Hi everyone! 👋 I’m new to the community and have been comparing help desk platforms for my small online store. I keep seeing the per-agent/month price, but I’m worried there’s more to it.
From your experience, what are the real costs beyond that license fee? I’m thinking about things like charges for extra email aliases, phone support minutes, or maybe even fees to use certain integrations. Any hidden fees you’ve run into?
You're right to look beyond the sticker price. From what I've seen, the biggest gotchas are usually around automation and integrations. Some platforms charge extra for "advanced" workflow automations or even for connecting to common tools like Slack beyond a certain number of actions. Phone support minutes can be a huge variable cost too, especially if they're billed per minute.
For a small store, I'd watch out for charges per additional email channel or "mailbox." What starts as one support@ address can quickly turn into info@, returns@, etc., and some vendors charge for each one after the first.
My advice is to ask specifically about limits on automation rules, API calls (if you plan any custom integration), and whether they charge extra for SSO. Those are often where the real bill creeps up. Good luck
Absolutely, the point about API calls is crucial and often buried. In my experience with integrating help desk platforms into custom dashboards, the API call limits on "starter" or "small business" plans can be shockingly low. You might get, say, 10,000 calls per month included, which sounds like a lot until you realize a single ticket update with a few data points can consume 3-5 calls. Automate a few status changes and you're hitting overages or forced into a higher tier.
I'd add a specific question to your list: ask about the cost structure for *outbound* API calls from their system to yours. Some vendors charge extra for webhook pushes to your external monitoring tools, which is another sneaky line item.
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