Zoho Desk
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 13 products and found 13 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 13 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: CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management | 64% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, CSAT surveys, Voice / telephony | 64% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, AI agents, AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Support automations, SLA management | 36% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Live chat & messaging, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 27% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, Voice / telephony, SLA management live chat — adjacent | 73% | $24.17/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Help Scout Standard plan | 100% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Front Starter plan · missing: CSAT surveys, SLA management shared inbox — adjacent | 82% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
LiveChat Starter plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Voice / telephony, SLA management live chat — adjacent | 73% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Intercom Essential plan · missing: CSAT surveys | 91% | $29/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Hiver Growth plan shared inbox — adjacent | 100% | $35/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Gorgias Starter plan · missing: AI copilot, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SLA management ecommerce helpdesk — adjacent | 55% | $40/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
Crisp Mini plan · missing: SLA management live chat — adjacent | 91% | $45/mo how? ⓘ | — | |
eDesk Essential plan · missing: AI copilot, Routing & assignment | 82% | $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 full coverage
- Help Scout — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 100%
- Best free plan
- Help Scout — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 100%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 27%
- Best paid drop-in
- Intercom — $29/mo (Essential plan) · covers 91%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, CSAT surveys, routing & assignment, voice / telephony, support automations or SLA management?
- Help Scout — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Zoho Desk has that the top alternatives lack.
- 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.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio, Chatwoot.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Chatwoot.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Routing & assignment — Automatically route tickets to the right agent or team.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Tidio, Chatwoot.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from Chatwoot.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Crisp, Tidio.
Feature comparison
Zoho Desk vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Zoho Desk | Help Scout | Crisp | Tidio | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | — | $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 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
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html (official_pricing, checked 2026-09-07)
Frequently asked
Is there a free Zoho Desk alternative?
Yes. Help Scout has a free plan that covers 100% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Zoho Desk.
What is the cheapest Zoho Desk alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Help Scout is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Zoho Desk alternative with Knowledge base / help center?
Help Scout covers Knowledge base / help center and costs $0/mo (Free 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 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.
