Zendesk vs Zoho Desk
Zendesk and Zoho Desk are both customer support tools. Zendesk is aimed at enterprise and small businesses, while Zoho Desk is aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Zoho Desk costs less, from $7/mo versus $25/mo for Zendesk. Only Zoho Desk has a free plan.
Enterprise ticketing and support suite
Multichannel help desk with the Zia AI assistant from Zoho
| Pricing | Paid · $25 | Freemium · $7 |
| Starting price | $25/mo | $7/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 14 days | 15 days |
| Built for | Enterprise, Small businesses | Small businesses, Enterprise |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2007 | IN |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Zendesk if
Mid-market and enterprise support teams with multiple channels and compliance needs.
- Mature, reliable at enterprise scale
- Broadest channel and app coverage
- Strong reporting and routing
Look elsewhere if: Startups and small teams; Help Scout, Freshdesk, Crisp or Plain are leaner.
Choose Zoho Desk if
Small and mid-sized support teams, especially Zoho CRM users, that want a full-featured help desk at a lower per-agent price than Zendesk.
- Much lower per-agent cost than Zendesk at comparable tiers
- Free plan for up to three agents
- Tight integration with Zoho CRM and the wider Zoho suite
Look elsewhere if: Teams that need the largest third-party app ecosystem or a very simple shared inbox (Zendesk, Help Scout).
Zendesk vs Zoho Desk pricing
Zendesk
- Support Team$25/agent/mo$19 billed annually; core ticketing
- Suite Team$69/agent/mo$55 billed annually; AI agents, messaging, voice
- Suite Professional$149/agent/mo$115 billed annually; skills routing, IVR
- Suite EnterpriseCustomSandbox, custom roles, approval workflows
Zoho Desk
- Free$0Up to 3 agents, email ticketing basics
- Express$7/agent/moBilled annually; AI agents with BYOK or Zoho LLM
- Standard$14/agent/moBilled annually; live chat, knowledge base, answer bot
- Professional$23/agent/moBilled annually; Zia AI, Blueprints, telephony
- Enterprise$40/agent/moBilled annually; multi-brand, skill routing, sandbox
Zendesk · Key features
- Omnichannel ticketing: email, chat, voice, social, WhatsApp
- Help center and community with multiple brands
- AI agents, agent copilot and intelligent triage
- Skills-based routing, SLAs, macros and triggers
- Explore analytics and dashboards
- Workforce management, QA and marketplace apps
Cons
- Expensive per agent plus AI add-ons
- Complex packaging and frequent changes
- Overkill for small teams
Zoho Desk · Key features
- Unified ticket queue for email, chat, phone, social and messaging
- Round-robin and skill-based assignment with SLAs and escalations
- Blueprints to enforce step-by-step support processes
- Multilingual help center with knowledge base and community forum
- AI agents on Express with bring-your-own-key or Zoho LLM
- Zia assistant for sentiment, reply suggestions and anomaly detection
Cons
- Interface feels dense and dated in places
- Blueprints, telephony and full Zia require Professional or higher
- Monthly billing is significantly pricier than annual
Zendesk vs Zoho Desk: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Zendesk or Zoho Desk?
Zoho Desk starts at $7/mo and Zendesk at $25/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Zendesk and Zoho Desk have a free plan?
Zendesk has no free plan, a 14-day free trial. Zoho Desk has a free plan.