Deskpro vs Zoho Desk
We give Deskpro a 1.8 GPA and Zoho Desk a 3.4, out of 4.0. 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.
Zoho Desk
Low-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users
How we grade them
| 1.8GPADeskproWeak | 3.4GPAZoho DeskVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DTeam is $39 an agent a month billed yearly, where the dearest tenth of help desks starts, and it's sold for at least 5 agents, so the floor is $195 a month even for one person. Deskpro AI needs Professional at $59 with a 10-agent minimum. | 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 | FNothing free. No free plan and no self-serve trial; the site offers a self-guided tour and demos instead, so you pay before your team can work in it. | 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 from email, chat, phone, forms, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Slack and Teams, a help center with a community, 150+ reports, AI on Professional and a self-hosted edition. It covers the whole job. | 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. It's a big system, with queues, SLAs, help centers and brands to set up, and the site steers you to demos rather than letting you start alone. | A4.7 from 1,636 App Store ratings for the agent app, the top band. Email tickets on the free plan are easy to start with, and the bigger features can wait until you need them. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, HubSpot, Zapier, GitHub, Aircall and Asana, and an API. No desktop app, so it stops at a B. | 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 | teams that must host support data themselves | a cheap ticketing help desk for small teams |
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: Deskpro and Zoho Desk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Deskpro starts at $39 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 $32 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Deskpro 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
- Deskpro starts at $39 per agent / month, billed annually (minimum 5 agents). Zoho Desk starts at $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly).
- Zoho Desk has a free plan. Deskpro does not.
- Deskpro is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Zoho Desk also covers reports.
At a glance
| Deskpro | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per agent / month, billed annually (minimum 5 agents) | $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Free edition: email ticketing for up to 3 users with one support email address. No knowledge base, automation, SLAs or AI features. |
| Free trial | None listed | 15-day free trial of any paid plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Deskpro Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | deskpro.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Deskpro
- Organizations that must keep support data on their own servers
- Public sector, healthcare and education support teams
- IT and HR service desks as well as customer support
Zoho Desk
- Small teams wanting a free or low-cost ticketing system
- Businesses already using Zoho CRM or other Zoho apps
- Teams that need phone, chat and email support on one plan
Worth knowing
Deskpro
- Every plan has a seat minimum: 5 agents on Team, 10 on Professional and 25 on Enterprise.
- Deskpro AI, the AI chatbot and removing Deskpro branding need Professional or higher.
- No free plan or self-serve trial is offered; the site points to a self-guided tour and demos instead.
- The self-hosted Deskpro Private edition has no published price.
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
Deskpro
- Tickets from every channel
- Email, chat, phone, contact forms, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Slack and Microsoft Teams arrive as tickets in shared queues with SLAs.
- Help center
- A branded portal with a knowledge base, guides, news and a community, with 3, 10 or unlimited brand help centers by plan.
- Deskpro AI
- Ticket summaries, draft replies, intent and sentiment detection, tone and grammar help, and an AI chatbot, from the Professional plan.
- Self-hosted edition
- Deskpro Private runs on-premise or in a private cloud, with Private AI from Professional and clustering on Enterprise.
- Reports and dashboards
- More than 150 built-in reports, custom reports and dashboards, satisfaction surveys and data export.
- Choice of data center
- Cloud accounts are hosted in the US, UK or EU; Enterprise can pay for any of 22 AWS regions.
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
Deskpro
Team$39
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 5 agents. Unified inbox for every channel, a self-service help center, a chatbot, apps and integrations, mobile apps and reports.
Professional$59
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 10 agents. Adds Deskpro AI, an AI chatbot, lite agents, several brands, branding removal, advanced call controls and CRM sync.
Enterprise$99
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 25 agents. Adds a sandbox, HIPAA-compliant hosting, security reviews, health checks, custom contracts and an account manager.
Deskpro PrivateCustom
Self-hosted on your own servers or private cloud, in Team, Professional, Enterprise and VPC editions from 10 agent licenses. Priced on request.
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
Deskpro
- Nonprofit
Non-profit and education discounts on request
Deskpro's pricing page says volume, non-profit and educational discounts are available, with details from its sales team.
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.
