By the Onsites AI team · Last updated · 7-minute read
A help desk is not a big project anymore. The old checklist — procurement, a server, an implementation partner, a six-week rollout — described software that charged by the implementation, not the minute. A modern desk should take one coffee break to stand up, and it should cost nothing until you outgrow it. This guide is the fastest honest path from zero to a live support channel, and every step happens once, in order. If you want the short official version afterwards, the cloud setup doc covers the same ground in reference form.
The Onsites AI cloud plan is free forever, and the word complete is doing real work in that sentence. You get the full multi-channel inbox — website widget, email, Telegram, WeChat, LINE, WhatsApp and Messenger — the CRM (accounts, contacts, opportunities), quotes, orders, invoices and the visitor tracker. Three seats and 100 MB of storage are included permanently, and there is no feature gate to unlock, no watermark-free upsell maze to walk, and no credit card form at the end of signup.
Two meters exist beyond the free allowance, and both are opt-in. Seats past the third are $15 per seat per month, prorated daily. Storage beyond 100 MB is $1 per GB per month in packs. AI is never billed at all until you buy a credit pack — and you only buy one if you actually use Copilot or Harness. The pricing page has the full table with a calculator if you want the numbers now; the rest of this guide assumes you start at $0.
Open the start page and register with your work email and a password. You will receive a verification email — click the link, because the desk requires it. On first sign-in your workspace already exists; give it your company name and confirm the display timezone, and the admin view opens with an empty queue and a settings panel. That is the entire onboarding ceremony. Time so far: about two minutes, most of it waiting for the verification email.
One practical tip here: register with an address on your own domain, because outbound replies and the email channel inherit from your workspace identity. A personal mailbox works for a trial, but starting with the real domain saves you a reconnect later.
In Settings → Website you will find a widget snippet. Copy it and paste it just before the closing </body> tag of your site. It works on static HTML, WordPress, Next.js and most site builders alike — it is one small async script, so it loads after your page and does not block rendering. Refresh your site and a chat bubble appears bottom-right.
Spend a moment in the same settings screen on colors and the greeting text: matching the widget to your brand takes one minute and measurably raises reply rates, because a stock-looking bubble reads as abandoned. If anything looks off in the embed, the widget installation guide walks through every platform-specific gotcha.
In Settings → Channels you connect the rest, and every message lands in one shared queue regardless of origin. Email is the one with options: forwarding (create a shared address and forward existing mail into it — live in minutes), your own domain (verify a DNS record and receive at your real addresses — recommended for teams), or IMAP import (bring your existing mailbox history in). The messaging channels each take a few clicks: open a chat with your Telegram bot, or link your WeChat official account, your LINE Official Account, your WhatsApp Business number or your Facebook Page for Messenger in the corresponding card.
You do not need all seven on day one. The widget plus email is a complete support operation for most young companies; add messaging channels as your customers arrive on them.
In Settings → Team → Invite add your colleagues. Your first three seats are free forever, and each seat gets the whole product — there are no per-feature tiers to assign, which is quietly the most underrated property of the whole system. While you are in settings, set working hours and a first-response SLA so the queue can escalate honestly. Two habits worth forming from message one: use private notes for internal context nobody else sees, and tags for topics you will want to report on later. Both cost nothing now and save a reorganization six months out.
AI ships off. Nothing drafts, translates or summarizes until you enable it, and enabling it means buying a prepaid credit pack in Settings → Billing → AI credits — from $10 for 1,100 credits, never expiring, with a soft spend limit on by default. The unit costs are small and legible: a Copilot draft is 3 credits, a suggested reply 6, a translation 3, a conversation summary 6 — roughly three cents per action at the published rate. When you do switch it on, the credits meter and the spend limit are the whole governance story.
What you have at the end is not a demo: a widget answering customers on your website, email flowing in, a team inbox with notes, tags and SLAs, and a CRM already linked to whoever writes in — conversations attach themselves to customer records automatically. From here the useful second hour is CRM hygiene (see the free CRM guide) and, if WhatsApp is where your customers live, the WhatsApp shared-inbox playbook. And if the day comes when data must never leave your network, the same software runs self-hosted behind your firewall — a door you can open later, not a decision you must make now.
Is the free plan really free forever?
Yes — the complete software, 3 seats and 100 MB, permanently. It is a tier, not a trial, and no credit card is required to start.
What happens when I need a fourth seat?
Seats beyond the third are $15 per seat per month, prorated daily, and every seat gets the full product.
Can I import existing email history?
Yes — the Email channel offers forwarding, your own domain, or IMAP import for existing mailbox history.
Is AI included, or metered?
Metered with prepaid credits that only burn on real use: drafts 3, replies 6, translations 3, summaries 6. Packs start at $10 for 1,100 credits and never expire.