Using AI with Zendesk and Freshdesk: Challenges and solutions

Managing customer support is an evolution. If you're using both Zendesk and Freshdesk, you're likely leveraging some of the most powerful tools in the industry. Zendesk and Freshdesk are both mature, reliable platforms that power customer service for thousands of global companies. However, using two separate helpdesks can sometimes present unique opportunities to further streamline data and workflows.

AI is incredibly promising for making support smoother, especially in 2026. How does that actually work when your support team uses both Zendesk and Freshdesk? Can AI help bridge that gap and bring your workflows together? This guide will look at the challenges of a multi-platform setup and share a smart way to use AI effectively across both Zendesk and Freshdesk, making things easier for your team and your customers.

What are Zendesk and Freshdesk? (Quick look)

Zendesk and Freshdesk are the top platforms for customer service. Zendesk is widely regarded as an industry standard, offering an enterprise-grade ticketing system and a massive marketplace of integrations. Freshdesk is equally impressive, known as a mature and reliable platform that scales beautifully for customer service teams of all sizes. While many businesses choose Zendesk or Freshdesk for their scalability and robustness, some end up using both platforms. This can happen for various reasons, such as after a merger or because different departments have specific feature preferences. While they both handle customer service, they are separate ecosystems.

You can find articles comparing them, like this one from Zendesk itself, Zendesk vs. Freshdesk: How to choose, or pieces from other places like Freshdesk vs. Zendesk: Which should you use? [2026] or Freshdesk vs Zendesk: A comparison guide for 2026.

Managing support across different platforms

Running customer support using separate Zendesk and Freshdesk setups brings some logistics that teams aim to optimize. It’s about ensuring information flows smoothly between these two powerful environments. Here are some areas support teams focus on when handling tickets across platforms like Zendesk and Freshdesk:

• Workflow coordination: Agents may move between screens to see customer history. Teams often look for ways to minimize this to keep replies fast and focused.
• Knowledge distribution: Customer info and internal help articles may be stored in separate platforms. Ensuring an agent in Zendesk has visibility into a customer's history in Freshdesk is a common goal for unified service.
• Process alignment: Since Zendesk and Freshdesk have their own automation logic, teams work hard to ensure that tagging and escalation processes remain consistent across the board.
• Agent productivity: Connecting these systems helps reduce manual steps, allowing agents to spend more time resolving complex customer issues.
• Unified reporting: Teams often look for ways to pull data together to get a single, comprehensive picture of support performance across both platforms.

How AI can really help multi-platform support

Bringing AI into customer support makes things better by speeding up replies and making support more consistent. When you're dealing with a setup that uses both Zendesk and Freshdesk, AI's ability to act as a central intelligence layer becomes even more powerful.

Ideally, AI acts like a bridge, providing a single point of access for information pulling from both platforms. This ensures agents get consistent help whether they're working in Zendesk or Freshdesk. AI can make agents much more efficient by ensuring they have all the info they need, regardless of where the ticket originated.

Native AI features in Zendesk and Freshdesk setups

Both Zendesk and Freshdesk have invested heavily in AI. Zendesk offers a world-class suite of features including Zendesk AI and Zendesk Advanced AI. These are sophisticated tools designed to deliver high-quality automation within the Zendesk environment.

Freshdesk also offers an impressive ecosystem with powerful AI and automation features that help teams manage high volumes of tickets with ease. Freshdesk's maturity ensures that its AI tools are reliable and built for enterprise-grade support.

Zendesk also provides specialized paths for integration, as discussed in their help article, "Connecting your advanced AI agent to Freshdesk". This allows teams to push specific AI actions into other environments, showing Zendesk's commitment to a flexible ecosystem.

When using multiple platforms, teams may consider how to best align these native AI features. Because native AI is often optimized for its own environment, teams might manage distinct AI configurations for each tool. Both Zendesk and Freshdesk offer tiered plans to match different team sizes and needs, ensuring that whether you are a growing startup or a large enterprise, there is an AI plan that provides value. While managing AI across two platforms is a thoughtful process, it ensures that each helpdesk is performing at its peak.

A complementary solution for both platforms

To further unify a multi-platform environment, some teams choose a third-party AI tool that works alongside their helpdesks. This type of solution can help connect information across different systems.

eesel AI is one option that works within the Zendesk and Freshdesk ecosystems to provide a single AI layer on top of your existing tools. This is one of the many ways you can leverage AI when running both Zendesk and Freshdesk to ensure everything feels connected.

eesel AI links up with platforms like Zendesk and Freshdesk using their APIs. These platforms act as "Destinations" where the AI helps automate tickets or assist agents. eesel AI also connects to various "Knowledge Sources," including data from Zendesk and Freshdesk (like old tickets or help articles) and other sources like Google Docs or Confluence. This creates a central intelligence that can assist in either environment.

The advantages of this unified approach include:

• Centralized knowledge: The AI can learn from data across all your connected platforms.
• Consistent experience: The same AI voice and rules can be applied whether the ticket is in Zendesk or Freshdesk.
• Flexible investment: A unified solution can be a predictable way to manage AI costs, complementing the powerful native features already provided by these platforms. eesel AI offers a clear, pay-per-interaction pricing model that works well for many teams.

How eesel AI connects to Zendesk and Freshdesk

Setting up eesel AI to work with both Zendesk and Freshdesk is designed to be straightforward:

1. You add Zendesk and Freshdesk as "Destinations" inside eesel AI’s platform.
2. You add your relevant Zendesk data and Freshdesk data as "Knowledge Sources" for training.
3. This creates a unified intelligence layer that understands information from across your support stack and can act within either your Zendesk or Freshdesk environment.

You can find out more about how this works on our pages for Zendesk integration and Freshdesk integration.

Key AI features for using Zendesk and Freshdesk together

Using a complementary AI solution across both Zendesk and Freshdesk unlocks specific abilities that are helpful for managing a mixed environment:

• Omnichannel knowledge access: An AI trained on data from both Zendesk and Freshdesk can provide more comprehensive answers. eesel AI's AI assistant (Copilot) helps agents find information fast via a browser extension, regardless of which platform they are currently in. This bridges the knowledge gap effectively.
• Unified ticket sorting: AI can analyze incoming tickets from either platform and apply consistent tags or priority levels based on a single set of rules.
• Automated resolutions: The AI agent can handle routine Tier 1 tickets using the combined knowledge from both systems, allowing your skilled agents to focus on more complex tasks.
• Cross-platform actions: eesel AI’s custom API actions allow the AI to perform tasks (like fetching order status) for tickets in either Zendesk or Freshdesk.

Picking an AI tool when you use different systems

When handling support across multiple helpdesks like Zendesk and Freshdesk, choosing a solution that complements your existing stack is key. Here are things to consider:

• Connectivity: Can the tool link with Zendesk, Freshdesk, and all your internal knowledge bases?
• Unified knowledge: The AI should be able to create a single source of truth from multiple data streams.
• Flexibility: Look for tools that allow you to customize the AI’s behavior and tone to match your brand.
• Value-driven pricing: Look for a pricing model that is clear and scales with your usage. eesel AI’s per-interaction model is one such option.
• Ease of implementation: Consider how quickly you can deploy and test the AI within your support environment.

eesel AI is designed to address these points, offering robust connections and flexible customization as a powerful addition to your support ecosystem.

Ready to make support smoother across Zendesk and Freshdesk?

Using separate Zendesk and Freshdesk systems is a choice many successful companies make to leverage the strengths of both platforms. By adding a unified AI layer, you can bring even more consistency and efficiency to your support operation, ensuring agents and customers get the same high-quality experience everywhere.

While Zendesk and Freshdesk provide incredible native AI capabilities, a complementary tool like eesel AI can help bridge the gap between different systems. If you're looking to bring your support together with smart AI automation that works across both platforms, we're here to help.

Book a demo or start a free trial today to see how eesel AI can add unified intelligence to your Zendesk and Freshdesk setup.