ZendeskFrontZendesk vs Front

Zendesk vs Front: five seats for $275 or $325

A help desk suite against a team inbox: Zendesk is $50 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

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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 Front if email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread. For five people, Zendesk is $50 a month cheaper than Front ($275 a month on Zendesk against $325 on Front), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $230 under Zendesk. Zendesk and Front both include website chat, email and Instagram in the price. Neither Zendesk nor Front includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Zendesk and Front sell here at one price.

At a glanceZendeskZendeskFrontFront
Built aroundTickets and a queue · messaging came laterShared email · comments and drafts on every thread
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Support Team: email and tickets$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel type
Chat in the price$55/agent/mo · Suite Team$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannel
AI agentPer automated resolution · rate quoted, not printedFrom $0.05 per conversation · Autopilot
Copilot for agents$50/agent/mo$20/seat/mo
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · 14-day trial

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. Front has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

    FrontFront

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

  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 $325 on Front.

    FrontFront

    $25 buys one channel type and up to ten seats. Omnichannel and fifty seats start at Professional, $65. $325 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. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats as well.

    FrontFront

    Autopilot, the AI agent, from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat and Smart QA $20 per seat. Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    ZendeskZendesk

    Email, chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and voice on Suite plans; WhatsApp conversation fees still apply. The same set as Front.

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. The same set as Zendesk.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    ZendeskZendesk

    A contact center: voice, workforce management, QA, and a marketplace of over a thousand apps. Front is a team inbox instead.

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. 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. Front is a day.

    FrontFront

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

Sources: Zendesk pricing · Front 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 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

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, Autopilot conversations on Front

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.

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.

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); Front pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). 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, Front 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.

FeatureZendeskZendeskFrontFrontSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI per resolution; add-ons extra
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 14-day trial
14-day trial.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Suite plans
Chat channel; Starter allows one channel type.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
The core of the product.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Suite plans, plus conversation fees
Professional and up, via add-on.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Suite plans
Professional and up.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Third-party apps only
Not a channel.
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications and side conversations
Slack and Teams integrations.
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
Autopilot.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Per automated resolution, on top of seats
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Escalates to agents
Routes to teammates.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

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

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile only
Mac and Windows apps.
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.
  • Five people cost $50 a month less than on Front ($275 against $325), before AI.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Front does not have.

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 want native desktop apps, which Zendesk does not ship.
  • Time to the first reply is a day here and a project on Zendesk.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Zendesk or Front who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $275 a month on Zendesk against $325 on Front for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats, Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and a free plan with no trial clock, which neither Zendesk nor Front 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. Front on Professional: $130, $325 and $650 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 $280 less than Front for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $455 under Zendesk and $555 under Front.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; Front is a team inbox built around shared email. Neither has a free plan: Zendesk offers a 14-day trial of Suite Professional, Front a 14-day trial of Professional. Zendesk and Front both include website chat, email and Instagram in the price. Neither Zendesk nor Front includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Zendesk (per automated resolution) and Front (from $0.05 per conversation) both meter AI above the seats. Zendesk has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps. Zendesk is a project; Front 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. Front: Autopilot AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat per month and Smart QA $20 per seat (included on Enterprise). Beside Zendesk's per automated resolution and Front's from $0.05 per conversation, 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
    FrontFront$0.05$24
    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
    FrontFront · 14-day trial of Professional
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Zendesk vs Front: the questions people ask

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

  • Entry plan: Zendesk $19/agent/mo (Support Team: email and tickets); Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type).
  • Chat in the price: Zendesk $55/agent/mo (Suite Team); Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel).
  • Sellio's inbox: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Zendesk nor Front has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Zendesk and Front 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

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