Freshchat

Overview

Freshchat is customer-conversation software for organizations handling questions across digital channels. It suits teams that need a shared inbox for several messaging routes, with chatbots to answer common questions. Its free plan is unusually roomy on agent seats, while its annual paid tiers reserve more sophisticated routing, reporting and administrative controls for larger needs.

Freshchat is made by Freshworks, founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Mateo, California. Its intended range spans small businesses to large enterprises, including e-commerce, travel and hospitality, and healthcare. For a wider category comparison, see Live chat software.

Key features

Multi-channel team inbox

Freshchat brings web and mobile-app chat, email, social messengers, SMS, WhatsApp, LINE and Google Business Messages into its channel mix. The unified workspace also handles conversations from Facebook, Apple Business Chat and Slack. That breadth is useful when customers contact a team in different places; APIs provide a route for organizations that need to bring their own channel.

Team Inbox supports individual or bulk assignment, saved replies, and a single action to assign, respond to and resolve a conversation. These features make a shared queue more manageable, particularly for teams coordinating service work across channels. Website and mobile widgets extend chat to owned properties, while iOS and Android apps let agents respond, assign, add private notes, resolve chats and receive push notifications.

Automation, languages and integrations

Freddy AI supports no-code conversational bots for common questions without an agent. Freshworks says Freddy AI Agent can deflect up to 86% of customer requests, but that ceiling is not a promise of the same result for every team. Growth, Pro and Enterprise each include 500 AI Agent sessions once per account; Growth prices additional sessions at $49 per 100 sessions. The Free plan includes 100 campaign contacts per account per month, compared with 500 on paid plans.

Pro adds multilingual conversations that translate incoming and outgoing communications in over 45 languages, alongside custom dashboards, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies. The Freshworks Marketplace has 1,000+ ready-to-install integrations, with Shopify, Salesforce, Slack, Jira and Five9 among the featured connectors. Connectors, templates, APIs and a low-code interface also support custom integrations and workflow automation.

Administration and security

Role-based access, business hours and audit logs support administration; Enterprise adds audit logs, JWT authentication and domain and IP allowlisting. Freshchat also supports SAML single sign-on and JWT authentication. Standalone Freshchat data stores are encrypted in transit and at rest, with controls audited under SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications. These controls make the upper tier more relevant to organizations with stricter access requirements than to a small team that only needs basic chat.

Pricing

Freshchat is freemium. The Free plan costs nothing and supports up to 10 agents, with a web and mobile chat widget, shared inbox, email connection, and roles and permissions. That seat allowance is a practical advantage for a small team, though Free does not include the paid tiers' Freddy AI Agent, social messengers, text messaging and reporting.

Growth costs $19 a month billed annually. It includes everything in Free plus Freddy AI Agent, social media messengers, text messaging and reporting. It is the entry paid tier for teams that need those channels and reporting, but the annual billing term matters and extra AI sessions cost $49 per 100. Connector app tasks cost $80/5000 tasks.

Pro costs $49 a month billed annually. It adds multilingual conversations, custom dashboards, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies to Growth, making it a better fit for teams managing more complex queues or language needs. Freddy AI Copilot costs $29/agent/month; day passes cost $7/pass and connector app tasks cost $80/5000 tasks.

Enterprise costs $79 a month billed annually. Skill-based routing, audit logs, JWT authentication, and allowed domains and IP whitelisting distinguish it from Pro, making it the clearest fit for organizations needing those controls. Freddy AI Copilot costs $29/agent/annually; day passes cost $12/pass and connector app tasks cost $80/5000 tasks.

New signups receive 14 days of Enterprise access without a credit card. Freshchat charges no cancellation fee, but cancellation takes effect after the current term. Day passes cost $2, $7 or $12 per pass depending on plan. The Free plan includes 100 campaign contacts per account per month and paid plans include 500; Growth, Pro and Enterprise each include 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions once per account.

Platforms

Freshchat supports websites, mobile apps and messaging channels, with agent apps for iOS and Android. Its supported platform set also includes web and API, which gives teams a way to connect custom channels and integrations.

Who it's for

Freshchat fits teams that want to coordinate customer conversations across several channels without splitting agents among separate inboxes. Free can serve a team of up to 10 agents that needs basic web and mobile chat, email and shared handling. Growth is aimed at teams ready to pay for social messaging, text messaging and reporting; Pro suits organizations that need multilingual handling or more deliberate routing and service policies; Enterprise is for teams that need skill-based routing and stronger administrative controls.

It is less compelling for a team that needs only a small, simple chat setup and does not need the broader channel or workflow toolkit. The paid plans also require an annual billing commitment, so the entry monthly figure should be weighed against that term.

Pros and cons

Pros: The Free plan supports up to 10 agents and includes both a shared inbox and web and mobile chat, giving a small team room to collaborate before upgrading.

Pros: Web, email, social, SMS and messaging-app channels can be handled in one workspace, with APIs for bringing in another channel.

Pros: Pro and Enterprise add concrete operational controls, including intelligent or skill-based routing, SLA policies, audit logs and allowlisting.

Cons: Paid prices are billed annually, which is a meaningful commitment for teams wanting a short-term or month-to-month option.

Cons: AI Agent sessions are capped at 500 once per account on Growth, Pro and Enterprise, and Growth charges separately for more sessions.

Cons: Several capabilities and usage costs vary by tier, including AI Copilot and day passes, so teams should match their expected usage to the right plan rather than treating the headline price as the whole cost.

Alternatives

Crisp is worth considering if a smaller seat allowance is enough: its free plan includes 2 seats, unlimited conversations and 100 customer profiles, with no AI credits.

Chatwoot is an option for teams prioritizing open-source software or self-hosting; its Hacker plan supports up to 2 agents and 500 conversations per month.

Zoho SalesIQ suits teams whose free-tier needs fit 3 operator licenses, 100 chats per month and 10,000 visitors per month.

tawk.to is another freemium option, with a free Hobby plan that includes 100 monthly message credits, one AI chat agent and 100 crawled web pages.

JivoChat may suit a team that can operate within a free allowance of five agents.

Chaport is another freemium live-chat alternative.

Intercom is a paid alternative with an Essential plan at $19 a month billed annually per seat/month, including Fin AI Agent, Messenger, shared inbox and ticketing, and pre-built reports.

Smartsupp is an alternative for a very small team: its free plan includes one operator and 25 conversations per month.

Verdict

Choose Freshchat if your team needs a broad channel mix, a collaborative inbox and a path from a generous free seat allowance to more advanced routing and administration. Its strongest case is the combination of multi-channel handling and tiered team controls. Look elsewhere if annual billing is a poor fit or if your needs are limited to a simpler, smaller-scale chat setup.