Customerly is a Freshdesk alternative built around Aura, an AI agent that answers customers, runs actions through API calls and hands the conversation to a human in the same inbox. Freshdesk bills per agent ($19 to $89 per agent/month, paid yearly) plus per Freddy AI session ($49 per 100 after the first 500); Customerly bills per seat plus per AI conversation ($0.45 prepaid, $0.50 on demand), stores all customer data in the EU, and its team assists the migration from Freshdesk at no cost.
Last updated: 27 October 2026 · Freshdesk prices and features checked on freshworks.com on 27 October 2026
Looking for the full shortlist? Our Freshdesk alternatives in 2026 comparison covers 10 tools (Customerly, Zendesk, Intercom, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, HubSpot Service Hub, Front, Gorgias, LiveAgent, Kayako) with each AI agent, how it is billed and its starting price. This page is the head-to-head between Customerly and Freshdesk.
Why consider a Freshdesk alternative?
Teams look for a Freshdesk alternative when they want the AI to resolve conversations, not only assist agents, and when they want one bill they can forecast. On 27 October 2026, freshworks.com listed three Freshdesk plans billed annually: Growth $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent/month, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. Freddy AI Agent is on every plan, with the first 500 sessions included once per account and $49 per 100 sessions after that; a session is "a unique interaction between an end-user and an AI Agent", and an email session is a 72-hour window from the customer's first email. Freddy AI Copilot, the assistant for agents, is a $29 per agent/month add-on on Pro and Enterprise, and Freddy AI Insights is Enterprise only.
Customerly bills per seat plus per AI conversation, with AI conversation credits included in every plan, and Aura works on every plan. All customer data is stored and processed in the EU.
Platform overview: Freshdesk vs Customerly
Freshdesk
Freshdesk, by Freshworks, is a ticketing suite with a shared inbox, customer portal and knowledge base, analytics, roles and permissions, and AI under the Freddy name: Freddy AI Agent for customers, Freddy AI Copilot for agents and Freddy AI Insights for managers. Pro adds a multilingual helpdesk, custom dashboards, intelligent routing and multiple SLA policies; Enterprise adds skill-based routing, a sandbox, audit logs and allowed domains and IP whitelisting. The pricing page also lists day passes for occasional agents ($2, $7 or $12 per pass by plan), connector app tasks at $80 per 5,000 and MCP actions at $15 per 1,000.
Customerly
Customerly is an AI-first customer service platform: live chat, email, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger in one inbox, a Help Center, email marketing, surveys (CSAT, NPS) and a light CRM. Aura, the AI agent, is trained on your Help Center, canned responses and uploaded documents, answers on every channel from one training, reads images, PDF and TXT files that customers share, replies in the language the customer writes in, runs multistep actions through your REST APIs (AI Missions) and hands off to a teammate with a summary. Across all Customerly customers, Aura's resolution rate is 72%. Customerly has no voice channel today.
Pricing comparison
Freshdesk prices per agent (billed annually on freshworks.com); Customerly prices per seat, monthly or yearly. AI is billed per session at Freshdesk and per AI conversation at Customerly.
| Product | Plan | Price (per agent or seat/month) | AI | Notes |
|---|
| Freshdesk | Growth | $19, billed annually | Freddy AI Agent: first 500 sessions included, then $49 per 100 sessions | Ticketing and shared inbox, customer portal and knowledge base, analytics |
| Freshdesk | Pro | $55, billed annually | Freddy AI Agent as above; Freddy AI Copilot add-on $29 per agent/month | Multilingual helpdesk, custom dashboards, intelligent routing, multiple SLA policies |
| Freshdesk | Enterprise | $89, billed annually | Freddy AI Agent as above; Copilot add-on $29; Freddy AI Insights included | Skill-based routing, sandbox, audit logs, allowed domains and IP whitelisting |
| Customerly | Core | $19 | 10 AI conversations/month included | AI, Live chat, 500 interactions, Email, Help Center |
| Customerly | Growth | $69 | 20 AI conversations/month included | All Core features + 1000 interactions, Advanced automations, Video calls, CRM, Surveys, Integrations |
| Customerly | Ultimate | $99 | 50 AI conversations/month included | All Growth features + 5000 interactions, Live translate, Advanced analytics, CSAT, Identity verification |
- Customerly AI conversation cost: $0.45 per AI conversation, with unlimited contacts.
- Customerly AI seat: $19 per month per seat as add-on.
- Both platforms offer a 14-day free trial. Freshdesk's trial runs on the Enterprise plan.
Extra AI conversations cost $0.45 prepaid or $0.50 on demand. One AI conversation is any conversation Aura takes part in, however many messages follow. See pricing.
Worked example, 5,000 AI-handled conversations a month: at Freshdesk, 5,000 sessions beyond the one-time 500 included cost $2,450 a month ($49 per 100), on top of seats; at Customerly, 5,000 AI conversations cost $2,250 prepaid ($0.45 each), on top of seats. The two AI fees are close; the difference is what each unit counts (a Freshdesk email session is a 72-hour window, a Customerly AI conversation is one conversation however many messages follow) and what the agent can do inside it. Test both on an export of your own tickets.
Migration from Freshdesk
The Customerly team assists your migration from Freshdesk at no cost. Contacts can be imported from a CSV or XLS file, your Help Center articles move into Customerly's Help Center, Aura is trained on them, and you move channels across one at a time. The Move from other providers section of the Help Center explains the steps.
Summary: if you want an AI-first support platform where Aura and your team share one inbox, with customer data stored in the EU and a migration the Customerly team assists at no cost, book a demo. For the wider shortlist, read Freshdesk alternatives in 2026.
FAQ
Is Customerly a good Freshdesk alternative for a large support team?
Yes, if your team handles a high volume of chat, email, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger conversations and wants an AI agent that resolves most of them. Aura resolves 72% of conversations across all Customerly customers, runs actions through your APIs and hands off to a teammate with a summary in the same inbox. TeamSystem's Fatture in Cloud, with 600,000+ customers, resolves 60% of requests with Aura; see the Fatture in Cloud success story. Customerly has no voice channel today.
How does Customerly pricing compare with Freshdesk pricing?
Freshdesk prices per agent: Growth $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent/month, billed annually, and bills Freddy AI Agent per session ($49 per 100 after the first 500), with Freddy AI Copilot at $29 per agent/month on Pro and Enterprise. Customerly prices per seat (Core $19, Growth $69, Ultimate $99 per seat/month billed monthly) plus AI conversations at $0.45 prepaid or $0.50 on demand, with credits included in each plan. See pricing.
How is Freddy AI billed compared with Aura?
Freshdesk bills Freddy AI Agent per session: a unique interaction between an end user and the AI agent, or a 72-hour window for email, at $49 per 100 sessions after the first 500. Customerly bills Aura per AI conversation: any conversation Aura takes part in counts once, however many messages follow, at $0.45 prepaid or $0.50 on demand.
How do I migrate from Freshdesk to Customerly?
The Customerly team assists the migration at no cost. Contacts are imported from a CSV or XLS file, Help Center articles move into Customerly, Aura is trained on them, and channels move across one at a time.
Can Customerly keep customer data in the EU?
Yes. Customerly stores and processes all customer data in AWS data centers in the European Union and publishes its security, GDPR and EU AI Act documentation. For Freshdesk, check the data-location statement on Freshworks' own trust pages; this page lists only what the Freshdesk pricing page shows.
Which other Freshdesk alternatives should I compare?
Zendesk, Intercom (Fin), Help Scout, Zoho Desk, HubSpot Service Hub, Front, Gorgias, LiveAgent and Kayako, each with its AI agent, billing model and starting price verified on the vendor's own page, are compared in Freshdesk alternatives in 2026.
