A comparison that gets easier once you stop reading them as competitors: they are two products from one vendor aimed at two different desks.
TL;DR
Both come from Freshworks and both price per seat annually, but they solve different problems: Freshdesk is a helpdesk that turns incoming messages into tickets with a portal, SLAs and routing, at $19, $55 and $89 per agent per month for Growth, Pro and Enterprise. Freshsales is a CRM that holds contacts, pipelines and sequences, at $9, $39 and $59 per user per month for the same three tiers. Buy Freshdesk when customers write in and someone has to answer; buy Freshsales when reps work a list and deals have stages.
Freshdesk prices a free program at $0 for one or two agents for six months, covering ticketing, a knowledge base and pre-built reports with no card required. Paid plans are annual-first: Growth at $19 per agent per month, Pro at $55 and Enterprise at $89, all billed annually, with a 20% saving advertised over monthly billing. The tier jump buys capability rather than seats: Pro adds custom support portals, custom objects, advanced ticketing, custom reporting and different routing mechanisms, while Enterprise adds audit logs, approval workflows, skills-based assignments and additional security. AI is an add-on layer: the Freddy AI Email Agent includes the first 500 sessions and charges $49 per 100 sessions after that, Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent per month, day passes run $2 to $12 depending on tier, connector app tasks are $80 per 5,000 and MCP actions are $15 per 1,000. Every plan carries 5,000 collaborators and a 14-day trial of Enterprise.
Freshsales prices the same relationship from the other side. Its free plan is $0 for up to 3 users with Kanban views for contacts, accounts and deals, contact lifecycle stages, built-in chat, email and phone, email templates, custom fields, basic workflows, Slack collaboration, a product catalog, curated reports, one CPQ license and the mobile app. Growth is $9 per user per month billed annually, Pro is $39 and Enterprise is $59, on a 21-day trial that asks for no credit card. Pro is where the AI work lands: contact scoring by Freddy AI, sales sequences, sales emails, territory management, multiple pipelines, account hierarchy and deal insights. Enterprise adds field-level permissions, custom modules, forecasting insights, a sandbox and audit logs. Add-ons are sold separately: a configure-price-quote module and packs of Freddy AI agent sessions.
| Feature | Freshdesk | Freshsales |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free program: $0 for 1-2 agents for 6 months, ticketing, knowledge base, reports | Free: $0 for up to 3 users, Kanban pipelines, built-in chat, email and phone |
| Entry paid plan | Growth: $19 per agent/month billed annually | Growth: $9 per user/month billed annually |
| Mid tier | Pro: $55 per agent/month, custom portals, custom objects, advanced routing | Pro: $39 per user/month, Freddy AI scoring, sequences, territory management |
| Upper tier | Enterprise: $89 per agent/month, audit logs, approvals, skills-based assignment | Enterprise: $59 per user/month, forecasting insights, sandbox, audit logs |
| Trial | 14 days on the Enterprise plan, no card required | 21 days, no credit card required |
| AI pricing | Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent/month; email agent sessions $49 per 100 after 500 included | Freddy AI scoring and deal insights inside Pro; extra agent session packs sold separately |
| Add-ons | Day passes $2 to $12, connector tasks $80 per 5,000, MCP actions $15 per 1,000 | Configure-price-quote module and Freddy AI agent session packs |
| Core object | Tickets with SLAs, a customer portal, collaboration and reporting | Contacts, accounts, deals, pipelines, sequences and quotes |
| Platform | Web application with the Freshworks marketplace | Web application with a mobile app and Slack collaboration |
| Offline mode | Not covered on freshdesk.com/pricing | Not covered on freshworks.com/crm/pricing |
| Billing note | Annual billing advertised at 20% below monthly; cards and checks accepted, no PayPal | Published rates are annual, with a 21-day trial before any payment |
Pick Freshdesk if
Support desks get tickets, a portal, routing rules, SLAs and reporting from $19 per agent per month billed annually, with a free program to prove the fit for six months. Budget the AI separately: Copilot at $29 per agent and email-agent sessions at $49 per 100 can rival the seat price once a team leans on them.
Pick Freshsales if
Sales teams get pipelines, sequences, contact scoring and quotes from $9 per user per month billed annually, and can run three seats free indefinitely. It stops at the moment a customer needs support, because tickets, portals and SLAs live in the other product.
No independent reviews were collected for this pairing: every figure comes from freshdesk.com and freshworks.com pricing pages, and the two cards hold vendor-published claims and customer quotes chosen by the vendor.
No. Both are Freshworks products with parallel plan names, but Freshdesk is built around tickets, portals and SLAs while Freshsales is built around contacts, deals and pipelines. Freshworks sells them separately and also offers a combined suite.
Freshsales starts lower: $9 per user per month billed annually against Freshdesk's $19 per agent. The gap holds up the ladder, with Freshdesk Pro at $55 and Enterprise at $89 against Freshsales Pro at $39 and Enterprise at $59.
Only at the conversation level: it has built-in chat, email and phone against contacts. Ticket queues, SLAs, a customer portal, knowledge base and skills-based routing are Freshdesk features, which is why teams that need both usually run the two products.
Freshdesk meters AI explicitly: the Freddy AI Email Agent includes 500 sessions and then charges $49 per 100 sessions, and Copilot is $29 per agent per month. Freshsales folds scoring, deal insights and Freddy AI writing help into its paid tiers and sells additional agent session packs when a team needs more.
Freshdesk gives one or two agents six months at $0 with ticketing, a knowledge base and reports. Freshsales gives up to three users the free plan indefinitely, with pipeline views, templates, basic workflows, chat, email, phone and the mobile app.
They share a vendor and a contact model, so account data moves within the Freshworks ecosystem more easily than it would across vendors. Support history and sales history remain distinct objects, and each product keeps its own plan and billing.
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