ZendeskProProfsZendesk vs ProProfs

Zendesk vs ProProfs: help desk suite or live chat

A help desk suite against a live chat software: ProProfs is $175 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 ProProfs if one person answers chat and you want every feature free. For five people, ProProfs is $175 a month cheaper than Zendesk ($275 a month on Zendesk against $100 on ProProfs), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $55 under ProProfs. Zendesk and ProProfs both include website chat in the price; only Zendesk has email and Instagram. Neither Zendesk nor ProProfs includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Zendesk and ProProfs sell here at one price.

At a glanceZendeskZendeskProProfsProProfs
Built aroundTickets and a queue · messaging came laterThe chat widget · free for one operator
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Support Team: email and tickets$0 · one operator, all features
Chat in the price$55/agent/mo · Suite TeamAbout $20/operator/mo · Team plan
AI agentPer automated resolution · rate quoted, not printed$450/year · 2,500 AI interactions a month
Copilot for agents$50/agent/moIn the AI add-on
Free planNone · 14-day trialYes · a single operator

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. ProProfs has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

    ProProfsProProfs

    As a chat in the widget, greeted by a rule or the AI add-on, with the visitor's page shown. Zendesk raises a ticket where ProProfs 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 $100 on ProProfs.

    ProProfsProProfs

    One operator is free with every feature; a team pays per operator, about $20 a month each. $100 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. ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan instead.

    ProProfsProProfs

    AI chat automation is $450 a year for 2,500 interactions a month, a flat add-on. 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. email and Instagram are here and not on ProProfs.

    ProProfsProProfs

    Website chat, with WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger on the team plan; no Telegram. Zendesk adds email and Instagram, which ProProfs lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    ZendeskZendesk

    A contact center: voice, workforce management, QA, and a marketplace of over a thousand apps. ProProfs is a live chat software instead.

    ProProfsProProfs

    A help desk, a knowledge base and surveys as sibling products; a suite from $499 a month. 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. ProProfs is minutes.

    ProProfsProProfs

    Minutes: paste the widget. Zendesk is a project.

Sources: Zendesk pricing · ProProfs 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 ProProfs Chat operator view: the chat with the visitor's page and history
ProProfsProProfs. The ProProfs Chat operator view: the chat with the visitor's page and history

Pricing references: Zendesk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); ProProfs pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Zendesk, ProProfs 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.

FeatureZendeskZendeskProProfsProProfsSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
Suite plans
All plans
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Separate help desk product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Suite plans, plus conversation fees
Team plan
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Suite plans
Team plan
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
AI add-on
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Per automated resolution, on top of seats
$450 a year flat
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Escalates to agents
Hands to an operator
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Ticket-first
Separate help desk product
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Triggers and automations, form-based
Greetings and routing
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Explore; advanced on higher plans
Chat reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile only
Windows and macOS 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.
  • You need email and Instagram in the price, which ProProfs does not include outright.
  • You need a ticket queue, which ProProfs does not have.

Pick ProProfs if

  • One person answers chat and you want every feature free.
  • A flat yearly AI add-on beats a per-conversation meter for you.
  • Five people cost $175 a month less than on Zendesk ($100 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

  • You are two to ten people on Zendesk or ProProfs who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $275 a month on Zendesk against $100 on ProProfs for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats, ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and WhatsApp in the base price, which neither Zendesk nor ProProfs 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. ProProfs: $100 a month for five (5 operators × about $20); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $230 less than Zendesk and $55 less than ProProfs for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $455 under Zendesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; ProProfs is a live chat software built around the chat widget. Only ProProfs has a free plan (a single operator); Zendesk offers a 14-day trial of Suite Professional. Zendesk and ProProfs both include website chat in the price; only Zendesk has email and Instagram. Neither Zendesk nor ProProfs includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats; ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan. Zendesk has tickets and ProProfs does not, and only ProProfs ships desktop apps. Zendesk is a project; ProProfs is minutes.

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. ProProfs: AI Chat Automation $450 a year for 2,500 interactions a month. Beside Zendesk's per automated resolution and ProProfs's $450/year, 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

ProProfs does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Free for one operator; the team plan is priced per operator and shown after sign-up, so its figure is from published summaries.), so they are marked unverified here beside Zendesk's, and ProProfs'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
    ZendeskZendeskAssumed $1.5$720
    ProProfsProProfsSee vendorNot quoted
    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
    ProProfsProProfs · 15-day trial of the team plan
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Zendesk vs ProProfs: the questions people ask

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; ProProfs is a live chat software built around the chat widget. Zendesk has tickets and ProProfs does not, and only ProProfs ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Zendesk $19/agent/mo (Support Team: email and tickets); ProProfs $0 (one operator, all features).
  • Chat in the price: Zendesk $55/agent/mo (Suite Team); ProProfs About $20/operator/mo (Team plan).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Zendesk nor ProProfs has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Zendesk and ProProfs 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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