Head-to-head · helpdesks · facts checked 13 Sept 2026
Gorgias vs Zendesk
Zendesk scores 8.4 to Gorgias's 7.6 among the helpdesks we rate, and is the better pick for 3 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
The verdict
Zendesk wins, 8.4 to 7.6
Gorgias starts at $10 a month for 50 tickets, a different pricing model from Zendesk's $25 a month per agent, which can undercut Zendesk for small ticket volumes. Zendesk is ISO 27001 certified; Gorgias does not state this on its own site. Both are SOC 2 audited and HIPAA compliant, and both bill AI usage per resolution. Zendesk also reaches more data regions, five against Gorgias's two, US and EU.
Pick Gorgias if your ticket volume is low and per-seat pricing doesn't fit.
Pick Zendesk if you want ISO 27001 certification and more data regions.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
Small teams on a budget
Gorgias
Gorgias 7.5 · Zendesk 6.5 on pricing
- Monthly price, cheapest paid plan: $10 against $25
Answering customers with AI
Zendesk
Gorgias 7.2 · Zendesk 8.2 on ai that answers your customers
- What the AI learns from: Help_center, website, notion, google_drive against Website, help_center, files
Support teams on many channels
Zendesk
Gorgias 8.8 · Zendesk 10.0 on channels and running a support team
- Channels it works in: Email, live_chat, voice, whatsapp, instagram, messenger, sms, slack against Email, live_chat, voice, sms, whatsapp, messenger, instagram
Regulated industries
Zendesk
Gorgias 7.8 · Zendesk 9.0 on security and privacy
- Choice of data region: Us, eu, uk, jp, au against Us, eu
- ISO 27001: Zendesk yes, Gorgias does not say
Section 01
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other helpdesks we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Zendesk leads on 4 of 7 criteria.
AI that answers your customers25% of the score
Gorgias7.2
Zendesk8.2
Pricing20% of the score
Gorgias7.5
Zendesk6.5
Channels15% of the score
Gorgias8.0
Zendesk10.0
Security and privacy15% of the score
Gorgias7.8
Zendesk9.0
Running a support team10% of the score
Gorgias10.0
Zendesk10.0
Integrations10% of the score
Gorgias7.5
Zendesk7.5
Support and branding5% of the score
Gorgias3.8
Zendesk10.0
Section 02
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
What the AI learns from
Zendesk
Channels it works in
Zendesk
Ways to reach support
Zendesk
Remove the vendor's branding
Zendesk
Gorgias
No
Published by only one of them
ISO 27001
Gorgias
Not published
Where they match (13)
Section 03
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Gorgias
Starter
$10/mo · N/A
~50 tickets/mo helpdesk base; AI Agent add-on pay-per-resolution; unlimited agents
Starter (with ai agent)
$40/mo · N/A
~50 tickets/mo helpdesk base; AI Agent add-on pay-per-resolution; unlimited agents
Basic
$60/mo · $600/yr
~300 tickets/mo; core helpdesk + AI Agent pay-per-resolution; unlimited agents
Basic (with ai agent)
$90/mo · $924/yr
~300 tickets/mo; core helpdesk + AI Agent pay-per-resolution; unlimited agents
Pro
$360/mo · $3,600/yr
~2,000 tickets/mo; advanced automation, revenue reporting; unlimited agents
Pro (with ai agent)
$550/mo · $5,652/yr
~2,000 tickets/mo; advanced automation, revenue reporting; unlimited agents
Advanced
$900/mo · $9,000/yr
~5,000 tickets/mo; full feature set, priority support; unlimited agents
Advanced (with ai agent)
$1,430/mo · $14,724/yr
~5,000 tickets/mo; full feature set, priority support; unlimited agents
Enterprise
Custom
5,000+ tickets/mo; custom contract, dedicated support, SLA guarantees
Zendesk
Support Team
$25/agent/mo · $228/agent/yr
Core support essentials: email, ticketing, routing, analytics dashboards
Suite Team
$69/agent/mo · $660/agent/yr
Adds AI Agents, Knowledge Base, Action Builder, omnichannel, messaging, telephony
Suite Professional
$149/agent/mo · $1,380/agent/yr
Adds Admin Copilot, App Builder, Writing Tools, Quick Reports, skills-based routing, IVR phone tree
Suite Enterprise + Copilot
Custom
Advanced security, governance, Intelligent Triage, Auto Assist, Generative AI for Voice, approval workflows, sandbox, custom agent roles
Section 04
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
Gorgias
Pros
- Native one-click Shopify integration pulls order data, customer history, and product catalog directly into the conversation view.
- Agents can issue refunds, apply discounts, cancel orders, and initiate upsells without leaving the ticket interface.
- AI Agent 3.0 is built on an OpenAI partnership and trained on over a billion support conversations, fine-tuned specifically for ecommerce.
- The AI is positioned to drive revenue through pre-sale guidance and upsells, not just ticket deflection.
- Shopify invested directly in Gorgias, explaining the exceptional depth of the native integration.
- Serves over 17,000 ecommerce brands with a claimed 40% market share among Shopify stores.
- Omnichannel inbox consolidates support across channels with an AI layer built on top for automation.
Cons
- For non-Shopify ecommerce brands, the value proposition becomes significantly more complicated and less compelling.
- The product is narrowly purpose-built for ecommerce, making it a poor fit for general-purpose helpdesk use cases.
- The research is based on third-party reviews and vendor documentation rather than direct hands-on product testing.
- Pricing complexity may emerge at scale, as suggested by 'the math gets complicated fast' for non-Shopify users.
- Heavy reliance on AI automation may not suit brands that prefer high-touch, human-led customer support workflows.
- Peak season ticket backlogs remain a recurring complaint among operators in Shopify forums and G2 threads.
Zendesk
Pros
- Zendesk's ticketing system is highly mature, having been refined over nearly 20 years with solid routing, triggers, automations, and skills-based assignment.
- The AI Resolution Learning Loop improves agent performance over time by feeding every resolved interaction back into the system, a claim corroborated by long-term G2 reviewers.
- Omnichannel coverage is comprehensive, spanning email, live chat, phone, social messaging, and self-service knowledge bases in a single platform.
- The Forethought acquisition allows Zendesk AI agents to operate across existing service environments without requiring a full stack migration.
- Knowledge base freshness management automatically flags potentially outdated articles, reducing the manual burden of content maintenance.
- With over 100,000 business customers and 22,000+ using AI products specifically, the platform has demonstrated broad real-world adoption and reliability at scale.
- The platform has a massive and consistent review base across G2 and Capterra, providing strong social proof and transparent feedback patterns for prospective buyers.
Cons
- The platform has grown so large and complex that summarizing its value proposition is difficult, which can make onboarding and decision-making harder for new buyers.
- Whether Zendesk's AI execution actually lives up to its omnichannel AI-powered support pitch remains an open question according to the review research.
- The sheer scale of the product suggests potential bloat, with features that smaller teams may never use but still pay for.
- AI capabilities were partly acquired rather than fully built in-house, raising questions about long-term integration consistency and product coherence.
- The platform's age and size may result in legacy architecture constraints that slow down innovation compared to newer, leaner competitors.
- Pricing complexity is implied by the tiered Suite plans required to access features like the knowledge base, potentially increasing costs as needs grow.
Section 05
Gorgias vs Zendesk: common questions
Which is better, Gorgias or Zendesk?
Zendesk scores 8.4 and Gorgias 7.6 out of 10 among the helpdesks we rate. Zendesk is ahead on aI that answers your customers, channels, security and privacy and support and branding. Gorgias is ahead on pricing.
Is Gorgias or Zendesk cheaper?
Gorgias's cheapest paid plan is $10/mo and Zendesk's is $25/mo. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do Gorgias and Zendesk have a free plan?
Neither has a free plan.
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