Here, “best” means cheapest at a stated headcount with the constraints a shared-channel team hits, not the best product. This page compares list prices, who counts as a seat, what the pricing pages say about Slack, free-tier limits and AI billing. It does not score feature quality, SLA timers or reporting, so check those in the feature list of the tier you would buy.
This page is published by Weft. The rows labeled “Publisher” are Weft’s own plans, taken from its pricing page like every other figure here. They sit in the tables by price, not by preference.
Left out: Jira Service Management, HubSpot Service Hub and Gorgias. On 2026-11-10 the Atlassian page returned no plan table when fetched, and the other two were not checked. Zoho Desk is mentioned for its free plan only, because its page shows paid plans in Indian rupees rather than USD.
Seat price at 5 and 20 agents
All figures are USD list prices from each vendor’s pricing page as of 2026-11-10, per seat per month. Each monthly total is the per-seat price times headcount. The first table has vendors that state annual billing.
| Plan | Per seat, annual | 5 agents a month | 20 agents a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk Support Team | $19 | $95 | $380 |
| Freshdesk Growth | $19 | $95 | $380 |
| Publisher Starter | $39 | $195 | $780 |
| Freshdesk Pro | $55 | $275 | $1,100 |
| Zendesk Suite Team | $55 | $275 | $1,100 |
| Publisher Growth | $89 | $445 | $1,780 |
| Freshdesk Enterprise | $89 | $445 | $1,780 |
| Zendesk Suite Professional | $115 | $575 | $2,300 |
The second table has vendors whose page shows one per-seat number and does not say which billing term it is. Front’s page has a “Billed Annually” toggle beside “Save 24%”, and Help Scout’s has a Monthly/Annual switch with a “-16%” badge. Neither says which term the listed price reflects, and Intercom’s page labels no term at all. Ask for a quote in both terms.
| Plan | Per seat, term unstated | 5 agents a month | 20 agents a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout Standard, up to 25 users | $25 | $125 | $500 |
| Front Starter, up to 10 seats | $25 | $125 | over the cap |
| Help Scout Plus, up to 50 users | $45 | $225 | $900 |
| Front Professional, up to 50 seats | $65 | $325 | $1,300 |
| Help Scout Pro, minimum 10 users | $75 | below minimum | $1,500 |
| Intercom Advanced | $85 | $425 | $1,700 |
| Front Enterprise, no seat cap listed | $105 | $525 | $2,100 |
| Intercom Expert | $132 | $660 | $2,640 |
Monthly billing costs more where the page shows it. Zendesk Support Team costs $19 annual against $25 on monthly billing. Suite Team costs $69 per agent on monthly billing, so five agents pay $345 a month against $275 annual, a gap of $840 a year. Suite Professional at 20 agents is $2,980 a month on monthly billing against $2,300 annual, or $8,160 a year.
Zendesk’s Support Team and Suite are different products. Support Team and Freshdesk Growth are entry tiers, and neither page states an agent cap, so ask whether either fits 11 to 25 agents.
Do customers take a seat?
Slack’s guest roles article covers guests you invite into your own workspace. Single-channel guests are free and can only access one channel. Multi-channel guests are billed as regular members. The article allows up to 5 guests for every paid active member, and says “Inviting guests to your workspace means your company is responsible for paying for their account.”
Customers who join a shared channel through Slack Connect are not your guests. They stay members of their own workspace. Slack’s Slack Connect guide says only that “each organization must be using a paid Slack plan” to work in channels together, and it does not say who pays for a member from another organization. Confirm that with Slack before you budget for it. Before you invite a customer as a guest to your own workspace, check the billing for that guest type, because a multi-channel guest is billed as a regular member.
On the helpdesk side, the pricing pages in the tables don’t say whether a customer who writes to your support address takes a seat. The publisher’s page does: seats are people who reply to customers, everyone else joins free, and read-only teammates are free. Send this to every other vendor and keep the answer:
“Does a customer who writes to our support address or posts in a shared channel count toward the seat price on this plan? Please answer by plan name and billing term, and show the monthly bill for 20 agents with our current customer list.”
If the vendor says customers don’t count, price agent seats only. If the answer depends on customer count, get the bill at your real customer count before you compare tables.
What the pricing pages say about Slack
The pages are thin here, so what each one says matters.
- Front: Slack is listed as a channel, with “Yes, if single channel type” on Starter. Professional and Enterprise are described as omnichannel. The page doesn’t mention Slack Connect. Channel caps per license are up to 10 on Starter, 30 on Professional and 50 on Enterprise, so a 5-seat Professional team tops out at 150.
- Zendesk: Slack appears in the social and business messaging row with a dash for Support Team. Side conversations on Suite Professional can be answered “via email or Slack”.
- Help Scout and Intercom: no Slack mention on the pricing page.
- Publisher plans: Slack Connect is listed on Starter, with unlimited people and channels and no seat caps on Starter and Growth.
None of this proves or disproves Slack Connect support, since a page can omit an integration that exists. Ask each vendor whether a customer’s message in a Slack Connect channel creates a ticket, and whether your reply from the ticket posts back to that channel.
What the free tiers and trials limit
- Help Scout Free: 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 docs site, no price shown. The page’s free-plan line lists only those limits, so ask what else it leaves out.
- Zoho Desk Free: three user licenses.
- Publisher Free: free forever with up to 2 people who reply, up to 3 channels (Slack Connect channels or mailboxes) and unlimited read-only teammates. The trial is 14 days of Growth, no card.
- Zendesk: no free plan on the page. It offers a “14 day trial period” and a startups program with a “6-month trial of the Zendesk Suite for up to 50 agents”.
- Freshdesk: no free plan. Sign-up gives Enterprise for 14 days.
- Front: no free plan. It offers a 14-day trial of Professional features with no credit card. Automation rules are up to 10 on Starter, up to 20 on Professional and unlimited on Enterprise.
The 14-day clock runs whether or not your real threads are in the tool, so start the trial on the day you can send live traffic.
How AI is billed
The pages use two models, and mixing them up breaks a budget.
- Seat add-ons: Zendesk Copilot at $50 per agent per month on annual billing, for Professional and higher. Freshdesk Freddy AI Copilot at $29 per agent per month on Pro and Enterprise. Front Copilot at $20 per seat per month on Starter and Professional, included in Enterprise.
- Usage: Zendesk automated resolutions, Freshdesk Freddy AI Agent (500 free sessions per account, then $49 per 100), Front Autopilot from $0.39 per conversation, Intercom Fin at $0.99 per outcome, and Help Scout’s Envoy add-on at $0.75 per resolution.
Zendesk’s page lists 5 automated resolutions per agent per month on Support Team and Suite Team, and 10 on Suite Professional. It doesn’t say whether that allowance pools across the account. It does say Copilot usage is pooled, at 5 uses per agent shared across the team. Get the pooling answer for resolutions in writing, because it decides whether one busy agent can use the whole team’s allowance.
Worked example: 20 agents on Support Team include 100 resolutions a month. If 300 resolve, the extra 200 cost $400 pay-as-you-go at $2.00, making $780 with the $380 seat bill. At the committed $1.50 rate the same 200 cost $300 at the committed rate, for a total of $680. Committed volumes are bought ahead, so confirm the minimum.
Costs outside the seat price
Zendesk’s page mentions no setup fee, and the publisher’s lists no setup fee or minimum commitment. Help Scout Pro has a 10-user minimum. Zoho’s page says local taxes are charged on top, and the publisher’s prices are USD before tax, so assume tax is extra everywhere until the quote says otherwise.
The publisher also lists founding-team prices of $23.40 for Starter and $53.40 for Growth, a 40% offer for the first 50 teams. This page uses list prices so the vendors are comparable.
Test email threading before you buy
Pricing pages say nothing about threading, so the trial has to. Run at least 20 real threads, not a demo mailbox.
- A customer email opens one conversation, your reply goes out in that thread, and the customer’s answer lands in the same conversation without a new ticket.
- A second person at the customer replies-all from a different address. Check whether it joins the case or opens a new one.
- A forwarded internal email keeps its original sender and subject.
- Your reply’s From address is a mailbox that accepts replies.
Change the customer’s address mid-thread and find out whether the tool matches on sender address, thread headers or both. A reasonable cutoff is one split in 20 threads; above that, someone merges tickets by hand every day. That threshold is a judgment, not a vendor figure.
Decision rules by team shape
- Two or fewer people replying to customers, up to three channels: the publisher’s free tier fits. Help Scout Free fits five users on one inbox.
- 5 to 10 agents on email plus Slack: Front Starter at $25 lists Slack only for a single channel type, so check that before pricing it. Ten seats cost $250 a month on Starter and $650 a month on Professional, a $400 step.
- 11 to 25 agents: Zendesk Support Team and Freshdesk Growth are $380 for 20, but neither page states a cap. Help Scout Standard at $500 states one.
- 20 agents wanting the larger tiers: Freshdesk Pro and Zendesk Suite Team are $1,100 before add-ons. Suite Professional with Copilot is $2,300 plus $1,000 for Copilot, which is $3,300 a month.
Failure modes:
- Comparing a Support plan with a Suite plan: write the tier name next to every number in your sheet.
- Missing billing term on Help Scout, Front and Intercom: ask for both quotes and sheet the annual one.
- The cliff at Front’s seat cap: ten Starter seats cost $250 a month, eleven Professional seats cost $715 a month, a $465 jump for one hire. Model 11 before hiring the 11th.
- A trial ending before 20 threads of live traffic: start the threading test on day one.