CrispThe AI customer support platform for every business
vs
ZendeskAI-powered customer service platform
Comparison · Live Chat & AI Support · weekly run Nov 3
Crisp vs Zendesk
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Zendesk is the stronger AI pick in Live Chat & AI Support: it has a visibility score of 49.3 versus 22.9 for Crisp, and ranks ahead in 73% of the answers that name both.
Choose Crisp if…
- You want a free plan to start
- AI answers describe it more positively (57% vs 34% positive)
- Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
- Free plan for two seats
Choose Zendesk if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (49.3 vs 22.9)
- You want a lower entry price ($19 vs $45)
- You need more native integrations (1800+ vs 100+)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001:2022 or ISO 27018:2019 or ISO 27701:2019 or ISO 27017:2015 or ISO 42001:2023 or FedRAMP LI-SaaS or Cyber Essentials Plus coverage
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Crisp | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 22.9% | 49.3% |
| Change vs last week | down−1.4% | up+0.3% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #7 | #1 |
| Share of voice | 6.6% | 11.2% |
| Mentions this run | 32 | 53 |
| Positive in AI answers | 57% | 34% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Crisp −1.4000000000000021pp · Zendesk +0.29999999999999716pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Zendesk leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
CrispZendesk
Head to head in AI answers
22 engine answers name both brands
6Crisp ranked higher
16Zendesk ranked higher
| Prompt | Engine | Crisp | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|---|
| How do I choose a live chat tool for a mid-market team? | ChatGPT | #6 | #2 |
| How do I choose a live chat tool for a mid-market team? | Perplexity | #6 | #1 |
| What are the best Live Chat & AI Support tools in 2026? | ChatGPT | #7 | #3 |
| What are the best Live Chat & AI Support tools in 2026? | Perplexity | #5 | #2 |
| Top live chat tool options for B2B SaaS companies | ChatGPT | #6 | #4 |
| Top live chat tool options for B2B SaaS companies | AI Mode | #5 | #3 |
| Top live chat tool options for B2B SaaS companies | Perplexity | #8 | #2 |
| Best live chat tool for startups | Perplexity | #1 | #5 |
| Compare the leading Live Chat & AI Support platforms | ChatGPT | #8 | #2 |
| Compare the leading Live Chat & AI Support platforms | Perplexity | #5 | #2 |
| Alternatives to the most popular live chat tool | ChatGPT | #3 | #7 |
| Alternatives to the most popular live chat tool | AI Mode | #4 | #8 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Crisp | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat tiers | Per seat |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $45 / mo | $19 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Deployment | Hosted cloud software (SaaS) | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Integrations | 100+ | 1800+ |
| Compliance | — | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27018:2019, ISO 27701:2019, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 42001:2023, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, Cyber Essentials Plus |
| Support | Help center, Dedicated onboarding and personalized SLA on the Enterprise plan | Help Center, Community, Partners |
| Founded | 2015 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Nantes, France | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Employees | 11–50 | 5,000+ |
| Funding | Bootstrapped | Take-private (Hellman & Friedman, Permira) |
| Best for | Small and medium-sized businesses looking for AI-powered omnichannel customer support software | Support teams from startups to enterprises that need omnichannel ticketing with AI automation |
Plans side by side
Crisp
Free$0month, per workspace
Mini$45month, per workspace
Essentials$95month, per workspace
Plus$295month, per workspace
EnterpriseCustomcustom
Zendesk
Support Team$19agent/month paid yearly
Suite Team$55agent/month paid yearly
Suite Professional$115agent/month paid yearly
Suite Enterprise + CopilotCustomcontact sales
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Crisp
- Free plan for two seats
- Shared inbox for small teams
- Flat per-workspace pricing
- AI-powered support and ease of use
- Modern, clean interface
- Contact and automation limits on free tier
Zendesk
- Industry leader in omnichannel customer support
- Scalable platform for large enterprise teams
- Mature ticketing operations and SLA management
- Extensive marketplace and broad integrations
- Free trial available for 14 days
- Heavy, slow deployment compared with lighter tools
- High per-agent costs
- AI add-ons billed separately on top of base fee
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Crisp vs Zendesk”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/crisp-vs-zendesk, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.