Head-to-head · helpdesks · facts checked 13 Sept 2026
Gorgias vs Zoho
Zoho scores 9.0 to Gorgias's 7.6 among the helpdesks we rate, and is the better pick for 2 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
From
$9/mo — Zoho Desk Express
Free plan
Yes — Zoho Desk free plan for up to 3 agents
The verdict
Zoho wins, 9.0 to 7.6
Gorgias uniquely has 4 features · Zoho uniquely has 2 features.
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
Zoho
Gorgias 7.5 · Zoho 10.0 on pricing
- Free plan: Zoho yes, Gorgias no
Answering customers with AI
Too close to call
Gorgias 7.2 · Zoho 7.5 on ai that answers your customers
- Languages the AI answers in: Gorgias 80 languages, Zoho not published
- What the AI learns from: Website, help_center, files against Help_center
- AI included in the price: Included against Per_resolution
Support teams on many channels
Too close to call
Gorgias 8.8 · Zoho 8.8 on channels and running a support team
- Channels it works in: Gorgias Email, live_chat, voice, sms, whatsapp, messenger, instagram, Zoho Email, live_chat, whatsapp, instagram, messenger, voice
Regulated industries
Zoho
Gorgias 7.8 · Zoho 10.0 on security and privacy
- Does not train AI on your data: Zoho yes, Gorgias no
- Choice of data region: Us, eu, in, au, jp, ca, cn, sg, sa, ae against Us, eu
- ISO 27001: Zoho 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. Zoho leads on 5 of 7 criteria.
AI that answers your customers25% of the score
Gorgias7.2
Zoho7.5
Pricing20% of the score
Gorgias7.5
Zoho10.0
Channels15% of the score
Gorgias8.0
Zoho8.0
Security and privacy15% of the score
Gorgias7.8
Zoho10.0
Running a support team10% of the score
Gorgias10.0
Zoho10.0
Integrations10% of the score
Gorgias7.5
Zoho10.0
Support and branding5% of the score
Gorgias3.8
Zoho8.8
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.
Connects to Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify and others
Zoho
Remove the vendor's branding
Zoho
Gorgias
No
Published by only one of them
Languages the AI answers in
Zoho
Not published
Free trial
Zoho
Does not apply
Channels it works in
ISO 27001
Gorgias
Not published
Where they match (9)
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
Zoho
Free
Free
Up to 3 agents, basic ticketing and email support
Express
$7/mo · $7/agent/mo billed annually
For small teams, includes email ticketing and basic automation
Standard
$14/mo · $14/agent/mo billed annually
Multi-channel support, SLA management, reports
Professional
$23/mo · $23/agent/mo billed annually
Live chat, telephony, Zia AI, advanced automation
Enterprise
$40/mo · $40/agent/mo billed annually
Custom dashboards, AI features, sandbox, guided conversations
Zoho One
$37/mo · $37/user/mo billed annually (all employees)
Access to 50+ Zoho applications as an operating system for business
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.
Zoho
Pros
- Zoho Desk offers mature, full-featured SLA management with configurable routing and escalation logic praised by operations teams on G2 and Capterra.
- The platform covers an exceptionally wide surface area with 55+ apps, making it viable as an all-in-one replacement for multiple point solutions.
- Zia Agent Studio provides a no-code environment for building autonomous AI agents capable of lead qualification, ticket resolution, and email drafting.
- Over 130 million users and nearly 30 years of operation signal strong product stability and long-term vendor reliability.
- Zoho One bundles the full suite under a single subscription, offering significant cost advantages over assembling a comparable stack from separate vendors.
- Multi-channel support through Zoho Desk consolidates ticketing across channels with automation rules and escalation policies in one platform.
- The business model is built on software subscriptions rather than advertising or data resale, which aligns vendor incentives with customer privacy.
Cons
- Zia AI agent performance depends heavily on training investment, meaning out-of-the-box autonomous agents may underperform without significant configuration effort.
- The platform's breadth makes it genuinely difficult to evaluate — the sheer number of products and overlapping use cases creates decision fatigue for buyers.
- The suite's complexity can be overwhelming for smaller teams that only need a focused helpdesk or live chat solution.
- Zoho's own pricing pages add to confusion, with multiple tiers and bundled products that make total cost of ownership hard to calculate upfront.
- Depth of individual products can lag behind dedicated point solutions in specific categories, since Zoho spreads development effort across 55+ apps.
- Reddit threads and third-party reviews surface occasional frustrations, suggesting the experience is inconsistent across different product areas or team sizes.
Section 05
Gorgias vs Zoho: common questions
Which is better, Gorgias or Zoho?
Zoho scores 9.0 and Gorgias 7.6 out of 10 among the helpdesks we rate. Zoho is ahead on aI that answers your customers, pricing, security and privacy, integrations and support and branding.
Is Gorgias or Zoho cheaper?
Gorgias's cheapest paid plan is $10/mo and Zoho's is $9/mo — Zoho Desk Express. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do Gorgias and Zoho have a free plan?
Zoho does and Gorgias does not.
What can Zoho do that Gorgias cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: free plan and does not train AI on your data.
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