Zendesk pricing for a small support team, with example bills
Yevhen Kurapov, co-founder · Updated Oct 13, 2026
Zendesk charges per agent: Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115 a month billed annually ($69 and $149 monthly). AI agents are included, but past 5 or 10 free resolutions per agent a month, each costs $1.50 to $2.00. Copilot adds $50 per agent a month. Our example, 3 agents on Suite Team with 1,000 chats: about $1,135 a month.
We make ChatPal, one of the tools below, and list its limits on the same terms as everyone else's.
A Zendesk bill has two parts that behave differently. Seats are the part you can plan for: three agents on Suite Team cost the same in a quiet February as in December. The AI part moves with your volume, because every conversation the AI agent closes on its own past your allowance is billed separately, month by month.
Below are the plans, how Zendesk counts a resolution, three example bills worked out from its published prices, where costs grow, and two other ways to get AI answers in Zendesk.
We make ChatPal, which connects to Zendesk and is one of the options here, so weigh what we say about it accordingly. Prices were checked on Zendesk's pricing page and help center on 13 October 2026, in US dollars. Zendesk shows euros to visitors in some countries.
Zendesk plans at a glance
| Plan | Per agent, billed annually | Per agent, billed monthly | Included automated resolutions | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support Team | $19 | $25 | 5 per agent a month | Email ticketing, routing, macros, basic reports |
| Suite Team | $55 | $69 | 5 per agent a month | AI agents, knowledge base, messaging and live chat, telephony |
| Suite Professional | $115 | $149 | 10 per agent a month | Skills-based routing, IVR, AI writing tools, admin Copilot |
| Suite Enterprise | Sales quote | Sales quote | 15 per agent a month | Copilot included, sandbox, custom roles |
Extra automated resolutions are $1.50 each if you commit in advance and $2.00 pay-as-you-go, on every plan. The included resolutions are capped at 10,000 a year per account.
Add-ons on the pricing page, all per agent a month billed annually: Copilot $50 (Professional and up), Workforce Engagement Bundle $50, Contact Center $83. QA needs its own add-on, priced by sales.
How automated resolutions are billed
An automated resolution is a conversation that Zendesk's AI agent handled to the end without a person stepping in. After the conversation ends, an AI model reads it and checks whether the customer's request was resolved; if not, it isn't counted. A messaging conversation ends 2 hours after its first message by default (up to 72 hours on request), an email conversation 72 hours after the first email.
Zendesk now runs two versions of this, and your account is on one of them:
- Counted resolutions. The model on the pricing page: 5 or 10 per agent a month included, then $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Committed resolutions are bought in blocks of 100 or more, in advance.
- Resolution tiers, introduced on 18 May 2026. Your plan includes a dollar allowance instead: $2 per agent seat a month on Team and $5 on Professional, up to $5,000 a year. Only a Verified resolution draws from it. An Assisted escalation (the AI helped, a person finished) and a Contained resolution (the AI handled it to the end and the customer asked for nothing more) are free. On this model your bill can come in lower than our examples.
Either way, overage is allowed by default: when the allowance runs out, the AI agent keeps answering and every extra resolution is billed monthly, even on an annual contract. You can switch to "Don't allow overage" under Usage, Overage in Admin Center, and then the AI agent pauses and new conversations go to your agents.
Three example monthly bills
A store with 3 agents on Suite Team, billed annually: $165 a month in seats, with 15 automated resolutions included. We assumed the AI agent fully resolves half of all chats. That share is ours, not Zendesk's; your rate depends on your questions and your help center.
| Chats a month | Resolutions | Extra resolutions | AI cost, pay-as-you-go | AI cost, committed | Total, pay-as-you-go |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300 | 150 | 135 | $270 | $202.50 | $435 |
| 1,000 | 500 | 485 | $970 | $727.50 | $1,135 |
| 3,000 | 1,500 | 1,485 | $2,970 | $2,227.50 | $3,135 |
Moving the same team to Suite Professional raises the seats to $345 and the allowance to 30 resolutions, so the 1,000-chat month becomes $345 plus 470 extra resolutions at $2.00, $1,285. Add Copilot for all three agents and it is $150 more.
Seats alone, from 2 to 5 agents. On Suite Team, 2 agents are $110 a month billed annually ($138 billed monthly) and 5 agents are $275 ($345). On Suite Professional, 2 agents are $230 ($298) and 5 agents $575 ($745). Every agent you add also adds 5 or 10 resolutions to the monthly allowance, so a bigger team gets more resolutions before overage starts.
The same three months with an AI agent in front of Zendesk instead of Zendesk's own:
- Fin in Zendesk: $0.99 per outcome, no seats, at least 50 outcomes a month. If outcomes match our 150, 500 and 1,500 resolutions, that is $148.50, $495 and $1,485, plus the $165 of Zendesk seats. Fin also counts an outcome when a customer doesn't ask for more help after its reply, so its count may differ from Zendesk's.
- ChatPal in Zendesk: ChatPal counts the replies it writes, not resolutions. At an assumed 3 replies per chat, 300 chats is 900 replies, the $50 a month plan; 1,000 chats is 3,000 replies, the $120 a month plan. At 3,000 chats you'd need about 9,000 replies, past the largest published plan, so you'd ask for an Enterprise quote. Add the $165 of seats.
ChatPal counts every reply, including on chats it later hands to your agents, while Zendesk and Fin charge only for resolutions or other outcomes. If most of your tickets need a person anyway, a per-resolution price wastes less.
Where costs grow
- Overage is on by default. A sale or a shipping delay can push resolutions well past the allowance, and the bill follows. Set a limit or watch the usage dashboard.
- Seasonal agents. Seats billed annually are cheapest but locked in. Monthly seats cost about 25% more ($69 against $55 on Suite Team).
- The plan for the channel. Support Team is email ticketing. Messaging and live chat on your website start on Suite Team, so a store that wants chat pays at least $55 an agent a month, billed annually.
- Copilot and add-ons. AI drafting help for agents is Copilot at $50 per agent a month; quality reviews and workforce tools are more add-ons.
- An agent seat for the AI. Fin and ChatPal both post as a Zendesk agent. Fin's setup suggests creating a dedicated agent for it, and ChatPal connects with an agent's email address and API token; if you give it its own named agent, that is one more seat.
- Leaving later. Zendesk's export tools aren't on Team plans (only the API is), exports have to be switched on by Zendesk support, and AI agent tickets can't be exported with those tools.
Zendesk and five alternatives
| Tool | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Zendesk | The full helpdesk | Support Team $19, Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115 per agent a month billed annually; $25, $69 and $149 billed monthly |
| ChatPal | AI in front of Zendesk | Free for 100 replies a month; $20 for 500, $50 for 1,500 and $120 for 4,000, billed monthly |
| Freshdesk | Another per-agent helpdesk | Growth $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent a month, billed annually |
| Help Scout | A simpler shared inbox | Free for 5 users and 100 contacts a month; Standard $25 per user a month billed annually, $30 billed monthly |
| Gorgias | A helpdesk built for Shopify stores | Starter $10 a month for 50 tickets, monthly only; Basic $60 a month billed monthly for 300 tickets |
| Fin | AI agent for an existing helpdesk | $0.99 per outcome with no seats on your current helpdesk, 50 outcomes a month minimum |
The full helpdesk
Zendesk
Price: Support Team $19, Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115 per agent a month billed annually; $25, $69 and $149 billed monthly
Good at
- AI agents included on every plan, with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Team and 10 on Professional
- Suite adds messaging, live chat, a knowledge base and telephony to ticketing
Keep in mind
- Each resolution above the allowance costs $1.50 bought in advance or $2.00 pay-as-you-go
- Copilot is $50 per agent a month billed annually, from Professional
- No free plan: a 14-day trial
AI in front of Zendesk
ChatPal
Price: Free for 100 replies a month; $20 for 500, $50 for 1,500 and $120 for 4,000, billed monthly
Good at
- Answers Zendesk tickets on its own, or drafts replies your agents accept, edit or reject in a sidebar
- Syncs your Zendesk Help Center articles into its knowledge
- Flat monthly price with no per-resolution fee, and the Zendesk integration is on every plan, the free one included
- The same assistant also answers on website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Telegram
Keep in mind
- Inside Zendesk, products are described in plain text, and order lookups and bookings aren't available
- Counts every reply it writes, including on tickets it later hands to your team
Another per-agent helpdesk
Freshdesk
Price: Growth $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent a month, billed annually
Good at
- Freddy AI Agent on every plan; the first 500 sessions are free, once per account
- An email AI session covers every AI reply within 72 hours of the customer's first email
Keep in mind
- More AI sessions cost $49 per 100
- Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent a month billed annually, on Pro and Enterprise
A simpler shared inbox
Help Scout
Price: Free for 5 users and 100 contacts a month; Standard $25 per user a month billed annually, $30 billed monthly
Good at
- Live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger from Standard
- AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, with a 3-month free trial and a monthly spending cap
Keep in mind
- AI Answers is an add-on on top of per-user pricing
- Pro, $75 per user billed annually, is sold through a demo
A helpdesk built for Shopify stores
Gorgias
Price: Starter $10 a month for 50 tickets, monthly only; Basic $60 a month billed monthly for 300 tickets
Good at
- Priced by ticket, not by agent
- Email, chat and social messages in one helpdesk connected to Shopify; SMS and voice are paid add-ons
Keep in mind
- AI Agent costs $1.00 per automated interaction on monthly plans, and each one also counts as a ticket
- Gorgias's pricing page data lists $1.50 for each interaction above the plan's allowance; its FAQ gives $1.00 on monthly plans
AI agent for an existing helpdesk
Fin
Price: $0.99 per outcome with no seats on your current helpdesk, 50 outcomes a month minimum
Good at
- Works inside Zendesk, on tickets and Zendesk Messaging, and syncs your Zendesk help center
- Charged once per conversation, however many replies Fin writes
Keep in mind
- An outcome also counts when the customer doesn't ask for more help after Fin replies
- Zendesk Messaging needs a Sunshine licence from Zendesk
Keep Zendesk and add AI, or replace it
Keep Zendesk and put an AI agent in front of it if your team lives in Zendesk: macros, views, SLAs, a help center you've spent years on, reports your manager reads. The AI changes; the helpdesk doesn't. Fin is the per-outcome option and ChatPal the flat-price one. ChatPal also answers on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and your website, so one assistant covers chats that never reach Zendesk, and hands those to your team in its own inbox.
Replace Zendesk if you use a fraction of it. Help Scout Standard, $25 per user a month billed annually, includes live chat and messaging, which on Zendesk start with Suite Team at $55. Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent, like Zendesk Support Team, and prices AI per session; Help Scout prices it per resolution. Gorgias prices by ticket volume instead of by agent, which suits a Shopify store with a small team. Our Zendesk alternatives page compares them in more depth.
Stay with Zendesk's own AI agent if your resolution count stays inside the allowance, or your account is on resolution tiers and most of your AI conversations end as free Assisted escalations or Contained resolutions.
How to add ChatPal to Zendesk
You need a Zendesk Support plan or above, an API token, and the email of the Zendesk user account ChatPal will work as.
- In Zendesk Admin Center, go to Apps and integrations, APIs, API tokens, make sure token access is on, and click Add API token.
- In ChatPal, open Integrations, then Zendesk, and click Connect Zendesk. Enter your Zendesk Subdomain, Zendesk API Token and Zendesk Authentication Email, and pick the Mode: Autopilot answers tickets itself, Copilot suggests replies to your agents. Under Optional settings, the Operator Group ID is the Zendesk group that gets tickets the AI hands over.
- Click Set up automatically and enter your Zendesk admin email, and ChatPal creates the webhook and trigger in Zendesk for you.
- Turn on Enable Help Center sync so the assistant answers from your existing articles, then click Sync Now.
- For Copilot mode, click Download App under Install Copilot Sidebar App and upload it in Zendesk with Upload private app. Zendesk allows private apps on Suite Growth or Support Professional and up.
The Zendesk AI chatbot guide covers each step and the working-hours settings, and ChatPal for Zendesk shows both modes.