A complete guide to Freshdesk live chat in 2026

Let's be honest, live chat isn't just a bonus feature on a website anymore. For most businesses, especially in e-commerce or SaaS, it’s essential. It’s often the deciding factor between making a sale and losing a customer to a competitor. That’s probably why you’re looking into a big name like Freshdesk and trying to figure out its live chat situation.

If that sounds about right, you’re in luck. We’re going to dig into what Freshdesk live chat is all about, including its core features and the various possibilities it offers. We'll walk through its features, explain its tiered pricing model, and show you how to get the most out of it as part of your support ecosystem.

What is Freshdesk live chat?

First off, the native tool for live chat in Freshdesk is called Freshchat. You can technically get it on its own, but it’s designed to work best as part of the Freshdesk Omnichannel package. The whole point of the omnichannel suite is to pull your chat, email, phone, and social media support into one dashboard for your agents.

Freshchat’s goal is to let you talk to customers on your site or in your app right when they need you, whether it’s for a support question or a sales query. It has a modern "messaging" feel to it, kind of like iMessage or WhatsApp. Customers can pop in and out of the conversation without losing the entire history, which is a massive improvement over old-school chats that disappear the second you close the window.

It’s a solid platform for managing conversations, and it offers sophisticated AI features for teams looking to automate their support. The features are robust, and understanding the tiered pricing model helps you choose the best fit for your budget. We’ll get to that soon.

Key features of Freshdesk live chat (Freshchat)

Freshchat packs a comprehensive set of tools to help your team handle customer chats efficiently. Here’s a quick look at the main features.

A single inbox for everything

One of the best things about Freshchat is how it brings all customer conversations together. It doesn’t matter if a customer sends a message through web chat, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, or just a plain old email; it all lands in the same inbox. This gives your agents the full story of a customer's past interactions without them having to jump between different apps to find context. It saves a ton of time and makes for a much smoother experience for both your team and your customers.

AI-powered chatbots from Freddy AI

Freshworks has its own powerful AI called Freddy AI. You can use it to build AI-powered chatbots that answer common questions, qualify new leads, or handle simple requests. These bots are designed to fetch answers from your knowledge base and follow conversation guides that you build out.

This is a great starting point for automation. By understanding the pricing structure, you can ensure you are getting the most value out of Freddy AI. We’ll break down the pricing in a bit to help you plan your setup.

Proactive messages and campaigns

Freshchat lets you start the conversation. Instead of just waiting for customers to run into a problem, you can set up automated messages that pop up based on what they’re doing on your site. For example, if someone is lingering on your pricing page or has items sitting in their cart, you can send a friendly nudge to offer help or maybe a discount code. It’s a clever way to help reduce abandoned carts and guide people who might be on the fence.

Reports and analytics

Freshchat gives you detailed analytics on all the important stuff: how many chats you’re getting, how long it takes to first respond, resolution rates, and how individual agents are performing. These reports are helpful for spotting where your team is excelling and identifying areas where you can further optimize your service.

Understanding Freshdesk live chat pricing and advanced AI features

Freshdesk’s pricing offers various tiers to suit different business needs. When you factor in AI for your live chat, there are additional options to enhance your capabilities.

The omnichannel pricing puzzle

To get live chat, you’ll most likely need one of the Freshdesk Omnichannel plans. Here’s a look at what they cost if you pay annually.

Plan	Price per agent/month	Key Chat/AI Features Included
Growth	$15	Basic Ticketing, Customer Portal
Pro	$49	Advanced Ticketing, Custom Reporting
Pro + AI Copilot	$78	Everything in Pro + Freddy AI Copilot
Enterprise	$79	Everything in Pro + Advanced Security

Optimizing your experience with Freddy AI

The AI features are designed to scale with your needs, ensuring you pay for the level of automation that suits your team.

First off, the AI Copilot is an available add-on. This tool, which gives agents helpful suggestions for replies, costs an extra $29 per agent, per month. It is a great way to provide your team with basic AI assistance directly within their workflow.

Next is the session-based pricing for the Freddy AI Agent. The Pro and Enterprise plans give you 500 free "sessions" to explore its capabilities. After that, you can purchase additional sessions at $100 for every 1,000 sessions. This model allows you to scale your AI usage as your bot successfully helps more customers, ensuring your costs are tied to successful resolutions.

While Freddy AI is highly effective out of the box, some teams may want more granular control over its rules or personality. Freshdesk provides a reliable framework for these bots, and for those who want to test specific workflows before going live, there are complementary tools in the marketplace to help.

Finally, Freddy AI is at its best when it’s using information that lives inside the Freshworks ecosystem, like your Freshdesk knowledge base. If your team keeps important info in other places, like Google Docs or Notion, you can easily integrate additional tools to bridge that gap.

How to upgrade your Freshdesk live chat with eesel AI

So, what’s the move? Freshdesk is a powerful, industry-leading platform, but you might want to add a specialized AI layer that offers different control options or pricing structures. The answer isn't to replace your help desk; it's to enhance it with a complementary tool.

This is exactly what a platform like eesel AI is for. It connects directly with Freshdesk to give you additional automation options without making you change how your team works.

Go live in minutes

eesel AI is designed for ease of use. You can connect it to your Freshdesk account with just a few clicks, making it a simple addition to your existing setup. You can have it working alongside Freshdesk in minutes.

Connect all your knowledge sources

eesel AI can serve as a bridge to other knowledge sources you might use. You can connect it to your past Freshdesk tickets, Confluence pages, Google Docs, Notion databases, and Shopify product info.

By learning from your team's past conversations and external documents, eesel AI can help provide answers that align with your brand's unique voice.

Get full control and test everything first

eesel AI provides extra layers of control for teams who want them.

It does this with a simulation mode. Before you turn the AI on for live customers, you can run it on your past tickets to see exactly how it would have replied. This gives you a clear picture of your potential automation rate.

You also get a customizable workflow engine. This allows you to decide exactly which tickets the AI handles. You can have it answer common questions and escalate others, all while maintaining the reliable Freshdesk environment your agents prefer.

Transparent and predictable pricing

For teams who prefer fixed costs, eesel AI has plans based on a set number of interactions. This can be a helpful way to budget alongside your Freshdesk subscription. There are no fees per resolution, which makes monthly planning straightforward.

Should you use Freshdesk live chat?

Freshdesk’s live chat tool, Freshchat, is a solid, professional choice for businesses that need a reliable and well-integrated system for their support agents. It is a mature, enterprise-grade platform that powers customer service for thousands of companies worldwide.

If you’re looking to further enhance your setup with highly specialized AI automation, you can easily combine Freshdesk's reliable features with a platform like eesel AI. This approach allows your agents to keep using the workspace they know while gaining an additional AI assistant to handle frontline support.

Ready to see what your Freshdesk live chat can really do? Integrate eesel AI with Freshdesk in just a few minutes and give your support a serious boost.