Freshdesk vs Gorgias: Which helpdesk is right for you in 2026?

Picking a helpdesk can feel like a massive decision. If you get it wrong, your team is stuck trying to piece together customer conversations with tools that don't quite fit. But when you get it right, everything just flows better for your team and your customers. In this showdown, we’ve got two major players: Freshdesk and Gorgias.

Freshdesk is the well-known, do-it-all platform that works for pretty much any industry. On the other hand, Gorgias is a premier choice for e-commerce brands, especially if you're running on Shopify.

So, let's break down the real differences between Freshdesk vs Gorgias. We'll look at their features, how they use AI, what their pricing actually looks like, and how easy they are to get started with. By the end, you'll have a much clearer picture of which one fits your team, and we'll even throw in a third option that might mean you don't have to switch at all.

What is Freshdesk?

Freshdesk is a big name in the customer support world. It's a mature, cloud-based tool from Freshworks that aims to be the one-stop shop for businesses of all stripes. The whole idea is to pull all your customer chats from email, phone, social media, and live chat into one organized ticketing system. It's known for having a ton of automation options, a huge library of integrations, and enterprise-grade tools for building out a self-service help center.

What is Gorgias?

Gorgias is a powerful helpdesk built specifically with e-commerce in mind. Its main claim to fame is how deeply it connects with platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento. This connection allows support agents to see a customer's order history, give a refund, or change an order directly from their dashboard. Gorgias brings in messages from email, chat, social media, and SMS, helping you manage support tickets for online sales with impressive efficiency.

Feature deep dive: Comparing core capabilities

Both platforms handle support tickets, but how they handle the details shows you exactly who they were built for.

E-commerce specialization: A purpose-built tool vs. a generalist

Gorgias was made for e-commerce, and it shows. Its link with Shopify is incredibly smooth. An agent can pull up a customer's order history, check on shipping, and even process a refund or cancellation from the ticket view. Having all that information in one place helps them solve problems quickly and accurately.

Freshdesk offers a robust Shopify integration through its expansive marketplace. The Shopify information shows up in a dedicated sidebar app, providing the necessary order context alongside Freshdesk's comprehensive suite of support tools. It's a reliable setup that works well for businesses that need both e-commerce data and the power of a mature ticketing platform.

AI and automation: Resolutions vs. suggestions

Both platforms use AI to help teams work more efficiently.

• Freshdesk’s Freddy AI acts like a versatile assistant for your team. It can give you a summary of a long conversation, suggest help articles, and help agents write replies. It also features a highly sophisticated automation engine for routing tickets.

• Gorgias’s AI is highly specialized for e-commerce tasks. It’s great at spotting common questions like "Where is my order?" and can provide automated replies with tracking links, significantly reducing manual work for your team.

The thing is, the native AI inside helpdesks can sometimes be limited to the information within their own system. If you want an AI that can learn from your team's past tickets and pull in knowledge from your Google Docs or Confluence, you might look for complementary options.

Pro tip: You don't have to be stuck with the AI that comes with your helpdesk. A tool like eesel AI plugs right into Freshdesk or Gorgias to give you smarter, more flexible automation. It learns from your old tickets and all your company knowledge, wherever it lives. This gives you full control over what gets automated and exactly how the AI responds.

Self-service and knowledge base

Freshdesk has a big advantage here. It comes with a built-in knowledge base that’s packed with features. You can build out a full help center with articles, FAQs, and even a community forum, which helps customers find answers on their own. It's a highly scalable and professional solution.

Gorgias focuses its power on providing a high-performance ticketing and chat experience. It integrates seamlessly with specialized third-party tools, allowing you to build a tailored self-service experience that matches your brand perfectly while leveraging Gorgias's powerful ticketing engine.

A smarter approach: Instead of having your team spend weeks writing help articles from scratch, what if your AI could give you a head start? eesel AI can look at your resolved tickets and automatically draft new articles based on the solutions that worked. It's a quick way to build out your knowledge base with content you already know is helpful.

Integrations and ecosystem

Freshdesk has built an impressive ecosystem. Its marketplace has over 1,000 apps, connecting to CRMs like Salesforce and project management tools like Jira. It’s a highly capable platform designed to fit into almost any company's set of tools.

Gorgias has a more specialized list of integrations curated specifically for e-commerce growth. Think tools like Klaviyo, Yotpo, and Loop Returns. It focuses on the most relevant integrations for online stores to ensure a streamlined and effective setup.

Pricing models: Freshdesk vs Gorgias

Okay, let's talk money. This is where Freshdesk and Gorgias go their separate ways, and both offer options to match different team needs.

Freshdesk's per-agent pricing

Freshdesk sticks to the classic "per agent, per month" model. This makes your costs very predictable. You pay a set fee for each person on your support team, and you can handle as many tickets as you want. It’s a trustworthy model that works well for teams of various sizes.

Gorgias's ticket-based pricing

Gorgias offers a scalable model based on how many "billable tickets" you handle each month. This is an excellent entry point for growing shops. As your business grows, Gorgias's tiered plans allow you to increase your capacity, ensuring you only pay for the volume your business is actually generating. This flexibility is particularly useful for managing seasonal surges during peak shopping holidays.

graph TD A[Month Starts] --> B(Handle 300 tickets); B --> C{Black Friday Sale?}; C -- No --> D[Pay $50 for Basic Plan]; C -- Yes --> E(Handle 1000 tickets); E --> F[Flexible scaling for volume]; D --> G[ predictable cost]; F --> H[Cost scales with sales growth];

AI and automation costs

With both platforms, some advanced AI features can be added to your plan. For example, Freshdesk's Freddy AI Copilot is an extra $29 per agent each month on top of their Pro plan, providing a powerful assistant for your team. Gorgias includes robust automation in its plans, helping you handle higher volumes efficiently as you move up through their tiers.

This is where a third-party AI tool can provide additional value. For instance, eesel AI's pricing is straightforward and based on usage, helping your costs stay predictable regardless of your helpdesk choice.

Ease of use and implementation

Gorgias is exceptionally easy to pick up because its interface is tailored to a specific e-commerce workflow. It’s built for teams that want to get up and running with minimal configuration.

Freshdesk is a power-packed platform with a broad feature set. While it offers more to learn, this is because it provides incredible flexibility and enterprise-grade tools. Once configured, it offers a robust environment that can be tailored exactly to your team's specific requirements, making it a strong long-term solution.

Getting set up with AI doesn't have to be a huge project. Modern AI platforms like eesel AI are built so you can get started on your own. You can connect your helpdesk with a single click and be up and running in minutes.

Full pricing breakdown

Here’s a look at the plans for Freshdesk and Gorgias for 2026. Keep in mind that you can usually get a discount for paying annually.

Freshdesk Pricing (Billed Annually)

Plan	Price per Agent/Month	Key Features
Free	$0 (up to 2 agents)	Ticketing, Knowledge Base, Pre-built reports
Growth	$15	Automation, Collision Detection, Custom Ticket Views, Customer Portal
Pro	$49	Custom Objects, Advanced Reporting, SLA Management, 5,000 collaborators
Enterprise	$79	Skill-based assignments, Audit Log, Approval Workflows

Freddy AI Copilot is an add-on for Pro and Enterprise plans for an additional $29/agent/month.

Gorgias Pricing (Based on Monthly Tickets, Billed Annually)

Plan	Monthly Price	Included Billable Tickets
Starter	$10	50
Basic	$50	300
Pro	$300	2,000
Advanced	$750	5,000

Gorgias offers tiered options so you can easily scale up as your ticket volume increases.

A summary of the key differences

For a quick side-by-side, here's a table that sums up how the two platforms stack up.

Feature	Freshdesk	Gorgias
Ideal User	Businesses looking for a mature, scalable platform	E-commerce stores (especially Shopify)
Pricing Model	Predictable per agent, per month	Flexible per billable ticket, per month
E-commerce Focus	Reliable marketplace integrations	Deep, industry-leading built-in integrations
AI & Automation	Broad workflow automation (Freddy AI)	Specialized e-commerce intent detection
Knowledge Base	Built-in and feature-rich	Integrates with best-in-breed third-party tools
Integrations	1,000+ through a mature ecosystem	~100+ highly relevant e-commerce apps

The verdict: Which one should you choose?

So, after all that, which one is it?

• Choose Gorgias if: You run an e-commerce store on a platform like Shopify and your primary need is having order information baked directly into your support tool. It's a mature, reliable platform that powers customer service for thousands of top brands and offers unmatched e-commerce capabilities.

• Choose Freshdesk if: You need a solid, all-around helpdesk that can grow with you across various industries. It is a capable platform that's a strong pick for businesses needing detailed reporting, support for multiple brands, and a powerful built-in knowledge base.

This video provides a detailed visual comparison to help you decide whether Freshdesk or Gorgias is the better fit for your business in 2026.

You don't always have to choose between a great knowledge base and better e-commerce tools. You can often get the best of both worlds by enhancing your chosen platform with complementary tools.

A smarter choice: Upgrade your helpdesk without switching

Instead of moving your entire support operation to a new platform, you can simply make the one you already have more powerful. eesel AI is an AI platform that plugs directly into the tools you're already using, including both Freshdesk and Gorgias.

It works by connecting all of your company knowledge - from old tickets and macros to your Confluence pages, Google Docs, and Shopify product catalog - to power a smarter AI agent that works within your ecosystem.

• Go live quickly: eesel AI is designed for you to set up yourself. You can connect your helpdesk and other tools with one click and launch whenever you're ready.

• Test with confidence: You can use its simulation mode to see how the AI would have handled past tickets. This shows you exactly how it will perform before it ever talks to a real customer.

• Pay predictably: With clear, tiered pricing, your costs stay stable even after a busy month.

You can stick with the platform your team already knows and add a powerful AI that can automate repetitive questions, help your agents with tough tickets, and give your customers a better experience.

Try eesel AI for free or book a demo to see how it complements your current helpdesk.