ZendeskAgileCRMZendesk vs AgileCRM

Zendesk vs AgileCRM: $275 against $150 a month

A help desk suite against an all-in-one CRM with a help desk: AgileCRM is $125 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Zendesk and AgileCRM, and a third option for small teams.

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

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The short answer

Pick Zendesk if your support is ticket-first and email-heavy, with SLAs and a queue to manage. Pick AgileCRM if you want sales, marketing and a help desk in one cheap CRM. For five people, AgileCRM is $125 a month cheaper than Zendesk ($275 a month on Zendesk against $150 on AgileCRM), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $105 under AgileCRM. Zendesk and AgileCRM both include email in the price; only Zendesk has website chat and Instagram. Neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Zendesk and AgileCRM for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceZendeskZendeskAgileCRMAgileCRM
Built aroundTickets and a queue · messaging came laterThe CRM record · help desk is one module
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Support Team: email and tickets$8.99/user/mo · Starter, two-year billing
Chat in the price$55/agent/mo · Suite TeamNone · no chat widget
AI agentPer automated resolution · rate quoted, not printedNone · no AI agent
Copilot for agents$50/agent/moNone
Free planNone · 14-day trialYes · 10 users, 1,000 contacts

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    ZendeskZendesk

    As a ticket. Every channel, chat included, becomes a ticket with a status, a priority and an SLA clock. AgileCRM raises tickets too, from the CRM record.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    As a help desk ticket attached to a CRM contact, beside the deals and campaigns. Zendesk raises tickets too, from tickets and a queue.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    ZendeskZendesk

    $19 buys email and tickets. Live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and AI agents start at Suite Team, $55. $275 for five people, against $150 on AgileCRM.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    $8.99 buys sales and marketing on Starter; the help desk module starts on Regular at $29.99. $150 for five people, against $275 on Zendesk.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    ZendeskZendesk

    AI agents are priced per automated resolution on top of seats, and the rate comes from your quote. AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none) instead.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    No AI agent and no copilot; automation is rule-based campaign workflows. Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    ZendeskZendesk

    Email, chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and voice on Suite plans; WhatsApp conversation fees still apply. website chat and Instagram are here and not on AgileCRM.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    Email tickets and telephony; no live chat widget, WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Zendesk adds website chat and Instagram, which AgileCRM lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    ZendeskZendesk

    A contact center: voice, workforce management, QA, and a marketplace of over a thousand apps. AgileCRM is an all-in-one CRM with a help desk instead.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    Sales pipeline, marketing automation, landing pages and email campaigns in one CRM. Zendesk is a help desk suite instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    ZendeskZendesk

    A project. Queue, SLAs, routing and macros are set up before the first ticket is answered. AgileCRM is a day.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    A day: import contacts, connect the mailbox, set up groups and canned responses. Zendesk is a project.

Sources: Zendesk pricing · AgileCRM 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 Zendesk Agent Workspace: a ticket view with the customer, the thread and the fields
ZendeskZendesk. The Zendesk Agent Workspace: a ticket view with the customer, the thread and the fields
The AgileCRM help desk: the ticket list beside the contact record
AgileCRMAgileCRM. The AgileCRM help desk: the ticket list beside the contact record

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 automated resolutions on Zendesk, AI conversations on AgileCRM

3000+
ZendeskZendesk

$725/mo

Adds messaging, live chat, voice and AI agents.

5 × $55 seats
$275
300 automated resolutions × $1.5
$450
Copilot, 5 × $50
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Zendesk's pricing page says AI agents are priced per automated resolution and does not print the rate. $1.50 is the figure Zendesk has quoted publicly; change it to what your quote says. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

AgileCRMAgileCRM

$150/mo

Help desk, groups, canned responses.

5 × $29.99 seats
$150
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. AgileCRM has no AI agent; the AI line stays at zero. 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: Zendesk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); AgileCRM pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13). 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

Zendesk, AgileCRM 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.

FeatureZendeskZendeskAgileCRMAgileCRMSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI per resolution; add-ons extra
Per user; lowest price needs two-year billing
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 14-day trial
10 users, 1,000 contacts
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Suite plans
No chat widget
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Help desk on Regular and up
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Suite plans, plus conversation fees
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Suite plans
Not offered
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Third-party apps only
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications and side conversations
Not offered
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
All plans, trained on the help center
None
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Per automated resolution, on top of seats
No AI to bill
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Escalates to agents
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Ticket-first
Groups, labels, canned responses
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Triggers and automations, form-based
Campaign workflows and triggers
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Explore; advanced on higher plans
Basic reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

Pick Zendesk if

  • Your support is ticket-first and email-heavy, with SLAs and a queue to manage.
  • You need phone support and a contact center in the same tool.
  • You need website chat and Instagram in the price, which AgileCRM does not include outright.
  • You want an AI agent at all; AgileCRM has none.

Pick AgileCRM if

  • You want sales, marketing and a help desk in one cheap CRM.
  • Support is email tickets and phone, without a chat widget.
  • Five people cost $125 a month less than on Zendesk ($150 against $275), before AI.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Zendesk offers a 14-day trial of Suite Professional.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $275 a month on Zendesk against $150 on AgileCRM for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats and AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none), where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Zendesk on Suite Team: $110, $275 and $550 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. AgileCRM on Regular: $60, $150 and $300 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $230 less than Zendesk and $105 less than AgileCRM for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $455 under Zendesk and $205 under AgileCRM.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; AgileCRM is an all-in-one CRM with a help desk built around the CRM record. Only AgileCRM has a free plan (10 users, 1,000 contacts); Zendesk offers a 14-day trial of Suite Professional. Zendesk and AgileCRM both include email in the price; only Zendesk has website chat and Instagram. Neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats; AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none). Zendesk and AgileCRM both raise tickets, and neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM ships a desktop app. Zendesk is a project; AgileCRM is a day.

What each price leaves out

Zendesk: AI agents are billed per automated resolution on top of the seat price; the Copilot add-on is $50 per agent per month. AgileCRM: No AI agent or copilot. Beside Zendesk's per automated resolution and AgileCRM's none, 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 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
    ZendeskZendeskAssumed $1.5$720
    AgileCRMAgileCRMAssumed $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.

    ZendeskZendesk · 14-day trial of Suite Professional
    AgileCRMAgileCRM · Free plan, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Zendesk vs AgileCRM: the questions people ask

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; AgileCRM is an all-in-one CRM with a help desk built around the CRM record. Zendesk and AgileCRM both raise tickets, and neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Zendesk $19/agent/mo (Support Team: email and tickets); AgileCRM $8.99/user/mo (Starter, two-year billing).
  • Chat in the price: Zendesk $55/agent/mo (Suite Team); AgileCRM None (no chat widget).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Zendesk nor AgileCRM has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Zendesk and AgileCRM rows is on the shared inbox page.

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

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