The short answer
- Choose Zendesk if you need the enterprise default: a huge app marketplace, many channels, and AI agents that are already in production.
- Choose CollieDesk if you are a small team where per-agent seats and per-resolution AI fees make up most of the bill, and you want an open-source helpdesk you can self-host or rent for a flat price. CollieDesk is pre-alpha; read the status table first.
Price, side by side
Zendesk prices below are from the Zendesk pricing page in euros (our request for zendesk.com/pricing was served the euro page), per agent per month, read on 14 October 2026.
| Zendesk | CollieDesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans (annual / monthly billing) | Support Team €19 / €25, Suite Team €55 / €69, Suite Professional €115 / €149; Enterprise on quote | $10 per workspace per month, or $100 per year. No per-agent fees. Founding customers: $100 per year, locked for life. |
| AI drafting | Copilot €50 per agent per month, billed annually | Included (coming v0.3). LLM cost +30% on our key, or bring your own key. |
| AI agent | Per automated resolution: €1.50 committed, €2.00 pay-as-you-go; some included per agent | Auto-answer with a human in the loop, same AI pricing, no per-resolution fee (coming v0.3) |
| Free option | No free plan; 14-day trial | Self-host free, every feature. |
| Source code | Proprietary | Open source, AGPL-3.0. Self-host or use Cloud. |
Third-party sites list US prices of $19, $55 and $115 for the same three plans; we could not confirm them on Zendesk's own site.
What five agents pay
| Team | Zendesk Suite Professional + Copilot (annual) | CollieDesk Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 5 agents | 5 × (€115 + €50) = €825 per month, plus AI agent resolutions beyond the included amount | $10 per month + AI usage |
Leaving: what Zendesk gives you
- The native export (JSON, CSV, XML) is off by default. The account owner asks Zendesk Support to turn it on. It is not available on Team plans.
- The CSV export has no comments, so it cannot carry a conversation.
- The Incremental Export API returns tickets with full comments (
include=comment_events), 1,000 per page, at 10 requests per minute.
Your data lives in PostgreSQL. Self-hosted, you can take a database dump at any time. A Zendesk importer is on the roadmap for later.
What CollieDesk does today
| Capability | CollieDesk |
|---|---|
| Shared inbox: replies, private notes, status, priority, assignee, tags, search | Shipped v0.1 |
| Passwordless sign-in, revocable sessions, isolated workspaces | Shipped v0.1 |
| Email channel (inbound and outbound, threading) | Coming v0.2 |
| Freshdesk importer with reconcile report | Coming v0.2 |
| One-command install and published container image | Shipped |
| CollieDesk Cloud for founding customers | Coming v0.2 |
| AI draft replies, triage, auto-answer with a human in the loop | Coming v0.3 |
| Knowledge base and public help center | Coming v0.3 |
| Automations, macros, SLA, business hours, time tracking | Coming v0.4 |
| CSAT and reports | Coming v0.5 |
| Zendesk and Help Scout importers, live chat widget, MCP server | Coming later |
Sources
Read on 14 October 2026. Prices change; check the vendor page before you decide.
- Zendesk pricing (euro page): zendesk.de/pricing
- Native data export: support.zendesk.com article 203662346
- Incremental Export API: developer.zendesk.com
- API rate limits: developer.zendesk.com rate limits
Questions people ask
Is there a Zendesk alternative that is not priced per agent?
Yes. CollieDesk Cloud is $10 per workspace per month, whatever the number of agents, and self-hosting is free. CollieDesk is open source (AGPL-3.0) and pre-alpha today.
How does Zendesk charge for AI?
On the Zendesk pricing page read on 14 October 2026: Copilot is €50 per agent per month billed annually, and AI agents are billed per automated resolution, €1.50 committed or €2.00 pay-as-you-go, with some resolutions included per agent.
Can I export all my Zendesk tickets?
Zendesk's native data export is off by default: the account owner must ask Zendesk Support to enable it, and it is not available on Team plans. The CSV format has no comments. The Incremental Export API returns full comments but is limited to 10 requests per minute.
Does CollieDesk import from Zendesk?
Not yet. The first importer is Freshdesk (coming v0.2). Zendesk and Help Scout importers are on the roadmap for later.