---
title: Zendesk AI Agents
canonical: https://saasranked.com/software/zendesk-ai-agents/
category: AI Customer Service Agents
points: 55
rank: 7 of 11
facts_checked: 2026-10-09
---

# Zendesk AI Agents

Zendesk's AI agents, included in its plans and billed from $1.50 per automated resolution.

55 points out of 100. #7 of 11 AI customer service agents. Vendor: Zendesk. Website: https://www.zendesk.com/

- Zendesk charges $1.50 per automated resolution on committed volume and $2.00 pay-as-you-go [1].
- 500 resolutions at $1.50 cost $750 a month, plus at least one agent seat from $19 a month billed yearly [1][8].
- Support Team and Suite Team seats include 5 resolutions a month and Suite Professional seats include 10; the 14-day free trial needs no credit card [1][2].
- Zendesk names SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022, signs a data processing agreement, and offers a choice of data region [9].
- G2's Customer Experience evaluations page lists Zendesk for Customer Service at 78, marked G2 tested [13]. Its General CX leaderboard lists Zendesk as under evaluation [14].

Verdict: Zendesk AI Agents suits teams that already run Zendesk and want to pay only for resolved requests [1][2]. Testing, procedure version history and reporting are documented [5][6][7]. The catch: the agent comes with a Zendesk plan rather than on its own, Zendesk says it uses service data to train its own cross-account models, and a business associate agreement needs an add-on [2][9]. Best for: Teams already on Zendesk that want to pay per resolution.

Status: Zendesk's help article says its older AI agents - Essential and bot builder features are being retired, and Essential stops working on December 10, 2026 [3].

## Points

| Criterion | Line | Value | Points | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan or free trial | trial | 2/3 | 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Includes Suite Professional features [1][2]. |
| Price | Cost of 500 AI resolutions a month | $769/mo | 2/12 | 500 x $1.50 = $750 plus one Support Team seat, $19 yearly rate, as AI agents need a Zendesk plan [1][3]. |
| Price | Pay only for resolved conversations | Yes | 3/3 | Billing is per automated resolution: $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go [1]. |
| Channels and integrations | Channels the agent answers on | Email, Live chat, WhatsApp, Voice calls, Facebook Messenger or Instagram | 10/12 | Web and mobile messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, email and voice; voice needs Zendesk voice [1][2][10]. |
| Channels and integrations | Sold without the vendor’s own help desk | No | 0/2 | Native AI agents are included in Zendesk Suite and Support plans. Forethought agents for other platforms are sold through sales [2]. |
| Channels and integrations | Works with named help desks | Zendesk | 1/4 | Runs in Zendesk. Other platforms are mentioned only for the separate Forethought product, with none named [2]. |
| What it learns from | What it learns from | Help centre or website, Uploaded files | 4/6 | Agents use a Zendesk help centre or an external knowledge base [2][11]. The AI agents page says agents connect to external sources such as Google Drive or PDFs [2]. Not published on the vendor's AI agent pages [2][3][11]. |
| Actions and control | Takes actions in connected systems | Yes | 7/7 | Agents take action in connected tools; procedures can insert API integrations [2][5]. |
| Actions and control | Hands over to a human | Not published | 0/3 | An escalation block routes to a human, but passing conversation history is not stated [2][4]. |
| Actions and control | Guardrails on answers | Yes | 3/3 | Zendesk says you set policies for how AI agents operate and review their behaviour [2]. |
| Actions and control | Test before going live | Yes | 5/5 | A Test AI agent widget lets you try an agent before making it live [6]. |
| Actions and control | Versioning or approval of changes | Yes | 3/3 | Procedure changes are kept in version history and earlier live versions can be restored [5]. |
| Actions and control | Reporting on the agent | Yes | 3/3 | Advanced analytics shows automated resolutions, contact reasons and total AI agent conversations [7]. |
| Data protection | SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 | Yes | 6/6 | Zendesk undergoes SOC 2 Type II audits and is ISO 27001:2022 certified [9]. |
| Data protection | HIPAA agreement | Yes | 2/2 | Trust page says Zendesk AI is eligible for coverage under Zendesk's BAA; signing a BAA needs the Advanced Compliance add-on [9]. |
| Data protection | GDPR data processing agreement | Yes | 2/2 | The Zendesk DPA can be reviewed and signed on its website [9]. |
| Data protection | Choice of data region | Yes | 2/2 | Customers who buy the Data Center Location add-on can select the region that hosts their service data [9]. |
| Data protection | Customer data not used to train models | No | 0/2 | Zendesk uses service data to train generic cross-account ML models; third-party LLM providers may not train on it [9]. |
| Independent testing | G2 AI CX evaluation | Not tested | 0/20 | G2 did not include it in the October 2026 test [15]. G2 lists Zendesk as under evaluation. |

## Plans

| Plan | Price | Per month (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Support Team | $19/agent/month billed yearly [1] | $19 |
| Suite Team | $55/agent/month billed yearly [1] | $55 |
| Suite Professional | $115/agent/month billed yearly [1] | $115 |
| Automated resolutions | $1.50 committed, $2.00 pay-as-you-go [1] | - |

Seat prices are per agent. Committed usage means buying 100 or more resolutions in advance; extra usage bills at the pay-as-you-go rate [1][8].

## Strengths

- A price per resolution is published, with committed and pay-as-you-go rates [1].
- Works across email, web and mobile messaging, social messaging and voice [2][10].
- Procedures keep a version history, and the help centre documents testing flows before going live [5][6].
- Reports show automated resolutions, contact reasons and conversation journeys [7].
- Zendesk states a third-party AI provider never trains on customer data [9].

## Limits

- AI agents are included with Zendesk plans, so you need Zendesk's own help desk [2].
- Zendesk uses service data to train generic ML models across accounts [9].
- A HIPAA agreement needs the Advanced Compliance add-on, and a data region needs the Data Center Location add-on [9].
- Committed pricing needs 100 or more resolutions bought in advance [8].

## Vendor claims (not scored)

- Zendesk says its AI agents support 80 languages [2].

## Concerns

- SecurityWeek reported on October 3, 2019 that Zendesk disclosed unauthorized access in 2016 to roughly 10,000 Support and Chat accounts, including expired trial and inactive accounts; usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and hashed, salted passwords were accessed [12].

## Sources

1. [Zendesk pricing](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
2. [Zendesk AI agents](https://www.zendesk.com/service/ai/ai-agents/), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
3. [About AI agents](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6970583409690), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
4. [Dialogues for AI agents](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357749494810), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
5. [Generative procedures for AI agents](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8979864563610), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
6. [Testing conversation flows in AI agents](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8357758879130-Testing-conversation-flows-in-AI-agents), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
7. [AI agents advanced analytics](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9510024609178), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
8. [About automated resolutions](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5352026794010), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
9. [Zendesk Trust Center](https://www.zendesk.com/trust-center/), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
10. [Zendesk messaging](https://www.zendesk.com/service/messaging/), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
11. [Getting started with AI agents](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8724978128282), Zendesk, accessed 2026-10-09
12. [Zendesk discloses old data breach affecting 10,000 accounts](https://www.securityweek.com/zendesk-discloses-old-data-breach-affecting-10000-accounts/), SecurityWeek, accessed 2026-10-09
13. [Customer Experience agent evaluations](https://ai.g2.com/evaluations/customer-experience), G2, accessed 2026-10-08
14. [AI CX Agent Evaluations: General CX leaderboard](https://www.g2.com/categories/ai-agents/agent-evaluations), G2, accessed 2026-10-08
15. [AI CX Agent Evaluations, General CX leaderboard](https://www.g2.com/categories/ai-agents/agent-evaluations), G2, accessed 2026-10-08