The Freshdesk alternative after the free Freddy sessions run out
Freshdesk is a capable, affordable helpdesk, and every account gets 500 Freddy AI sessions to try. Those 500 are once per account, not monthly. After that, Freddy AI Agent bills $49 per 100 sessions on top of seats. Kerux prices per agent and runs AI on your own key, so the AI part costs a few cents an answer paid to your provider.
| Dimension | Kerux | Freshdesk |
|---|---|---|
| AI pricing | Bring your own API key. Pay your AI provider directly, at cost | 500 Freddy sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions, on top of seats |
| Seat pricing | Flat per agent, from $29/month | $19–$89 per agent/mo billed annually, across Growth, Pro and Enterprise |
| AI assistant for agents | Writing tools and summaries included on every plan | Freddy AI Copilot is an add-on at $29 per agent/mo billed annually |
| Bill predictability | Priced per agent only. AI volume never changes your bill | Seats are fixed; Freddy session charges move with volume once the free 500 are gone |
What it costs in practice
5 agents, 1,500 AI sessions a month, after the one-time free 500 are used
- 5 Pro seats × $55
- $275
- 1,500 sessions ÷ 100 × $49
- $735
- 5 Growth seats × $49
- $245
- 1,500 AI replies on your own key
- ≈ $45 to your provider
- Freshdesk seats at Pro ($55 per agent, billed annually). Growth is cheaper, Enterprise costs more.
- A Freddy session is a 72-hour window with one customer, so several exchanges count once. This compares one session to one Kerux AI reply, which favours Freshdesk when customers write back several times.
- AI cost on your own key is measured at roughly 3¢ per reply on a small, fast model, and realistically runs 1–5¢.
- Every Freshdesk figure verified on Freshworks' own pricing page; see the date at the foot of this page.
Which one should you actually pick?
We'd rather you chose correctly than chose us.
Stay with Freshdesk if…
Freshdesk Growth is $19 per agent billed annually, below Kerux's $29. For ticketing without AI, that's less.
Every Freshdesk account gets 500 free Freddy sessions. It's a one-time allowance, but it's a real way to test the AI.
Freshworks sells phone, chat and CRM products alongside Freshdesk. If you want one vendor for all of those, that breadth matters.
Switch to Kerux if…
After the one-time allowance, every 100 sessions bills $49. On Kerux, AI volume never changes the Kerux bill.
Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent on top. Kerux's writing tools and ticket summaries are in every plan.
Kerux imports your Freshdesk tickets, customers and private notes through Freshdesk's API, with their original dates.
How switching actually works
- 1Forward your support address to your Kerux forwarding address.
- 2Import your Freshdesk history from Settings → Import tickets: conversations, customers and internal notes come across with their original dates. The AI never answers imported tickets.
- 3Bring your solution articles over as .md files. The AI answers from them.
- 4Start with a high confidence threshold, then lower it as you build trust. No contract, no cancellation fee.
Questions people ask
No. Freshworks' pricing page says the 500 sessions are limited to once per account. After that, Freddy AI Agent bills per 100 sessions.
Yes. Paste your Freshdesk domain and API key (Profile settings → View API key) into Settings → Import tickets. Kerux copies tickets, customers and private notes with their original dates, and re-running it skips anything already imported.
For bare ticketing, no: Freshdesk Growth is $19 per agent billed annually. Once AI is answering customers past the free 500 sessions, Kerux's flat seat plus a few cents per answer on your own key is usually less, and it doesn't grow with AI volume.
Kerux connects to Slack, Shopify, Linear, Jira and Claude, and has a REST API. Freshworks' marketplace is much larger.
Try it on your own tickets
30 days free, no credit card. Forward one address and see how it does.