Zendesk sells live chat and messaging only as part of the Zendesk Suite, a per-agent helpdesk that starts with Suite Team at $55 an agent a month billed annually or $69 billed monthly; standalone Zendesk Chat is no longer sold to new customers. Zendesk AI agents are billed per automated resolution, with a small free allowance per agent each month. It suits teams that want chat, email, voice and social channels in one ticketing system and have the budget for per-agent Suite seats.
Bottom line
- Best for: Multichannel support teams wanting one helpdesk
- Not for: Zendesk is a poor fit for a small team that only wants a chat widget, because live chat starts at Suite Team and there is no free plan.
- Paid plans from: $55 per seat per month, billed annually
- The catch: Live chat starts at Suite Team, $69 an agent a month billed monthly, and the Zendesk branding can only be removed on Suite Enterprise, which is quote-only.
Score breakdown
Zendesk scores 5.3 out of 10 on rubric v1.0. The rubric rates what can be verified from public information, not how the widget performs on a live site.
No free plan. At most a time-limited trial.
More than 250 and up to 500 a month.
Price, unit and edge cases are defined in writing, and an allowance is included on the free or entry paid plan, so the AI can be tried before buying usage.
Website chat, email and at least one of Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp, with WordPress and one major ecommerce platform.
EU hosting exists but only on higher plans or by contract; or EU hosting on every plan without an independent security audit (SOC 2 or ISO 27001) of the vendor itself.
Key facts
- Vendor
- Zendesk
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, USA · founded 2007
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Paid plans from
- $55 per seat per month, billed annually
- Prices published in
- USD
- Free plan
- No free plan · 14-day trial
- AI chatbot
- Zendesk AI agents — billed per resolution
- Channels
- Website chat, Email, Voice, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram
- Languages
- Not documented · German: Yes · Spanish: Yes
- EU data hosting
- On some paid plans
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, HIPAA (Suite Professional+, BAA), GDPR
- Integrations
- Shopify, WordPress, Slack, WeChat, LINE, X
Strengths
- Every Suite plan combines messaging and live chat with email ticketing, voice, a help center and social channels such as WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram.
- Zendesk AI agents are available on every Suite plan, and Suite Team includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month.
- Zendesk defines the billed unit in writing: since May 18, 2026 only resolutions that pass a language-model verification count.
- Zendesk offers EU and UK data center locations at no extra charge on Suite Professional and above.
- Zendesk lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, ISO 27701 and ISO 42001, with a HIPAA BAA available from Suite Professional.
Weaknesses
- There is no free plan, and the cheapest plan on the pricing page, Support Team, does not include the Suite messaging and live chat feature set.
- The Zendesk branding stays on the widget on every self-serve plan; only Suite Enterprise removes it.
- A data center location cannot be chosen on Suite Team or Suite Growth, and it has to be switched on through support even on Suite Professional.
- Suite Team and Suite Growth are limited to 2 chat departments, and Suite Team includes no light agents.
- Automated resolutions beyond the allowance cost $1.50 each committed in advance or $2 pay-as-you-go, and the resolution is decided by customer silence plus a model's judgment.
What the free plan allows
Zendesk has no free plan. Its free standalone Chat Lite plan became a legacy plan in 2021, and Zendesk no longer sells standalone Chat to new customers, so live chat now comes only with a Zendesk Suite subscription. The 14-day free trial needs no credit card and, according to Zendesk's trial page, usually starts on Suite Professional, a higher plan than Suite Team, so check which features you will keep after it ends. Eligible startups can apply to Zendesk for Startups, which the pricing page describes as 6 months free for up to 50 agents; the startups page says partner referrals can extend this to up to 2 years free.
Free-plan audit: does your team fit a free live chat plan? · Is a free live chat plan enough for your team?
Published prices
| Plan | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Suite Team | $55 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Suite Team | $69 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Suite Growth | $89 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Suite Growth | $115 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Suite Professional | $115 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Suite Professional | $149 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Support Team (no live chat) | $19 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Support Team (no live chat) | $25 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| AI agents, committed automated resolution | $1.50 per resolution | Source |
| AI agents, pay-as-you-go automated resolution | $2 per resolution | Source |
| Copilot add-on | $50 per seat per month | Source |
Zendesk charges per agent, and live chat starts at Suite Team: $69 an agent a month billed monthly or $55 billed annually. Suite Growth costs $115 or $89 and Suite Professional $149 or $115; Suite Enterprise is quote-only, and Suite Growth appears only in the plan-comparison table, not among the headline plan cards, so it is unclear whether new customers can buy it self-serve. The cheaper Support Team plan ($19 billed annually) has the web widget but not the messaging and live chat feature set, so it is not counted as a live chat plan here. A team of 2 on Suite Team pays twice the seat price, a team of 5 five times and a team of 10 ten times, before automated resolutions beyond the allowance or the Copilot add-on at $50 an agent a month. Monthly prices were read from the data behind the pricing page's billing toggle, which advertises 20% off for annual billing; see the Intercom vs Zendesk comparison for a side-by-side view.
How the AI is billed
Zendesk bills its AI agents per automated resolution: a conversation the AI agent handled without escalation to a human, which a large language model then verifies as resolved after the conversation ends through inactivity. Messaging conversations end 2 hours after the last message by default, adjustable up to 72 hours, and email after 72 hours. Since May 18, 2026, Zendesk sorts conversations into three tiers and only the Verified tier is counted, so the customer never has to confirm anything: silence plus the model's judgment is enough. Each plan includes a monthly allowance per agent, 5 on Suite Team and 10 on Suite Growth and Suite Professional, up to 10,000 a year per account; the allowance expires annually without rollover. Zendesk's pages disagree on Suite Enterprise: the pricing table says 15 per agent a month, the automated-resolutions help article gives Enterprise the same figure as Suite Professional, 10. Beyond the allowance, resolutions cost $1.50 each when bought in advance in blocks of at least 100, or $2 pay-as-you-go, billed monthly; when the allowance runs out, an admin chooses between pausing the AI agents and paying as you go. Zendesk claims its AI agents resolve up to 80% of interactions; that is a marketing figure. The guide to how vendors bill for AI compares this unit with others. Source
Data hosting and languages
Zendesk hosts data in the United States, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia. Choosing a region, which Zendesk calls the Data Center Location add-on, is free on Suite Professional and above, but it is not switched on automatically and has to be requested through support; Suite Team and Suite Growth cannot choose. Zendesk's hosting policy adds conditions: messaging data locality applies only to accounts created with messaging enabled after April 17, 2023, AI agents data locality only to AI agents accounts created on or after March 10, 2026, and existing messaging accounts cannot yet be moved between regions. Zendesk lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, ISO 27701, ISO 42001 and FedRAMP LI-SaaS, and a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement from Suite Professional up. The agent interface is available in 28 languages including German and Spanish, and AI agent replies can be translated into 80 languages; Zendesk's count of messaging widget languages was not verified, so none is given here. The guide to live chat and the law explains why the region choice matters.
Verdict
Zendesk makes sense for a support team that needs chat, email, voice and social messaging in one ticketing system, and that values a documented AI billing unit with a monthly allowance on every Suite plan. It is a costly way to get live chat alone: there is no free plan, every agent needs a Suite Team seat at $69 billed monthly, the branding stays unless you negotiate Suite Enterprise, and an EU region needs Suite Professional. Small teams that mainly want a website chat widget should read Zendesk alternatives, and teams weighing a helpdesk with an AI agent should compare Intercom vs Zendesk.
Related pages
- Zendesk pricing explainedpricing
- The best Zendesk alternativesalternatives
- Intercom vs Zendeskvs
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
Frequently asked questions
Can I still buy Zendesk Chat on its own?
No. Zendesk no longer sells standalone Chat to new customers; messaging and live chat are part of the Zendesk Suite, starting with Suite Team. Existing customers on legacy Chat plans, including the formerly free Chat Lite, can keep them.
Does Zendesk have a free live chat plan?
No. Zendesk offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, then paid Suite seats from $55 an agent a month billed annually. Eligible startups can apply to Zendesk for Startups for a free period.
How much does Zendesk live chat cost per agent?
Suite Team, the cheapest plan with messaging and live chat, costs $55 an agent a month billed annually or $69 billed monthly. Suite Professional costs $115 or $149. AI resolutions beyond the included allowance and add-ons are extra.
How does Zendesk charge for AI agents?
Zendesk charges per automated resolution: $1.50 each when committed in advance, or $2 pay-as-you-go. Suite Team includes 5 resolutions per agent a month. A resolution counts when the AI agent handled the conversation without escalation and a language model verified it as resolved after the customer went quiet.
Can I remove the Zendesk branding from the chat widget?
Only on Suite Enterprise, which is priced by quote. Zendesk's pricing page lists widget unbranding for live chat and messaging on that plan only, so Suite Team, Suite Growth and Suite Professional keep the branding.
Sources
- Shopify integration — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- WordPress plugin — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk pricing — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk free trial — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolutions for AI agents — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolution tiers — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Announcing expanded access to AI agent capabilities for all Zendesk customers — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About the Data Center Location add-on — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Regional Data Hosting Policy — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Messaging vs live chat: which is right for you? — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About Zendesk Chat plan types (legacy) — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk Trust Center — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk live chat — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk AI agents — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk Copilot — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk for Startups — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Hello Sugar customer story — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk completes acquisition of Forethought — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Consortium led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira completes acquisition of Zendesk — Permira · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk press — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk on the Vendr marketplace — Vendr · September 18, 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not installed or tested these products ourselves. Method: How we review