Help desk software for small business: email, WhatsApp and calls in one place
A customer asks about a delivery on WhatsApp, calls when nobody answers, and then sends an email too. One question, three messages – and maybe three people working on it. Help desk software collects all of it in one place and makes sure nobody waits too long. This guide shows what a help desk for a small team needs, what the free plans of the big vendors include, and what The-Y CRM costs.
A help desk collects requests, gives each one a person in charge and warns you before a customer waits too long. With the big vendors, WhatsApp and phone usually need a higher plan or an extra product. In The-Y CRM both are on every plan: free for up to 3 users, or Cloud Pro for €20 a month per company, all users and brands included (Alpha & Beta price; €40 from the Live release).
Help desk, ticketing system, service desk: what’s the difference?
In everyday English, “help desk” and “ticketing system” mean almost the same thing: every request gets a number, a person in charge and a status. A help desk adds what gets customers to an answer faster – response targets, snippets, a knowledge base and a short survey. A service desk is for internal IT: incidents, device inventory, ITIL processes. The-Y CRM is a help desk for customer service. It is not an IT service desk.
Checklist: what a small team’s help desk needs
| You need | Why it matters | In The-Y CRM |
|---|---|---|
| One list for every channel | Nobody has to check five apps. | Email, WhatsApp, web chat, Messenger, Instagram and calls. Each request is a ticket #N with status and priority. |
| A person in charge | “Read” is not “done”. | Pick a person or click “Assign to me”. New conversations can go out in turn or by workload. |
| No double replies | Two people answer the same customer. | The ticket shows “Lena is looking” or “Lena is typing …”, with a request not to reply twice. |
| Internal notes | Agreements stay with the ticket. | Yellow notes only your team sees. Type “@” to bring in a colleague. |
| Response targets (SLA) | You see trouble before the customer complains. | Targets for first response and resolution, optionally in business hours only. If a target is missed, the team lead gets a notice. |
| Customer survey (CSAT) | You learn how your answers land. | After a ticket is closed, the customer rates it from 1 to 5. The survey goes out by email through your own mailbox. |
| Knowledge base and help center | Customers find simple answers themselves. | Published articles appear in a public help center at crm.the-y.at/help/<your-brand>. You can insert them straight into a reply. |
| Snippets and macros | The same answer takes seconds, not minutes. | “/” inserts a snippet. A macro sets status, priority, assignment, labels, a note and a snippet in one click. |
| Opening hours | Customers know when you’ll reply. | One weekly plan for all channels, with an automatic reply. Austrian or German holidays in one click. |
| Reports per person | You see where help is needed. | Conversations assigned, messages sent and the average time to the first reply, for each person. |
Response targets, the customer survey and the help center are on Free too. On Free, the survey and the help center show “Powered by The-Y” at the bottom.
Free help desk plans compared
Most vendors offer a trial, not a free plan. And where there is a free plan, WhatsApp and phone are usually missing.
| Vendor | Free plan | Smallest paid plan | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk | none on the pricing page; 14-day trial | Growth: $19 per agent/month, billed annually | not named on the pricing pages | in Freshdesk Omni as a voice add-on, from $15 per agent/month, plus call rates |
| Zoho Desk | Free edition: 3 user licences, email ticketing | Express (the page showed us no euro or dollar prices) | from Standard | telephony integration from Professional |
| HubSpot Service Hub | free for up to 2 users, live chat with HubSpot branding | Starter: $7 or $20 per seat/month as shown (discounts for new customers only) | from Professional ($90 per seat/month, plus $1,500 one-time onboarding), up to 1,000 messages a month | calling on paid plans; Starter 500 minutes |
| Zendesk | none; 14-day trial | Support Team: $19 per agent/month, billed annually | from Suite Team ($55 per agent/month); additional fees apply | from Suite Team; phone menu (IVR) from Suite Professional ($115) |
| The-Y CRM | Free: €0 forever, up to 3 users, all features except your own branding | Cloud Pro: €20/month per company, all users and brands included | on every plan, no markup on Meta’s fees | phone system built in, on every plan; number from your SIP provider |
Vendor details as shown on their official pricing pages, accessed 6 Nov 2026, in US dollars, plus taxes where applicable. The-Y prices incl. VAT; Cloud Pro €20 during Alpha & Beta, €40 from the Live release. Sources at the end of the page. Our detailed comparisons: Freshdesk · Zendesk · HubSpot · Zammad.
WhatsApp in your help desk: Meta’s rules
- Two ways through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform: keep your WhatsApp Business app – messages also arrive in the help desk, replies from your phone show up there too, and up to 180 days of history are imported. Or connect a new number; landlines work too. Guide
- 24-hour window: you can reply freely for 24 hours after the customer’s last message. After that, WhatsApp needs an approved template.
- Costs: since 1 Oct 2026, the first 1,000 free-form replies per number each month are free. After that, a reply costs Meta’s service rate for the customer’s country – for example €0.0142 in Austria and €0.0456 in Germany; every other country is in the calculator on the costs page. Templates are charged from the first message. You pay Meta directly; The-Y adds no markup.
- WhatsApp calls in the CRM only work with a number that doesn’t also run in the WhatsApp Business app. That is Meta’s rule.
Meta’s 1,000 free replies are not the same as the limit of The-Y Free (1,000 outgoing messages a month across all channels).
Phone in your help desk
With many help desks, phone is an add-on or a separate product. In The-Y CRM the phone system is built in: greeting, menu (IVR), queues and voicemail. A call becomes a ticket in the same inbox, and voicemail arrives there as audio. Missed calls and voicemails stay open until someone deals with them. If nobody picks up, the caller can press 1 and get a WhatsApp message from your number (how it works). Your number and minutes come from your own SIP provider – currently sipgate, Zadarma or Twilio. Free handles 2 calls at the same time, Cloud Pro up to 10. More: Virtual phone system for small business.
Test it in about 30 minutes
- Create a free account on crm.the-y.at.
- Connect your support mailbox: Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com with one click, Gmail with an app password, every other provider via IMAP/SMTP. Send yourself a test email – after about a minute it is a ticket. Guide
- Connect WhatsApp with “Connect WhatsApp” and choose your number in Meta’s window. Guide
- Add your phone line under Telephony → Setup → Lines. Guide
- Invite your team (Free: up to 3 users), set your opening hours and switch on response targets.
When another tool is the better choice
Choose another tool if …
- you run a large support team with fixed processes and need many ready-made integrations – The-Y CRM has an API and webhooks, not a big app marketplace,
- you need an IT service desk with asset management or ITIL processes – that is a different kind of tool,
- you only answer email and want to stay inside Outlook or Gmail – a shared mailbox may be enough,
- you need software with a long track record – The-Y CRM is Alpha (Known issues).
Choose The-Y CRM if …
- WhatsApp, email and calls should land in one inbox,
- you don’t want a second phone system or a WhatsApp surcharge,
- you want to pay one price per company instead of per agent – or host it yourself (self-hosted help desk).
Customers also write on Instagram and Messenger? How all channels come together in one history per customer: Omnichannel customer service.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free help desk software for small business?
Yes. The-Y CRM Free costs €0, forever, for up to 3 users – with tickets, response targets, a customer survey, a knowledge base with a help center, WhatsApp and the phone system. Limits: 1,000 outgoing messages and 200 outgoing call minutes a month, 2 simultaneous calls, 1 brand, 2 GB. Public pages show “Powered by The-Y”. We host Free on servers in Austria (Vienna data centre).
Can I connect WhatsApp to a help desk?
Yes, through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform. In The-Y CRM you click “Connect WhatsApp” and choose your number in Meta’s window. A number from the WhatsApp Business app can stay in the app; up to 180 days of history are imported. You pay Meta’s fees directly to Meta, with no markup.
Do I need a separate phone system for calls?
No. The phone system is built into The-Y CRM: greeting, menu, queues and voicemail. You only need a phone number with a SIP line from a telephony provider, currently sipgate, Zadarma or Twilio.
What does The-Y CRM cost for more than 3 users?
Cloud Pro costs €20 a month per company, all users and brands included (Alpha & Beta price; €40 a month from the Live release). We host it on servers in Austria (Vienna data centre). Self-hosted: from €10 a month, or a Lifetime licence for €240 one-time. WhatsApp, SMS and call minutes you pay directly to your providers. All details on the costs page.
Can I host the help desk myself?
Yes, with Docker on your own server: free with a free key and the same limits as Free, or without limits for €10 a month or €240 one-time (Alpha & Beta prices). The-Y CRM is proprietary software; the source code is not published. More: self-hosted help desk and the self-hosting guide.
Does the help desk have AI?
Yes, on your own AI key from Anthropic, OpenAI or Google, with no AI markup: reply suggestions and help with WhatsApp templates and flows. Without a key, AI stays off. Translation between German, English and Turkish works without a key, on our own server in Vienna.
See the help desk for yourself.
In the demo you click through tickets, response targets and the phone system with sample data – no sign-up, everything is deleted after 24 hours.
Prefer to do it together? We set it up with you by video call – in your browser, nothing to install. Mon–Fri 10–12 and 14–17 (Vienna time).
Shared inbox · Omnichannel customer service · Live chat for your website · Self-hosted help desk · Virtual phone system for small business · WhatsApp Business with multiple users · All comparisons · The-Y CRM overview · What The-Y CRM really costs
Sources
- The-Y CRM features: Documentation · Connect WhatsApp · Set up telephony · Connect email; plans and Meta’s prices from 1 Oct 2026: costs page
- Freshdesk: freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing and freshworks.com/freshdesk/omni/pricing, accessed 6 Nov 2026
- Zoho Desk: zoho.com/desk/pricing.html, accessed 6 Nov 2026
- HubSpot: hubspot.com/pricing/service, accessed 6 Nov 2026
- Zendesk: zendesk.com/pricing, accessed 6 Nov 2026
Freshdesk, Freshworks, Zoho Desk, HubSpot, Zendesk and WhatsApp are trademarks of their respective owners. Information to the best of our knowledge; please report errors to office@the-y.at and we’ll correct them right away.