FrontZoho DeskFront vs Zoho Desk

Front vs Zoho Desk: $255 apart for five people

A team inbox against a help desk: Zoho Desk is $255 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

No credit card. Live in minutes.

The short answer

Pick Front if email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread. Pick Zoho Desk if you already run Zoho CRM or Books and want support in the same suite. For five people, Zoho Desk is $255 a month cheaper than Front ($325 a month on Front against $70 on Zoho Desk), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $25 under Zoho Desk. Front and Zoho Desk both include email and Instagram in the price; only Front has website chat; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp and Telegram. Between them Front and Zoho Desk cover every channel Sellio ships. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Front and Zoho Desk sell here at one price.

At a glanceFrontFrontZoho DeskZoho Desk
Built aroundShared email · comments and drafts on every threadEmail tickets · part of the Zoho suite
Entry plan$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel type$7/user/mo · Express, yearly
Chat in the price$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannel$40/user/mo · Enterprise, with SalesIQ
AI agentFrom $0.05 per conversation · AutopilotIn the plan · Zia on Professional and up
Copilot for agents$20/seat/moZia · Professional and up
Free planNone · 14-day trialYes · 3 agents, email tickets

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    FrontFront

    As a thread in a shared inbox that teammates comment on and draft together; it is email first. Zoho Desk raises a ticket where Front keeps a conversation.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    As a ticket from email, a form or a messaging app, in a queue with blueprints for the process. Front has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FrontFront

    $25 buys one channel type and up to ten seats. Omnichannel and fifty seats start at Professional, $65. $325 for five people, against $70 on Zoho Desk.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    $7 buys email tickets on Express; WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram start on Standard at $14; live chat needs Enterprise. $70 for five people, against $325 on Front.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FrontFront

    Autopilot, the AI agent, from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat and Smart QA $20 per seat. Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan instead.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    Zia's answer bot and generative AI are included by plan, with a token allowance, rather than metered per conversation. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. website chat is here and not on Zoho Desk.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    Email and social on every plan; WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and Messenger from Standard; chat on Enterprise. WhatsApp and Telegram are here and not on Front.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. Zoho Desk is a help desk instead.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    The Zoho suite: CRM, SalesIQ, Projects and Books share the account. Front is a team inbox instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FrontFront

    A day: connect the mailboxes, set rules and assignments, then add the chat widget. Zoho Desk is a day.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    A day: connect the mailbox, set departments and a blueprint. Front is a day.

Sources: Front pricing · Zoho Desk pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
FrontFront. The Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
The Zoho Desk ticket view: the queue, the ticket with Zia's suggestions and the contact
Zoho DeskZoho Desk. The Zoho Desk ticket view: the queue, the ticket with Zia's suggestions and the contact

What your team would pay

Move the sliders. Yearly-billing rates from each vendor’s pricing page, next to Sellio’s plan for the same number of seats.

5 people who answer customers

50

300 Autopilot conversations on Front, AI conversations on Zoho Desk

3000+
FrontFront

$340/mo

Omnichannel, up to fifty seats.

5 × $65 seats
$325
300 Autopilot conversations × $0.05
$15
Copilot, 5 × $20
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. From $0.05 per conversation handled by Autopilot, as printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

Zoho DeskZoho Desk

$70/mo

WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, answer bot.

5 × $14 seats
$70
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Zoho includes Zia and the answer bot in the plan with a token allowance; no per-conversation rate is printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-13.

Sellio · Mini

$55/mo

One price for the workspace: 3 channels, 2 AI agents, $5 AI credit a month.

Workspace, 5 of 5 seats
$45
AI past 100 included conversations
$10
Copilot for agents
Included

About $0.05 per AI conversation past the credit, with a daily and monthly cap you set. Yearly billing takes 20% off. See every plan.

Pricing references: Front pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); Zoho Desk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Calculator uses yearly-billing rates. Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

5 people, website chat plus 2 more channels, 2 AI agents: $45 a month. Start free, no card.

Start freeSee every plan

Front, Zoho Desk and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureFrontFrontZoho DeskZoho DeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Per user; AI in the plan
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
14-day trial.
3 agents
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Chat channel; Starter allows one channel type.
Enterprise, via SalesIQ
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
All plans
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Professional and up, via add-on.
Standard and up
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Professional and up.
Standard and up
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Standard and up
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams integrations.
Slack and Teams integrations
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Autopilot.
Zia answer bot
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
In the plan, token allowance
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to teammates.
Creates a ticket
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with tags and status.
Ticket-first with blueprints
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Rules engine; visual on higher plans.
Workflows and blueprints
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Analytics on Professional and up.
Reports and dashboards
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Mac and Windows apps.
Browser and mobile
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Front if

  • Email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread.
  • You run logistics, finance or account management where a thread is a piece of work.
  • You need website chat in the price, which Zoho Desk does not include outright.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Zoho Desk does not ship.

Pick Zoho Desk if

  • You already run Zoho CRM or Books and want support in the same suite.
  • Email tickets with WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram at a low seat price.
  • Five people cost $255 a month less than on Front ($70 against $325), before AI.
  • You need WhatsApp and Telegram in the price, which Front does not include outright.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Front or Zoho Desk who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $325 a month on Front against $70 on Zoho Desk for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats, Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You want native Windows and macOS apps and a free plan that never expires beside the paid tiers, which Front and Zoho Desk have only in part.

What two, five and ten people pay

Front on Professional: $130, $325 and $650 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Zoho Desk on Standard: $28, $70 and $140 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $280 less than Front and $25 less than Zoho Desk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $555 under Front and $45 under Zoho Desk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Zoho Desk is a help desk built around email tickets. Only Zoho Desk has a free plan (3 agents, email tickets); Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional. Front and Zoho Desk both include email and Instagram in the price; only Front has website chat; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp and Telegram. Between them Front and Zoho Desk cover every channel Sellio ships. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats; Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan. Zoho Desk has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps. Front is a day; Zoho Desk is a day.

What each price leaves out

Front: Autopilot AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat per month and Smart QA $20 per seat (included on Enterprise). Zoho Desk: Zia answer bot from Standard; generative AI on Professional and up with a token allowance. Beside Front's from $0.05 per conversation and Zoho Desk's in the plan, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Zoho Desk does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Per user per month, billed yearly; monthly costs more. The page could only be read in a local currency, so the dollar figures are Zoho's US list prices from published summaries.), so they are marked unverified here beside Front's, and Zoho Desk's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    FrontFront$0.05$24
    Zoho DeskZoho DeskAssumed $0$0
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    FrontFront · 14-day trial of Professional
    Zoho DeskZoho Desk · 15-day trial, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Front vs Zoho Desk: the questions people ask

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Zoho Desk is a help desk built around email tickets. Zoho Desk has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type); Zoho Desk $7/user/mo (Express, yearly).
  • Chat in the price: Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel); Zoho Desk $40/user/mo (Enterprise, with SalesIQ).
  • Sellio's inbox: all five channels on every paid plan, where Front and Zoho Desk each include only some.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Front and Zoho Desk on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

No credit card required