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Explore 13 Freshdesk alternatives and unlock better support solutions

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In the dynamic world of business, the key to success often hinges on how well you understand and cater to your customers’ needs. Central to this is the role of customer support software. While Freshdesk is a familiar player in this arena, it’s not the one-size-fits-all solution for every business. Whether it’s due to the need for more tailored features, advanced automation, or budget-friendly options, exploring Freshdesk alternatives has become a crucial step for many businesses striving for excellence in customer service.

In this blog, we dive deep into the world of customer support software, examining why businesses are looking beyond Freshdesk and what other options are out there. Join us as we unravel the challenges with Freshdesk and guide you through a curated list of the top 13 alternatives, helping you find the perfect fit for your unique business needs.

Why consider Freshdesk alternatives?

Freshdesk being a renowned customer support software, gives its customers many reasons to switch to Freshdesk alternatives. Here are some of the important ones:

Complicated onboarding and setup

Freshdesk has a very complex setup process that tangles beginners while getting started with it. Spending time on a confusing setup can slow down your team’s productivity. In some cases, you might be required to provide training to your customer support teams consuming extra cost and time. So, it’s better to try out an option that has a simpler and easier setup experience.

Ineffective customer service

Customer service tools are meant to make customer service operations easy, but what would you do if the platform providing customer service is inefficient in managing its own customer queries? This is the case with Freshdesk, where many users have reportedly complained about their bad customer experience. Customers feel like they deserve a change in their support operations and thus seek alternatives to Freshdesk.

Inaccurate ticket management

Misplaced and inaccurate ticket placement can cause havoc in your support operations. Ticket management is the backbone of customer support, and any glitches or inefficiencies in this process can ripple into a pool of dissatisfaction. Freshdesk has been in the spotlight for its ignorance in managing support tickets. This may result in missed tickets and, ultimately, no customer support.

13 Freshdesk alternatives

👉 DevRev - Best Freshdesk alternative for all business sizes

(4.7/5)

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DevRev compared to Freshdesk

  1. Seamless onboarding and easy setup: DevRev takes the hassle out of onboarding with its user-friendly interface and intuitive setup process. With DevRev, getting started is a matter of a few hours. Also, it does not require special training for your support agents.
  2. Customer service excellence: DevRev’s suite of tools and features is designed to enable your support team to deliver exceptional customer support. From advanced analytics for insightful customer interactions to AI-powered chatbot “Turing” that streamlines responses, DevRev ensures your team is equipped with the right tools to deliver prompt, accurate, and personalized support that delights customers.
  3. Precision in Ticket Management: DevRev’s efficient ticketing system brings clarity and precision to your support process. With customizable workflows, Smart Clustering, and real-time tracking, DevRev ensures that every ticket is managed efficiently, reducing errors and ensuring a seamless support experience for both your team and your customers.

Pricing comparison between Freshdesk and DevRev

FreshdeskDevRev
Pro PlanPro Plan
$49 per agent/month$59.98 per user/month for platform+support license
14 days free trial45 days free trial
Nothing fresh about Freshdesk?
Nothing fresh about Freshdesk?

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Break free from traditional CRMs. Experience the ultimate in AI-powered customer support with DevRev.

Take a look at some of the standout features of DevRev that you should consider:

  1. Streamlined team collaboration: DevRev ensures that team members from different backgrounds can collaborate smoothly. It promotes productive teamwork and clear communication, ensuring everyone can work together effectively.
  2. Comprehensive project management: With DevRev, you get a full view of all your projects. It makes it easy to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track how your projects are progressing, all in one place.
  3. Easy knowledge base development: DevRev makes creating articles for your knowledge base simpler. Its clever import feature can automatically create articles from the content you provide, streamlining the process.
  4. Advanced customer interaction: DevRev includes a virtual assistant named PLuG, which uses the GPT-based Turing chatbot to change how you engage with customers. It responds intelligently and interactively, improving the experience on your website.
  5. Visual project mapping: The Trails feature in DevRev shows you a visual layout of your team’s structure or your product’s design. This helps manage your product and make decisions by giving you a clear visual understanding.
  6. Data-driven business analysis: Use DevRev’s reporting tools to analyze your business thoroughly. These customized reports help you spot trends and make decisions based on the latest data.
  7. Automated data synchronization: DevRev’s Airdrop Sync Schedule automatically updates data across different systems regularly, ensuring your information is always current.
  8. AI-enhanced operations: DevRev uses AI to make your service operations more efficient. Its AI features help reduce repeated data, simplify support work, and quickly link to relevant information, increasing overall productivity.

👉 Help Scout

(4.4/5)

HelpScout

Help Scout offers a streamlined Freshdesk alternative for small to mid-sized businesses seeking efficient customer support solutions. Unlike the complexity of Freshdesk, Help Scout simplifies with a focused set of tools, including a shared inbox, live chat, and self-service options. While it prioritizes customer engagement, its scope is customized to around 12,000 businesses.

Though limited in native voice-text features and integrations, it excels in managing customer conversations seamlessly through email, chat, and in-app messaging in a Gmail-like interface. Help Scout focuses on making deployment easy, helps move data quickly, and makes customer experiences better.

Top features of Help Scout:

  • Easily control who sees and accesses what within your team to ensure data privacy within the organization
  • Effortlessly assign incoming queries or issues to specific agents to deliver personalized responses
  • Centralize all customer communication in one shared inbox to allow collaboration and unified responses across your team
  • With the live chat option, engage with your website visitors in real-time to give quick assistance and support
  • Manage customer interactions coming from Facebook Messenger, integrating these conversations into your support system for cohesive management
  • Create informative articles and easily categorize them for quick access to provide a comprehensive knowledge base for both customers and your support team

Help Scout compared to Freshdesk

Freshdesk offers a wide range of features, which can be overwhelming for users, leading to some features being left unused. On the other hand, Help Scout focuses on essential features tailored for quality customer service. Also, it has a simpler setup process than Freshdesk. While Freshdesk is more centered on call-center functions, Help Scout encompasses a broader range of CRM features.

Although Freshdesk excels in reporting capabilities, Help Scout also provides meaningful reporting tools focused on delivering valuable data for optimizing customer service strategies. Overall, Freshdesk’s extensive features contrast with Help Scout’s user-friendly design, emphasizing essential functions and a comprehensive CRM approach. The “Plus” plan of Help Scout starts at $40 per user/month.

👉 Zendesk

(4.3/5)

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Zendesk empowers support teams with a unified workspace, integrating multiple communication channels, customer data, and contextual insights for a holistic customer view. With over 1,300 apps in its marketplace, pre-trained AI bots, and intelligent ticket routing, Zendesk streamlines operations for personalized, scalable support.

Designed primarily for larger enterprises, it balances human interaction and AI functionality to ensure personalized interactions and streamlined processes. Smaller businesses should explore Zendesk alternatives that provide equivalent feature set with comparatively less pricing.

Top features of Zendesk:

  • Collect customer feedback through satisfaction surveys and improve your customer experience based on direct input
  • With multilingual support, provide support in multiple languages to diverse customer bases
  • Streamlines your workflows by integrating hundreds of third-party applications to Zendesk and enhancing operational efficiency
  • Automates actions based on predefined conditions, allowing for proactive responses or task initiation as soon as specified criteria are met
  • Automate repetitive tasks and processes of your help desk and facilitate quick query resolution

Zendesk compared to Freshdesk

Zendesk is better at reporting by offering a unified view of customer interactions across channels, while Freshdesk requires separate reporting efforts, potentially leading to fragmented insights. Zendesk provides better data visualization within its platform, whereas Freshdesk needs data exported to Excel for visualization.

Zendesk suits larger enterprises but is less suitable for smaller and growing businesses. On the other hand, Freshdesk adapts to businesses of all sizes. Zendesk has potential user interface concerns within Zendesk’s agent workspace. The Suite Growth plan of Zendesk starts from $89 per agent/month and allows 5 customer support agents in it.

👉 Intercom

(4.5/5)

Intercom Dashboard

Intercom has a suite of tools aimed at enhancing customer engagement, positioning itself as a considerable alternative to Freshdesk. Offering live chat, support chatbots, a shared inbox, and self-service help articles, Intercom is perfect for businesses seeking comprehensive marketing, sales, and customer support solutions.

Beyond customer service, Intercom comes with marketing and sales tools powered by AI and automation. However, users have occasionally faced challenges with customer support responsiveness and platform stability, indicating areas that could be improved.

Top features of Intercom:

  • Its conversational marketing features enable you to engage your customers through personalized and real-time conversations
  • Automate responses, assist customers 24/7 and handle routine inquiries with AI-powered chatbots
  • The push notification feature enables targeted outreach by sending timely and relevant messages to users’ mobile devices, ensuring engagement even when they’re not actively using the app
  • Intercom consolidates all communication and interactions into a unified platform for better customer engagements

Intercom compared to Freshdesk

Unlike Freshdesk, Intercom includes marketing and sales functionalities. It focuses on conversational marketing and AI-driven chatbots to enhance customer engagement. While Freshdesk excels in traditional ticketing and support, Intercom stands out for its versatility and a more streamlined ticketing system integrated into its broader platform.

It emphasizes proactive engagement, resolving issues before they become tickets, and reducing the ticket load. Intercom manages to balance personalization and efficiency by providing tailored communications without compromising operational effectiveness, a unique aspect that sets it apart from Freshdesk. Intercom’s Advanced plan starts at $99 per seat/month and provides 14 days of free trial. If you are seeking a better option at a lesser price, consider checking for Intercom alternatives.

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👉 HubSpot Service Hub

(4.4/5)

Hubspot.webp

HubSpot Service Hub, an extension of the Hubspot suite, integrates seamlessly to provide small to large businesses with essential tools for customer service. Offering features like simple ticketing, team email, live chat, and deep integration with Sales and Marketing Hub, it’s a viable option for teams seeking to connect marketing efforts with customer service.

The platform offers a free option for those interested in trying its help desk and ticketing software.

Top features of Hubspot Service Hub:

  • With knowledge base functionality, create a comprehensive repository of information to share information with customers and support teams
  • Using customer feedback and surveys collect valuable insights and opinions from customers to improve customer satisfaction levels and ultimately increase customer retention rate
  • Streamlines communication by centralizing team emails into a shared inbox, ensuring efficient collaboration and prompt responses to customer queries."
  • Provides customers with a dedicated customer portal to access information, track requests, and manage their interactions
  • Enables direct communication with customers via voice calls through integrated VoIP software

HubSpot Service Hub compared to Freshdesk

HubSpot Service Hub provides you with a full view of customer journeys, aligning support with marketing and sales. Freshdesk’s simplicity stands out, making it easier for teams to adapt and get their hands on it quickly. While Freshdesk is better in user-friendliness, HubSpot’s CRM integration is preferred by businesses seeking unified customer engagement.

Most of the customers lean towards HubSpot due to some of its exceptional features, including Playbooks and Conversational Intelligence. These features give businesses better tools for sales, customer support, and engagement, potentially making customers prefer HubSpot Service Hub due to its wider range of options and advanced functions. The Professional plan of Hubspot Service Hub will cost you $450/month and allows up to 5 users in it.​​

👉 Salesforce Service Cloud

(4.3/5)

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Salesforce Service Clou is a subset of the Salesforce Customer 360 platform. It is dedicated to enhancing customer support experiences with personalized and agile customer service solutions. It operates within the Salesforce Customer Success Platform, offering a comprehensive 360-degree view of customers.

Service Cloud automates service processes, streamlines workflows, and equips support agents with key resources to initiate personalized interactions across multiple channels. Salesforce provides dependable customer service while seamlessly integrating with the broader Salesforce Customer Success Platform for a holistic customer understanding.

Top features of Salesforce Service Cloud:

  • Automate workflows and approvals to ensure tasks move seamlessly through predefined stages
  • Create tailored reports to provide real-time insights into crucial service metrics and performance
  • Create Service-level agreements (SLA) to define and track service commitments visually with clear timelines and ensure proactive management of customer expectations
  • It comes with Einstein AI that drives predictive insights and utilizes voice technology to improve decision-making within service interactions

Salesforce Service Cloud compared to Freshdesk

​​Salesforce Service Cloud has features like case tracking and social networking that help you handle customer issues across channels and understand interactions better. It’s highly customizable, letting your business adjust it to fit their needs better than Freshdesk.

Also, Salesforce Service Cloud has more options for customizing fields, making it better for collecting and organizing data. This means businesses using it can gather more kinds of information about customers for more precise and personalized customer support.

The Professional plan of Salesforce Service Cloud starts at $80 per user/month. If Salesforce doesn’t fit as your choice because of its high pricing, check out Salesforce alternatives.

👉 Zoho Desk

(4.7/5)

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If you are looking for a comprehensive solution to be on top of every aspect of your customer service effort, then Zoho Desk is the ideal choice. Renowned as a top-tier customer service software, it empowers businesses to manage customer communication over the phone, email, live chat, SMS text, and social media. Zoho Desk simplifies ticket management and everything related to your customers, from tracking their requests over channels, brands, products, and departments in one place.

Moreover, the software allows your customer support team to work even better with thoughtfully built AI that auto-tags tickets and reply assistants to give answers.

Top features of Zoho Desk

  • The software has omnichannel communication, like email, phone, live chat, and text messages
  • In-built AI for ticket management, ticket tagging, answering queries in real-time, and more
  • The self-service option in the software allows customers to find quick answers by themselves, wherever they are
  • Automate mundane tasks and repetitive processes to save time and effort to focus on other important tasks

Zoho Desk compared to FreshDesk

Zoho Desk is a widely known customer service software that helps you customize not just how your help desk looks and feels but also how it behaves with your customers. Whereas FreshDesk offers self-service features that are somewhat similar to Zoho Desk. It comprises a knowledge base, community, rule-based chatbot, and more. However, FreshDesk’s help widget only provides customers with a contact form and solution articles.

With Zoho Desk, you can truly automate your customer service operations with load-balancing ticket assignments, custom workflow functions, time tracking, and more. Talking FreshDesk offers in-app notifications and round-robin ticket assignments, but it doesn’t allow activity time tracking.

👉 Front

(4.7/5)

Front Dashboard

Front, an intuitive alternative to Freshdesk, offers a streamlined shared inbox solution with an ‘Email-like’ interface. Offering features like automated workflows, collaborative tools, and SLA management, it enhances team productivity and responsiveness. While providing a 360° view of business insights through reporting, it allows over 70 different integrations to manage multiple tasks within one platform. Front’s strength lies in its simplified email-centric approach, ideal for support teams requiring efficient email functionalities.

Top features of Front:

  • Front seamlessly integrates with various CRM tools for streamlined customer interactions and data management
  • Empower your customer service team with robust collaboration tools like tagging, commenting, and @mentions to enhance teamwork within the shared inbox

Front compared to Freshdesk

Front provides strong product support and handles product-related inquiries efficiently. Its versatility extends across diverse business categories, catering to varying industry needs with its collaborative tools and shared inbox approach. Notably, Front stands out for its user-friendly interface as it requires fewer clicks to navigate the application compared to Freshdesk.

With Front, all communication channels are centralized within a single interface. In contrast, Freshdesk users require to toggle between different applications to manage multiple channels. This difference highlights Front’s advantage in providing a more consolidated and seamless user experience for managing diverse communication channels.

👉 Happyfox

(4.5/5)

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HappyFox is a customer support and help desk software solution that is mainly designed to help businesses manage their customer support services more efficiently. With its exclusive ticket system, you can track and manage customer support requests.

From organizing and prioritizing to resolving customer issues efficiently, HappyFox is here to help you save time by directly changing priority, ticket status, due date, and assignees on the ticket list.

Top features of Happyfox:

  • HappyFox offers support across multiple channels. This means customers can reach out via email, chat, social media, and other platforms.
  • HappyFox includes features for automating repetitive tasks and setting up workflows. This can help in streamlining operations and ensuring that customer inquiries are handled promptly.
  • The software often includes a knowledge base or FAQ section that enables customers to find answers to common questions on their own, reducing the load on support staff.
  • The software is known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easier for support teams to navigate and manage customer interactions.

Happyfox compared to Freshdesk

HappyFox is the best customer service software that is strong in automation and workflow management, ticketing system, and self-service knowledge base. FreshDesk also has ticketing and automation features, but it also includes unique gamification features and a community forum option.

Talking about the cost, HappyFox charges based on the number of agents with no limit on ticket volume, which can be cost-effective, while FreshDesk offers a more traditional tiered pricing model, such as a free tier, making it easy for smaller businesses.

👉 Liveagent

(4.5/5)

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LiveAgent, known for its seamless LiveChat software, stands out as a swift and user-friendly customer support platform. It has an inclusive approach to communication channels, including phone, WhatsApp, Messenger, and social media integration. A centralized ticketing system consolidates customer communication, ensuring quick and efficient issue resolution without platform switching.

Its notable features include customizable interfaces, automated FAQs, motivational tools for support teams, and integration with over 200 tools like Facebook and WordPress. Ideal for small to medium-sized e-commerce customer service teams, LiveAgent offers a comprehensive suite including help desk, real-time chat, ticket management, self-service portals, CRM functionalities, and much more.

Top features of LiveAgent:

  • LiveAgent’s ticketing system centralizes customer communication, which streamlines issue resolution and management for efficient customer support
  • The live chat feature facilitates real-time, immediate customer support, fostering quick query resolution and personalized interactions
  • Allows efficient management of ticket workflows by performing batch actions like editing or deleting multiple tickets in bulk
  • Establish service commitments with SLAs to ensure adherence to response times and quality standards, crucial to maintaining customer trust and satisfaction

Liveagent compared to Freshdesk

LiveAgent presents a more cost-effective option compared to Freshdesk, making it easy for budget-conscious businesses. While Freshdesk offers higher-tier functions, LiveAgent stands out for its compelling features and comprehensive suite, appealing to users seeking a robust yet affordable customer support platform.

Notably, LiveAgent has better and more accessible customer support that ensures quick assistance when needed. However, in terms of interface, Freshdesk steps up by providing a more intuitive and user-friendly interface.

👉 ProProfs Help Desk

(4.7/5)

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ProProfs Help Desk stands out as an excellent Freshdesk alternative, particularly suitable for teams with limited budgets. It’s geared towards enhancing multi-channel support while prioritizing agent and team efficiency. Centralized management of both internal and external customer conversations fosters seamless collaboration for swift issue resolution.

With a Gmail-like interface, this desk solution offers a user-friendly experience complemented by automation features for ticket assignments and notifications. Additionally, its robust reporting tools enable performance assessment through metrics, CSAT, NPS, and customizable surveys, while its customizable nature allows seamless integration with other tools for personalized customer service.

Top features of ProProfs Help Desk:

  • Agent routing enables efficient ticket distribution through automated configurations. This feature ensures equitable workload distribution among agents
  • Multichannel support facilitates customer interactions across various channels within a shared inbox
  • Track and manage incoming requests efficiently with an efficient ticketing system
  • Measure customer satisfaction and operational efficiency through key metrics like First Contact Resolution (FCR) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

ProProfs Help Desk compared to Freshdesk

ProProfs Help Desk stands out for its user-friendly interface, offering ease of use compared to Freshdesk. Unlike Freshdesk, ProProfs Help Desk excels in measuring essential metrics, aiding in performance assessment and service enhancement. Users prefer the ProProfs Help Desk for its perceived quality and efficient functionalities.

However, it’s essential to note that ProProfs Help Desk lacks support for customer queries from social media channels, a feature available in Freshdesk. Moreover, ProProfs Help Desk offers a free version catering to startups, while established enterprises can avail themselves of its services for $19.99/operator/month, alongside a 15-day free trial.

👉 Spiceworks Help Desk

(4.3/5)

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Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk is a no-cost, cloud-based solution ideal for IT professionals and system administrators. This platform streamlines client ticket management, furnishes customer support, and tracks agent performance. With accessible mobile apps for iOS and Android, users gain seamless access to the Cloud Help Desk.

This solution efficiently prioritizes user requests and tasks, employing a customizable web portal for ticket management and automated responses for common queries. While acclaimed for its IT-focused online community, this ‘free forever’ cloud help desk relies on ads, which can affect system speed.

Top features of Spiceworks Help Desk:

  • Spiceworks Help Desk provides alerting and escalation features to ensure timely notifications and efficient resolution of critical issues within the system
  • Efficiently assign and track tasks by configuring automatic assignments based on categories or priorities
  • Prioritize, track, and resolve customer requests seamlessly with a built-in ticket management system
  • Engage with an online community forum and facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration among IT professionals for issue resolution

Spiceworks Help Desk compared to Freshdesk

Spiceworks Help Desk’s standout feature is its free model, which makes an attractive Freshdesk alternative for budget-conscious users seeking to economize on customer support tools. Unlike Freshdesk, Spiceworks has a Community Forum that enables users to tap into expert insights and collaborative problem-solving.

However, due to its free model, Spiceworks might lack some advanced features offered by Freshdesk, rendering it less suitable for larger businesses seeking comprehensive functionalities found in high-tiered solutions.

👉 ClickUp

(4.7/5)

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ClickUp is a versatile project management and team productivity tool also used as a customer service solution. It provides comprehensive features for managing customer support tickets effectively. Using the Form view and Helpdesk Ticket Template, customers can effortlessly report issues and submit queries, seamlessly converted into trackable tasks within workflows.

The platform’s project management functionalities enable task assignment, priority settings, automated notifications, and time tracking for task completion.

Top features of ClickUp:

  • ClickUp offers a free plan for startups and small businesses, while larger enterprises seeking additional features can opt for the paid plan
  • The cloud-based ClickApp dashboard provides an accessible interface for managing ClickUp features and functionalities
  • Facilitates grouping and organizing teams or departments efficiently within its platform
  • Users can visualize a clear view hierarchy within ClickUp, enabling structured and organized project or task arrangements

ClickUp compared to Freshdesk

ClickUp distinguishes itself as a productivity platform catering to various work management needs, whereas Freshdesk specializes in cloud-based customer support software, emphasizing customer service functionalities.

However, ClickUp poses a steeper learning curve for users due to its extensive feature set and diverse functionalities. Additionally, users might find ClickUp’s mobile app lacks some features present in its desktop version, impacting its overall accessibility and user experience on mobile devices.

Choosing the right Freshdesk alternative for your business

Selecting the ideal Freshdesk alternative is important for seamless operations. Here are key factors to consider:

  • Effortless onboarding: Choose software that has a streamlined onboarding process. Look for platforms offering guided tours, comprehensive documentation, and intuitive interfaces. The software should minimize complexities, allowing your team to adapt quickly without extensive training.
  • Responsive customer support: Prioritize platforms that offer responsive and accessible customer support. An ideal software has multiple support channels such as live chat, email, or phone support that stand by for prompt assistance whenever issues arise.
  • Effective ticket management: The right customer support software is prominent in organizing and managing tickets efficiently. Seek platforms with features like automated ticket routing, categorization, and prioritization. The system should enable seamless collaboration among team members, ensuring accurate tracking and resolution of customer inquiries.
  • Transparent and affordable pricing: Lastly, consider a software solution with a pricing structure that aligns with your budget and business needs. Look for platforms offering transparent pricing tiers, clearly outlining features included in each plan. Ensure there are no hidden costs or limitations that might hinder your operations. Consider free trial periods or demos to evaluate the software’s value before committing to a purchase.

Freshdesk alternatives: The conclusive overview

While looking for alternatives to Freshdesk, you will unveil numerous options that cater to various needs and preferences. Make sure you choose the one that resonates with your business goals and expectations. Every consideration you make while choosing a CRM will reflect in the results you will achieve.

Choosing the optimal Freshdesk alternative involves considering a solution like DevRev, which is AI-powered and equipped with features that can transform hours of work into a matter of minutes. It also offers a trial to help you explore its premium features free for 45 days.

Frequently Asked Questions