Establishing a business can be thrilling, rewarding, fulfilling, but also extremely demanding and challenging.
For small businesses looking to grow their brand and improve their customer experience, having reliable free help desk software is crucial.
Customer service is an important part of any-sized business as it provides a platform for customers to communicate with the company.
Effectively handling customer inquiries can increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and generate positive word of mouth.
Not only are customer queries managed efficiently with the right help desk software, but help desk software also plays a significant role in streamlining and managing customer service workflows.
Many help desk solutions offer enticing free plans that can potentially address a variety of issues.
However, bear in mind that all free plans are not created equal. Some might resolve certain problems, while others could necessitate paid upgrades.
This article will help you explore the top free help desk software available for small businesses and guide you through choosing the appropriate solution.
What is free help desk software?
Help desk software is a tool used by support teams to organize, manage, and respond to customer service-related inquiries.
Free help desk software is an affordable, software-based solution that allows small businesses, particularly startups, to manage and track customer inquiries and issues, ensuring a smooth support experience for clients.
This software is designed to streamline the process of dealing with customer questions, complaints, or problems, primarily through a ticket management system.
By implementing free help desk software, startups can consolidate all customer communication into one platform, making it easier to manage and ensuring that no request is overlooked.
It also helps create an efficient workflow for customer service representatives, reducing response times and increasing productivity.
Benefits of free help desk software
Initiating a startup poses many challenges, particularly in the realm of customer service.
The aim of any new business is to deliver an unrivaled experience for its clients, but constraints in budget or resources may hinder this.
Startups, known for their limited resources and the need for rapid growth, can greatly benefit from help desk software.
The following are some of the major advantages of free help desk software:
- Scalability: As the startup grows, the volume of customer inquiries is likely to increase. Help desk software is scalable and can handle a dynamically increasing number of tickets without compromising on efficiency and productivity.
- Cost-effective: Rather than having a large customer service team, startups can rely on free ticketing system to help reduce costs by automating various tasks. This is particularly beneficial for startups on tight budgets.
- Better organization and categorization: With free IT ticketing software, startups can organize customer issues based on priority, category, and other criteria. This aids in prioritizing critical issues and preventing anything from being overlooked.
- Improved customer service: Quick and efficient responses to customer queries or issues can significantly improve customer satisfaction. Free help desk ticketing system ensures that all customer issues are traced and resolved in a timely manner, ultimately enhancing the customer experience.
- Reporting and analytics: Free IT ticketing system often comes with built-in analytics, which can provide useful insights into common customer issues, response times, and overall customer service team performance. This data can be used to enhance products, services, and customer service.
- Increased productivity: By automating routine tasks, free help desk software allows customer service representatives to focus on resolving complex issues. This results in increased productivity and an efficient use of resources.
- Better communication: Free help desk software fosters better communication between support teams and departments by providing collaboration features, shared inboxes, mentions, and centralized ticketing systems, among other streamlining innovations. Everyone involved can track the progress of a ticket and communicate more effectively, leading to quicker resolution of issues.
Best free help desk software and ticketing systems
The market is flooded with startups and a wide variety of service desk systems, making the selection process for help desk software challenging.
In a startup, it’s crucial to be prudent, as every decision can make a significant difference.
To assist you with your decision, we have analyzed 10 of the top free help desk software designed for startups.
1. BoldDesk
Budget and functionality are the two primary concerns for small business owners looking for help desk software. With those in mind, consider BoldDesk a top priority as it effortlessly combines affordability with robust help desk features.
BoldDesk is modern help desk software that is designed to meet the needs of both small and large businesses.
It offers a complete set of tools to manage customer service and support tickets, including email ticketing, knowledge base software, customer portal software, customer service automation, and ticketing features.
This enables agents to rapidly respond to customer queries, monitor progress, and keep all information centralized.
It’s a scalable, user-friendly platform ideal for small businesses aiming to provide superior customer support to drive business growth.
As your startup expands and your customer service needs become more complex, you can upgrade your plan to add new features and meet your requirements.
Teams have the flexibility to customize the software as per their requirements, including custom fields and workflows.
Should you require help, the BoldDesk support team is to answer any questions.
Arrange a live demo to explore how BoldDesk can benefit your support team.
Top features
- Robust ticket routing system
- Knowledge base software
- Integrations
- Reports and analytics
- Effective automation
- Team collaboration features
- Customizable, expandable, intuitive interface
- Artificial intelligence tools
- Multichannel support
- Custom fields
- Automated workflows
- Custom SLA integration
- Scalability
Pricing
BoldDesk offers the following three categories as its affordable pricing plans.
- Starter: $10 for 3 agents/month
- Growth: $20 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $40 per agent/month
Free trial duration: 15 days
Startup program
- Qualified startups can receive the Growth plan entirely free for one year.
- Syncfusion customers are provided with 1-year free usage offer.
2. Zendesk
Zendesk is a cloud-based help desk software. 
With Zendesk, startups can effectively manage, track, and resolve customer support tickets, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
Key features
- Reporting and analytics
- Integrations
- AI and automation
- Messaging
- Help center
- Scalability
Pricing for basic annual plans
- Support Team: $19 per agent/month
- Support Professional: $55 per agent/month
- Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month
Free trial duration: 14 days
Startup program: Qualified startups can receive their first six months free.
3. Hiver
Hiver is a user-friendly help desk software solution that is especially beneficial for startups.
Hiver allows startups to manage their customer support services directly via Gmail.
The software provides a shared inbox feature where all support emails can be accessed by the team.
It also allows for the assignment of emails to particular team members to ensure accountability and timely responses.
Key features
- Cross-team collaboration
- Knowledge base
- Automation
- SLA reminders
- Personalized email templates
- Collision alerts
Pricing for yearly plan
- Lite: $15 per user/month
- Pro: $39 per user/month
- Elite: $59 per user/month
Free trial duration: 7 days
Startup program: Qualified startups can receive their first six months free.
4. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is cloud-based customer support software for businesses of all sizes, including startups, offering a variety of solutions.
It is easy to set up and requires minimal training to navigate its features.
The software serves as a contact center solution and ticketing system, featuring integrated support for voice conversations and omnichannel messaging.
Key features
- Knowledge base
- Collision detection
- Automations
- Integrated ticketing
- SLA management
Pricing for annual plans
- Free: Up to 10 agents
- Growth: $15 per agent/month
- Pro: $49 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $79 per agent/month
Free trial duration: 14 days
Startup program: Qualified startups can save up to 90% on their first year and continuing discounts for subsequent years.
5. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service platform that helps startups manage and connect with their customers more efficiently.
It features a dashboard that consolidates all customer inquiries in one place, providing full transparency into the status of each one.
This means no ticket will slip through the cracks, ensuring efficient and timely customer support.
Key features
- Automation
- Shared inbox
- Email tracking and notifications
- Conversation routing
- SLAs
- Knowledge base
Pricing
- Free Tools: $0 (limited features)
- Starter: $18 per month (2 users)
- Professional: $450 per month (5 users)
- Enterprise: $1,200 per month (10 users)
Free trial duration: 14 days
Startup program: Qualified startups can receive 30%-90% off their first year and continuing discounts for subsequent years.
6. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is user-friendly help desk software suitable for startups.
It provides a platform where businesses can manage all their customer interactions from various channels in one place. This includes emails, chats, social media messages, and calls.
Key features
- Reporting
- Automation
- API and integrations
- Unlimited ticket history
Pricing for annual plan
- Free: $0 per agent/month (limited features)
- Small: $9 per agent/month
- Medium: $29 per agent/month
- Large: $49 per agent/month
- Enterprise: $69 per agent/month
Free trial duration: 7 days with free email. 30 days with corporate email.
Startup program: Qualified startups can receive the large plan for free for 6 months and receive an additional 6 months for 50% off.
7. Help Scout
Help Scout provides a robust shared inbox solution for small businesses, consolidating all customer service emails in one location.
It allows startups to manage their customer interactions in a central place, making it easier for teams to collaborate and respond to customer queries promptly.
This help desk software for small businesses offers a range of features that make customer support seamless and hassle-free.
Key features
- Ticket routing and prioritization
- Automated workflows
- Extensions and integrations
- Multichannel communication
- Email and live chat
- Custom reports
Pricing for annual plans
- Standard: $20 per user/month
- Plus: $40 per user/month
- Pro: $65 per user/month
Free trial duration: 15 days
Startup program: Qualified startups can receive their first 6 months for free.
8. ProProfs Help Desk
ProProfs Help Desk is a customer service tool designed to help small and medium businesses manage customer queries and resolve issues effectively.
It provides a shared inbox for managing and tracking customer emails, a knowledge base for self-service support, and a chat tool for instant resolution of customer queries.
Key features
- Live chat
- Shared inbox
- Knowledge base
- Reporting and analytics
- Ticket management
Pricing
- Free for 1 agent
- $20 per user/month for teams
9. Spiceworks
Spiceworks is an excellent tool for startups, especially for those with a limited budget.
It is free, cloud-based help desk software that provides businesses with all the necessary tools to handle their IT support.
It is an ideal solution for startups as it helps them manage their customer support services effectively without having to invest in help desk software.
Key features
- Knowledge base
- Reporting and analytics
- Ticket management
- Automation
Pricing for annual plan: Free for all users.
10. Vision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk is cloud-based customer service software that offers multichannel helpdesk support to businesses of all sizes, including startups.
This software enables automatic routing of incoming tickets using round-robin assignment.
Key features
- Shared inbox
- Multichannel support
- Workflow automations
- Email ticket creation
- Reporting and analytics
Pricing for annual plans
- Starter Help Desk: $12 per agent/month
- Pro Help Desk: $20 per agent/month
- Satellite Help Desk: $24 per agent/month
- Pro Service Desk: $32 per agent/month
- Ent Service Desk: $48 per agent/month
Free trial duration: 30 days
Comparison of 10 best free help desk tools
The following is a summary of the best help software for startups in 2024.
| Name | Top features | Starting prices |
| BoldDesk |
| $12/user/month
|
| Zendesk |
| $19/user/month
|
| Hiver |
| $15/user/month
|
| Freshdesk |
| $15/user/month |
| HubSpot Service Hub |
| $18/user/month
|
| LiveAgent |
| $9/user/month
|
| Help Scout |
| $20/user/month |
| ProProfs Help Desk |
| $20/user/month
|
| Spiceworks |
| Free for all users |
| Vision Helpdesk |
| $12/user/month
|
Choosing the right free IT ticketing system software
In conclusion, free help desk software is a critical tool for small businesses that aim to provide a high level of customer service.
It not only helps manage and resolve customer issues effectively, but also provides features that enhance support workflows, foster team collaboration, and deliver insightful reporting.
Help desk software can vary greatly in terms of complexity, cost, and customization options.
Therefore, startups should carefully consider their specific needs, budget, and resources when choosing help desk software.
