Zendesk vs Zoho Desk
We give Zendesk a 2.4 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.
Zendesk
Ticketing, messaging, help center and AI agents for support teams
Zoho Desk
Low-cost ticketing help desk with a free plan for three users
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAZendeskFair | 3.4GPAZoho DeskVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DSupport Team is $19 an agent billed yearly, a little under this category's middle, but it's email tickets only. Chat, phone and a help center start on Suite Team at $55 an agent, above the dearest tenth of help desks, and extra AI resolutions are $1.50 to $2 each. | 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 14-day free trial of Suite Professional with Copilot, which shows you the top of the range. There's no free plan, and the listing doesn't say whether the trial needs a card. Funded startups can get 6 months free. | 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 | BTicketing across email, chat, social and phone, AI agents on every plan, help centers in 40+ languages with forums, voice numbers in 75+ countries, an IVR and reports you ask for in plain words. The whole job is covered. | 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 | B4.5 from 4,219 App Store ratings for the agent app. Prebuilt dashboards and pre-written replies come on every plan, but routing, triggers and automations take setting up. | 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 WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, X, Slack, WeChat and LINE as channels, and an API. No desktop app, which keeps it off an A. | 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 | support teams handling email, chat and phone | 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: Zendesk and Zoho Desk. How we grade
Price against what you get
Zendesk starts at $19 a month for each person and scores 3.0 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 $12 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Zendesk 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
- Zendesk starts at $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly). Zoho Desk starts at $7 per user / month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly).
- Zoho Desk has a free plan. Zendesk does not, though it has a free trial.
At a glance
| Zendesk | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19 per agent / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly) | $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 | 14-day free trial of Suite Professional with the Copilot add-on | 15-day free trial of any paid plan, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Zendesk, Inc. | Zoho Corporation |
| Price read from | zendesk.com | zoho.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Zendesk
- Support teams handling email, chat and phone in one queue
- Companies that want a public help center tied to their tickets
- Teams planning to hand routine questions to AI agents
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
Zendesk
- Support Team covers email ticketing only; live chat, voice and a help center start at Suite Team, $55 per agent / month billed annually.
- AI resolutions beyond the included allowance cost $1.50 each on a committed volume or $2.00 each pay-as-you-go.
- Copilot, which adds Auto Assist and suggested first replies, is an add-on at $50 per agent / month billed annually.
- Phone numbers and call minutes are billed as add-ons, and Suite Enterprise is sold only through the sales team.
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
Zendesk
- Ticketing across channels
- Email, messaging, phone and social conversations land in one ticket queue, with routing, pre-written responses, triggers and automations.
- AI agents billed per resolution
- AI agents answer email on every plan and chat wherever messaging is on. Each agent seat includes 5 automated resolutions a month (10 on Suite Professional).
- Messaging and live chat
- Suite plans add chat for websites and apps plus WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, X, Slack, WeChat and LINE as channels.
- Help center
- Suite Team includes one help center in one language. Suite Professional allows up to 5 help centers in 40+ languages, plus community forums.
- Voice
- Phone support in the browser with toll-free or local numbers from 75+ countries. Suite Professional adds an IVR phone tree.
- Reporting
- Prebuilt analytics dashboards on every plan. Suite Professional adds Quick Reports, which builds reports from questions typed in plain language.
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
Zendesk
Support Team$19
per agent / month, billed annually ($25 billed monthly)
Email ticketing with routing, prebuilt dashboards, pre-written replies and automations. No help center, live chat or phone.
Suite Team$55
per agent / month, billed annually ($69 billed monthly)
Adds messaging and live chat, telephony, omnichannel routing, a knowledge base and Action Builder, with one help center in one language.
Suite Professional$115
per agent / month, billed annually ($149 billed monthly)
Adds skills-based routing, an IVR phone tree, AI writing tools, Quick Reports and App Builder, and up to 5 help centers in 40+ languages.
Suite Enterprise + CopilotCustom
Adds intelligent triage, Auto Assist, generative AI for voice, approval workflows, a sandbox and custom agent roles. Sold through sales.
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
Zendesk
- Annual discount
About 20% off with annual billing
Zendesk's pricing page marks annual billing as 20% off: Suite Team is $55 per agent a month billed yearly against $69 billed monthly.
- Startups
Startups: 6 months free, up to 2 years via partners
Funded startups up to Series B and under 10 years old get Suite Professional and Copilot free for 6 months, or 1 to 2 years through VC partners, for up to 50 agents.
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.
