Zoho DeskKayakoZoho Desk vs Kayako

Zoho Desk vs Kayako: two help desk options for a small team

Two help desks: one prints a price and one quotes. Where Zoho Desk and Kayako split, and a third option for small teams.

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 Zoho Desk if you already run Zoho CRM or Books and want support in the same suite. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $70 a month on Zoho Desk, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Zoho Desk and Kayako both include email in the price; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram; only Kayako has website chat. Between them Zoho Desk and Kayako cover every channel Sellio ships. For a team of two to ten weighing Zoho Desk against Kayako, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceZoho DeskZoho DeskKayakoKayako
Built aroundEmail tickets · part of the Zoho suiteTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$7/user/mo · Express, yearlyQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$40/user/mo · Enterprise, with SalesIQQuote · widget included
AI agentIn the plan · Zia on Professional and up$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agentsZia · Professional and upIn Kay
Free planYes · 3 agents, email ticketsNone · talk to a pricing expert

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. Kayako raises tickets too, from tickets and a customer journey.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. 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; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; Zoho Desk prints $70.

  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. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats instead.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. 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 Kayako.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. website chat is here and not on Zoho Desk.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    The Zoho suite: CRM, SalesIQ, Projects and Books share the account. Kayako is the same kind of product, a help desk.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. Zoho Desk is the same kind of product, a help desk.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk

    A day: connect the mailbox, set departments and a blueprint. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Zoho Desk is a day.

Sources: Zoho Desk pricing · Kayako 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 Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

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

Zoho Desk, Kayako 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 DeskKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
Enterprise, via SalesIQ
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Included
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
Messenger and X only
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
Slack integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Zia answer bot
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
In the plan, token allowance
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Creates a ticket
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Ticket-first with blueprints
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows and blueprints
Automation rules
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and dashboards
Reporting
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.
  • You need WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram in the price, which Kayako does not include outright.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Kayako offers no trial.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need website chat in the price, which Zoho Desk does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding here and a day on Zoho Desk.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $70 a month on Zoho Desk, and a quote on Kayako for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Zoho Desk nor Kayako 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. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $25 less than Zoho Desk and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $45 under Zoho Desk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Both Zoho Desk and Kayako are help desks, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Zoho Desk is built around email tickets, Kayako around tickets and a customer journey. Only Zoho Desk has a free plan (3 agents, email tickets); Kayako offers no trial. Zoho Desk and Kayako both include email in the price; only Zoho Desk has WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram; only Kayako has website chat. Between them Zoho Desk and Kayako cover every channel Sellio ships. Zoho Desk folds AI (in the plan) into the plan; Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats. Zoho Desk and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither Zoho Desk nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Zoho Desk is a day; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Zoho Desk: Zia answer bot from Standard; generative AI on Professional and up with a token allowance. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Zoho Desk's in the plan and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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 Kayako's, and Zoho Desk's pricing page should be checked before you decide. Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Zoho Desk's, and Kayako'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
    KayakoKayakoSee 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.

    Zoho DeskZoho Desk · 15-day trial, no card
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Zoho Desk vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Both Zoho Desk and Kayako are help desks, so the category is settled and the question is what each seat buys: Zoho Desk is built around email tickets, Kayako around tickets and a customer journey.

  • Entry plan: Zoho Desk $7/user/mo (Express, yearly); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Zoho Desk $40/user/mo (Enterprise, with SalesIQ); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio: all five channels on every paid plan, where Zoho Desk and Kayako each include only some.

Sellio's side of the Zoho Desk and Kayako 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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