Zoho DeskAgileCRMZoho Desk vs AgileCRM

Zoho Desk vs AgileCRM: website chat and the price of five seats

A help desk against an all-in-one CRM with a help desk: Zoho Desk is $80 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Zoho Desk 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 Zoho Desk if you already run Zoho CRM or Books and want support in the same suite. Pick AgileCRM if you want sales, marketing and a help desk in one cheap CRM. For five people, Zoho Desk is $80 a month cheaper than AgileCRM ($70 a month on Zoho Desk against $150 on AgileCRM), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $25 under Zoho Desk. Zoho Desk and AgileCRM both include email in the price; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. Neither Zoho Desk nor AgileCRM includes website chat outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Zoho Desk and AgileCRM for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceZoho DeskZoho DeskAgileCRMAgileCRM
Built aroundEmail tickets · part of the Zoho suiteThe CRM record · help desk is one module
Entry plan$7/user/mo · Express, yearly$8.99/user/mo · Starter, two-year billing
Chat in the price$40/user/mo · Enterprise, with SalesIQNone · no chat widget
AI agentIn the plan · Zia on Professional and upNone · no AI agent
Copilot for agentsZia · Professional and upNone
Free planYes · 3 agents, email ticketsYes · 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

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    As a ticket from email, a form or a messaging app, in a queue with blueprints for the process. AgileCRM raises tickets too, from the CRM record.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

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

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    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 $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 $70 on Zoho Desk.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    Zia's answer bot and generative AI are included by plan, with a token allowance, rather than metered per conversation. AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none) instead.

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

    No AI agent and no copilot; automation is rule-based campaign workflows. Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

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

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

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

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

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

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

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

    AgileCRMAgileCRM

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

Sources: Zoho Desk 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 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
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 AI conversations on Zoho Desk, AI conversations on AgileCRM

3000+
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.

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: Zoho Desk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification); 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

Zoho Desk, 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.

FeatureZoho DeskZoho DeskAgileCRMAgileCRMSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; AI in the plan
Per user; lowest price needs two-year billing
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
3 agents
10 users, 1,000 contacts
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Enterprise, via SalesIQ
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
Standard and up
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Standard and up
Not offered
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Standard and up
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams integrations
Not offered
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Zia answer bot
None
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
In the plan, token allowance
No AI to bill
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Creates a ticket
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Ticket-first with blueprints
Groups, labels, canned responses
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows and blueprints
Campaign workflows and triggers
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and dashboards
Basic reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

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 $80 a month less than on AgileCRM ($70 against $150), before AI.
  • You need WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram in the price, which AgileCRM does not include outright.

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.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Zoho Desk's: per user per month; the printed prices are the lowest, on two-year billing. Free for 10 users.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $70 a month on Zoho Desk against $150 on AgileCRM for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan and AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none), where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Zoho Desk nor AgileCRM includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Zoho Desk on Standard: $28, $70 and $140 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, $25 less than Zoho Desk and $105 less than AgileCRM for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $45 under Zoho Desk and $205 under AgileCRM.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Zoho Desk is a help desk built around email tickets; AgileCRM is an all-in-one CRM with a help desk built around the CRM record. Both have a free plan: Zoho Desk's is 3 agents, email tickets, AgileCRM's is 10 users, 1,000 contacts. Zoho Desk and AgileCRM both include email in the price; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. Neither Zoho Desk nor AgileCRM includes website chat outright. Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan; AgileCRM has no AI to bill (none). Zoho Desk and AgileCRM both raise tickets, and neither Zoho Desk nor AgileCRM ships a desktop app. Zoho Desk is a day; AgileCRM is a day.

What each price leaves out

Zoho Desk: Zia answer bot from Standard; generative AI on Professional and up with a token allowance. AgileCRM: No AI agent or copilot. Beside Zoho Desk's in the plan 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 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 AgileCRM'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
    Zoho DeskZoho DeskAssumed $0$0
    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.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk · 15-day trial, no card
    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

Zoho Desk vs AgileCRM: the questions people ask

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

  • Entry plan: Zoho Desk $7/user/mo (Express, yearly); AgileCRM $8.99/user/mo (Starter, two-year billing).
  • Chat in the price: Zoho Desk $40/user/mo (Enterprise, with SalesIQ); AgileCRM None (no chat widget).
  • Sellio: website chat, which neither Zoho Desk nor AgileCRM has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Zoho Desk 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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