LiveChat 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 40.1 for LiveChat, and ranks ahead in 57% of the answers that name both.
Choose LiveChat if…
- AI answers describe it more positively (36% vs 34% positive)
- You need SOC 2 Type 2 or GDPR or CCPA or WCAG 2.2 AA or PCI DSS SAQ A or Data Privacy Framework or BBB Accredited Business coverage
- Free trial with no credit card required
- Reliable, high-performance real-time chat
Choose Zendesk if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (49.3 vs 40.1)
- You need more native integrations (1800+ vs 200+)
- 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
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (5,000+ employees)
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | LiveChat | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 40.1% | 49.3% |
| Change vs last week | up+1.3% | up+0.3% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #3 | #1 |
| Share of voice | 10.2% | 11.2% |
| Mentions this run | 50 | 53 |
| Positive in AI answers | 36% | 34% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
LiveChat +1.3000000000000043pp · Zendesk +0.29999999999999716pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Zendesk leads on 2 of 3 engines
Head to head in AI answers
40 engine answers name both brands
| Prompt | Engine | LiveChat | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is a live chat tool and when does a company need one? | ChatGPT | #4 | #3 |
| How do I choose a live chat tool for a mid-market team? | AI Mode | #6 | #3 |
| How do I choose a live chat tool for a mid-market team? | Perplexity | #3 | #1 |
| What features matter most in a live chat tool? | ChatGPT | #4 | #3 |
| What features matter most in a live chat tool? | Perplexity | #2 | #3 |
| What should a live chat tool integrate with? | ChatGPT | #8 | #3 |
| What should a live chat tool integrate with? | Perplexity | #6 | #3 |
| How long does it take to roll out a live chat tool? | ChatGPT | #2 | #3 |
| What are the best Live Chat & AI Support tools in 2026? | ChatGPT | #8 | #3 |
| What are the best Live Chat & AI Support tools in 2026? | Perplexity | #7 | #2 |
| Top live chat tool options for B2B SaaS companies | ChatGPT | #9 | #4 |
| Top live chat tool options for B2B SaaS companies | Perplexity | #6 | #2 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | LiveChat | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Entry price | $19 per seat / mo | $19 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | No · 14-day trial | No |
| Deployment | Cloud-hosted on Google Cloud in Texas, Iowa and Frankfurt, Germany | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Integrations | 200+ | 1800+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, CCPA, WCAG 2.2 AA, PCI DSS SAQ A, Data Privacy Framework, BBB Accredited Business | 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 | Self-service help center, 24/7/365 support, Product Expert and dedicated team on Enterprise plan | Help Center, Community, Partners |
| Founded | 2002 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Wrocław, Poland | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Employees | 201–500 | 5,000+ |
| Funding | Management buyout | Take-private (Hellman & Friedman, Permira) |
| Best for | Small teams earning their first revenue from chat, and scaling teams that want chat to drive sales; larger organizations can use the Enterprise plan. | Support teams from startups to enterprises that need omnichannel ticketing with AI automation |
Plans side by side
LiveChat
Zendesk
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
LiveChat
- Free trial with no credit card required
- Reliable, high-performance real-time chat
- Polished website chat and straightforward agent workflows
- Transparent, publicly listed pricing
- Strong for e-commerce and sales-focused teams
- Can become expensive and complex for growing teams
- Free tier limited to 2 seats
- Ratings vary by review site
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, “LiveChat vs Zendesk”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/livechat-vs-zendesk, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.