AI Chat That Charges for Answers, Not Sessions
Freshchat bills its Freddy AI Agent per session: $0.49 for every AI conversation, whether it helped or not. HelpGuides Messenger charges $0.39 only when the AI resolves a conversation, and every plan includes resolutions each month.
30-day free trial · no credit card · price calculator
Pay Only for Resolutions
$0.39 when the AI resolves a conversation. Freshchat bills $0.49 per AI session, resolved or not.
Resolutions Included Monthly
100 / 500 / 2,500 a month by plan, every month. Freshchat includes 500 sessions once per account.
Translation Built In
Your team reads and replies in its own language. On Freshchat, multilingual conversations start on Pro, and live translation is part of Copilot.
Pay for Answers, Not Attempts
Both products answer chats with AI and hand off to your team. The difference is what you're billed for.
Billed When It Helps, Not When It Tries
HelpGuides charges $0.39 for each conversation the AI resolves beyond your plan's allowance. Conversations it can't resolve, "not helpful" answers and handoffs cost nothing, and every plan includes resolutions each month: 100 / 500 / 2,500 a month.
Freshchat bills a Freddy AI session — any AI conversation within 24 hours — at $49 per 100 sessions, whether or not the customer got an answer. After a one-time 500 free sessions, every AI conversation is billed.
HelpGuides
- ✓ $0.39 per AI resolution beyond your allowance
- ✓ 100 / 500 / 2,500 a month resolutions included
- ✓ Unresolved conversations and handoffs never billed
- ✓ Prepaid packs bring it lower still
Freshchat
- ✗ $0.49 per AI session ($49 per 100)
- ✗ Every AI conversation billed, resolved or not
- ~ 500 sessions free, once per account
- ~ Seats from $19 a month (Growth)
Translation and AI Drafting Without the Upgrade
On Freshchat, multilingual conversations start on the Pro plan, and live translation and AI reply help come with the Freddy Copilot add-on.
Speak Every Customer's Language
Customers write in their own language and your team reads every message in theirs. Replies are translated back before they're sent, and proactive messages greet visitors in their browser's language.
Draft with AI writes a reply from your docs, with sources, for your teammate to edit and send. No per-agent add-on.
HelpGuides
- ✓ Customer language detected automatically
- ✓ Each teammate works in their own language
- ✓ Proactive messages in the visitor's language
- ✓ Draft with AI in the inbox
Freshchat
- ~ Multilingual conversations on Pro ($49 per agent) and up
- ~ Live translation with Freddy Copilot ($29 per agent)
- ✗ Copilot not available on Growth
Your Help Center, Built for AI Search
Your chat is only as good as the docs behind it. HelpGuides is a full documentation platform — the same articles that power your chat are structured for ChatGPT, Claude and Google.
One Source of Truth for Your Chat and AI Search
Every article is published with a Markdown version, llms.txt, structured data and an MCP server, so AI assistants read and cite the same answers your chat gives.
Write in a block editor or Markdown with working copies and version history, or import from WordPress, HubSpot, HelpDocs or HTML.
AI Answers and a Live Inbox
Like Freshchat, HelpGuides answers routine questions with AI and hands the rest to your team in a shared inbox. HelpGuides answers only from your published articles, links to its sources and says so when it doesn't know.
Your team watches answers stream in and can take over at any moment. Handoffs arrive with an AI summary, the page the visitor is on and who they are.
Your monthly bill, side by side
A Founder Answering Chats
- HelpGuides Starter
- $97
- Freshchat
- $264
A Small Support Team
- HelpGuides Growth
- $342
- Freshchat
- $890
A Larger Support Team
- HelpGuides Enterprise
- $1,965
- Freshchat
- $4,110
List prices, per month, assuming the AI resolves about 60% of its conversations. Freshchat: Growth seats at $19 billed annually and every AI conversation as a session at $49 per 100, after the one-time 500 free sessions; without Copilot or the Pro plan that translation needs. HelpGuides: the cheapest plan for the team size, including its minimum seats, with resolutions beyond the allowance at $0.39 (prepaid packs cost less). Try your own numbers →
HelpGuides and Freshchat, feature by feature
Including where Freshchat does more. Checked against Freshchat's published pricing and help pages on October 20, 2026.
| HelpGuides | Freshchat | |
|---|---|---|
| AI agent pricing | ✓ $0.39 per resolution | ✗ $0.49 per session |
| What's billed | ✓ Only resolved conversations | ✗ Every AI session, resolved or not |
| AI included | ✓ 100 / 500 / 2,500 a month | ⚠ 500 sessions, once per account |
| Seat price | ✓ From $19 a month | ✓ From $19 a month (Growth) |
| Free plan | ✗ 30-day free trial instead | ✓ Up to 10 agents |
| Free trial | ✓ 30 days, no card | ⚠ 14 days, then a card |
| Conversation translation | ✓ Built in | ⚠ Pro and up; live translation via Copilot |
| AI reply drafting | ✓ Built in | ⚠ Copilot add-on, Pro and up |
| Answers cite their sources | ✓ Yes | ✓ Knowledge base answers |
| Help center | ✓ Full documentation platform | ✓ Knowledge base with Freshdesk |
| Channels | ⚠ Website chat and WhatsApp, with email follow-up | ✓ Chat and messaging apps; email and phone with Freshdesk Omni |
| Ticketing | ✗ Not available | ✓ With Freshdesk |
| Integrations | ⚠ Slack, DailyStory, REST actions | ✓ Freshworks Marketplace |
When Freshchat is the better choice
We'd rather you pick the right tool. Freshchat does more if:
- You want chat, ticketing, email and phone together in Freshdesk Omni
- You need messaging apps beyond WhatsApp, such as Facebook Messenger and Instagram
- You want a free plan for a small team without AI
- You already run on Freshworks products such as Freshsales
HelpGuides vs Freshchat: common questions
Is HelpGuides cheaper than Freshchat?
For AI chat, usually. HelpGuides charges $0.39 per AI resolution beyond your plan's monthly allowance and never bills conversations the AI didn't resolve. Freshchat charges $49 per 100 Freddy AI sessions — $0.49 each — for every AI conversation, after a one-time 500 free. Seats start at $19 on HelpGuides and $19 on Freshchat Growth.
What's the difference between a session and a resolution?
A Freshchat session is any AI conversation within a 24-hour window, billed whether or not it helped. A HelpGuides resolution is a conversation where the AI answered from your docs and the customer said it helped, or didn't need anything more and didn't ask for a person within 24 hours.
Does HelpGuides have a free plan like Freshchat?
No. HelpGuides has a 30-day free trial with no credit card, and plans start at $19 per seat a month with AI resolutions included. Freshchat's free plan covers up to 10 agents.
Does HelpGuides support messaging apps and phone like Freshdesk?
WhatsApp, yes; other messaging apps, email and phone, not yet. HelpGuides Messenger answers on your website and on WhatsApp, with the same AI agent and one inbox for your team, and replies reach website visitors who have left by email. If you need chat, email, phone and several messaging apps in one help desk, Freshdesk Omni is the better fit today.
Can HelpGuides translate conversations?
Yes, without a plan upgrade or add-on. It detects each customer's language, shows your team every message in its own language, and translates replies back before they're sent, across more than 40 languages.
How long is the free trial?
30 days, with no credit card. Freshchat's trial is 14 days, after which you choose a plan and pay by card.
Freshchat details are from its public pricing and help pages, checked on October 20, 2026: Freshchat pricing, Freshdesk Omni pricing, Freshdesk pricing.Prices and features change, so check their site for the latest. Freshworks, Freshdesk, Freshchat and Freddy are trademarks of their respective owners. HelpGuides isn't affiliated with or endorsed by them. All comparisons →
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