Zoho Desk alternatives
Customer Support · www.zoho.com
Zoho Desk is a customer service help desk that provides ticketing across email, social media, and messaging channels, with knowledge base, automation, AI, and analytics features across several editions.
We only list alternatives we can defend with sourced pricing data.
Top Zoho Desk alternatives
We compared 17 products and found 17 alternatives · Zoho Desk pricing is still being verified, so savings are not computed yet · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Zoho Desk’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
We list 17 assessed alternatives; Zoho Desk's own price is not verified yet, so no cheaper-than claim is made. Zoho Desk's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony | 82% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Smartsupp Solo plan · missing: Ticketing, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, Voice / telephony, Support automations, SLA management | 45% | $17/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, Support automations, SLA management | 55% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, CSAT surveys, Voice / telephony, SLA management | 55% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 36% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management live chat — adjacent | 55% | $24.17/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Help Scout Standard plan · missing: Routing & assignment | 91% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Front Starter plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, CSAT surveys, SLA management shared inbox — adjacent | 73% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
LiveChat Essential plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Voice / telephony, SLA management live chat — adjacent | 73% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
JivoChat Basic plan · missing: Ticketing, Knowledge base / help center, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management | 55% | $28/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Intercom Essential plan · missing: CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Support automations, SLA management | 64% | $29/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Hiver Growth plan · missing: CSAT surveys, SLA management shared inbox — adjacent | 82% | $35/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Gorgias Starter plan · missing: AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management ecommerce helpdesk — adjacent | 55% | $40/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Chatbase Hobby plan · missing: Ticketing, Omnichannel inbox, Knowledge base / help center, AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management | 27% | $40/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Crisp Mini plan · missing: Ticketing, Omnichannel inbox, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, Support automations, SLA management live chat — adjacent | 9% | $45/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
eDesk Essential plan · missing: AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, SLA management | 64% | $49/mo how? ⓘ | — |
Which Zoho Desk alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- JivoChat — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 36%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 9%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 82%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, AI agents, AI copilot or support automations?
- Tidio — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need knowledge base / help center?
- tawk.to — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need CSAT surveys or routing & assignment?
- Smartsupp — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need voice / telephony?
- Front — from $25/mo (Starter plan)
- Need SLA management?
- Helply — from $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Zoho Desk has that the top alternatives lack.
- Ticketing — Track customer requests as tickets through resolution.Missing from JivoChat, Smartsupp.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from tawk.to.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- CSAT surveys — Survey customers on satisfaction after a support interaction.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- Routing & assignment — Automatically route tickets to the right agent or team.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from JivoChat, Smartsupp.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp, tawk.to.
Feature comparison
Zoho Desk vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Zoho Desk | Tidio | JivoChat | Smartsupp | tawk.to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticketing from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Omnichannel inbox from Express | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat & messaging from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Knowledge base / help center from Standard | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI agents from Express | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI copilot from Express | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| CSAT surveys from Standard | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Routing & assignment from Express | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voice / telephony from Professional | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Support automations from Express | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SLA management from Express | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | — | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ 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 Zoho Desk covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Ticketing — from Free
- ✓ Omnichannel inbox — from Express
- ✓ Live chat & messaging — from Standard
- ✓ Knowledge base / help center — from Standard
- ✓ AI agents — from Express
- ✓ AI copilot — from Express
- ✓ CSAT surveys — from Standard
- ✓ Routing & assignment — from Express
- ✓ Voice / telephony — from Professional
- ✓ Support automations — from Express
- ✓ SLA management — from Express
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-26)
Frequently asked
Is there a free Zoho Desk alternative?
Yes. JivoChat has a free plan that covers 36% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Zoho Desk.
What is the cheapest Zoho Desk alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Tidio is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Zoho Desk alternative with Voice / telephony?
Front covers Voice / telephony and costs $25/mo (Starter plan) in our scenario.
Does Zoho Desk have a free plan?
Yes. Zoho Desk's free plan is limited to 3 seats.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-10-26 and 2026-10-29, on the vendors' official pricing pages.
