Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk (CHD) is a hosted IT help desk run by Spiceworks. Spiceworks hosts it and takes care of backups and maintenance, and it needs only a supported browser.[3] It is sold in two plans. The Core Plan is “a robust, ad-supported ticketing solution at no cost”. The Premium Plan is “a paid platform that provides users with an ad-free experience” and adds features such as bulk actions and task lists.[3] The only priced unit is the Employee seat: each active user with the owner, admin, tech or manager role.[3] End users who submit tickets are never charged.[3] The Core Plan is limited to five employee seats. When an account reaches six, it must move to Premium, and Premium is then charged on every active seat.[3] The model is a per-user subscription of the kind described in named user licensing.
Editions
| Plan | Seats | Price | Features beyond the other plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Plan | 1-5 Tech & Admin seats[1] | Free[1] | None; ad-supported[3] |
| Premium Plan - monthly | Unlimited Tech & Admin seats[1] | US$6 per employee per month when paid monthly[3] | Ad-free, tasklists, bulk actions, custom ticket statuses, 24/5 live chat[2] |
| Premium Plan - annual | Unlimited Tech & Admin seats[1] | US$5 per employee per month when paid annually[3] | As monthly; marked “Most Popular • Save 16.7%“[1] |
Both plans include ticketing, incident tracking, alerts, reporting, unlimited end users, the end user portal, custom attributes and TOTP-based multi factor authentication.[2] The product page and the FAQ put the monthly price at US$6 per seat billed monthly.[2][3] The monthly card on the pricing page, as retrieved, reads “$6 Per-Seat/Month, Billed Annually”.[1] The catalog follows the FAQ. Customers who need a quote before upgrading can request one through a form, and Spiceworks says it responds within 3-5 business days.[3]
Metrics
| Spiceworks term | Catalog row | Counted? | Vendor wording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat / employee | Employee seat | Yes | “You only pay for the number of seats shown on the employee administration page (owner, admin, tech, or manager roles)“[3] |
| End user | End user | No | “End users who submit tickets are not charged”[3] |
The roles are defined in the setup documentation. Admins have access to the whole help desk, including settings, reports and exports. Managers can see and edit all tickets, reports and exports but cannot edit global settings. Techs can see and edit only tickets they created, are assigned to or are copied on. The Owner is an admin who cannot be deleted.[4] All four roles are seats. End users are created automatically when they submit a ticket or log in to the portal, and they can be authenticated against Active Directory.[3]
Counting / floors
Five-seat Core limit (as retrieved 2026-09-27). “The Core (Free) plan allows for up to 5 employee users.”[3] Accounts with five or fewer active employee seats can stay on Core.[3] Catalog proof: Core Plan limited to five employee seats.
No free allowance inside Premium. Once an account subscribes, the Premium fee applies to all active employee users, beginning with the first. The FAQ’s example is an account with 8 active employee users, which pays the full per-user price for all 8 seats.[3] The pricing footnote on the product page says the same: pricing “is not based on seats beyond the free limit or the number of help desk end-users”.[2] Catalog proof: Premium fee applies to all active employee seats; Only employee roles are charged; end users are free.
Upgrade sequence. The billing workflow requires the upgrade to be completed before a sixth employee is added. The first payment covers the base account and the first five employees. Each employee added after that triggers a separate prorated charge, and these consolidate into a single invoice from the next month or year.[3] Catalog proof: Mid-cycle seat additions are prorated.
Seats added and removed during a cycle. An employee added mid-cycle is charged to the end of the cycle. That charge is waived if another employee was deactivated in the same cycle. An employee removed mid-cycle leaves an unused seat and is not charged from the next cycle.[3] The Billing and Employee Administration pages show the number of seats paid for in the current cycle, which can differ from the current number of active employees.[3] Catalog proof: Removed seats stop being charged next cycle.
What happens without an upgrade. An account with six or more active employee seats that has not upgraded is restricted. Owners and admins can reach only the Billing and Employee Administration pages. Tech and Manager users lose access, end users can no longer submit tickets through the portal or by email, and the support email address becomes inactive.[3] This built-in restriction works in place of a true-up. Catalog proof: Service restricted when six or more seats are not upgraded.
Organizations do not add seats. One account can hold any number of organizations, for example one per client, department or region. Each has its own email address, attributes, user portal and categories. Managers and techs can be limited to selected organizations.[4] The retrieved documents tie charges to employee seats per account, not to organizations.
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. Cloud Help Desk is hosted by Spiceworks and has no customer-installed server component. Spiceworks provides iOS and Android apps, which connect to an existing Cloud Help Desk account.[6]
Cloud / BYOL
The service is cloud-only. Spiceworks stores data within the United States, in datacenters in Austin, Texas and Northern Virginia.[7] Ticket data is encrypted in transit but not at rest. Spiceworks support and dev/ops teams can therefore reach account information, including tickets. Spiceworks advises against storing financial or payment information, HIPAA-protected patient information, or information that identifies protected individuals.[3] Spiceworks will not sign a HIPAA business associate agreement.[3] The service is not offered to users in sanctioned countries, including Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Russia and Belarus.[3] Catalog proof: Cloud Help Desk not for HIPAA data; no BAA; Services unavailable in sanctioned countries; Tool data stored in the United States.
Programs
Billing and renewal
- Payment methods. Monthly payments are made by credit card. Annual payments can be made by credit card or against an invoice.[3] Payments are processed by Stripe, and Spiceworks staff cannot see card details.[3] Catalog proof: Monthly by card, annual by card or invoice.
- Annual manual invoice billing. Spiceworks invoices the annual plan with 30-day payment terms, payable by ACH, wire transfer or check. The account is upgraded as of the invoice date.[3]
- Renewal. With a card on file, renewal is fully automated and Stripe charges the card on the renewal date. For invoiced accounts, Stripe emails an invoice on the renewal date and it must be paid manually. POs, extra seats and signed vendor paperwork must be submitted through the renewal form at least 7 days before the renewal date.[3] Catalog proof: Card renewals are automatic; invoice renewals are manual.
- Failed payments. A failed automated payment is retried three times: after 1 day, then after another 3 days, then after a final 3 days.[3]
- Downgrade. Cancelling the subscription returns the account to Core at the end of the current billing cycle, with no further payments. Data stays intact but Premium features are lost.[3] Because the five-seat limit still applies on Core, an account that returns to Core with six or more active employee seats falls under the restrictions described above.[3] Catalog proof: Downgrade to Core at end of billing cycle.
- Who can buy. Only users with the owner or admin role can manage billing.[3] Catalog proof: Only owner and admin roles manage billing.
- Price changes. Under the Ziff Davis Terms of Use, fee and billing changes for Premium Services take effect thirty days after online posting. Continued use after that date counts as acceptance.[5] Catalog proof: Fee changes effective 30 days after posting.
Tax and education
U.S. tax exemptions are processed manually after a certificate is uploaded. Customers outside the U.S. can enter a Tax or VAT number at checkout, and it appears on their invoices.[3] Instructors who teach using Spiceworks can apply for education support through a form. The FAQ does not say whether this is a discount or free Premium.[3]
Contract terms
The plans have no separate subscription agreement. Use of Cloud Help Desk falls under the Spiceworks section of the Ziff Davis Terms of Use. That section permits personal use, internal business use, and customer support by MSPs and VARs.[5] Help desk staff each sign in with their own Spiceworks account, because the Terms treat a username and password as personal and bar their use to give anyone else access.[5] Multi factor authentication is enabled or disabled for the whole account. It applies to employee accounts but not to end users, and it is not enforced in the mobile apps or the Power BI connector.[3] Spiceworks states that it analyses only anonymised help desk information. It says it does not use sensitive business information in tickets or share it with third parties.[3] Cancelling a Cloud Help Desk account is done by email to Spiceworks.[3] See Spiceworks Terms of Use and advertising model.
Out of scope
- The retired on-premises help desks (Spiceworks Desktop 7.5 Help Desk and Help Desk Server). See Spiceworks Inventory and on-premises retirement.
- Microsoft Power BI licences needed for the Cloud Help Desk Power BI connector, which Microsoft licenses separately.
- Third-party products integrated with Cloud Help Desk, which follow their own vendors’ terms.
- Individually quoted Premium prices and any signed vendor paperwork returned through the renewal form.