FreeScout vs Jitbit Helpdesk
FreeScout
freescout.netJitbit Helpdesk
jitbit.comSide by side
| Figure | FreeScout | Jitbit Helpdesk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $24/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 12 |
| Spec score · Customer Service - Midmarket Software | 8.8 (#6) | 8.9 (#5) |
| Spec score · Help desk software | 8.7 (#22) | 9.1 (#9) |
| API | The maker lists an API and webhooks module that enables API and webhook features. | A REST API is available for hosted and self-installed deployments, with API hooks for outbound events and a base endpoint under /api. |
| Channels | It centralizes customer conversations from email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Slack, and Live Chat. | Support channels include email, a live chat and website widget, a customer portal, and integrations such as WhatsApp. |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Integrations | The maker lists Zapier and Make for connecting FreeScout to other services. | Listed integrations include Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, WhatsApp, WordPress, Power BI, Stripe, SurveyMonkey, Basecamp and ClickUp. |
| SLA management | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Jitbit Helpdesk
- Company$3,799, paid once
- SaaS$24 a month
- Freelancer$29 a month
- Startup$69 a month
- Company$129 a month
- Enterprise$249 a month
- Self-hosted AI add-on$999, paid once
- Self-hosted AI features add-on$999, paid once
- Small$2,199, paid once
- Self-hosted perpetual (10 agents)$2,490, paid once
In their own words
FreeScout
FreeScout is a free, open-source help desk and shared inbox built with PHP and Laravel. It centralizes conversations from email, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Slack, and Live Chat, with email support for SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 and OAuth for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. The product includes saved replies, internal notes, auto replies, conversation merging and forwarding, collision detection, and search, alongside SLA management, ticket automation, a help center, and a customer portal. Its free plan lists unlimited support agents, tickets, and mailboxes. FreeScout is self-hosted, and the maker presents this model as a way for organizations to retain control of their service and privacy. The listed platforms include Android, iOS, web, API, and self-hosted use. The maker says mobile apps support the same functionality and modules as the web installation. Zapier and Make integrations are listed, as is an API and webhooks module. FreeScout says it is translated into 33 languages.
Jitbit Helpdesk
Jitbit Helpdesk turns support requests into trackable tickets for internal IT teams and customer service. It can monitor support mailboxes and organize incoming email as tickets, with categories, tags, merging, scheduled tickets, and multi-agent assignment. Customers can submit requests through a portal, live chat, website widget, or integrations such as WhatsApp. Automation rules can route or alert on tickets; AI can suggest knowledge-base articles, summarize tickets, draft replies, categorize requests, and search a website or knowledge base. The product is available as cloud-hosted SaaS or as self-hosted software for Windows, Linux, or Docker servers. Self-hosted customers can keep data on their own database servers. SaaS costs $24 a month and has a 21-day trial without a credit-card requirement. The self-hosted trial has no time limit, but some features are disabled. SaaS data is hosted on AWS in North Virginia, according to Jitbit; it also describes SSL connections and daily backups.