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Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Freshdesk vs Intercom 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

Best overall

Intercom

4.2

From $0.99 per outcome

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.

Best overall

Pick it if: Online businesses and software companies with a support team that wants an AI agent to take the first pass at every question.

Best valueEasiest to use

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

Intercom scores highest overall, but Yoodli gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.

Overview

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
In one lineHelpdesk for email, chat and phone support, with Freddy AI to answer and assist.Customer support inbox, help centre and chat, with the Fin AI agent answering first.AI speaking coach: role-play pitches and hard conversations and get feedback on delivery.
Pricing modelPaidPaidFreemium
Starting price$19/agent/mo$0.99 per outcome$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.

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
Overall rating3.84.2Winner4.1
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.0
4.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.0
5.0
4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.5
4.5
4.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
3.0
4.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.5
4.0

Feature comparison

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

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
Access & platform
Free plan No No Yes
Mobile app Yes Yes–
Desktop app No––
Browser extension–––
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 Yes
Understands images– Yes–
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– Yes–
Works in many languages Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities score8/ 1710/ 176/ 17

Pricing

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

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
Plans

Growth

$19/agent/mo billed yearly

Small teams moving off a shared inbox.

Fin on its own

$0.99 per outcome, monthly minimum

Teams happy with their current helpdesk who want the AI agent only.

Starter

Free

Trying it once or twice.

ProOur pick

$55/agent/mo billed yearly

Growing teams that need routing and deadlines.

Essential

$29/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Small teams starting out with live chat and an AI agent.

ProOur pick

$8/mo billed yearly

Individuals practising most weeks.

Enterprise

$89/agent/mo billed yearly

Larger support teams with admin and security needs.

AdvancedOur pick

$85/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Growing support teams that need automation and several inboxes.

Advanced

$20/mo billed yearly

Heavy individual users who want privacy.

Expert

$132/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Larger teams with security and multi-brand needs.

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.Start the 14-day trial and see how many conversations Fin handles, because that number drives the bill more than seats do. Most teams with more than a couple of agents end up on Advanced for the workflows. If you already run Zendesk or Salesforce and like it, try Fin on its own first.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

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
Standout features
  • Ticketing and shared inbox
  • Freddy AI Agent
  • Freddy AI Copilot
  • Help centre and portal
  • Automations and SLAs
  • Reports
  • Fin AI agent
  • Shared inbox and tickets
  • Messenger chat widget
  • Help centre
  • Workflows
  • Copilot for agents
  • AI role-plays
  • Delivery feedback
  • Upload real recordings
  • Custom rubrics
  • Manager dashboards

Pros and cons

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
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
  • Fin gives some of the most accurate answers of any AI support agent
  • Inbox, chat, help centre and AI all built to work together
  • Fin can run on top of another helpdesk, so you can trial it without moving
  • Clean, modern inbox that support staff pick up quickly
  • Public API and an official MCP server
  • 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
  • Per-seat plus per-conversation pricing makes the monthly bill hard to predict
  • You pay for a Fin outcome even when a customer leaves after a weak answer, by some users' accounts
  • Many useful features sit on higher plans or paid add-ons
  • Slow or patchy responses from Intercom's own support in user reviews
  • Ownership change (renamed Fin, being bought by Salesforce) adds uncertainty
  • 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

AttributeFreshdeskIntercomYoodli
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
  • Answering common customer questions automatically
  • Website and in-app live chat
  • A shared support inbox with ticketing
  • Building a help centre the AI learns from
  • Support across chat, email and phone in one place
  • 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
  • Support teams
  • Software companies
  • Online stores
  • Customer success teams
  • Sales teams
  • Founders
  • Job seekers
  • Managers
  • Learning and development teams

Questions people ask

Which is better, Freshdesk, Intercom or Yoodli?

Intercom scores highest overall in our ratings (Freshdesk 3.8/5, Intercom 4.2/5 and Yoodli 4.1/5). Freshdesk is best for turning a support inbox into tracked tickets and building a help centre and customer portal. Intercom is best for answering common customer questions automatically and website and in-app live chat. Yoodli is best for rehearsing a pitch or presentation and cutting filler words and rambling.

Which is cheaper, Freshdesk, Intercom or Yoodli?

Freshdesk: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $19/agent/mo. Intercom: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $0.99 per outcome. Yoodli: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $8/mo.

Which is easier to use, Freshdesk, Intercom or Yoodli?

Yoodli rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Professionals, founders and sales teams who want to practise pitches, presentations and hard conversations out loud.

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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