Gorgias vs Zendesk AI (2026)

Gorgias

by Gorgias

Zendesk AI

by Zendesk

Pros

• ✓Native Shopify actions let AI Agent process refunds, edit orders, update addresses, and generate discount codes autonomously mid-conversation, without handing the customer to a human agent.
• ✓Four helpdesk tiers are publicly priced from a $10/month Starter plan, plans scale by ticket volume rather than per agent with 500 user seats above Starter, and AI Agent is billed only on conversations it fully resolves.
• ✓The MCP server is included in any paid plan at no extra cost and does not require the AI Agent add-on, so a helpdesk-only team can query its own tickets and analytics from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.

Limitations

• –AI Agent is billed per resolved conversation, at $0.90 on most plans and $1 on Starter, on top of the helpdesk plan fee and ticket fee, and the pricing cards list $1.50 per automated interaction past a plan's allowance.
• –Ticket allowances are set per plan, so seasonal peaks such as Black Friday can add $0.36 to $0.40 per extra ticket.
• –Designed for ecommerce: AI Agent's actions run against store platforms such as Shopify, with apps such as Loop Returns, Yotpo and Recharge as preferred integrations.

Pros

• ✓AI agents come with every Support and Suite plan on the pricing page, with an included allowance of automated resolutions per agent and outcome-based billing beyond it.
• ✓One platform for ticketing, messaging, voice, knowledge base and AI, with Copilot for agents, Forethought AI agents for complex workflows and Specialized Agents for commerce.
• ✓The trust center lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, PCI DSS and HIPAA with a BAA.

Limitations

• –Copilot is a $50 per agent per month add-on below Enterprise, and automated resolutions above the plan allowance cost $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.
• –Suite Enterprise + Copilot, which carries full intelligent triage, sandbox environments and custom agent roles, is priced only through sales.
• –Zendesk trains its own non-generative models, including cross-account models, on sanitized customer data, and its AI data pages describe no opt-out.