Zendesk vs Intercom vs Crisp vs Help Scout
Four customer-support / help-desk platforms with very different free tiers — the enterprise ticketing default with no forever-free tier, a messaging-first platform with the Fin AI bot and no free tier, the only one of the four with a real forever-free live-chat tier, and a shared-inbox-first help desk that feels like email — compared on free trial, seats, live chat, shared inbox, ticketing, and AI.
| Zendesk | Intercom | Crisp | Help Scout | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier note | The enterprise default for help-desk and customer-support ticketing. No forever-free tier — a 14-day free trial of Zendesk Suite, then paid Suite Team from ~$55/seat/mo for unified email, chat, voice, and social messaging, a shared inbox, and reporting. Huge app marketplace and the deepest ticketing + automation of any help-desk tool. | A modern, messaging-first customer-support platform that combines a shared inbox, live chat, a help-center bot (Fin), and proactive engagement. No forever-free tier — a 14-day free trial, then paid Essential from ~$39/seat/mo for a shared inbox, live chat, and basic automation; Advanced adds the Fin AI agent and workflows. | An all-in-one live-chat + help-desk + chatbot platform with a genuine forever-free tier. Crisp Free is free forever for 2 seats with unlimited conversations, a live chat widget, a basic chatbot, 1 custom domain, and 60-day conversation history; Crisp branding on the chat widget. Pro from ~€25/month/workspace adds unlimited seats, triggers, campaigns, and removes branding. | A shared-inbox-first help desk designed to feel like email rather than a ticket queue — no customer-facing ticket numbers. No forever-free tier — a 15-day free trial, then paid Standard from ~$20/user/mo for shared inboxes, live chat, a Docs knowledge base, and customer profiles. Known for a calm, human support UX over heavy automation. |
| Bandwidth | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Builds | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Requests | 14-day free trial (no forever-free tier) | 14-day free trial (no forever-free tier) | 2 seats, unlimited conversations, live chat + chatbot | 15-day free trial (no forever-free tier) |
| Custom domains | n/a | n/a | 1 | 1 |
| Paid from | $55/mo | $39/mo | $25/mo | $20/mo |
| Generosity ★ | 4 | 4 | 27 | 12 |
| Last verified | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 | 2025-09-01 |
| Visit site | Zendesk ↗ | Intercom ↗ | Crisp ↗ | Help Scout ↗ |
Data verified 2025-09-01.