What is Zendesk?
Zendesk is a customer service platform built around a ticketing system. Its Suite plans bring email, messaging, social, phone and a help center into one place. Pricing is seat-based: you pay for every agent, every month.
Where Zendesk shines
Large contact centers get real depth: skills-based routing, IVR phone trees and many integrations. AI agents are included in every plan and switch to the customer’s language automatically. On every Suite plan, agents can also translate conversations live.
How Askly is different
Askly’s AI plans have no per-seat fees at all. Users are unlimited, so a sixth agent adds nothing to your software bill. On Zendesk, every new agent adds another monthly fee.
Askly Starter includes up to 500 AI answers a month. Only conversations the AI finishes without a human reply count as answers. On Zendesk, once the included quota runs out, every AI resolution is billed.
On chat, phone and social, Askly answers in 30+ languages, and in 100+ on request. Other tools hand you strings to translate, while Askly arrives fully localized on day one. That is how BusTruckParts serves buyers from 100+ countries, each in their own language.
Every language and channel runs on one central knowledge base. Fix an answer once and it improves everywhere.
On Zendesk Suite Team, the help center has one default language. More languages start at Suite Growth, where each article translation is a separate version. Zendesk itself advises setting up an ongoing localization process.
Askly runs in three modes, and you can switch at any time. The modes are Fully AI, AI + Team and Fully Human.
In AI + Team mode, a person takes over mid-chat with the full context in view. In Fully Human mode, your team writes in one language and Askly translates both ways live.
Askly keeps written conversations in the EEA, in Frankfurt and the Netherlands. The voice agent uses OpenAI under standard contractual clauses.
On Zendesk, choosing your data location starts at Suite Professional. Even then it is not switched on automatically; you activate it through Zendesk support. Without it, Zendesk may move account data between regions without notice.
Pricing: what you actually pay
Take a typical team: five support agents and about 500 conversations a month. We checked Zendesk’s prices on zendesk.com on 24 September 2026.
Suite Team costs €55 per agent a month, paid yearly. For five agents that is €275 a month. Pay month to month and it is €345.
AI is billed on top. Suite Team includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month, so 25 in total. Each extra one costs $1.50 if bought in advance, or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.
Say the AI resolves half your conversations, 250 a month. You then pay for 225 extra resolutions: about $340 to $450 a month. Overage is on by default and billed monthly.
A multilingual help center needs Suite Growth, at €89 per agent a month, paid yearly. Choosing your data location needs Suite Professional: €575 a month for five agents. Copilot, Zendesk’s AI assistant for agents, adds €50 per agent a month on Professional and up.
Askly’s AI Support Agent Starter costs €195 a month with 6-month billing, excluding VAT. It includes up to 500 AI answers in web chat, Facebook and Instagram, with unlimited users. For five people and 500 conversations, Starter is the right fit.
Flex costs €359 a month for up to 1,000 answers and up to 5 domains. It also adds priority support. On any plan, setup by Askly is optional, at a one-time €1,500.
Before any AI charges, Starter is €80 a month cheaper than five yearly Suite Team seats. The real difference is the shape of the bill. Zendesk’s bill grows with every agent and resolution; Askly’s stays put as your team grows.
Results that speak for themselves
Online electronics store Klick switched from Zendesk and moved 80% of customer communication into Askly.
Online game store Punktid Technologies also moved from Zendesk to Askly. After the switch, support costs fell 75% (case study).
In private healthcare, Confido’s AI resolves 72% of patient questions.
Summary: which one should you choose?
Zendesk makes sense for large contact centers with complex workflows and budget for per-seat pricing.
For small and mid-sized teams, Askly is the better fit. One monthly fee covers your whole team, and AI answers are part of the plan.
Every customer gets answers in their own language, with no local hires. One knowledge base serves every language, and written conversations stay in the EEA.
Klick and Punktid Technologies have already made the switch from Zendesk.
