주 콘텐츠로 건너뛰기

Best small business help desk software for 2025

Learn more about the top help desk software small businesses use to manage and resolve support requests. Try our small business help desk software for free.

A guide to the 12 best small business help desk software

최종 업데이트: January 30, 2025

Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) need a direct line of communication with their customers to manage incoming support requests effectively. Due to the nature of SMBs, support teams and business leaders often spend more time nurturing relationships and offering one-on-one support. To achieve this without overburdening agents, use dedicated help desk software to organize conversations.

Help desk software ensures that your team sees all messages and meets service-level agreement (SLA) expectations regardless of the channel a customer uses. Learn more about the best help desk software for small businesses and the ins and outs of selecting the right solution. In this article, we will discuss:

More in this guide:

What is help desk software for small businesses?

Small business help desk software provides tools so businesses can efficiently manage and resolve customer or employee support requests. It centralizes incoming inquiries, tracks their progress, and provides an interface for communication when enterprise-grade plans might be impractical.

Small business help desk software comparison chart

Take a look at the top help desk tools for small businesses side-by-side to see which products have the features you need within your budget.

Software providersStarting priceFree trialKey features
Zendesk$19 per agent/month (billed annually)14 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Freshdesk$0 per month (2 agents)14 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Salesforce Small Business Service$25 per user/month30 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Zoho Desk$0 per month (3 agents)15 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Front$19 per seat/month (billed annually)14 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Hiver$0 per month (limited tools)7 days
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Help Scout$0 per user/month (1 inbox)Available
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
HubSpot Service Hub$0 per month (2 users)Unavailable
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
HappyFox Help Desk$0 per month (5 users)Unavailable
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Jira Service Desk$0 per month (3 users)7 days
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
SolarWinds$0 per month (limited tools)30 days
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics
Gorgias$10 per monthAvailable
  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

The 12 best help desk software for small businesses

Discover the top help desk software for small businesses. We based our roundup on customer reviews, overall features, and how each solution meets typical SMB needs.

1. Zendesk

Best for AI-powered CX

The Zendesk small business help desk software agent workspace

If you’re looking for a user-friendly help desk solution that gives you access to the latest tools without going over budget, Zendesk is the best option. Small business owners love how well Zendesk integrates with their favorite applications and often discover new ways to boost productivity through our extensive marketplace of pre-built applications.

Because of the software’s agility, fast time to value, and scalability, SMBs can continue to provide outstanding customer service as they grow. This is possible because the Zendesk help desk software and task automation are easy to configure. Some SMBs also use the Zendesk software for internal help desks to provide technical support for employees.

Users can tag coworkers on tickets, share internal notes, and even see who's working on the same issue in real time to prevent duplicate work. And with our mobile app, your team can continue to use the remote help desk software to respond to customers wherever they are.

The Zendesk AI copilot helps agents get more done by suggesting responses, sharing relevant information, and even improving the replies agents write. This means faster resolutions and happier customers. Additionally, Zendesk AI can generate new articles from just a few bullet points, ensuring your self-service resources are fully fleshed out.

The software is accessible to businesses of all sizes, but qualifying startups receive six months of free access through the Zendesk for Startups program. This includes our award-winning customer service, sales, and engagement tools. Connect with our community, learn from our experts, and build a world-class customer experience.

Features:

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per agent/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

ProsCons
  • Advanced AI tools require a paid add-on

Recent user reviews

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Freshdesk

Best for working with collaborators

The Freshdesk ticketing system for small businesses

Freshdesk’s cloud-based help desk software is a contact center solution and ticketing system for small businesses. The software provides customer health analytics and automated workflows to assist with everyday help desk tasks. While it supports omnichannel performance, the feature is only available with the Freshdesk Omni plan. The other plans are multichannel.

The platform also works with other Freshworks tools, like Freshchat, allowing agents and bots to talk to customers across channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, and SMS. Additionally, teams can bring in users who aren’t on the plan to collaborate on issues without needing another license.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $15 per month, billed annually. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • The pro and Enterprise plans support up to 5,000 collaborators
  • Allows for multiple SLA policies
  • The Enterprise-plan has skill-based ticket assignment
  • The free plan only supports two agents
  • Omnichannel performance is only available in the Freshdesk Omni plan

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Freshdesk compare.

3. Salesforce Small Business Service

Best for native sales CRM integration

The Salesforce Small Business Service help desk for small businesses

Businesses can manage support requests and automate repetitive administrative tasks with Salesforce Small Business Service. Users can deliver customer support and manage incoming tickets from digital channels like social media or live chat. However, Salesforce primarily specializes in sales-related functions, so its customer support guidance may not be as robust as dedicated help desk services.

Small Business plan users can access the Salesforce CRM to track sales pipelines. The case management tools enable users to handle customer inquiries and issues, including case creation, assignment, and resolution tracking. Additionally, the platform provides insights through customizable reports and dashboards, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Plans start at $25 per user/month. A 30-day free trial is available.

ProsCons
  • Includes intelligent segmentation
  • Provides a built-in sales pipeline
  • Delivers 360-degree case management
  • Advanced plans can be prohibitively expensive for small businesses, costing up to $330 per person

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Salesforce integrates with Zendesk or how Zendesk vs. Salesforce compare.

4. Zoho Desk

Best for free usage

The knowledge base in the Zoho Desk small business help center

Zoho Desk lets users view all customer conversations in a single queue where they can filter by deadline, priority, status, or customer business rules. The mobile app also helps with ticket management by making it easy for agents to tag, assign, and escalate tickets from anywhere.

Small teams can use the free plan to create a knowledge base, manage tickets, and customize the look. They can also utilize Zoho Desk Express to log and triage tickets, assess customer history, automate workflows to eliminate bottlenecks, and monitor customer satisfaction with advanced reporting dashboards.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • The AI assistant can analyze customer sentiment
  • It has a pre-built and customizable mobile app
  • Hosts a community forum
  • The free plan only supports 3 agents

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Zoho Desk integrates with Zendesk or how Zendesk vs. Zoho Desk compare.

5. Front

Best for inbound sales

The Front help center widget for small businesses

Front allows users to manage all customer communications from email, live chat, and SMS in a collaborative hub. Support team members can use Front to manage high volumes of support requests by accessing information from a single customer view.

Team inboxes allow for cross-functional collaboration, message templates support consistent replies, and automatic load balancing ensures even ticket assignment. In addition to customer support, Front can also assist inbound sales desks in automating lead routing and scheduling.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per seat/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

ProsCons
  • Includes live chat, social media, and email communication channels
  • Lets users manage and report on SLAs
  • Lets teams create custom roles and permissions
  • The Starter plan is capped at 10 seats, and the Scale plan has a 2-seat minimum

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Front compare.

6. Hiver

Best for Google Workspace integration

The Hiver multichannel small business help desk

Hiver is a help desk solution that is built to work with Google Workspace. It integrates with Gmail, allowing teams to manage customer emails, track interactions, and collaborate effectively without leaving their inboxes. Features like collision alerts, shared drafts, and internal notes let teams work together and deliver consistent communication.

Additionally, Hiver's mobile app enables agents to stay connected and respond to customer inquiries on the go. Hiver’s platform also specializes in customer service, IT service management (ITSM), and operations.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $19 per user/month. A free plan and a seven-day free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • Includes SLA management tools
  • All plans have 24/7 chat and email customer support
  • All plans include GDPR, SOC2 Type II, and CCPA security
  • The Free plan does not include live chat or automation

Recent user reviews

7. Help Scout

Best for using a shared inbox

The Help Scout small business help desk software

The Help Scout small business help desk solution uses a shared inbox to allow teams to collaborate effectively on customer conversations. This shared space centralizes all customer interactions, enabling direct communication and knowledge sharing among team members.

Customer conversations are filtered into a single location where support team members can assign, tag, and organize conversations. Help Scout also provides features like customer profiles, which store customer history and interactions.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $50 per month. A free plan and a free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • The knowledge base includes auto-generated SEO options
  • All plans get at least one help widget
  • Supports two-factor authentication
  • The Free plan supports a max of 1 inbox and 50 contacts

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Help Scout compare.

8. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for ticket segmentation

The HubSpot Service Hub small business help desk

HubSpot’s help desk is a part of HubSport Service Hub and includes features like ticketing, customer feedback, and a knowledge base for customer self-service. Teams can use pipelines to segment tickets based on factors like the relevant region or brand so they can handle them properly.

Hubspot Service Hub helps users monitor customer conversations and support requests. Support teams can use the software to resolve tickets with an integrated system, automated ticket routing and triage, SLA management, performance metrics, and more.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $15 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

ProsCons
  • Includes 100 CSAT surveys
  • The Enterprise plan supports up to 200 inboxes
  • Paid plans start with 500 calling minutes
  • The free tools are only available to two users

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how HubSpot integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. HubSpot compare.

9. HappyFox Help Desk

Best for identifying and managing ticket tasks

The HappyFox help desk ticketing system for small businesses

The HappyFox Help Desk offers task management tools so customer support agents can break down the steps needed to resolve issues. Teams can create, assign, and track tasks related to tickets, including setting due dates.

Beyond task management, HappyFox provides a shared inbox for team collaboration, automated workflows, and a knowledge base for self-service support. It also integrates with various other business applications so users can connect with existing tools and workflows.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Plans start at $24 per agent/month, billed annually. A free trial is available.

ProsCons
  • Businesses can opt for a plan with unlimited agents for $1,999 per month
  • Allows teams to set custom roles and permissions
  • Includes balanced workload assignments
  • The Basic plan is capped at five agents

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how HappyFox integrates with Zendesk.

10. Jira Service Desk

Best for Atlassian integration

The Jira Service Desk help center for small businesses

Jira Service Management is a help desk tool with IT service management (ITSM) functionality that natively integrates with other Atlassian tools, like Confluence and Jira. Jira’s help desk software comes with the necessary features for IT and general support teams to deliver support to customers and employees. For example, development teams can track bugs and issues in Jira Software and then seamlessly transition them to Jira Service Management for resolution.

Small businesses can utilize Jira’s knowledge base to resolve incoming trouble tickets, manage SLAs, track action-oriented requests, and uncover customer satisfaction (CSAT) insights. The platform also provides customizable workflows, reporting, and automation.

Features:

  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $23.80 per agent/month. A free plan and a seven-day free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • Provides real-time incident monitoring
  • All users can access the Atlassian support community
  • The Standard plan lets users add custom branding to their help desk
  • The Free plan only supports three agents

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Jira integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Jira compare.

11. SolarWinds

Best for IT use cases

The SolarWinds Service Desk dashboard for small businesses

SolarWinds Service Desk is an ITSM solution that helps organizations oversee their IT support operations. Its incident management capabilities allow teams to track, prioritize, and resolve issues. Additionally, it offers asset management tools to track and manage IT assets throughout their lifecycle to maintain inventories.

The software also provides customizable roles and permissions to control user access and streamline workflows. Real-time dashboards offer insights into KPIs, enabling monitoring and informed decision-making. Furthermore, SolarWinds Service Desk supports SLA management, so service delivery meets pre-defined standards.

Features:

  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Paid plans start at $39 per technician/month. Free tools and a 30-day free trial are available.

ProsCons
  • Provides team volume discounts
  • Supports SLA management
  • Automatically captures data to provide performance benchmarks
  • The free ticketing software only supports one technician

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how SolarWinds Service Desk integrates with Zendesk.

12. Gorgias

Best for e-commerce use cases

The Gorgias small business help desk live chat tool

Gorgias provides help desk software for small businesses in the e-commerce industry. Its integrations with popular e-commerce platforms, like Shopify, allow agents to access order information, process refunds, and manage customer accounts directly within the help desk.

Furthermore, Gorgias supports omnichannel communication, enabling businesses to manage customer interactions across channels. The centralized view of customer profiles delivers data on customer needs and preferences.

Features:

  • Omnichannel agent workspace
  • AI chatbots
  • Knowledge base
  • Automated workflows
  • Reporting and analytics

Pricing: Plans start at $10 per month for 10 support tickets. A free trial is available.

ProsCons
  • Integrates with major e-commerce stores, like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magenta
  • Supports customer profiles
  • Advanced and Enterprise subscribers get a dedicated success manager
  • The Starter plan is capped at 3 users

Recent user reviews

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Gorgias compare.

Features of small business help desk software

Small businesses seeking a new service desk system should prioritize help desks with immediate support and scalable features. This avoids frequent software changes as the company grows. Here are five features that the best help desk software provides to help you find the right solution.

Omnichannel agent workspace

An omnichannel agent workspace provides a centralized interface that consolidates communications from all channels like email, live chat, social media, and phone. This integrated approach lets support agents view a complete customer interaction history at a glance, reducing response times.

Presenting a holistic view of customer interactions helps agents deliver more personalized and context-aware support. Moreover, the omnichannel workspace facilitates better collaboration among team members and provides managers with comprehensive analytics to track performance.

AI chatbots

Modern AI chatbots go beyond simply starting a conversation on behalf of your agents. Now, they’re capable of gathering customer context, surfacing relevant support recommendations, and resolving complex tasks autonomously. AI chatbots are excellent resources for SMBs because they:

  • Provide 24/7 support
  • Deflect tickets away from busy agents
  • Direct customers to self-service
  • Manage multiple chat sessions simultaneously

Zendesk AI agents are the next generation of AI chatbots, assisting customers or staffing internal help desks. The AI copilot is another tool that can help your agents be more effective, like writing responses and sourcing needed information.

Knowledge base

An ideal knowledge base should provide intuitive authoring interfaces that allow support agents and subject matter experts to quickly create, edit, and organize articles. It should also offer rich text editing, multimedia support, and the ability to categorize content for easy navigation. The knowledge base should also include powerful search functionality that enables users to find relevant information rapidly.

Additionally, look for solutions that offer version control, multilingual support, and analytics to track article usage and effectiveness. The flexibility to customize the knowledge base's look to match your brand's aesthetic ensures a consistent and professional self-service experience.

Automated workflows

Small business help desk systems should provide a visual, drag-and-drop interface that allows support managers to easily create complex, multi-step workflows. This enables actions like automatic ticket assignment, priority escalation, skills-based routing, and triggered notifications without needing coding skills.

The software should support conditional logic that dynamically adjusts workflows based on ticket attributes, customer characteristics, or team configurations. This includes automatically escalating high-priority issues, sending follow-up surveys, and routing technical issues to specialized teams.

Reporting and analytics

Oftentimes SMBs don’t need as granular of customer service metric insights as larger businesses. However, the help desk software you choose should monitor baseline data like support volume, time to resolution, and conversation volume by channel metrics.

As you grow, you may even want to track additional help desk metrics and assess individual agent performance. For example, Zendesk offers a few useful reporting features that serve small businesses and startups well as they grow:

  • Dashboards: Our pre-built, out-of-the-box dashboard gives small businesses fast and easy access to standard help desk metrics. As your organization grows, you can customize dashboard widgets to display the most relevant customer support information from each channel you utilize.
  • Custom fields: With our easy-to-use custom fields, you can gain extensive data insights without any technical skills. This helps small businesses set benchmarks and monitor the KPIs that impact their organization the most.
  • Unified analytics: Zendesk creates a unified customer analytics experience by making it easy for small businesses to import data from other sources. This helps users see the whole picture and supports educated decision-making.
    Be sure that the help desk solution you go with can keep up with your needs as they change.

Benefits of small business help desk software

Juggling multiple tasks and wearing many hats can make it challenging for small businesses to deliver consistent and efficient support. However, the right help desk can bring many benefits that can help you overcome these problems.

Increased customer and employee retention

Small business help desk software provides agents with comprehensive customer histories, unified communication channels, and intelligent ticket management. This enables faster, more personalized support that directly impacts customer satisfaction and keeps customers returning for more.

For employees, help desk software can reduce administrative burden and minimize repetitive tasks. They offer clear performance tracking and workflow management, increasing job satisfaction and reducing burnout.

Lowered operational costs

Help desk software reduces operational costs for small businesses by automating routine support tasks and minimizing human intervention and ticket processing time. The software streamlines workflows, enabling support agents to handle larger volumes of customer inquiries efficiently. The software decreases resolution times by centralizing communication channels and providing self-service resources, lowering costs.

Unified data

Since omnichannel help desk software integrates customer interactions from across channels into a single interface, it enables cross-department visibility. Sales, support, and customer success teams can then access complete customer interaction histories and contextual information. By breaking down communication silos, the software ensures consistent, informed customer experiences and provides holistic insights that support more personalized and efficient service strategies.

Greater visibility and insight

Help desk software provides comprehensive operational visibility through its reporting and analytics dashboards. These insights reveal response times, ticket resolution rates, agent productivity, customer satisfaction scores, and emerging support trends. By transforming raw interaction data into actionable intelligence, the software enables managers to identify operational bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation, and make data-driven decisions that continuously improve support strategies and customer experience.

How to choose the right help desk software for a small business

Small businesses must consider several factors to choose the best help desk solution for their company. Follow these five help desk best practices to set your company up for support success.

Set time to value and ROI expectations

Before you begin your search or schedule any sales meetings with providers, set some expectations for yourself. These should include:

  • Ideal return on investment (ROI)
  • Budget
  • Time to value

It’s important to define what you’re looking for early on to avoid wasting time on solutions that won’t work for you and increase the likelihood that your decision will pay off how you envision it will.

Determine its ease of use

Evaluate the user interface for intuitive navigation, clean design, and minimal learning curve. Assess the complexity of core tasks like ticket creation, routing, and reporting, ensuring agents can perform these actions with minimal clicks and without extensive training. Request a demo or free trial to personally experience the solution’s usability and seek feedback or reviews from current users about their experience with the system.

Assess its scalability

Find a help desk partner that understands your business and can grow alongside you. While you may be small now, your service desk should accommodate a growing number of support requests in the coming years.

Any good help desk solution can support your agents as they adapt to fluctuating ticket volumes or unique customer needs and provide customizable tools.

Evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO)

TCO is an important factor when considering any business software because it shows the true cost of a tool—how much you’ll spend to implement and utilize it throughout its lifetime at your company.

Ideally, the software you select will have a low TCO, meaning your business will see cost savings on expenses attributed to implementation, subscriptions, and ongoing maintenance.

Ensure the vendor provides adequate support

Consider how much support the vendor will offer to help you get set up and how accessible they will be to correct any future issues. Ideally, the vendor will have a number of support options available. Some examples of this are:

  • Video courses or training
  • 24/7 AI agents
  • Live training and configuration support
  • Guides and knowledge base articles
  • Customer service agents across multiple channels that provide real-time customer support

Pay attention to how the company responds during your free trial to get an understanding of how they’ll treat you when you’re a customer.

Frequently asked questions

Try Zendesk help desk software for small businesses for free

Zendesk understands the unique challenges faced by small businesses. We've been helping SMBs like yours deliver exceptional customer experiences for years. With our powerful AI-powered tools and robust self-service options, you can empower your team, improve efficiency, and build stronger customer relationships. Sign up for a free trial to try our industry-leading help desk software.

Related small business help desk guides

Check out these guides to set your small business up for success. With Zendesk, you can get IT support right every time and create more opportunities to make sales.

Not sold yet? Let us convince you.