You know that feeling? Drowning in customer emails and chat messages, desperately trying to keep your head above water while still giving everyone the helpful, accurate answers they expect? It’s a common struggle for support teams, especially now that customers want help faster than ever. This is where AI steps in, promising to change the game by handling the grunt work, speeding things up, and letting your human agents tackle the trickier stuff.
Zendesk, a big name in the helpdesk world, definitely saw this coming. They’ve put a lot into AI, especially after buying Ultimate, a company known for service automation. The idea was to build advanced automation right into their platform. This combined offering, sometimes called “Ultimate AI” out there, is designed to help businesses manage more questions without needing as much manual effort.
But does this built-in AI really live up to the hype? Can it genuinely make your Zendesk support work better? Let’s dig into Zendesk’s AI features, see how Ultimate fits in, and figure out if it’s the right tool for support teams who want to work smarter.
What is Zendesk AI (and where does Ultimate fit in)?
Zendesk packs a bunch of AI features right into its customer service platform. They’ve had some AI bits and pieces for a while, but buying Ultimate, a leader in service automation, was a pretty big move. As Zendesk put it, the goal was to offer “the most complete AI offering for customer experience (CX) in the market”. Ultimate was already a key partner, specifically providing AI automation for Zendesk Chat & Support.
So, what you might hear referred to as “Ultimate AI” is now mostly part of Zendesk’s own AI tools. These features are usually split into the basic ones included with most Zendesk plans and the more advanced stuff that needs a premium add-on, often called Zendesk Advanced AI.
Key features of Zendesk AI
Zendesk’s AI tools are built to take care of repetitive tasks, give instant answers, and lend a hand to human agents. The aim is to make things run smoother and give customers a better experience. While some features come standard, the really powerful ones are part of the Advanced AI add-on.
Autoreplies
One of the simplest ways AI helps in support is by automatically answering common questions. Zendesk AI can look through your help center articles and automatically suggest the most relevant ones to customers based on what they’re asking. This is great for handling simple, repetitive tickets upfront, helping customers find answers right away without needing an agent to jump in. You can set these autoreplies up using triggers for different support channels.
Generative replies and auto assist
Going beyond just suggesting articles, Zendesk’s generative AI can actually write full responses using information from your knowledge base, mainly your help center. This means more detailed answers delivered directly in the chat window. For your human agents, the auto-assist feature suggests draft replies based on the ticket conversation and help center content. This saves them time and helps make sure answers are consistent. Agents can easily review, tweak, and send these AI-written drafts.
Intelligent triage
Handling all those incoming tickets efficiently is super important. Intelligent triage, a feature you get with the Advanced AI add-on, uses AI to look at new tickets as they come in. It automatically figures out what the customer intends (what they need), their sentiment (how they sound), and the language they’re using. Based on this analysis, it can automatically send tickets to the right agent or team and add helpful tags. This speeds up the process of getting tickets to the right person, cutting down on the time agents spend manually sorting through everything.
Suggested macros and intents
Zendesk AI also helps agents by suggesting the right macros based on the ticket’s subject and content. It does this by analyzing how macros have been used in similar past tickets. This makes it quicker for agents to use standard responses. Plus, the platform can suggest or use predefined ‘intents’ to get ticket categorization and routing even more accurate, making sure the AI and your routing rules really understand what the customer is asking for.
How much does Zendesk AI cost?
Figuring out the cost of Zendesk’s AI can feel a bit tricky. It’s tied into their regular Suite plans and you have to pay extra for the most advanced stuff. The price can jump up quite a bit depending on how much AI power you need.
Here’s a quick look at the pricing structure:
| Feature | Suite Team ($55/agent/mo annually) | Suite Professional ($115/agent/mo annually) | Advanced AI Add-On ($50/agent/mo annually) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Included | Basic Zendesk AI | Basic Zendesk AI | Advanced AI |
| Generative Replies | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Autoreplies | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Intelligent Triage | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Suggested Macros/Intents | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Per-Agent Pricing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-Resolution Fees | No | No | Yes ($1.50 – $2 per resolution) |
As you can see, the basic Suite plans come with some foundational AI features like autoreplies and generative responses. But if you’re eyeing the more powerful tools like intelligent triage or suggested macros, you’ll need to grab the Advanced AI add-on. That’s another $50 per agent, per month (when billed yearly).
On top of the per-agent cost for both your Suite plan and the Advanced AI add-on, Zendesk also tacks on a per-automated resolution fee for the Advanced AI. This fee, which can be anywhere from $1.50 to $2 per resolution, has caused some head-scratching and potentially unexpected bills for users. What counts as a billable “automated resolution” hasn’t always been crystal clear. Some folks have reported getting charged even if a customer just closes a chat without their issue being fully sorted (this came up in the pricing examples). This can make predicting your monthly or yearly AI costs pretty tough, especially if your ticket volume goes up and down.
Other things that can affect your total bill include how many agents you have overall, how many customers you interact with, and whether you pay for your Suite plan monthly or annually.
Limitations and challenges of Zendesk AI
While Zendesk’s built-in AI, boosted by the Ultimate purchase, brings some serious power, there are a few potential downsides and hurdles businesses might hit if they rely only on the native tools.
Here are some of the key limitations to consider:
- Limited testing capabilities: There’s no real sandbox to test how your AI agent or triage setup will behave before going live. That means you’re often troubleshooting in real time, which can impact both agent workflows and customer experience.
- Basic customization options: You can adjust tone slightly, but there’s limited control over how the AI behaves in complex or brand-specific situations. If you need deeper logic or personalized interactions, the native options may fall short.
- Costs can add up quickly: Between the base Suite plan, the $50/agent/month Advanced AI add-on, and $1.50 to $2 per automated resolution, expenses can rise fast, especially if your ticket volume fluctuates.
- Training limitations: Zendesk AI mainly learns from your help center. If key info lives in support tickets, internal docs, or platforms like Confluence, the AI might not have the full picture, which can lead to incomplete answers.
A powerful alternative: eesel AI for Zendesk
For businesses using Zendesk who want more flexibility, deeper control, predictable costs, and the ability to teach their AI using all sorts of knowledge sources, eesel AI offers a strong alternative or even a great partner solution. eesel AI is built specifically to make helpdesk systems like Zendesk better by connecting smoothly with what you already have.
Instead of replacing your Zendesk platform, eesel AI works right alongside it. It brings advanced AI automation that helps with many of the common headaches you might find with native AI tools. It’s all about giving you more control, more robust features, and a pricing model that grows predictably based on how much you actually use it.
Comparing Zendesk AI and eesel AI
When you’re looking at AI options for your Zendesk support, it helps to see how the built-in tools stack up against a specialized platform like eesel AI across a few key areas.
| Feature | Zendesk Advanced AI | eesel AI |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Per-agent + Per-resolution fees | Per-interaction (usage-based) + No per-agent fees |
| Training Sources | Primarily Help Center | Past Tickets, Help Center, Google Docs, Confluence, PDFs, 100+ platforms |
| Customization | Basic tone presets, limited logic control | Full control over tone, prompts, specific actions, and escalation logic |
| Testing | Limited pre-live testing, post-deployment monitoring | Controlled testing in dashboard/extension, simulation on past tickets |
| Actionability/Workflow | Intelligent triage, suggested macros | Intelligent triage, tagging, custom API actions (refunds, updates), multi-bot workflows |
| Scalability Cost | Can increase significantly with agents/volume | Predictable based on interactions, scales without per-agent increase |
Setting up AI for Zendesk: Ultimate vs. eesel
Getting AI up and running in your helpdesk doesn’t have to be a headache, but the steps can look different depending on which tool you pick.
Setting up Zendesk AI
With Zendesk’s native AI, you typically turn on the features in your Admin settings (and buy the Advanced AI add-on if needed). Then you connect your help center as the main place for knowledge, set up basic things like autoreply triggers or intelligent triage rules, and then flip the switch to let the AI start talking to customers or helping agents.
Setting up eesel AI
Setting up eesel AI to work with Zendesk is designed to be quick and flexible. First, you connect your Zendesk account – it’s a smooth integration. Next, you add your knowledge sources, pulling from all the different places your information lives – help center, old tickets, Google Docs, Confluence, you name it. After that, you customize your bot’s prompt and actions. This is where you define its tone, how it escalates things, and any specific actions it can take through integrations. Finally, you can chat with your bot right in the dashboard to test its answers and make sure the workflows are right before you roll it out, maybe starting with just a few agents or customers. This process means you don’t have to mess with complicated data migration and you get really detailed control over how you launch it.
Benefits of AI in Zendesk support
No matter which specific AI tool you use, adding AI into your Zendesk support can bring some really noticeable benefits for both your team and your customers.
- Faster Answers: AI agents can handle a big chunk of the simple, common questions automatically. This means customers get answers faster for those easy issues.
- Less Busywork for Agents: By taking care of routine tickets, the total number of questions reaching your human agents goes down. This frees them up to focus on the more complex or sensitive cases that really need their human touch.
- Lower Costs: All this automation and efficiency can directly lead to lower operational costs.
- Empowered Agents: For your human team, AI is like a super helpful assistant. It handles the repetitive stuff, suggests draft replies, and finds info fast. This makes them more productive and lets them spend more time building relationships and solving tricky problems. This shift empowers human agents instead of replacing them, letting them use their unique skills for tasks that need empathy, creativity, and complex thinking.
- Happier Customers: Ultimately, quicker response times, more consistent information, and agents who are free to handle difficult issues well can all lead to happier customers.
Is Ultimate AI (via Zendesk) right for you?
Zendesk’s built-in AI tools, boosted by what they got from buying Ultimate, are a solid starting point if you’re already really invested in the Zendesk world. If you just need basic automation like autoreplies and generative responses, and you’re okay with the pricing structure (including the per-agent cost and the extra fee for advanced features like intelligent triage), it could be a good fit.
However, if your team needs more flexibility to train your AI on different knowledge sources (beyond just the help center), wants detailed control over customization, prefers predictable costs without per-agent or confusing per-resolution fees, or wants the AI to automate complex actions using integrations, Zendesk’s native tools might feel a bit limiting.
Choosing the best AI partner for your Zendesk team
Adding AI isn’t really optional anymore; it’s becoming essential for teams who want to offer efficient, scalable customer support. Bringing AI into your Zendesk setup can really change how you operate, from automating routine tasks to giving your human agents superpowers.
While Zendesk has its own integrated AI, solutions like eesel AI offer a powerful, flexible, and cost-effective alternative or way to enhance what you have. By connecting seamlessly with Zendesk, eesel AI lets you use advanced AI features without having to move all your data or being stuck with rigid pricing models. Its ability to learn from all sorts of sources, including past tickets, its deep customization options, robust testing environment, and predictable pay-per-interaction pricing make it a flexible choice for teams of any size looking to get the most out of their Zendesk investment and automate things smarter.
Ready to see how AI could make a difference for your Zendesk support? You can start a free trial of eesel AI today – no credit card needed – or book a demo to get personalized ideas on how eesel AI can fit into your specific workflows. Want to learn more about boosting your Zendesk support with AI? Check out our Zendesk AI blogs.
