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If you’re searching for a Freshservice alternative, chances are you already know what Freshservice offers and where it might fall short for your team. Whether it’s pricing, customization, integration depth, or the way it fits into your workflows, you’re exploring tools that better match your ITSM and service desk needs.
To help you compare, we’ve rounded up the top seven Freshservice alternatives for 2025—platforms that bring different strengths to the table, from advanced automation and AI-driven support to tighter Slack integration and more flexible pricing models.
What to Look for in a Strong Freshservice Alternative?
Not every ITSM platform is a genuine alternative to Freshservice. To find one that actually works for your team, focus on these essentials:
- Seamless Chat Integrations: Support lives in Slack and Teams. Select a tool that integrates directly with these platforms, enabling agents to remain productive without context switching.
- AI That Works for You: Look for automation that does the heavy lifting—intelligent triage, auto-assignments, and suggested responses—so your team can focus on the complex stuff.
- Pricing That Scales, Not Surprises: The best tools grow with you, charging only for what you use and avoiding bloated costs.
- All Channels, One View: Requests don’t just come via email anymore. Your tool should unify chat, forms, and even social into a single queue.
- Visibility in Real Time: Dashboards, SLA tracking, and performance metrics give managers a clear picture—no digging required.
- Workflows That Bend, Not Break: Custom rules, approvals, and templates ensure the system adapts to your way of working.
- Knowledge on Tap: An integrated knowledge base means faster answers for agents and fewer repetitive tickets from end-users.
Think of these as your non-negotiables when picking a Freshservice replacement. With these benchmarks set, we can now explore some of the top Freshservice alternatives available in 2025.
7 Best Freshservice Alternatives for ITSM at a Glance
Here’s a quick look at the top Freshservice alternatives for 2025:
Let’s check each one out in more detail.
1. ClearFeed
ClearFeed is an AI-powered conversational support platform designed to transform Slack into a comprehensive helpdesk solution. It enables IT and support teams to manage both customer and employee support directly within Slack, streamlining workflows and reducing the need for context switching between multiple tools.
Core Strengths:
- Slack-native ticketing & workflows: Full ticket lifecycle can be handled within Slack—ticket creation (manual or automatic), updates, closure, internal collaboration, private notes (e.g. via emojis), and state transitions.
- AI-powered triage and automation: AI-fields for ticket routing, automatic state transitions, and AI agents that suggest resolutions or take actions; auto-categorizing tickets; AI-assisted task creation with summarization.
- Deep integrations / sync with task tools: Two-way sync with Jira, ClickUp, Linear, Asana, GitHub; ability to transform tickets into tasks, summarize them, and keep them aligned across systems.
- Channels & intake flexibility: Tickets can be raised via private Slack DMs, public Slack channels, custom email addresses, and web/form inputs. Replying, updates, and thread sync happen in real time between Slack and email.
- SLA, metrics & dashboards (in Slack + web console): Custom SLA definitions per ticket type, AI-powered alerts when breaches are imminent, reporting on response, closure, and SLA metrics.
- Forms & automation inside Slack: Unlimited forms and custom fields, form-based routing, sophisticated automations upon ticket updates, CSAT surveys on closure, and AI-based categorization.
- Knowledge + tool integrations for AI Agents: AI agents can tap into knowledge sources (Google Drive, Notion, Confluence, etc.) and operational tools (Okta, JumpCloud) to suggest responses or even perform actions directly from Slack.
- Approval workflows in Slack: Ticket-based approval triggers (e.g. on creation), inline approve/reject actions within Slack, routing based on form fields, and audit trails.
Pricing:
ClearFeed offers agent-based (from $24/agent/month) and usage-based models, with discounts for annual plans.
- Starter ($24/agent/month): Core ticketing in Slack, email, web, 2-way sync with Jira/Asana, unlimited automations, CSAT, APIs, and basic AI features.
- Professional ($49/agent/month): Adds customer portal, multiple forms, SLAs & reports, advanced assignment, approval workflows, and Teams shared channels.
- Enterprise/Custom: For larger teams (15+ agents) with volume discounts, SSO, custom SLAs, and security reviews.
- AI Pack: Starts at $20/month for 100 credits, enabling advanced AI automations and virtual agent responses.
- Free Trial: 14 days, cancel anytime.
ClearFeed’s flexible pricing (agent or usage-based) makes it cost-effective for both small teams and enterprise-scale deployments.
Start the trial today and try it for 14 days.
2. Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management (JSM), developed by Atlassian, is an IT service management platform for IT, DevOps, and business teams. Built within the Jira ecosystem, it connects IT and development in a single environment, simplifying the management of incidents, requests, and changes.
Core Strengths:
- ITIL-ready workflows for incidents, changes, and requests
- No-code automation for assignment, escalation, and notifications
- AI triage and task automation
- Unified ticket queues with custom views
- Self-service portal and knowledge base
- SLA, volume, and performance dashboards
- Cloud-first customization of forms and workflows
3. Zendesk Suite
Zendesk is a mature, omnichannel service platform that provides robust IT service management (ITSM) features. It helps teams manage both internal IT support and external customer requests efficiently, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes.
Core Strengths:
- Omnichannel request management (email, chat, phone, social)
- AI automation & Copilot for tasks, triage & prioritization
- SLA definition, tracking & compliance alerts
- Incident, problem & change management workflows
- Service request & IT asset lifecycle management
- No-code customizable workflows & integrations
- Self-service portal & knowledge base
- Real-time reporting & analytics dashboards
4. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is an enterprise-grade ITSM platform designed for large organizations that need scalable, automated, and unified IT support. It handles complex workflows across IT, HR, security, and customer service while allowing modular expansion as business needs grow.
Core Strengths:
- Full ITIL-aligned ITSM modules (incident, problem, change, requests)
- AI & automation for routing, prioritization & workflows
- Unified CMDB for assets, dependencies & impact analysis
- Role-based service operations workspace (SOW)
- Digital end-user & application performance monitoring
- SLA automation, alerts & predictive reporting
- Scalable for large, hybrid & multi-department deployments
5. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a context-aware help desk and IT support platform designed for SMBs and mid-sized teams, with the flexibility to scale for larger organizations. It focuses on multi-channel ticketing, AI-powered automation, and self-service capabilities to help IT teams deliver efficient, personalized support.
Core Strengths:
- Multi-channel ticketing (email, chat, web, phone)
- AI assistance (Zia) for classification, replies & sentiment analysis
- Self-service portals, forums & knowledge base
- Automated workflows & SLA rules
- Agent productivity tools (macros, templates, work modes)
- Multi-department & multi-brand support
- Blueprints for ITIL-compliant process automation
- Custom modules & sandbox testing
- Integrations with Zoho & IT ops tools
6. Help Scout
Help Scout is a lightweight, user-friendly support platform focused on shared inboxes, self-service, and easy collaboration. It’s built for teams that want to keep support simple, fast to adopt, and effective without heavy ITSM overhead.
Core Strengths:
- Shared inboxes with notes, tagging & collision detection
- Self-service knowledge base & in-app Beacon widget
- Lightweight automation to deflect repetitive requests
- Easy adoption with unlimited agents & simple setup
- Reporting tools with CSAT/NPS surveys & performance metrics
7. HappyFox
HappyFox is a help desk and ITSM platform designed for mid-size to large teams that need robust ticketing, automation, and multi-channel support. It’s built to scale, making it suitable for teams that expect growth in ticket volume, agents, or workflow complexity.
Core Strengths:
- Omnichannel ticketing (email, chat, web, portal)
- ITSM modules for SLA, change/problem/release & asset tracking
- HappyFox Assist AI for summaries, suggestions & prioritization
- Advanced ticket tools (collision detection, merging, notes, macros)
- Workflow automation, task routing & AI prioritization
- Vertical-specific packages (education, retail, nonprofits)
- Custom dashboards & reporting
- Flat-fee unlimited-agent pricing
Which One Shoud You Choose?
With so many ITSM tools available, it’s easy to get lost in feature comparisons. The more innovative approach is to focus on your team’s actual needs and match them to what each tool does best. Consider these factors before deciding:
- Slack-first vs. traditional ITSM: Do you need a tool that works natively in Slack, like ClearFeed, or a more conventional platform, like ServiceNow?
- Automation needs: How much can AI and automation help your team triage and resolve tickets efficiently?
- Budget: Look beyond per-agent pricing: factor in implementation, maintenance, and feature tiers to understand the total cost of ownership.
- Multi-channel support: Will your team manage requests via email, chat, forms, or Slack? Pick a platform that consolidates these channels.
- Reporting and analytics: Ensure dashboards are intuitive and provide actionable insights for decision-makers.
The right tool should reduce friction, save time, and let your team focus on resolving issues instead of managing software. Test demos or trials to see which platform fits your team’s workflows and growth plans best.
Ultimately, a good Freshservice alternative enables faster, more collaborative, and easier-to-manage IT support. Interested in seeing how ClearFeed works? Try it for 14 days or book a quick demo to explore it with your own workflows.
FAQs
1. Can I switch from Freshservice without disrupting workflows?
Yes. Most platforms support data migration and integrations, but plan carefully to avoid downtime.
2. Which alternative is best for Slack-first teams?
ClearFeed is the top choice for teams that want Slack-native, AI-powered support workflows. It keeps ticketing, automation, and collaboration inside Slack, reducing context switching.
3. What should IT decision-makers prioritize when evaluating ITSM tools?
Focus on automation, integrations, scalability, multi-channel support, and actionable reporting. Avoid being swayed by hype; look for measurable improvements in team efficiency and SLA compliance.
4. Is Freshworks the same as Freshservice?
No. Freshworks is the parent company offering a suite of products, including Freshservice (ITSM), Freshdesk (customer support), Freshsales (CRM), Freshmarketer (marketing automation), and Freshdesk Omni (omnichannel support).
5. Is Freshworks better than Zoho?
It depends on your needs. Freshworks excels in ease of use and modern UI, while Zoho offers cost-effective, flexible solutions with strong CRM and multi-channel integration.
6. Who are the competitors of Freshworks?
Major competitors include ClearFeed, Jira Service Management, Zendesk, SysAid, Zoho Desk, Help Scout, and HappyFox. Each varies in scale, automation, pricing, and channel support.
