ZendeskZoho DeskZendesk vs Zoho Desk

Zendesk vs Zoho Desk: $275 against $70 a month

A help desk suite against a help desk: Zoho Desk is $205 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Zendesk and Zoho Desk, 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 Zoho Desk if you already run Zoho CRM or Books and want support in the same suite. For five people, Zoho Desk is $205 a month cheaper than Zendesk ($275 a month on Zendesk against $70 on Zoho Desk), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $25 under Zoho Desk. Zendesk and Zoho Desk both include email and Instagram in the price; only Zendesk has website chat; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp and Telegram. Between them Zendesk and Zoho Desk cover every channel Sellio ships. A team of two to ten choosing between Zendesk and Zoho Desk for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceZendeskZendeskZoho DeskZoho Desk
Built aroundTickets and a queue · messaging came laterEmail tickets · part of the Zoho suite
Entry plan$19/agent/mo · Support Team: email and tickets$7/user/mo · Express, yearly
Chat in the price$55/agent/mo · Suite Team$40/user/mo · Enterprise, with SalesIQ
AI agentPer automated resolution · rate quoted, not printedIn the plan · Zia on Professional and up
Copilot for agents$50/agent/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

    ZendeskZendesk

    As a ticket. Every channel, chat included, becomes a ticket with a status, a priority and an SLA clock. Zoho Desk raises tickets too, from email tickets.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    As a ticket from email, a form or a messaging app, in a queue with blueprints for the process. 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 $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 $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. 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. 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 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 Zendesk.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    ZendeskZendesk

    A contact center: voice, workforce management, QA, and a marketplace of over a thousand apps. Zoho Desk is a help desk instead.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    The Zoho suite: CRM, SalesIQ, Projects and Books share the account. 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. Zoho Desk is a day.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

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

Sources: Zendesk 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 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 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 automated resolutions on Zendesk, AI conversations on Zoho Desk

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.

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: Zendesk 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

Zendesk, 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.

FeatureZendeskZendeskZoho DeskZoho DeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per agent; AI per resolution; add-ons extra
Per user; AI in the plan
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 14-day trial
3 agents
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Suite plans
Enterprise, via SalesIQ
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
All plans
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Suite plans, plus conversation fees
Standard and up
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Suite plans
Standard and up
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Third-party apps only
Standard and up
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
Zia answer bot
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Per automated resolution, on top of seats
In the plan, token allowance
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Escalates to agents
Creates a ticket
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Ticket-first
Ticket-first with blueprints
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Triggers and automations, form-based
Workflows and blueprints
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Explore; advanced on higher plans
Reports and dashboards
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile only
Browser and mobile
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 in the price, which Zoho Desk does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is a project here and a day on Zoho Desk.

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 $205 a month less than on Zendesk ($70 against $275), before AI.
  • You need WhatsApp and Telegram in the price, which Zendesk does not include outright.

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 $70 on Zoho Desk 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 Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Zendesk nor Zoho Desk 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. 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, $230 less than Zendesk 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 $455 under Zendesk and $45 under Zoho Desk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; Zoho Desk is a help desk built around email tickets. Only Zoho Desk has a free plan (3 agents, email tickets); Zendesk offers a 14-day trial of Suite Professional. Zendesk and Zoho Desk both include email and Instagram in the price; only Zendesk has website chat; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp and Telegram. Between them Zendesk and Zoho Desk cover every channel Sellio ships. Zendesk meters AI (per automated resolution) above the seats; Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan. Zendesk and Zoho Desk both raise tickets, and neither Zendesk nor Zoho Desk ships a desktop app. Zendesk is a project; Zoho Desk 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. Zoho Desk: Zia answer bot from Standard; generative AI on Professional and up with a token allowance. Beside Zendesk's per automated resolution 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 Zendesk'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
    ZendeskZendeskAssumed $1.5$720
    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.

    ZendeskZendesk · 14-day trial of Suite 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

Zendesk vs Zoho Desk: the questions people ask

Zendesk is a help desk suite built around tickets and a queue; Zoho Desk is a help desk built around email tickets. Zendesk and Zoho Desk both raise tickets, and neither Zendesk nor Zoho Desk ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Zendesk $19/agent/mo (Support Team: email and tickets); Zoho Desk $7/user/mo (Express, yearly).
  • Chat in the price: Zendesk $55/agent/mo (Suite Team); Zoho Desk $40/user/mo (Enterprise, with SalesIQ).
  • Sellio: all five channels on every paid plan, where Zendesk and Zoho Desk each include only some.

Sellio's side of the Zendesk and Zoho Desk 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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