Gorgias vs Zendesk
Gorgias and Zendesk side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Gorgias | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Customer Support & Chatbots | Customer Support & Chatbots |
| Starting price | $10/mo (checked October 2026) | $19/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Not listed | Not listed |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Neither lists a free tier, so expect to pay to use either one.
Gorgias has the lower starting price ($10/mo against $19/mo for Zendesk). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Customer Support & Chatbots category.
About each tool
Gorgias
Ecommerce helpdesk with ticketing, automation and a per-resolution AI Agent add-on. Starter is $10 a month billed monthly (50 tickets); 7-day free trial.
Who it is for
Gorgias aims at online stores that want a support inbox tied to order data, with automation and an AI Agent. Its own pages describe plans that scale from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month, with an Enterprise tier for larger brands.
Strengths
- Gorgias docs say AI Agent can act in connected apps, for example updating an address in Shopify or cancelling a subscription in Loop Subscriptions, and can follow multi-step Guidance such as handling a return.
- Gorgias docs list AI Agent channels as chat, email, SMS (add-on), Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and say it hands off to a human when a request is a handover topic or fails a quality check.
- The Gorgias plan guide lists integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and WooCommerce, plus partners such as Loop Returns, Yotpo, Recharge, Bloomreach and Attentive, and says there are 100+ apps.
- Gorgias says it uses Google Cloud Platform hosting with EU merchants hosted in the EU, is SOC 2 Type II compliant, and that data AI Agent accesses does not train OpenAI or other third-party models.
- Gorgias says overages use a soft cap: customers are not cut off and extra tickets are billed at the end of the cycle.
Limitations
- Billing is usage-based: each billable ticket counts toward a monthly limit, and tickets over it cost extra ($0.40 each on Starter and Basic, $0.25 on Pro per the Gorgias plan guide).
- Gorgias pages disagree on seats: the pricing page says plans are not priced per agent, while the plan guide lists 3 agent seats on Starter and Basic and unlimited on Pro and Advanced. Voice (from $70 a month plus usage per the guide) and SMS are extra and billed by volume.
- There is no permanent free plan; the trial is 7 days, allows up to 10 email ticket messages and does not let you publish a help center. Accounts created before May 28, 2025 may be on legacy pricing, and Gorgias warns legacy rate sheets may differ from the actual subscription. The docs do not describe refund or cancellation terms.
Zendesk
Customer service platform with ticketing, multichannel messaging, AI agents billed per automated resolution, and a Copilot add-on for agents. 14-day trial.
Strengths
- 14-day free trial
- AI agents are included in Suite and Support plans and are billed per automated resolution
- AI agents list support for 80 languages across messaging, email and voice
- Zendesk's marketplace lists more than 1,800 apps and integrations
- Each plan includes some automated resolutions: 5 per agent per month on Support Team and Suite Team, 10 on Suite Professional
Limitations
- Support Team has no messaging or live chat, no telephony and no skills-based routing
- AI agent use beyond the included allowance costs $1.50 per automated resolution on committed volume, or $2.00 pay-as-you-go
- Copilot is a separate add-on at $50 per agent per month, available on Professional and higher plans
- Suite Enterprise pricing is not published
