Compare
For a team of two to ten technicians. What each free plan includes, what four technicians cost, and where the others are ahead. Checked on October 30, 2026 against each vendor’s pricing page. Where a vendor’s page does not say, this page does not guess.
The free plans
| Beacon | Freshservice | Zoho Desk | Jira Service Management | Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Starter, free forever, up to 3 agents, no card | None. A 14-day trial | Free forever, 3 users | Free forever, 3 agents | Core, free, 1 to 5 tech and admin seats |
| Asset tracking on the free plan | Yes, up to 1,000 devices | No free plan | Not on the pricing page | Listed from Standard up | Inventory Online, a separate tool that connects |
| Knowledge base | Yes | On Starter | Not on the pricing page | Yes | Yes |
| Requester portal | Yes | On Starter, one portal | Not on the pricing page | Yes | Yes |
| Email to ticket | Yes | Email is a listed channel | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sign-in with Google or Microsoft | Yes, on every plan | Not on the pricing page | Not on the pricing page | SSO needs an Atlassian Guard Standard subscription | Not on the page |
| A native mobile app | iPhone and iPad | Not on the pricing page | Not on the pricing page | A mobile app is listed | Not on the page |
| Ads | No third-party ads. One line, Help desk by Beacon, on Starter | None stated | None stated | None stated | Ad free is a Premium feature |
The arithmetic
Beacon’s free plan stops at three agents, and on Pro every agent is billed, so the fourth technician brings the bill to four times the price. Beacon’s price is billed annually. The others are each vendor’s own figure.
| Beacon | Freshservice | Zoho Desk | Jira Service Management | Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Pro | Starter | Express | Standard | Premium |
| Per technician a month | $29 | $19 | $7 | $21.50 | $6 |
| Four technicians a month | $116 | $76 | $28 | $86 | $24 |
| What that buys | Every module, unlimited devices and sites | The lowest Freshservice plan. Growth, at $49, is the next step | The lowest paid Zoho Desk plan | Adds asset and configuration management | No ads. Core is free at this size |
Jira Service Management’s $21.50 is the page’s figure at its default settings, and it changes with team size. Beacon’s monthly price is $35 per agent.
Fair is fair
Past three technicians, both are well under Beacon. Spiceworks Core is free for five seats. If the lowest bill is the goal, start there.
Jira Service Management lists on-call schedules and alerts on its free plan. Both go deeper into service management than Beacon does.
Beacon has no Android app. The mobile web app works on any phone, without the camera scanner.
Plainly
Tickets, assets, a portal, a knowledge base and email to ticket on one record, with every module on Pro and the price on the website. You can export your data in open formats on every plan.
Not an on-call tool. No device sync on Starter or Pro, so laptops come in from a CSV. No SCIM. No Android app. Moving from Starter to Pro is an email to billing@beaconhelpdesk.com today.
Decide for yourself
No card and no sales call. Product names are trademarks of their owners, and none of these vendors is affiliated with Beacon.