conversations never come back.
- Features kept for higher plans. HubSpot’s Customer Agent needs a Professional or Enterprise subscription, such as Smart CRM Professional, from $45 a seat a month billed yearly or $50 paid monthly over a year. Intercom sells topics and trends in its Pro add-on, from $100 a month when we read it on 10 October 2026, and Chatbase keeps topic analysis for its Pro plan, at $500 a month or $400 billed yearly.
- Upgrades you didn’t choose. Tidio moves a new project on monthly billing up to its next level at 95% of its quota, unless you switch that off.
Deacon’s plans work differently. The price is set, nothing is billed past a plan’s answers and no plan upgrades itself. Every plan answers with the same model, so no allowance drains faster on a better one. The free plan has no end date, Topics are on every plan, free included, and no plan carries a “powered by” line.
Questions about customer support tools
What are customer support tools?
Software that helps you answer your customers. The five kinds are AI support agents, helpdesks, shared inboxes, live chat and help centres, and many vendors sell two or three of them together. Zendesk sells a helpdesk, a help centre and AI agents, and Help Scout sells an inbox, a Docs site and AI Answers.
What’s the best customer support tool for a small business?
The one that fits how many people answer. If it’s you alone, start with an AI support agent such as Deacon and your own docs. If two or three of you share an email address, add a shared inbox, and Help Scout’s free plan covers up to five people. A helpdesk such as Freshdesk or Zendesk earns its price once you run a rota.
Are there free customer support tools?
Yes. Deacon’s free plan gives you 50 answers a month, with every feature and no end date. tawk.to’s live chat is free with unlimited team members, Help Scout’s free plan covers 5 users with a Docs site, Zoho Desk’s covers 3 users with email ticketing, and Tidio’s covers 50 conversations a month. Freshdesk is free for 6 months for up to 2 agents. Free ticketing systems adds the open source helpdesks you host yourself, with what they really cost.
Is Deacon a helpdesk?
No. Deacon has no tickets, queues, routing or rotas, and no support inbox for email. It answers customers on your website, and you reply from its dashboard when someone needs you. It doesn’t connect to a helpdesk, so if you need one as well, the two run side by side.
Can Deacon answer email, phone calls or WhatsApp?
No. Deacon answers in a chat widget on your website. It has no phone agent, no support inbox for email and no WhatsApp, Instagram or SMS channel.
Can Deacon take actions, such as refunds?
No. Deacon answers questions and hands conversations to you, and it takes no actions in other systems. It declines questions about a visitor’s own account, invoice or data, and asks for their email so you can reply.
What happens when a month’s answers run out?
Visitors get a short reply saying Deacon can’t look into that one right now, and are asked for their email unless they’ve already left it in that conversation. Nothing is billed past your plan’s answers, and you can still read and reply to every conversation.
Try it on your own documentation
Add your help pages, ask it the question you know your docs cannot answer, and watch it say so.
The free plan covers 50 answers a month on one seat, and the paid plans are on the pricing page.
Free plan, no card.
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