Frappe Helpdesk vs Zoho Desk for small support teams: free open source or the cheapest SaaS
Short answer
Both can run a small support team for very little money, but they charge for different things. Frappe Helpdesk is open source (AGPL-3.0) with no per-agent fee: you self-host for free or pay Frappe Cloud for hosting, from $5 a month for a site (about £3.71 as an indicative conversion; Frappe publishes no GBP price). Zoho Desk is per-agent SaaS with a Free plan for 3 users and paid plans on annual billing of Express $7 / £5.60, Standard $14 / £12, Professional $23 / £18 and Enterprise $40 / £35 per user per month, all from Zoho's official pricing page checked on Nov 7, 2026. Choose Zoho Desk if you want a polished SaaS help desk with telephony, AI, chat and multi-department features you switch on rather than build, and nobody on the team wants to run servers or customise a framework. Choose Frappe Helpdesk if your agent count is growing, you already run ERPNext or other Frappe apps, you need control of your data and code, or you have (or can rent) someone comfortable with the Frappe framework. Under about 5 agents the cost gap is small and convenience usually wins; at 15 to 25 agents the per-agent bill becomes the deciding number.
Contents
- Who this comparison is for
- Two business models, not two feature lists
- Official prices in USD and GBP (checked Nov 7, 2026)
- Worked costs at 3, 10 and 25 agents
- Feature comparison for small teams
- What changes as the team grows
- Effort and risk: who does the work
- Decision by team situation
- How to run a fair two-tool pilot
- Best for, and wrong choice when
- Switching later
- Frequently asked questions
Who this comparison is for
This guide is for founders, support leads and operations managers running a small customer support team, typically 3 to 25 agents, who want the lowest sensible cost without ending up with a tool the team hates. It is also for ERPNext users wondering whether the help desk that ships in the same ecosystem is good enough to avoid a SaaS subscription.
Prices come only from official vendor pages, checked on Nov 7, 2026: the Zoho Desk pricing page (Zoho publishes USD and GBP prices for Desk) and, for Frappe, the Frappe Helpdesk pricing page and Frappe Cloud pricing page. Frappe publishes hosting prices in USD, not GBP, so Frappe GBP figures are indicative conversions. Product capabilities come from the Frappe Helpdesk product page, the frappe/helpdesk GitHub repository and the feature lists on Zoho's pricing page. Opinions on fit and effort are ours.
If you are also weighing per-agent SaaS beyond Zoho, our Frappe Helpdesk vs Zendesk vs Freshdesk guide covers those, and our Zoho Desk pricing guide goes deeper on Zoho tiers.
Two business models, not two feature lists
| Frappe Helpdesk | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Open source, AGPL-3.0 (per the GitHub repository) | Proprietary SaaS subscription |
| What you pay for | Hosting: a Frappe Cloud site or server, or your own infrastructure | Per user (agent) per month, by edition |
| Agent limits | None: Frappe's pricing FAQ says unlimited tickets, agents and customers on all plans | Free plan 3 users; paid editions per user |
| Self-hosting | Yes, free | No |
| Who runs upgrades and uptime | You (self-host) or Frappe Cloud (managed hosting) | Zoho |
| Free trial | 14 days on Frappe Cloud | 15 days on paid editions; after the trial you drop to the Free plan |
| Product support | Hosting support on all Frappe Cloud plans; product warranty from $50/month plans per the Helpdesk FAQ | Included with paid editions; premium support plans available |
With Zoho, cost scales with people. With Frappe, cost scales with infrastructure and with the time someone spends running and adapting the platform. That is the whole decision in one sentence; the rest of this guide puts numbers and features around it.
Official prices in USD and GBP (checked Nov 7, 2026)
Zoho Desk
Zoho's pricing page has a currency switcher with USD and GBP among the options. The table shows the per-user, per-month prices Zoho publishes for each currency. "Applicable local taxes will be charged", per the same page, so add VAT where it applies.
| Zoho Desk edition | USD annual billing | USD monthly billing | GBP annual billing | GBP monthly billing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (3 users) | $0 | £0 (3 users) | £0 |
| Express | $7 | $9 | £5.60 | £7.20 |
| Standard | $14 | $20 | £12 | £16 |
| Professional | $23 | $35 | £18 | £28 |
| Enterprise | $40 | $50 | £35 | £40 |
| Light agent add-on (Professional, Enterprise) | $6 per light agent/month | $6 | £4.50 | £4.50 |
Notes from the same page: annual billing "saves up to 34%"; Enterprise includes 50 free light users; light users are not available on Free. Zoho's FAQ also says the Free edition's 3 users are replaced by the paid plan's user limit when you upgrade, and describes the entry paid tier as limited to 5 users with higher plans unlimited. Confirm the exact cap for Express and Standard in checkout before you plan around it.
Frappe Helpdesk on Frappe Cloud
| Frappe Cloud option | USD (official) | GBP (indicative conversion) | What Frappe says it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites (shared servers) | From $5/month | ≈ £3.71/month | Single site with multiple apps; lowest entry cost; managed upgrades and backups |
| Servers (Helpdesk pricing page, entry tier) | From $20/month | ≈ £14.84/month | Shared or dedicated instances; best price-performance; limited uptime guarantees; incident support only |
| Servers (Helpdesk pricing page, higher tier) | From $60/month | ≈ £44.52/month | Dedicated isolation, snapshots and autoscaling, stronger reliability, product warranty |
| Self-hosted | $0 licence | £0 licence | Your own infrastructure and people |
Indicative GBP conversions use the Bank of England daily spot rate (series XUDLUSS) of US$1.3476 per £1 for 5 Nov 2026, the latest published when we checked on Nov 7, 2026. They are not official UK prices; Frappe does not publish a GBP list price, and your invoice currency, rate and VAT treatment may differ.
Frappe's two pricing pages differ on server entry price
On Nov 7, 2026 the Helpdesk pricing page showed servers from $20/month, while the general Frappe Cloud pricing page showed servers from $40/month (about £29.68). The Helpdesk FAQ also says product support under Product Warranty applies on the $50/month plan or higher (about £37.10). Check the live plan list in the Frappe Cloud dashboard before you budget.
Worked costs at 3, 10 and 25 agents
Arithmetic on list prices only: annual billing, no tax, no discounts, no add-ons and no implementation time. Zoho figures use Zoho's own USD and GBP prices. Frappe figures show hosting only, with GBP as indicative conversions.
| Option | 3 agents / year | 10 agents / year | 25 agents / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zoho Desk Free | $0 / £0 | Not available (3-user limit) | Not available |
| Zoho Desk Standard ($14 / £12) | $504 / £432 | $1,680 / £1,440 | $4,200 / £3,600 |
| Zoho Desk Professional ($23 / £18) | $828 / £648 | $2,760 / £2,160 | $6,900 / £5,400 |
| Zoho Desk Enterprise ($40 / £35) | $1,440 / £1,260 | $4,800 / £4,200 | $12,000 / £10,500 |
| Frappe Cloud site from $5/month | $60 / ≈ £44.52 | $60 / ≈ £44.52 | $60 / ≈ £44.52 |
| Frappe Cloud plan at $50/month (product warranty threshold) | $600 / ≈ £445.24 | $600 / ≈ £445.24 | $600 / ≈ £445.24 |
Zoho Express is left out of the 10 and 25 agent columns because of the user cap noted above. Most teams that need SLAs across departments, round-robin assignment or telephony end up on Professional, so compare against that line rather than Standard.
Hosting is not the whole Frappe cost
The Frappe line is hosting only. Budget for setup, email configuration, any customisation, upgrades and someone who understands the Frappe framework. If you would have to contract that capacity only for the help desk, the saving at 3 to 10 agents can disappear. At 25 agents on Zoho Professional the list-price gap is several thousand a year, which pays for a lot of partner time.
Feature comparison for small teams
Zoho features below are taken from the edition feature lists on Zoho's pricing page; Frappe features from the Frappe Helpdesk product page and pricing page navigation, all checked Nov 7, 2026. "Build" means achievable on the Frappe framework with configuration or custom code, not a packaged feature.
| Capability | Frappe Helpdesk | Zoho Desk (edition where it first appears) |
|---|---|---|
| Email ticketing from your support address | Yes | Express |
| Assignment rules / round robin | Assignment rules, including round robin | Direct assignment in Express; round-robin in Professional; skill-based in Enterprise |
| SLAs and escalations | Service Level Agreement feature | Multi-level escalations listed in Express; SLA depth grows by edition |
| Knowledge base and self-service portal | Public knowledge base and customer portal | Knowledge base and ASAP self-service widget in Standard; multilingual help centre in Professional; multi-brand in Enterprise |
| Live chat and messaging | Not a headline feature; integrations or build | Business messaging and instant messaging in Standard; live chat via Zoho SalesIQ in Enterprise |
| Telephony | Telephony app (Frappe lists taking calls and logging them on the ticket) | Professional; multi-level IVR in Enterprise |
| AI | Not a headline feature | AI agents listed in Express (bring your own key or Zoho's LLM); Zia AI in Professional |
| Workflow / process enforcement | Automations; framework-level customisation | Workflows in Express; Blueprints in Professional |
| Custom fields and modules | Custom fields, tags, views, field dependency; full framework access | Custom lookup fields in Professional; custom modules and sandbox in Enterprise |
| Multiple departments or brands | Build (teams and permissions) | Multi-department in Professional; multi-brand help centre in Enterprise |
| ERP integration | ERPNext customer sync (native ecosystem) | Zoho CRM and wider Zoho suite |
| Webhooks and APIs | Frappe REST API and framework hooks | Webhooks and custom actions in Professional |
| Mobile | Mobile-responsive PWA | Zoho Desk mobile apps |
The pattern is clear. Zoho gives a small team more features you can switch on without engineering, especially omnichannel, AI and telephony. Frappe gives you a lean, capable ticketing core and the freedom to change anything, with less packaged breadth.
What changes as the team grows
The right answer at 4 agents is often the wrong one at 40, so think about the next two or three years, not just the first invoice.
- At 1 to 5 agents, Zoho Desk Free or Standard is hard to beat on convenience. The yearly saving from Frappe is small in absolute terms, and the time you would spend on hosting and setup is better spent on customers.
- At 5 to 15 agents, the decision depends on features. If you need telephony, AI and multi-department routing, Zoho Professional earns its price. If email, portal, SLAs and assignment rules cover you, Frappe on Frappe Cloud starts to look attractive, especially if you already run ERPNext.
- At 15 to 25 agents and beyond, per-agent pricing dominates. Every new hire adds a Zoho seat; on Frappe it adds nothing to the licence. This is where a one-off investment in Frappe setup and customisation is easiest to justify, provided someone owns the platform.
A pattern we see work well: start on Zoho Desk while the team is small and processes are still forming, keep the configuration simple, and re-evaluate at around 15 agents with real data on volume and channels. A clean, simple Zoho setup is also the easiest one to migrate away from if Frappe becomes the better economic choice.
Effort and risk: who does the work
| Task | Frappe Helpdesk (Frappe Cloud) | Frappe Helpdesk (self-hosted) | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial setup | Hours to days: site, email, teams, SLAs | Days: server, DNS, TLS, mail, backups, then the same as Cloud | Hours to days: email, departments, rules |
| Upgrades | Managed from the Cloud dashboard | You pull updates and run migrations | Zoho |
| Backups and restore tests | Automated on Cloud per Frappe; still test restores | Entirely yours | Zoho |
| Customisation | Framework-level: powerful, needs a developer for anything beyond config | Same | Configuration within edition limits; custom modules on Enterprise |
| Support when it breaks | Hosting support; product warranty on $50/month plans and above | Community and partners | Zoho support by plan |
Our view: most small support teams without an existing Frappe or ERPNext platform should start Frappe on Frappe Cloud, not self-hosted. Self-hosting to save a few dollars a month is false economy if nobody owns restore drills. Our Frappe Helpdesk implementation guide covers the setup in detail.
Decision by team situation
| Your situation | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 agents, email only, no technical staff | Zoho Desk Free | $0, nothing to host, and enough for a shared inbox replacement |
| 3 to 5 agents, want chat and a knowledge base, no technical staff | Zoho Desk Standard | Low per-user price with messaging and knowledge base included |
| Already running ERPNext or Frappe apps | Frappe Helpdesk | Same platform, native customer sync, no per-agent fee |
| 10 to 25 agents and growing, cost-sensitive, some technical capacity | Frappe Helpdesk on Frappe Cloud | Hosting cost stays flat while Zoho scales per user |
| Need telephony, AI and multi-department routing without engineering | Zoho Desk Professional | Packaged features you switch on |
| Data must stay on infrastructure you control | Frappe Helpdesk self-hosted | Only option of the two that can run on your servers |
| Multiple brands, sandbox, custom modules, skill-based routing | Zoho Desk Enterprise | Packaged at that edition; Frappe would be a build |
How to run a fair two-tool pilot
Both vendors give you a free trial (14 days on Frappe Cloud, 15 days on Zoho Desk paid editions), which is enough for a structured side-by-side test if you prepare. We run pilots like this for clients, and the teams that skip the preparation usually end up choosing on screenshots rather than on how the tool handles their real tickets.
Pilot checklist (same steps in both tools)
- Pick 50 to 100 real, anonymised tickets from the last month that represent your mix: simple questions, refunds, bugs, angry customers, and anything that needs a second team.
- Connect a test support address in each tool and replay a sample of those emails, so you see threading, attachments and reply formatting exactly as customers will.
- Configure the same three things in both: one assignment rule, one SLA with working hours, and five canned responses. Time how long each takes and who had to help.
- Publish five knowledge base articles and check how they look on the portal and on a phone.
- Ask two agents to work the queue for two days in each tool and score speed, clarity and frustration, not features.
- Export the pilot data from each tool and confirm you can read it. This is your exit test.
- Write down every customisation you wished for. Count how many Zoho's configuration covers in your target edition, and how many need a developer on Frappe.
Score the result on three questions only: did agents work faster, did the setup stay within the skills you actually have, and does the three-year cost at your expected agent count still look right. If the two tools tie on the first two, the third decides; if one fails the second, the price difference rarely matters.
Questions to answer before you sign anything
- How many agents will you have in 12 and 36 months, honestly? Per-agent pricing is cheap at 3 seats and expensive at 30.
- Who will own the tool day to day, and do they want to learn a framework or click through settings?
- Which channels must work on day one: email only, or chat, phone and social as well?
- Do you already pay for Zoho apps or run ERPNext? Ecosystem fit often outweighs a feature gap.
- Is there a contractual or regulatory reason the data must sit on your own infrastructure?
Best for, and wrong choice when
Frappe Helpdesk: best for
Cost-sensitive teams whose agent count is growing; ERPNext and Frappe users; organisations that need data and code control; teams with a developer or a Frappe partner on hand.
Frappe Helpdesk: wrong choice when
Nobody will own the platform, you need rich omnichannel and AI out of the box, or you want one vendor to call for everything. Unlimited agents does not mean unlimited operations.
Zoho Desk: best for
Small teams that want a polished SaaS help desk now, especially those already using Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps, and teams that value packaged telephony, chat and AI over customisation.
Zoho Desk: wrong choice when
You expect to grow to dozens of agents on a tight budget, you need code-level changes Zoho's configuration cannot reach, or regulations require self-hosting.
Switching later
Neither choice is a trap, but plan the exit on day one. Frappe Helpdesk data lives in a Frappe site database you control (or can export from Frappe Cloud). Zoho Desk offers data export per module; our Zoho Desk migration guide covers what exports cleanly and what does not. Keep ticket categories, custom fields and SLA names simple in year one, and any future move gets cheaper.
Frequently asked questions
Is Frappe Helpdesk really free?
The software is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no per-agent fee. You pay for hosting: Frappe Cloud sites start at $5 per month (about £3.71 as an indicative conversion; Frappe does not publish GBP prices), or you self-host on your own infrastructure.
How much does Zoho Desk cost in USD and GBP?
On Zoho's pricing page on Nov 7, 2026, annual billing per user per month was Express $7 / £5.60, Standard $14 / £12, Professional $23 / £18 and Enterprise $40 / £35. Monthly billing was $9 / £7.20, $20 / £16, $35 / £28 and $50 / £40. There is also a Free plan for 3 users. Local taxes are extra.
Does Zoho Desk have a free plan?
Yes. Zoho Desk Free offers three user licences, per Zoho's pricing page. Light users are not available on Free, and paid editions add features such as messaging, telephony and AI.
Which is cheaper for 10 agents?
On list prices with annual billing, 10 Zoho Desk Standard users cost $1,680 or £1,440 a year, and Professional costs $2,760 or £2,160. Frappe Cloud hosting starts at $60 a year for a site, but you should add setup and admin time to the Frappe side before comparing.
Can Frappe Helpdesk replace Zoho Desk for chat and phone support?
Partly. Frappe lists a telephony app for logging calls on tickets, but live chat and AI are not headline features. Zoho Desk includes messaging from Standard, telephony from Professional and SalesIQ live chat on Enterprise.
Why are Frappe GBP prices indicative?
Frappe publishes Frappe Cloud prices in USD. We convert at the Bank of England spot rate of US$1.3476 per £1 for 5 Nov 2026. These conversions are not official UK prices.
Do I need a developer to run Frappe Helpdesk?
Not for basic use on Frappe Cloud. You will want one, or a Frappe partner, for customisation, integrations and if you self-host.