KayakoAI help desk and customer support platform
vs
ZendeskAI-powered customer service platform
Comparison · Help Desk · weekly run Nov 3
Kayako 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 Help Desk: it has a visibility score of 60.4 versus 0 for Kayako.
Choose Kayako if…
- You want a lower entry price ($1 vs $19)
- You need GDPR coverage
- Usage-based pricing suits your budget better than per seat
Choose Zendesk if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (60.4 vs 0)
- You need 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
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (5,000+ employees)
- Per seat pricing suits your budget better than usage-based
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Kayako | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 0% | 60.4% |
| Change vs last week | no change0% | up+5.7% |
| Rank in Help Desk | #37 | #2 |
| Share of voice | 0% | 11.6% |
| Mentions this run | 0 | 58 |
| Positive in AI answers | — | 34% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Kayako 0pp · Zendesk +5.699999999999996pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Zendesk leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
KayakoZendesk
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Kayako ranked higher
0Zendesk ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Kayako | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Per seat |
| Entry price | $1 / mo | $19 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Integrations | — | 1800+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR | 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, White-glove onboarding, Dedicated success manager | Help Center, Community, Partners |
| Founded | 2001 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Austin, Texas, United States | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Employees | 51–200 | 5,000+ |
| Funding | Acquisition by ESW Capital | Take-private (Hellman & Friedman, Permira) |
| Best for | Support teams that want AI ticket automation deployed for them, either on a new help desk or on top of their existing one | Support teams from startups to enterprises that need omnichannel ticketing with AI automation |
Plans side by side
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
Kayako
Profile in progress.
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, “Kayako vs Zendesk”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/kayako-vs-zendesk, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.