Zendesk alternatives
16 help desks compared against Zendesk on pricing, AI, channels and security. Zendesk positions itself as: ai-first resolution platform with autonomous ai agents that resolve tickets across all channels.
Open makes one of the products on this list, so read the table rather than the ordering. Every figure carries its source and the date it was last checked, and anything a vendor says about itself that we could not verify independently is labelled a claim — including ours.
The alternatives
- 01
Open.cx
OursBest for: High-volume teams (5,000+ tickets/mo) that want automation without switching helpdesks.
Entry price: $0.90 per resolution
- 02
Freshdesk
Best for: SMB to enterprise ticketing; strong for ecommerce.(claimed)source
Entry price: $19/agent/mo (Growth); $29 Omni
- 03
Intercom
Best for: Mid-market and enterprise SaaS/tech teams wanting a unified AI agent plus human helpdesk.
Entry price: Essential: $29/seat/mo (annual); $39 monthly.
- 04
Salesforce Service Cloud
Best for: Large enterprises on Salesforce needing CRM-unified service at scale with AI.(3rd-party)source
Entry price: Starter Suite $25/user/mo (annual; max 10 users).
- 05
HubSpot Service Hub
Best for: Growing SMB to mid-market teams wanting unified CRM and service without a separate helpdesk.(claimed)source
Entry price: Starter $15/seat/mo (monthly); promo ~$9 noted.(3rd-party)source
- 06
Front
Best for: B2B with cross-team customer ops (tech, logistics, professional services, finance).(claimed)source
Entry price: $25/seat/mo (Starter; up to 10 seats; single channel; annual).
- 07
Zoho Desk
Best for: SMB and mid-market in the Zoho ecosystem. 125,000+ businesses.(claimed)source
Entry price: Express $7/agent/mo (annual).(3rd-party)source
- 08
Gorgias
Best for: Ecommerce brands, especially Shopify.(claimed)source
Entry price: Starter $10/mo (50 tickets, 3 seats); Basic $60/mo (300 tickets).
- 09
Kustomer
Best for: Mid-market to enterprise retail, travel, and finance replacing legacy ticketing (e.g. Turo, Everlane, Sweetgreen).(claimed)source
Entry price: Enterprise ~$89/seat/mo (annual).(3rd-party)source
- 10
Dixa
Best for: Ecommerce and DTC brands at mid-market scale.(claimed)source
Entry price: EUR 89/agent/mo (Growth, monthly). About EUR 71 annual.
- 11
Gladly
Best for: Mid-market to enterprise retail, ecommerce, and hospitality (Ulta, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, TUMI).(claimed)source
Entry price: ~$180/agent/mo (Hero, annual).(3rd-party)source
- 12
Re:amaze
Best for: Ecommerce merchants (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce) and SMB online businesses.(claimed)source
Entry price: $29/agent/mo (Basic, monthly); $26.10 annual.
- 13
Twilio Flex
Best for: Companies needing a customizable, developer-first contact center embeddable into apps and CRMs.(claimed)source
Entry price: $1.00/active user hour or $35/monthly active user.
- 14
Help Scout
Best for: SMB and mid-market across SaaS, ecommerce, education, and healthcare.(claimed)source
Entry price: Standard $25/user/mo (monthly); about $21 annual.
- 15
Crisp
Best for: SMBs and growing teams wanting affordable all-in-one AI support; bootstrapped companies.
Entry price: $45/mo (Mini, 4 seats, 5,000 profiles, ~$5 AI credits).
- 16
Kayako
Best for: Mid-market to enterprise (retail/ecommerce, SaaS, financial services, healthcare) wanting managed, expert-led AI.(claimed)source
Entry price: $79/mo flat (Kayako One).(3rd-party)source
Zendesk and the alternatives, side by side
| Zendesk | Open.cx | Freshdesk | Intercom | Salesforce Service Cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per agent/mo, annual or monthly. Suite is omnichannel, Support is email/ticketing only. AI billed separately. | Per resolution. No seat, setup, or per-message fees. | Per agent/month. AI billed separately. | Per-seat (Full seats) plus per-outcome Fin AI. Lite seats free on Advanced/Expert. | Per user/mo; annual contract billed upfront. |
| Entry price | $19/agent/mo (Support Team, annual, email only). $55 (Suite Team, omnichannel). | $0.90 per resolution | $19/agent/mo (Growth); $29 Omni | Essential: $29/seat/mo (annual); $39 monthly. | Starter Suite $25/user/mo (annual; max 10 users). |
| Free plan | No | No | Free tier for up to 2 agents | No | No standalone free plan; Foundations gives Enterprise 200k Flex Credits free but needs a paid license. |
| Autonomous AI agent | Yes. AI Agents resolve multi-step, multi-intent requests end to end across email, messaging, and voice. | Yes. Autopilot resolves tickets end to end on its own, across every channel. | Yes. Freddy AI Agent resolves tickets end to end.(claimed)source | Yes. Fin AI Agent resolves conversations end to end. | Yes. Agentforce (Atlas Reasoning Engine): multi-step planning, RAG, tool execution, self-reflection; resolves cases autonomously. |
| Runs on your existing helpdesk | Native to Zendesk (some deployment beyond Zendesk noted). | Both. Add it on top of the helpdesk you already run, or use it as your own inbox. Works with Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Twilio Flex, and Creatio. | Native to Freshdesk only | Both. Native on Intercom or standalone on Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Dixa, Front, Zoho Desk, Sprinklr. | Native only. Embedded in Service Cloud.(3rd-party)source |
| Voice | Native (Zendesk Talk, usage billed separately). | Native (hosted numbers in 100+ countries), inbound and outbound, or bring your own carrier via SIP | Add-on (Freshcaller, a separate product) | Native (Intercom Phone; also AWS Connect, Talkdesk, Twilio Flex, Zoom Phone via SIP). | Native (Service Cloud Voice; Amazon Connect or partner; add-on). |
Last updated:
The full seventy-plus row comparison for any pairing lives on its own page.
Questions
- Why do teams look for a Zendesk alternative?
- Most often the pricing shape rather than the product. Zendesk bills per agent/mo, annual or monthly. Suite is omnichannel, Support is email/ticketing only. AI billed separately. Entry pricing: $19/agent/mo (Support Team, annual, email only). $55 (Suite Team, omnichannel). A team whose ticket volume is growing faster than its headcount tends to start pricing the alternatives at that point.
- What are the closest alternatives to Zendesk?
- Open.cx, Freshdesk and Intercom are the three most often compared against Zendesk. Which fits depends on whether you are replacing the help desk itself or adding AI on top of the one you have — those are different projects.
- Do I have to migrate off Zendesk to use AI?
- No. Both. Add it on top of the helpdesk you already run, or use it as your own inbox. Works with Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Twilio Flex, and Creatio. That matters because a migration and an AI rollout are usually two separate decisions, and doing both at once is how each one gets blamed for the other's problems.
- Where do the figures on this page come from?
- Public vendor pricing and documentation pages, each with the date it was last checked. Anything a vendor says about itself that cannot be independently verified is marked as a claim rather than presented as fact, including our own.