# FreeScout vs Zoho Desk (slim)

> Zoho Desk scores 66.6 (B) to FreeScout's 27.9 (F) for support tickets. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-zoho-desk.md (~4,550 tokens) · this version ~2,430 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-zoho-desk.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-zoho-desk
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Zoho Desk scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against FreeScout's 27.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. FreeScout leads on maintenance & community. Both do support tickets.

- FreeScout: F 27.9, rank #1431 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freescout.min.md
- Zoho Desk: B 66.6, rank #363 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-desk.min.md
- FreeScout, good for Small teams that want a free, self-hosted Help Scout alternative and can run PHP. Ahead on Maintenance & community, 70 against 63. Also Open source.
- Zoho Desk, good for Teams already on Zoho who want an agent to read tickets, draft replies for review, add private comments and change status with narrow scopes, and small teams that want a free edition with API access. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 72 against 35; Agent ergonomics, 67 against 50; Security & auth, 66 against 30; Payments & pricing, 40 against 0; Transparency & trust, 79 against 36. Also Free to start without a card; No incidents deducted, where FreeScout loses 15 points for them.

| Category | FreeScout | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 73 | 75 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 35 | 72 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 50 | 67 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 30 | 66 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 70 | 63 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 36 | 79 |

| Fact (where they differ) | FreeScout | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | FreeScout | Zoho |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service. The OpenAPI repository on GitHub has no licence file |
| Last release | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2022-03-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-12-22 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Transparency & trust, Zoho Desk +43: FreeScout 36 (AGPL-3.0 core, and the module page says the module is AGPL-3.0 too (30). The software keeps data on the operator's server; the site's privacy policy was not read and no data-handling statement for the API was found (10 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices (0). No telemetry statement or opt-out found (5 of 20, since self-hosted data stays with the operator). 30 + 10 + 0 + 5 = 45.); Zoho Desk 79 (Closed service under the Zoho Terms of Service, last updated 2 March 2022. The OpenAPI repository has no licence file (15 of 30). The privacy policy of 22 December 2025 says data is deleted from the active database within six months of account termination and from backups three months later. The DPA is sent on request by email (24 of 30). The API document promises forum notice and a transition period for deprecations without stating a length, and marks deprecated fields without dates (8 of 20). A sub-processor page exists, but its directory loads by script and we could not read the list. The data centre page names regions and cities (15 of 20).)
- Payments & pricing, Zoho Desk +40: FreeScout 0 (Self-hosted rule, with pricing scored on the paid module the API needs. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The module's price is drawn by the store's script and could not be read, so it scores as not found (0). The core is free, but no free route to the API exists (0). A person buys the module in a browser and installs it (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0.); Zoho Desk 40 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Edition prices are public, $7 to $40 a user a month billed yearly, and extra API credits have a published rate from $4.20 a month per 1,000 daily credits (20). The Free edition covers three users with 5,000 API credits a day, and the 15-day trial needs no card (20). A person signs up in a browser, registers an OAuth client in the API console and approves scopes (0).)
- Schema & documentation, Zoho Desk +37: FreeScout 35 (No OpenAPI, Postman collection or other machine-readable contract found (0). No llms.txt (404) or Markdown docs (0). Each endpoint has a short description and parameter notes such as what `imported` and `embed` do (10 of 20). Parameters are marked required or optional with types, and few enums (8 of 15). curl, JavaScript and PHP examples for each endpoint, and a status-code table with an `errorCode` and `errors` body (12 of 15). Module versions and core releases are tagged, with no dated API changelog (5 of 15). 0 + 0 + 10 + 8 + 12 + 5 = 35.); Zoho Desk 72 (zoho/zohodesk-oas on GitHub holds OpenAPI 3.1.0 files for 210 resources and 1,077 operations after the 29 October 2026 update (185 and 911 before) (25). No llms.txt at zoho.com or desk.zoho.com and no Markdown docs found (0). Every operation carries a description that states the purpose, often with a note on limits, and little on when not to use one (14 of 20). Parameters carry enums, patterns and length limits, and replies use a discriminated schema per channel. Custom fields make record bodies open (12 of 15). The API document has a curl sample and response per endpoint and a list of error codes, and 802 operations declare an error response (14 of 15). The version is in the path and a compatibility statement promises forum notice of changes, with no dated changelog found (7 of 15). 25+0+14+12+14+7 = 72.)
- Security & auth, Zoho Desk +36: FreeScout 30 (A global API key and personal keys that act with a user's permissions, sent in a header or Basic auth, with no scopes. The docs list an `api_key` query parameter as a way to authenticate, so 10 off (20 less 10, 10). Personal keys follow user roles, with no read-only key and no confirmation step for deletes (5 of 20). Conversations carry customer email, the security policy notes that external images in received email load by default, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). No API audit log found (0). SECURITY.md routes core reports through GitHub security advisories, CVEs are requested after fixes, and advisories are published, with no bug bounty or certification (15 of 20). 10 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 15 = 30.); Zoho Desk 66 (OAuth 2.0 with scopes per module and operation, one-hour access tokens and revocable refresh tokens (30). Less 10 because Zoho's OAuth guide documents the refresh call with the refresh token and client secret in the URL query string as one of three options (20 of 30). READ-only scopes, calls bound by the user's profile permissions, a draft and send-for-review path for replies, and a 60-day recycle bin for deleted tickets. Spam deletion is permanent and no approval step guards bulk updates (15 of 20). Tickets hold customer-written text and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). A ticket history endpoint lists actions per ticket and a dashboard shows credit use. A portal-wide audit log for Desk was not established (8 of 15). security.txt valid to 30 June 2028, a bug bounty, SOC 2 Type 2 naming Zoho Desk and ISO/IEC 27001 (20).)
- Agent ergonomics, Zoho Desk +17: FreeScout 50 (Responses can be sized with `embed` (threads, timelogs, tags) and `pageSize` (12 of 25). Page and pageSize paging, with conversation filters by mailbox, folder, status, state, type, assignee, customer email and phone (16 of 20). Errors return a status code, an `errorCode` and a list of messages, with each code explained (14 of 20). The docs say a timed-out call is safe to retry; no idempotency keys for creates (3 of 20). No official SDK; few required parameters on most calls (5 of 15). 12 + 16 + 14 + 3 + 5 = 50.); Zoho Desk 67 (Graded on the REST API. Lists default to 10 records with at most 50, `include` adds related resources on request, and `fields` exists on some list calls only (18 of 25). `from` and `limit`, saved views, `sortBy` and module search with field filters. Deep offsets cost up to 100 credits a call and search stops at offset 4,999 (18 of 20). Errors carry `errorCode`, `message`, `errorType` and the field as a JSON Pointer (18 of 20). No idempotency key. Drafts can be saved before sending (6 of 20). One official SDK, for Java, and setup needs an hourly token refresh and the right regional host (7 of 15).)
- Maintenance & community, FreeScout +7: FreeScout 70 (Core v1.8.249 tagged on 31 October 2026 (30). Twelve tags from 30 August to 31 October (20). Issue responsiveness was not read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25, unchecked). No official SDK, and no MCP server from the project (0). CI with tests on MySQL and PostgreSQL, and a Laravel dependency advisory taken on 31 October (10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 70.); Zoho Desk 63 (The OpenAPI files were last changed on 29 October 2026, adding 176 operations and 25 resource files, three days before this check (30). Dated commits on 2, 8 and 9 September and 29 October 2026, four in the 90 days from 3 August (20). The developer forum named as the place for API notices loads by script, so replies and dates were unread, and no dated changelog was found (6 of 15). The only official SDK is for Java, version 1.3.0 for Java 7 and above, with no release date found (5 of 15). No public repository or CI for the SDK (2 of 10). 30+20+6+5+2 = 63.)