10 Best Zendesk Alternatives & Competitors in 2026 (by Use Case)

Key takeaways

Zendesk is the help desk most teams benchmark against, with a G2 score of 4.3 from 7,082 reviews and a ladder of plans that reaches enterprise scale. People start looking for competitors when the per-agent price climbs a tier to get live chat, when AI resolutions and add-ons stack on top of seats, or when a small team simply doesn’t need that much help desk. We compared 10 tools that replace Zendesk’s core job, tickets plus customer chat, and checked every pricing page and G2 profile in October 2026. Tidio is listed first for the teams it fits best, with its limits stated, and it isn’t built for enterprise queues with complex routing. Each entry also says where that tool is weaker than Zendesk.

Why teams look for a Zendesk alternative

Zendesk’s strengths are real. Support Team is $19 per agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly), and the higher tiers add omnichannel routing, a knowledge base, voice, and a long list of controls. If you run a large team with complex routing and SLAs, it is a safe choice and you should probably stay.

Most teams leave for one of five reasons, all visible on Zendesk’s own pricing page (checked October 2026):

1. Each step up is a big step. Per agent a month on annual billing, Support Team is $19, Suite Team is $55, and Suite Professional is $115 ($25, $69, and $149 monthly). A 3-agent team on Suite Professional pays $345 a month before any add-on.
2. Chat sits behind the second tier. Support Team covers email and ticketing. Messaging and live chat start at Suite Team, so the $19 plan doesn’t answer a visitor on your site.
3. AI is billed per resolution on top of seats. Each plan includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month (10 on Suite Professional). After that they cost $1.50 each when you commit to a volume, or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Zendesk’s help center says an LLM reviews each conversation to verify a resolution.
4. The add-on stack grows. Copilot is $50 per agent a month, the Workforce Engagement Bundle (workforce management and quality assurance) is $50, and Contact Center is $83, all billed annually. SLAs start at Suite Professional, and a sandbox is an add-on there.
5. The top plan is a sales call. Suite Enterprise is “Talk to Sales”, and Zendesk’s own FAQ says enterprise plans generally require sales engagement.

Your reason decides where to look. A lower seat price points to Freshdesk or Zoho Desk, a busy store to Tidio or Gorgias, an email-first team to Help Scout, Front, or Hiver, and an AI-first desk to Intercom.

Zendesk alternatives at a glance

Short answer: Tidio for small e-commerce and SMB teams, Freshdesk or Zoho Desk for a like-for-like help desk at a lower seat price, Intercom for an AI-first chat desk, Help Scout, Front, or Hiver for shared-inbox work, and Crisp for chat on a flat workspace price.

Tool	Best for	Starting price (billing basis)	Free plan / trial	G2 rating
Tidio	Small e-commerce and SMB teams that want chat, tickets, and AI	$24.17/mo billed annually ($29 monthly), flat for up to 10 seats	Free plan · 7-day trial	4.6 (1,962)
Freshdesk	A like-for-like help desk on a per-agent budget	$19/agent/mo billed annually ($23 monthly)	14-day trial	4.4 (3,773)
Intercom	AI-first chat and help desk	$29/seat/mo billed annually ($39 monthly) plus $0.99 per Fin outcome	14-day trial	4.5 (3,913)
Help Scout	Email-first teams that want a simple shared inbox	$25/user/mo billed annually ($30 monthly)	Free for 5 users · 15-day trial	4.4 (431)
Zoho Desk	Lowest cost per seat	Free; paid from $7/user/mo billed annually ($9 monthly)	Free for 3 users · 15-day trial	4.4 (7,954)
HubSpot Service Hub	Support tied to CRM records	Free; Professional from $90/seat/mo billed annually	Free for 2 users	4.4 (3,017)
Gorgias	Shopify and e-commerce brands	$50/mo billed annually ($60 monthly) for 300 tickets, not per seat	Trial, no free plan	4.6 (582)
Front	Shared inbox collaboration and routing	$25/seat/mo billed annually ($35 monthly)	14-day trial	4.7 (2,514)
Hiver	Gmail-based shared inbox	$25/user/mo billed annually ($35 monthly)	7-day trial	4.6 (1,291)
Crisp	Live chat and a shared inbox on a flat workspace price	$45/workspace/mo, monthly billing, 4 seats	Free for 2 seats · 14-day trial	4.5 (204)

How we evaluated these alternatives

We started from the tools that rank for this search, the tools AI answers name for Zendesk, and the previous edition of this article. We cut that list to 10 tools that replace a help desk with tickets and customer chat, dropped products that were retired or belong to another category, and judged each on five criteria that map to why people leave Zendesk:

1. Price model. Per seat, per ticket, or per conversation, and what extra usage costs.
2. Plan gates. Which plan holds chat, automation, SLAs, and reports.
3. AI. Whether an AI agent is included, and what triggers a charge.
4. Channels. Email, live chat, social, and phone.
5. Fit. Team size, store type, and who hosts the software.

We read pricing pages, plan comparisons, and G2 listings, and we label vendor claims as claims. We didn’t run a hands-on test of every product, so the screenshots come from each vendor’s public product pages and Tidio’s own media library. Tidio goes first as the pick for small e-commerce teams; the rest run roughly from closest to Zendesk to furthest.

The 10 best Zendesk alternatives in 2026

1. Tidio

Best for: small e-commerce and SMB teams that want live chat, email tickets, and an AI agent in one inbox.

Tidio starts from the conversations customers open on your website, and adds email tickets next to them. Support emails land in a ticket view with a status, a priority, and an assignee, beside live chat and the Lyro AI agent. Agents can see a chat linked to the email they’re answering, or turn part of a chat into a ticket.

For Shopify stores, tidio.com lists cart preview and order history in the inbox. The Lyro AI agent answers repeat questions, and Tidio says it solves up to 75% of customer questions automatically. Billing follows billable conversations instead of seats, so adding a teammate doesn’t add a seat fee.

Tidio is a good Zendesk replacement when:

• You need chat on your site without moving to a $55 plan per agent.
• Your store runs on Shopify and agents need cart and order data in the inbox.
• Most of your volume is repeat questions that automation and AI can take.
• Customers write by chat, email, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Key features:

• Live chat and Lyro in the same inbox: chats, tickets, and AI answers sit side by side.
• Email-to-ticket handling: emails become tickets with a status and an assignee.
• Shopify context: cart preview and order history for the customer you’re answering.

Pros

• One inbox for chat, email, social messages, and AI, so nobody repeats information.
• Flat plan prices for up to 10 seats instead of a fee per user.
• A free plan and a 7-day trial let you test before you commit.

Cons

• Ticketing automations start on the Plus plan, so smaller plans suit simpler workflows.
• Both live conversations and tickets count toward your billable conversations, so a busy inbox may move you up a plan.
• It’s built for SMB and mid-market support, not complex enterprise queues.

Pricing: from Tidio’s pricing page, billed annually (monthly in brackets):

• Free: $0, 50 billable conversations a month, 10 seats.
• Starter: $24.17/mo ($29), 100 billable conversations.
• Growth: from $49.17/mo ($59), 250 to 2,000 billable conversations.
• Plus: from $300/mo plus usage; Premium: contact sales.
• Lyro AI agent on its own: from $32.50/mo ($39) for 50 conversations. A Lyro conversation is any interaction in which Lyro sends at least one reply, counted once. The first 50 Lyro conversations are free.

Rating: G2 4.6/5 (1,962 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain live chat, an AI agent, and Shopify context in the same inbox, and a bill that doesn’t grow with each agent. You give up Zendesk’s SLA controls, skills-based routing, and ability to scale to large agent teams.

2. Freshdesk

Best for: teams that want a like-for-like help desk on a per-agent budget.

Freshdesk is the closest like-for-like swap. Growth is $19 per agent a month billed annually ($23 monthly), the same as Zendesk Support Team. Multiple SLA policies and round-robin routing start at Pro at $55, while Zendesk’s SLAs start at Suite Professional at $115. Skill-based assignment is Enterprise only.

Key features:

• Ticketing core: assignments, priorities, groups, and SLA timers.
• Freddy AI Agent: 500 sessions included once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions.
• Plan ladder: Growth, Pro, and Enterprise, each priced per agent.

Pros

• Low entry price per agent, with SLAs and routing a tier earlier than Zendesk.
• Mature ticketing as you move up the plans.

Cons

• Growth has a single SLA policy and no custom dashboards.
• You can only downgrade or cancel at the end of your term.
• The 500 free AI sessions are a one-time allowance.

Pricing: per agent per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Growth $19 ($23); Pro $55 ($66); Enterprise $89 ($107). Freddy AI Copilot is $29 ($35) per agent for Pro and Enterprise. No free plan on the pricing page; 14-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (3,773 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain multiple SLA policies at a lower tier and a cheaper path to Enterprise. You give up the Support and Suite split that lets Zendesk teams pick channels, and, on Growth, custom dashboards.

Read more: Freshdesk alternatives · Freshdesk vs Zendesk

3. Intercom

Best for: teams that want an AI-first, chat-led help desk and accept usage billing.

Intercom pairs a shared inbox and ticketing with its Fin AI agent. Live chat is included on every plan, so you don’t climb a tier to reach visitors. Essential is $29 per seat a month billed annually, and Fin adds $0.99 per outcome on every plan. An outcome is a conversation the customer confirms resolved, or one where they don’t ask for more help after Fin replies, or one where Fin completes a workflow.

Key features:

• Inbox with ticketing: a shared inbox and ticketing system on Essential.
• Fin AI Agent: $0.99 per outcome, with one charge per conversation.
• Live chat: included on all plans.

Pros

• Strong AI-first model for teams that want a bot to handle volume.
• Chat, email, and in-app messaging in one place.

Cons

• You get two bills: seats plus Fin outcomes, with no spending cap shown on the pricing page.
• Workflow builder, multiple team inboxes, and round robin start at Advanced.
• Email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, and phone are billed by usage.

Pricing: per seat per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Essential $29 ($39); Advanced $85 ($99); Expert $132 ($139). Fin is $0.99 per outcome. Copilot is $29 ($35) per agent. No free plan; 14-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.5/5 (3,913 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain chat on every plan and a lower per-outcome AI price. You give up bill predictability, since Fin’s meter has no cap on the page and grows with your volume.

Read more: Intercom alternatives · Zendesk vs Intercom

4. Help Scout

Best for: small, email-first teams that want a simple shared inbox with a free plan.

Help Scout feels like email with ownership added. The Free plan covers 5 users, 1 Inbox, and 1 Docs site, and the Beacon live chat widget comes with Standard at $25 per user a month billed annually ($30 monthly). That puts chat one tier below where Zendesk adds it. The trade-off is scale: Standard stops at 25 users and Plus at 50.

Key features:

• Shared inbox: conversations with assignees, tags, and saved replies.
• Beacon and Docs: live chat and a help center from Standard.
• AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution on top of the plan, with 3 months of unlimited use from account creation.

Pros

• A real free plan for 5 users.
• Live chat and workflows start at $25 per user.

Cons

• Phone is an integration on every plan.
• Standard caps at 25 users and Plus at 50; Pro needs at least 10 users and a demo.
• WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram start on Standard, not Free.

Pricing: per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Standard $25 ($30); Plus $45 ($54); Pro $75 ($90). Free for 5 users. 15-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (431 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain a simpler inbox, a free plan, and a lower AI price per resolution ($0.75 against $1.50). You give up native phone, skills-based routing, and room for a very large team.

Read more: Help Scout alternatives · Help Scout vs Zendesk

5. Zoho Desk

Best for: budget-conscious teams that start with email support and want inexpensive seats.

Zoho Desk has the lowest seat prices on this list. The free edition supports 3 users, and Express adds a cheap paid step at $7 per user a month billed annually. The picture changes with broader needs: telephony, Blueprints, multiple departments, and round-robin assignment start at Professional, and live chat through Zoho SalesIQ needs Enterprise.

Key features:

• Email ticketing: one email channel on Free, more on paid plans.
• Blueprints and departments: workflow tools from Professional.
• Zia AI: an AI assistant from Professional.

Pros

• The free edition is a real entry point for 3 users.
• Express and Standard have low published seat prices.

Cons

• Free caps you at 3 users and Express at 5.
• Skill-based assignment and sandbox access need Enterprise.
• Live chat is Enterprise only.

Pricing: Free for 3 users and 1 email channel. Per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Express $7 ($9); Standard $14 ($20); Professional $23 ($35); Enterprise $40 ($50). Light agents cost $6 on Professional and Enterprise. 15-day trial without a card; the account then drops to Free.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (7,954 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain the lowest per-seat price on this list and a free tier. You give up chat on the cheaper plans, since Zendesk includes it from Suite Team and Zoho only from Enterprise.

Read more: Zoho Desk alternatives

6. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for: HubSpot CRM teams that want tickets tied to customer records.

HubSpot Service Hub makes sense when your team already works in HubSpot CRM. The buying case is customer context across sales, marketing, and support, not the cheapest seat. The help desk workspace, knowledge base, and customer portal start at Professional, so judging the product by the free tier tells you little.

Key features:

• CRM-connected tickets: support work sits beside contact and deal records.
• Help desk workspace: a dedicated agent workspace from Professional.
• Customer Agent: an AI agent billed in HubSpot Credits.

Pros

• Fits teams that already organize customer work around HubSpot.
• Free tools for up to 2 users let you test the basics.

Cons

• Core help desk features require Professional.
• Professional and Enterprise carry mandatory onboarding fees.
• Professional costs $90 per seat, close to Zendesk Suite Professional’s $115.

Pricing: Free for up to 2 users. Professional starts at $90 per seat a month billed annually ($100 monthly, still an annual commitment) plus $1,500 onboarding. Enterprise starts at $150 per seat, billed annually, plus $3,500 onboarding. Customer Agent uses 50 credits, or $0.50, per conversation it resolves, and extra credits cost $0.01 each.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (3,017 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain CRM context for every ticket and a cheaper AI resolution ($0.50 against $1.50). You give up price at the entry: a one-time onboarding fee comes with Professional.

Read more: HubSpot alternatives · Zendesk vs HubSpot

7. Gorgias

Best for: e-commerce brands on Shopify that want tickets, orders, and AI in one help desk.

Gorgias prices by ticket volume, not by agent, which suits stores with a growing team and steady order flow. It says it’s built specifically for e-commerce and Shopify, and the customer panel puts order and spend data beside the conversation. Email, chat, social, and a help center come on every plan.

Key features:

• Ticket-based plans: Starter, Basic, Pro, and Advanced by monthly ticket volume.
• AI Agent: pay only when it resolves a conversation.
• Store data: order and customer details on the ticket.

Pros

• No per-agent fee; seats go up to 500 on Basic and above.
• Built around e-commerce workflows and Shopify data.

Cons

• Ticket volume is capped by plan (50, 300, 2,000, or 5,000 a month), with paid overage.
• Each AI resolution is billed on top of the helpdesk price.
• Voice and SMS are paid add-ons.

Pricing: helpdesk only, per month: Starter $10 (monthly only, 50 tickets, 3 seats); Basic $50 billed annually ($60 monthly, 300 tickets); Pro $300 ($360, 2,000 tickets); Advanced $750 ($900, 5,000 tickets). AI Agent: $1.00, $0.90, $0.90, or $0.85 per automated interaction depending on plan. Overage: $40 per 100 tickets on Basic and $36 on Pro and Advanced. No free plan; trial available.

Rating: G2 4.6/5 (582 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain order data on the ticket, chat on every plan, and a bill that follows tickets, not seats. You give up breadth outside e-commerce, and ticket caps mean a busy month moves you up a plan.

Read more: Gorgias alternatives · Gorgias vs Zendesk

8. Front

Best for: teams that run support from shared email inboxes and need collaboration and routing.

Front is a shared inbox where teammates can comment on a thread, assign it, and route it by rule. It adds ticketing on Starter and an AI agent called Autopilot, priced from $0.05 per conversation through sales. It’s also the best-rated tool on this list on G2.

Key features:

• Shared inbox and ticketing: on every plan, including Starter.
• Front Chat: available on every plan, though Starter allows one channel type only.
• Autopilot and Copilot: AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat on Starter and Professional.

Pros

• Collaboration features suit teams that work threads together.
• Annual and monthly seat prices are public.

Cons

• Starter supports one channel type (email, chat, or SMS) and up to 10 seats.
• Professional is capped at 50 seats and sold through a demo; Enterprise is annual only.
• Native WhatsApp is a paid add-on with a 20% admin fee on top of Meta’s costs.

Pricing: per seat per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Starter $25 ($35); Professional $65 ($85); Enterprise $105, annual only. No free plan; 14-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.7/5 (2,514 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain stronger internal collaboration and a lower Copilot price ($20 against $50). You give up Zendesk’s single-bundle omnichannel at the entry level, since Starter covers only one channel type.

Read more: Front alternatives

9. Hiver

Best for: Gmail-based teams that want shared-inbox ticketing without leaving Gmail.

Hiver suits teams whose agents want support work to stay in Gmail. Compare the right product: Hiver in Gmail and the standalone Hiver Omni have separate pricing pages, and the G2 score below belongs to Hiver in Gmail. Teams that need SLAs, surveys, a customer portal, or API access need Pro, not Growth.

Key features:

• Gmail-based support: shared inbox work inside Gmail.
• SLAs and CSAT: available from Pro.
• AI Agents: listed on every plan.

Pros

• Agents keep working in Gmail, so there’s little to learn.
• Annual and monthly seat prices are public.

Cons

• Seats sell in blocks (2, then 5, then steps of 5), which can leave unused seats.
• SSO, custom roles, and skill-based routing require Elite.
• No free plan.

Pricing: per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Growth $25 ($35); Pro $55 ($65); Elite $85 ($95). The Elite trial lasts 7 days. Hiver Omni Voice costs $30 per voice seat and includes 1,000 pooled minutes. Hiver doesn’t publish a usage price for AI agents.

Rating: Hiver in Gmail on G2: 4.6/5 (1,291 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain a Gmail-native workflow with almost nothing to learn, and SLAs at $55 against Zendesk’s $115. You give up a native live chat and Zendesk’s wider channel set.

Read more: Hiver alternatives

10. Crisp

Best for: small teams that want live chat and a shared inbox on a flat workspace price.

Crisp starts from live chat and prices per workspace, not per agent. Free covers 2 seats, Mini is $45 a month for 4 seats, and Essentials is $95 for 10 seats with an omnichannel inbox, a no-code AI chatbot, and a knowledge base. Extra agents cost $10 a month each. It lists integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, and others on every plan.

Key features:

• Chat and shared inbox: website chat widget and an inbox on Free.
• Omnichannel and chatbot: WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS, and an AI chatbot from Essentials.
• Ticketing: a ticketing system and customer portal on Plus.

Pros

• A free plan, and a workspace price that doesn’t climb with every agent.
• Chat is the core of the product, not a higher tier.

Cons

• AI runs on included credits ($5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials, $75 on Plus), so heavy AI use is the metered part.
• Ticketing and white label start on Plus at $295.
• Plans cap seats, customer profiles, and sub-inboxes.

Pricing: per workspace per month on the monthly view: Free $0 (2 seats); Mini $45 (4 seats); Essentials $95 (10 seats); Plus $295 (20+ seats); Enterprise custom. Extra seats $10 a month. 14-day trial without a card. The pricing page shows no annual discount.

Rating: G2 4.5/5 (204 reviews)

Versus Zendesk: you gain chat in the cheapest paid plan and a flat workspace price. You give up deep ticketing, which waits for Plus, and Zendesk’s routing and SLA controls.

What 5 agents cost on each tool

Seat prices hide the real spread, so here is the same team on every tool: 5 agents, the cheapest paid plan that covers email tickets, billed annually, before AI usage. Prices are from the pages above.

Tool	Plan	Math	Per month
Zoho Desk	Express	5 × $7	$35
Freshdesk	Growth	5 × $19	$95
Zendesk	Support Team (email and tickets)	5 × $19	$95
Crisp	Essentials (monthly billing)	flat, 10 seats	$95
Help Scout	Standard	5 × $25	$125
Front	Starter	5 × $25	$125
Hiver	Growth	5 × $25	$125
Intercom	Essential	5 × $29	$145
Zendesk	Suite Team (adds live chat)	5 × $55	$275
HubSpot	Professional	5 × $90, plus $1,500 one-time	$450
Tidio	Starter	flat, up to 10 seats	$24.17
Gorgias	Basic	flat, 300 tickets	$50

The Zendesk line is the one to read twice. Email-only support is competitive at $95, and the same 5 agents cost $275 once you need chat. Per-seat tools get more expensive with each hire, and volume-priced tools with each customer. Which you prefer depends on whether your team or your order count grows faster.

Tidio vs Zendesk

	Tidio	Zendesk
Best for	Small e-commerce and SMB teams that want chat, tickets, and AI	Teams that need deep ticketing, omnichannel, and enterprise controls
Pricing unit	Billable conversations, flat per plan	Per agent per month
Entry paid price	$24.17/mo billed annually ($29 monthly), up to 10 seats	$19/agent/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), email and tickets only
Free plan	Yes: 50 billable conversations, 10 seats	No free plan found on the pricing page
Live chat	Included, with Lyro in the same inbox	From Suite Team, $55/agent/mo billed annually
AI agent	Lyro, from $32.50/mo billed annually for 50 conversations; says it solves up to 75% of questions	$1.50 per automated resolution committed, $2.00 pay-as-you-go, after 5 included per agent a month
SLAs and routing	Ticketing automations from Plus (from $300/mo)	SLAs from Suite Professional; skills-based routing from Suite Professional
Scale	10 seats on self-serve plans; Plus and Premium are custom	Enterprise plan with sandbox and custom roles, through sales
Shopify	Cart preview and order history in the inbox, per tidio.com	An official Shopify app for order details and refunds in the sidebar

Zendesk is stronger on scale, on SLAs and skills-based routing, and on enterprise controls such as a sandbox. If you run a 40-agent team across voice, email, and chat with strict SLAs, Zendesk is the better fit. See Tidio vs Zendesk for the product-level comparison.

How to switch from Zendesk

Plan for a week of parallel running, not a weekend. Work through these steps in order:

1. Export what you need. Pull tickets, users, organizations, macros, and help center articles out of Zendesk before you cancel.
2. List your automations. Write down every trigger, automation, macro, and view, then check which plan of the new tool holds each one.
3. Check your billing term. If you’re on an annual plan, line the cancellation up with the renewal date in your Zendesk account.
4. Set up the new tool in parallel. Connect the support email, import contacts, and rebuild the three or four automations you use every day.
5. Run both for a week. Route a share of conversations to the new tool and compare reply times.
6. Move the visible parts. Swap the chat widget, point the help center link to the new knowledge base, and update the support email forwarding.

If your store runs on Shopify, add one check: confirm the new inbox shows the customer’s cart and orders next to the conversation.

How to choose

Match the tool to your bottleneck:

• You run a Shopify store and want chat, tickets, and AI in one inbox. Choose Tidio, or Gorgias if you also want ticket-based pricing.
• You want the same help desk model for less. Choose Freshdesk, or Zoho Desk for the lowest seat price.
• You want an AI agent to take volume. Choose Intercom, and set a budget for Fin outcomes.
• Your team is small and works from email. Choose Help Scout, Front for heavier collaboration, or Hiver if everyone lives in Gmail.
• Your team already uses HubSpot CRM. Choose HubSpot Service Hub, and budget for onboarding.
• You want chat first at a flat price. Choose Crisp.
• You run a large team with strict SLAs. Stay on Zendesk, and price Suite Professional with its add-ons.

Bottom line

Zendesk stays a good choice for a large team that needs deep ticketing and strict SLAs. Move when the jump to a chat plan or the AI resolution meter starts to decide your tool for you. Small e-commerce and SMB teams that want chat, tickets, and an AI agent without a fee per agent should start with Tidio. For a like-for-like help desk at a lower seat price, look at Freshdesk or Zoho Desk; for an AI-first chat desk, Intercom.

Related guides

• Zendesk vs Intercom
• Freshdesk vs Zendesk
• Gorgias vs Zendesk
• Help Scout vs Zendesk
• Zoho Desk alternatives
• Help desk ticketing systems compared

Frequently asked questions