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Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Freshdesk vs Hiver vs Yoodli

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Freshdesk

3.8

From $19/agent/mo

Hiver

3.9

From $25/user/mo

Best overall

Yoodli

4.1

From $8/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Small and mid-size businesses that handle customer questions by email, chat and phone and need a proper ticket system.

Pick it if: Small and mid-sized teams who answer customers or suppliers from a shared Gmail address and want structure without leaving Gmail.

Best overall

Pick it if: Professionals, founders and sales teams who want to practise pitches, presentations and hard conversations out loud.

Overview

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
In one lineHelpdesk for email, chat and phone support, with Freddy AI to answer and assist.Shared inbox and helpdesk that runs inside Gmail, with AI that drafts and answers replies.AI speaking coach: role-play pitches and hard conversations and get feedback on delivery.
Pricing modelPaidPaidFreemium
Starting price$19/agent/mo$25/user/mo$8/mo
Free plan No No Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Overall rating3.83.94.1Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.5
4.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.0
4.0
4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.5
3.5
4.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
4.0
4.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
3.5
4.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Access & platform
Free plan No No Yes
Mobile app Yes Yes–
Desktop app No––
Browser extension– Yes–
API access Yes Yes–
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes– Yes
Understands images–––
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No No
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes–
Learns your brand or style–––
Works in many languages Yes– Yes
Capabilities score8/ 177/ 176/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Plans

Growth

$19/agent/mo billed yearly

Small teams moving off a shared inbox.

Growth

$25/user/mo billed yearly, or $35 monthly

Small teams running one or two shared inboxes.

Starter

Free

Trying it once or twice.

ProOur pick

$55/agent/mo billed yearly

Growing teams that need routing and deadlines.

ProOur pick

$55/user/mo billed yearly, or $65 monthly

Support teams that need targets and connected tools.

ProOur pick

$8/mo billed yearly

Individuals practising most weeks.

Enterprise

$89/agent/mo billed yearly

Larger support teams with admin and security needs.

Elite

$85/user/mo billed yearly, or $95 monthly

Larger teams wanting AI quality checks and tighter security.

Advanced

$20/mo billed yearly

Heavy individual users who want privacy.

Business

Custom per seat, billed yearly

Sales and training teams.

Enterprise

Custom

Very large organisations.

Which plan to pickGrowth is fine for a few agents answering email. Most growing teams end up on Pro for routing, SLAs and the option to add Copilot. Budget for extra AI Agent sessions once the first 500 are used.Growth is enough for a small team that just needs a tidy shared inbox with AI help. Choose Pro if you need response-time targets, CRM or Shopify data next to each email, or the API. Voice is an add-on at $30 per seat.Individuals should take Pro on the yearly plan; it is cheap and ten sessions a week is plenty. Teams wanting their own sales scenarios need Business.

Key features

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Standout features
  • Ticketing and shared inbox
  • Freddy AI Agent
  • Freddy AI Copilot
  • Help centre and portal
  • Automations and SLAs
  • Reports
  • Shared inbox in Gmail
  • AI agents
  • AI copilot
  • Collaboration
  • Hiver Omni
  • AI role-plays
  • Delivery feedback
  • Upload real recordings
  • Custom rubrics
  • Manager dashboards

Pros and cons

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Pros
  • Cheaper and quicker to set up than Zendesk
  • Clean, easy agent inbox that new staff pick up fast
  • Large marketplace of apps and integrations
  • AI agent included to start, without a separate contract
  • Public API for custom workflows
  • Almost no training: the team keeps working in Gmail
  • AI agents and copilot included from the cheapest plan
  • Good for non-support teams like finance and HR
  • Cheaper than Zendesk or Intercom for small teams
  • 24/7 support on every plan
  • Very easy to start: just talk
  • Cheap personal plans
  • Covers pitches, interviews and hard conversations, not only sales
  • Feedback on real recordings, not just practice
Cons
  • 2026 price rise, and the free plan is now only a six-month program for one or two agents
  • Useful features like custom dashboards and smart routing are locked to Pro and above
  • Freddy AI costs add up: sessions billed in packs and Copilot priced per agent
  • AI agent needs tuning and handles multi-step conversations less well than Intercom
  • Mixed reviews of Freshworks support and billing when issues arise
  • Gmail add-on can be slow, lose connection or log users out
  • Search and formatting are weaker than in a full helpdesk
  • Key integrations and the API only start on Pro
  • Seats sold in blocks, with a two-seat minimum
  • Free plan is only five sessions in total
  • Delivery feedback is general unless you build custom rubrics
  • Team pricing is not public

Who each one is for

AttributeFreshdeskHiverYoodli
Best for
  • Turning a support inbox into tracked tickets
  • Building a help centre and customer portal
  • Deflecting repeat questions with an AI agent
  • Teams of 3 to 100 support agents
  • Running support@ or info@ as a team
  • Assigning and tracking customer emails
  • Finance and HR shared mailboxes
  • AI-drafted email replies
  • Teams that want to stay in Gmail
  • Rehearsing a pitch or presentation
  • Cutting filler words and rambling
  • Practising tough conversations
  • Sales and onboarding role-plays for teams
You'll find it used by
  • Customer support teams
  • E-commerce stores
  • SaaS companies
  • IT and service desks
  • Customer support teams
  • Finance and accounts teams
  • Operations teams
  • Logistics companies
  • Agencies
  • Sales teams
  • Founders
  • Job seekers
  • Managers
  • Learning and development teams

Questions people ask

Which is better, Freshdesk, Hiver or Yoodli?

Yoodli scores highest overall in our ratings (Freshdesk 3.8/5, Hiver 3.9/5 and Yoodli 4.1/5). Freshdesk is best for turning a support inbox into tracked tickets and building a help centre and customer portal. Hiver is best for running support@ or info@ as a team and assigning and tracking customer emails. Yoodli is best for rehearsing a pitch or presentation and cutting filler words and rambling.

Which is cheaper, Freshdesk, Hiver or Yoodli?

Freshdesk: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $19/agent/mo. Hiver: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $25/user/mo. Yoodli: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $8/mo.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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