Freshchat vs Freshdesk Freddy AI (2026)

Freshchat

by Freshworks

Freshdesk Freddy AI

by Freshworks

Pros

• ✓A permanently free plan covers up to 10 agents with the web and mobile chat widget, a shared inbox and email, and SAML single sign-on is included on every plan, Free included.
• ✓Freddy AI Agent is included from Growth upward and billed by use at $49 per 100 sessions, with 500 one-time free sessions per account, so AI spend follows conversation volume rather than seat count.
• ✓One inbox covers web chat, mobile SDKs, email, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, SMS, WhatsApp, LINE and Apple Messages for Business, with native connections to Freshdesk, Freshsales and Freshcaller.

Limitations

• –Freddy AI Copilot, the agent-assist layer, is a separate add-on at $29 per agent per month billed annually ($35 monthly) and is offered on Pro and Enterprise only, not on Growth.
• –The 500 free Freddy AI Agent sessions are a one-time allowance per account. After that, sessions are bought in packs at $49 per 100, and each pack expires with the billing cycle.
• –Multilingual conversations start on Pro, and skill-based routing, audit logs, JWT authentication and IP allowlisting are Enterprise-only features.

Pros

• ✓All three tiers include a one-time 500-session allowance for Freddy AI Agent, so autonomous resolution can be evaluated on real customer conversations before buying session packs at $49 per 100.
• ✓Freshdesk publishes a first-party MCP server with documented setup for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Microsoft Copilot Studio and Visual Studio Code, letting AI tools read and act on Freshdesk data through 37 tools such as creating tickets.
• ✓Pricing is fully public and self-serve on every tier in USD, with both annual and month-to-month rates published and 60 vendor-verified integrations across the Freshworks suite and third-party tools.

Limitations

• –Session billing charges for every interaction including failed resolutions, so a team running 2,000 paid sessions a month spends $980 on top of seats, and the 500 included sessions are a one-time allowance rather than a monthly one.
• –Freddy AI Copilot is a separate add-on at $29 per agent per month and is not available on the $19 Growth tier, and multilingual helpdesk starts at Pro, so the entry price buys less AI than the marketing implies.
• –Customer data is used for AI model training by default and opting out requires emailing support, and Freshworks states it cannot guarantee data a customer considers proprietary or sensitive will be excluded from AI training.