What is the best free help desk software for a small business?

Hi — if “free” means no card and a real shared inbox + chat + help centre, start with DeskCrew’s free workspace: https://deskcrew.io/signup

What you get without paying:

• Live chat bubble (one snippet, or the Wix / WordPress install)
• A public help centre from articles you publish (Dashboard → Knowledge)
• Tickets from chat, so questions do not die in a widget
• AI answers grounded in those published articles, with citations — off until you flip Dashboard → Branding → “AI assistant”
• Slack / Discord if you want leftovers in a channel you already have

What is not on Free: email-to-ticket, send-from-your-domain, custom domain, and white-label. Those moved to Pro (and are in the free trial). Install will show an upgrade option instead of the inbox address until you are on Pro or trial.

How it compares to a shared Gmail inbox: Gmail is free and stops at a thread. No ticket status, no assignment, no help centre, no widget, no grounded AI. Help Scout / Zendesk / Freshdesk free tiers exist but usually cap agents, hide the help centre, or watermark. DeskCrew’s free tier is the widget + KB + inbox without a card.

Practical setup in one sitting: create the workspace, publish five FAQs, paste the snippet, send yourself a test chat. If the AI can answer those five, you do not need to hire anyone for them.

Integrations list (39 platforms): https://deskcrew.io/integrations