Best help desk software for small business: 6 tools compared on price

Best help desk software for small business: the short list

The best help desk software for a small business is Help Scout for a free shared inbox of up to 5 users, Zendesk Support Team for email tickets at $19 per agent a month billed annually, and LiveChat when tickets start as chats. Zendesk Support Team is $25 per agent billed monthly, as read on 7 October 2026.

New LiveChat trials start on Text plans, per LiveChat's pricing page, which calls Text "the next product from the team behind LiveChat". Essential is $19 per user a month billed annually, or $25 billed monthly, and keeps chats, tickets and a contact form in one inbox.

Tickets, inboxes and where live chat starts

Zendesk Support Team is email and ticketing, and live chat starts on Suite Team, $55 per agent a month billed annually or $69 billed monthly. Help Scout Standard lists live chat and SMS, and LiveAgent Small lists ticketing and live chat. HubSpot's Service Hub Free lists ticketing and team email, Starter lists live chat, and HubSpot says its live chat and chatbot builder start free with no credit card.

Gorgias prices by tickets, never per agent, and its pricing page lists email, chat, social and help center among its channels. In LiveChat, a chat becomes a ticket with its transcript in the first message.

Turning email into tickets

LiveChat turns incoming email into tickets through forwarding: Essential includes 1 forwarding address and Growth includes 10. The contact form on your site creates tickets on every plan, and a ticket form can replace the chat prompt when nobody is online, so visitors file something to triage later.

Help Scout's Free plan includes 1 inbox and Standard adds multiple inboxes.

Free plans and trials

Help Scout's Free plan includes 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 Docs site, and its Standard and Plus plans carry a 15-day trial with no credit card. HubSpot Service Hub Free is for up to 2 users. LiveAgent gives 30 days, Gorgias 7 days and Zendesk 14 days, opening on Suite Professional.

LiveChat has no free plan, and its 14-day trial needs no card. LiveChat says its trial is the full plan, so a team can run real conversations through the shared inbox before paying.

Who should pick which

• Help Scout for an email-led team: a free shared inbox for up to 5 users, then Standard.
• Zendesk Support Team for email tickets at $19 per agent a month, billed annually; Zendesk alternatives lists cheaper options with live chat.
• LiveAgent Small for the lowest per-agent price in this table, $15 billed annually.
• Gorgias for a store that wants to pay by tickets instead of agents.
• HubSpot Service Hub Free for a team of up to 2 already working in HubSpot's CRM.
• LiveChat for a team whose tickets start as chats.

LiveChat Essential forwards email into tickets from one address and keeps 60 days of history; Growth raises that to 10 addresses and unlimited history. Chat-first teams can start from best live chat software or best live chat software for small business.