Ochre Helpdesk - No more Zenesk Tax
AI support without the $2-per-resolution tax
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Christopher Santangelo

Ochre Helpdesk - No more Zenesk Tax - AI support without the $2-per-resolution tax

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Ochre is a shared-inbox helpdesk for B2B SaaS teams that have outgrown Gmail, Crisp, or Help Scout but don’t want Zendesk pricing. Bring your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, deflect tickets with AI at API cost, and manage email, chat, Slack Connect, and customer context in one inbox. Flat pricing. No AI resolution markups. Built for SaaS teams from $1K–$30K MRR.

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Christopher Santangelo
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Hey Product Hunt 👋 I’m Chris, and I’m building Ochre Helpdesk — a modern support inbox for B2B SaaS teams that are too grown-up for Gmail labels, but not ready to pay enterprise helpdesk prices. The pain we kept seeing was simple: Early SaaS teams want automation, AI deflection, Slack support, customer context, and clean team workflows. But the moment they move into “real” helpdesk software, they get hit with seat minimums, AI add-ons, QA add-ons, workflow add-ons, and per-resolution AI fees. That feels backwards. The cheapest part of AI support is often the LLM call itself. The expensive part is the markup. So Ochre takes a different approach: 🟤 Bring your own OpenAI or Anthropic key AI resolutions run through your key, so you pay API cost instead of per-resolution helpdesk markup. 📥 One inbox for B2B support Email, live chat, Slack Connect, and eventually WhatsApp/SMS in one shared queue. 🤖 AI deflection, with human control Use AI to classify, route, draft, or auto-reply when confidence is high. Keep human review on by default. 💳 SaaS customer context on every ticket Stripe context like plan, MRR, LTV, payment status, and churn risk appears directly inside the support thread. 🛠️ Built for technical SaaS teams Linear/GitHub escalation, knowledge-base RAG, Slack Connect routing, and migration from Zendesk or Help Scout. We’re starting with a narrow ICP: B2B SaaS teams doing $1K–$30K MRR that are currently using Gmail, Crisp, Help Scout, Intercom, or Zendesk and want something lighter, cheaper, and AI-native. Pricing is intentionally boring: $99/mo Starter for up to 3 agents $39/agent/mo Team No AI resolution fees. No surprise add-ons. No free tier full of tire-kickers. For Product Hunt, I’d love feedback on three things: Is BYOK AI compelling enough as the main wedge? Would you trust a new helpdesk if migration from Zendesk/Help Scout was concierge-assisted? What support channel should we prioritize first after email + chat: Slack Connect, WhatsApp, or Linear/GitHub? Happy to answer questions, roast our positioning, or walk through the migration flow.