Zendesk
Customer Support · www.zendesk.com
Zendesk is an AI-first customer service platform combining ticketing, messaging, live chat, voice, knowledge base, and AI agents in one system.
Switching to Crisp, which covers 36% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Zendesk alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 6 cheaper alternatives · vs Zendesk Support Team at $19/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Zendesk costs $19/mo on the Support Team plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 6 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 0 of them cover at least 75% of the 11 compared capabilities.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: Workflow automations, Dashboards & reporting, AI assistant, API access, Docs & wikis, Workflow automation, App integrations, Voice / telephony | 27% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $216 / year 95% cheaper |
Which Zendesk alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Crisp — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 36%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 18%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 27%
- Need workflow automation or app integrations?
- Chatwoot — from $0/mo (Hacker plan)
- Need ticketing, live chat & messaging, voice / telephony or knowledge base / help center?
- Crisp — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Zendesk has that the top alternatives lack.
- Workflow automations — Automate repetitive workflow steps.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
- Dashboards & reporting — View dashboards and reports on project progress.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
- AI assistant — Get AI help drafting updates or summarizing project status.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
- API access — Access and update project data programmatically via an API.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
- Docs & wikis — Create shared documents and a team wiki alongside tasks.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Chatwoot.
- Workflow automation — Automate routine steps directly within chat.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk.
- App integrations — Connect other apps and tools into the chat.Missing from Crisp, Help Scout, Zoho Desk.
- Ticketing — Track customer requests as tickets through resolution.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Chatwoot.
Feature comparison
Zendesk vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Zendesk | Crisp | Help Scout | Zoho Desk | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workflow automations from Support Team | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Dashboards & reporting from Support Team | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI assistant from Suite Team | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| API access | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Docs & wikis from Suite Team | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Workflow automation from Support Team | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| App integrations | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ticketing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Live chat & messaging | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voice / telephony | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Knowledge base / help center | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $19/mo Support Team | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Hacker |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Zendesk covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Workflow automations — from Support Team
- ✓ Dashboards & reporting — from Support Team
- ✓ AI assistant — from Suite Team
- ✓ API access
- ✓ Docs & wikis — from Suite Team
- ✓ Workflow automation — from Support Team
- ✓ App integrations
- ✓ Ticketing
- ✓ Live chat & messaging
- ✓ Voice / telephony
- ✓ Knowledge base / help center
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
- https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/#main-content (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
Frequently asked
How much does Zendesk cost?
Zendesk's Support Team plan costs $19/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing).
Is there a free Zendesk alternative?
Yes. Crisp has a free plan that covers 36% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Zendesk.
What is the cheapest Zendesk alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Crisp is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
Does Zendesk have a free plan?
No. Zendesk has no free plan on its official pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.