Desk365 vs Zoho Desk (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Zoho Desk: it is first in our ranking of help desk and live chat tools, and it grades higher too, 3.4 against 2.6.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Zoho Desk grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Desk365
Help desk built around Microsoft Teams, with a lifetime free plan
Zoho Desk
Low-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users
Which one is for you
Pick Desk365 if
- Fits if your IT or support team already works in Microsoft Teams and 365
- Works for small teams that want asset tracking beside the help desk
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 50 tickets a month
- Watch out: the AI agent is $50 per 1,000 credits, and Plus and Premium include only a few
- Skip it if you want round-robin assignment or CSAT surveys, which start on Plus at $22
- Watch out: asset management, audit logs and PII encryption need Premium at $32
Pick Zoho Desk if
- Fits if you're a team of up to 3 doing email support and want to pay nothing
- Works for teams already on Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, since it's 3 users, one support address and email only, with no knowledge base or automation
- Skip it if you want built-in AI replies on a low plan, as they need your own OpenAI key and Zia starts on Professional
- Pricey if lots of people just need to look in, as light agents are $6 a month each on Professional
- Watch out: Express stops at 5 users, and chat, WhatsApp and a public knowledge base start on Standard at $14
- Watch out: phone support starts on Professional at $23 billed yearly, $35 monthly, and IVR needs Enterprise at $40
How we grade them
| 2.6GPADesk365Good | 3.4GPAZoho DeskVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$12 an agent a month billed yearly ($16 monthly), under the category's $19 cheaper quarter. | AExpress is $7 a user a month billed yearly ($9 monthly), the lowest start among help desks here and under 60% of the cheaper quarter. Standard, which adds chat and a knowledge base, is $14, still in the cheaper quarter. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan up to 50 tickets a month for one person, after a 21-day trial. A busy inbox will pass 50 quickly. | BFree for up to 3 users doing email ticketing from one support address, with no cap on tickets in the listing. A tiny team could live on that, but there's no knowledge base, automation or AI. Paid plans have a 15-day trial with no card. |
| Features | BTickets, automation, SLAs, a knowledge base, reports, an AI copilot, and asset management on Premium. Nothing in the listing is missing. | BTickets from email, social, web forms, chat and WhatsApp, a knowledge base and community forum, AI agents, workflows, Blueprints, phone with IVR and multi-brand help centers. Across the plans, it covers the whole job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Automations, SLAs and Microsoft connections to set up. | A4.7 from 1,636 App Store ratings for the agent app, the top band. Email tickets on the free plan need little setup, and the bigger features can wait until you need them. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Microsoft Teams, 365, Entra ID, Intune, Power BI, Jira, Asana and Azure DevOps. No phone apps are listed. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, tied into Zoho CRM, Analytics, SalesIQ and Cliq, plus Salesforce, Slack, Jira, Zapier and Google Chat. There's no desktop app, so it stops at a B. |
| Best for | a ticketing help desk for Microsoft Teams shops | ticketing for small teams, free for 3 users |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Desk365 and Zoho Desk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Desk365 starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zoho Desk starts at $7 a month for each person and scores 3.3.
Zoho Desk scores higher and starts $5 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Desk365 for less, and none scores higher than Zoho Desk for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Desk365 also covers shared inbox and workflow automation.
- Zoho Desk also covers reports and live chat.
At a glance
| Desk365 | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $12 per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly) | $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Up to 50 tickets a month, for solo use or personal projects. It starts automatically at the end of the trial and has no end date. | Free edition: email ticketing for up to 3 users with one support email address. No knowledge base, automation, SLAs or AI features. |
| Free trial | 21-day free trial | 15-day free trial of any paid plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Desk365 | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | desk365.io | zoho.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Desk365
- The free plan stops at 50 tickets a month.
- The AI agent is an add-on at $50 per 1,000 credits; Plus and Premium include only limited free credits.
- Asset management, audit logs and the encrypted PII and PHI fields need Premium; the vendor says a BAA is offered on qualifying annual contracts.
- The page shows other currencies as well; the dollar prices are quoted here.
Zoho Desk
- The Free edition stops at 3 users and email only, and Express stops at 5 users.
- A public knowledge base, the chat widget and WhatsApp start on Standard; telephony starts on Professional.
- Generative AI features such as smart replies need your own OpenAI API key; Zia's built-in AI starts on Professional.
- Light agents who only view and comment cost $6 a month each on Professional; Enterprise includes 50.
Key features
Desk365
- Tickets from Teams, email and web
- Handle requests from Microsoft Teams, an email inbox, a support portal and web forms or widgets in one helpdesk.
- Automation and SLAs
- Workflow rules, SLA reminders and escalations, and canned responses on every paid plan; time-based triggers start at Plus.
- AI copilot and AI agent
- Plus drafts replies, summarizes tickets and turns a ticket into a help article. An AI agent is a separate add-on.
- Asset and change management
- Premium tracks assets and software licenses from purchase to retirement; Plus has change approval workflows.
- Knowledge base and portal
- A visual editor for articles and a self-service portal, which can run on your own domain.
- Reports and dashboards
- Productivity, ticket trend and agent performance reports, with multiple dashboards and scheduled exports from Plus.
Zoho Desk
- Multichannel ticketing
- Email, social posts, web forms and, from Standard, chat and messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and LINE all become tickets.
- Knowledge base and help center
- A public knowledge base and community forum from Standard, a help center in 40+ languages on Professional and one per brand on Enterprise.
- AI agents and Zia
- AI agents run on Zoho's model or your own key with up to 30M free tokens a month. Zia's built-in AI starts on Professional.
- Automation
- Workflows and escalation rules from Express, with Blueprints for step-by-step processes and round-robin assignment on Professional.
- Phone and IVR
- Professional connects telephony providers for inbound and outbound calls; Enterprise adds a multi-level IVR.
- Zoho app links
- Ties into Zoho CRM, Analytics, Projects, SalesIQ and Cliq, plus Salesforce, Slack, Jira and Zapier.
Plans
Desk365
Free$0
Up to 50 tickets a month; starts automatically when the trial ends.
Standard$12
per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly)
Email, Teams, portal and web-form tickets, workflow automation, SLA reminders, canned responses, custom fields and roles, a knowledge base and custom reports.
Plus$22
per agent / month, billed annually ($28 billed monthly)
Adds approval workflows, round-robin and load-based assignment, time tracking, CSAT surveys, Entra ID sync, multiple dashboards and AI drafting, summaries and article generation.
Premium$32
per agent / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
Adds asset and software management, Intune sync, audit logs, scheduled tickets, encrypted PII and PHI fields, data redaction and group management.
Zoho Desk
Free$0
Email ticketing for up to 3 users with one support email address.
Express$7
per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly)
Up to 5 users. Email, Instagram, Facebook and X tickets, web forms, AI agents, workflows, escalations and contact management.
Standard$14
per user / month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Unlimited users. Adds a live chat widget, WhatsApp and other messaging apps, an answer bot, a public knowledge base, a community forum and custom reports.
Professional$23
per user / month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Adds phone support through telephony providers, Zia AI, Blueprints, departments, round-robin assignment, a help center in 40+ languages and webhooks.
Enterprise$40
per user / month, billed annually ($50 billed monthly)
Adds Zoho SalesIQ live chat, guided conversations, skill-based assignment, IVR, multi-brand help centers, custom modules, a sandbox and 50 free light agents.
Ways to pay less
Desk365
- Annual discount
Save up to 25% with yearly plans
The pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 25%; Standard is $12 per agent a month yearly against $16 monthly.
Zoho Desk
- Annual discount
Save up to 34% with yearly billing
Zoho Desk's pricing page says yearly billing saves up to 34%: Professional is $23 per user a month billed annually against $35 billed monthly.
- Nonprofit
Special pricing for nonprofits
The pricing FAQ says Zoho offers special pricing to nonprofit organizations. The discount is not stated on the page.
- Education
Special pricing for educational institutions
The pricing FAQ says Zoho offers special pricing to educational institutions. The discount is not stated on the page.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Desk365 or Zoho Desk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zoho Desk is cheaper to start with: $7 a month for each person, against $12 a month for each person for Desk365. Desk365 starts at $12 per agent / month, billed annually ($16 billed monthly), and Zoho Desk starts at $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Desk365 or Zoho Desk?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Desk365 and Zoho Desk have a free plan.
Which platforms do Desk365 and Zoho Desk run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Zoho Desk lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.