The ultimate guide to Zendesk AI

AI is shaking up customer service, and if you use Zendesk, you’ve probably seen their big push into building AI right into the platform. They're promising to automate away the tedious stuff and make your support agents' lives easier.

But let's be honest: trying to figure out what Zendesk AI actually is, how it's packaged, what it costs, and where it doesn't quite measure up can feel like a real headache. It's a confusing mix of different features, expensive add-ons, and specific plan requirements.

That’s why we put this guide together. We’re going to give you a straightforward look at Zendesk AI so you can decide if it's right for you. We’ll talk about what it does well, point out its limitations, and show you that the built-in option isn't always the best one. Sometimes, a more flexible tool is what you really need to get the job done.

What is Zendesk AI?

First things first, Zendesk AI isn't a single product you can just add to your cart. It’s more of a catch-all term for a bunch of AI tools built to work only inside the Zendesk platform.

It’s broken down into three main parts:

• AI Agents: These are the bots designed to handle customer questions on their own, trying to solve problems without needing a human to step in.

• Copilot: This is an AI assistant that sits right beside your human agents, helping them dig up information and reply to customers faster.

• AI Admin Tools: This bucket includes features for sorting tickets automatically, building reports, and helping you keep your knowledge base in order.

All these tools are supposed to learn from your Zendesk data, your help center articles and old ticket conversations, to figure out how to respond.

What can Zendesk AI do?

To know if it's a good fit, you need to understand what Zendesk’s AI can realistically handle. Let's break down the main features.

AI agents for automated resolutions

The star of Zendesk's automation show is their AI Agents. These bots are meant to tackle the simple, repetitive questions that are always jamming up your support queue. The idea is to free up your team and offer some form of 24/7 support.

They come pre-trained on general customer service chats, which gives them a starting point. But for them to be useful, you have to connect them to your company’s knowledge base. They’re pretty good at deflecting basic, FAQ-type questions, but they tend to get stuck when things get more complicated.

The AI copilot for helping your agents

The Zendesk Copilot is like a sidekick for your support team. It works inside the agent's screen to help them be more productive, focusing more on assisting humans than replacing them.

Here’s what it mostly does:

• Summarizes tickets: If an agent gets a ticket with a super long email chain, the Copilot can whip up a quick summary so they don't have to read every single word.

• Suggests replies: It can draft responses for agents based on your saved macros and help center articles, which saves a bit of typing.

• Changes the tone: An agent can write a quick, blunt reply, and the Copilot can tweak it to sound more formal or friendly, matching your brand’s voice.

Basically, it's a tool to help your agents move a little faster.

Intelligent triage and workflow automation

One of the more practical parts of Zendesk AI is its ability to automatically sort incoming tickets. It reads a new ticket and tries to figure out what the customer wants (like a billing question), how they're feeling (happy or mad), and what language they're using.

This info can then be used to automate your workflows. For instance, you can create rules to send all billing questions straight to the finance team or to flag angry customer tickets for immediate attention. This helps reduce the manual work of just sorting and assigning tickets.

This workflow shows how Zendesk AI can triage tickets, escalating urgent issues and triggering automated actions for known problems.

Breaking down Zendesk AI pricing

This is where things often get messy. For a lot of teams, the price tag is the biggest roadblock. Most of the really useful Zendesk AI tools aren't included in the standard plans. To even get access, you have to be on a Suite Team plan or higher, which starts at $55 per agent, per month (if you pay for the year upfront).

But that's just to get in the door. The most powerful features, like the Copilot and the more capable Advanced AI Agents, are paid add-ons. This means you're paying an extra fee on top of your plan for every single agent on your team.

The hidden costs of add-ons

This add-on approach makes it tough to guess what your final bill will be. Your costs can climb quickly as your team grows or as you realize you need the better AI features to get the job done.

Even if you're on the most expensive Suite Enterprise plan at $169 per agent, you still have to pay extra for the Copilot features that help your agents work more efficiently. It feels like you’re being penalized for wanting better tools or for adding more people to your team. This structure makes budgeting a nightmare and can lead to some unpleasant surprises when the invoice arrives.

The limitations of relying on Zendesk AI

While having AI built right in sounds nice, being locked into a closed system like Zendesk's comes with some real downsides that can slow your team down.

Trapped knowledge and data silos

This is probably the biggest issue. Zendesk AI mainly learns from your Zendesk Help Center and past tickets. But where does the rest of your company’s knowledge actually live?

If you're like most companies, it's spread out all over the place. You've got technical docs in Confluence, internal guides in Google Docs, project plans in Notion, and quick answers flying around in Slack. Zendesk’s AI can’t access any of that. This means it's working with one hand tied behind its back, leading to weak answers and forcing your agents to constantly search for information outside of Zendesk.

A rigid, one-size-fits-all system

Zendesk gives you some control over your workflows, but at the end of the day, you’re playing in their sandbox. You’re limited to the features and integrations they decide to offer.

What if you want your AI to do something specific, like look up live order info from your Shopify store or create a bug report in a developer's Jira board? You'll probably need to hire developers to build a custom solution, assuming it's even possible. This lack of flexibility means the AI can't automate the unique, complex tasks that could actually save your team a ton of time.

The all-or-nothing approach

To really use Zendesk AI, you have to be completely bought into the Zendesk ecosystem. If your team ever decides to move away from Zendesk, all the time and money you invested in its AI is gone.

On top of that, getting it set up can be a big project, and there's no simple way to see how the AI will actually perform with your real data before you flip the switch. You just have to commit and hope it works out, with no real way to measure the potential return on investment beforehand.

eesel: The flexible Zendesk AI alternative

This is where a tool like eesel AI offers a different path. Instead of locking you into a closed system, eesel acts as a smart layer that works with the tools you already use, including Zendesk. It’s designed to solve the exact problems that native-only AI creates.

This video introduces Zendesk's AI Agents, which can reason, learn, and adapt to resolve sophisticated issues.

Connect all your knowledge, not just your help center

eesel AI directly tackles the siloed knowledge problem. It connects with over 100 sources right away, including Confluence, Google Docs, Notion, and Slack. This means your AI gets a full view of your company's brain, leading to much more accurate and helpful answers for both your customers and your own team.

This infographic illustrates how eesel AI breaks down knowledge silos by connecting with various apps, a key advantage over the more limited Zendesk AI.

Get full control with customizable workflows

With eesel AI, you’re in the driver's seat. You can use a simple prompt editor to tell your AI exactly how to behave, what tone of voice to use, and when to escalate to a human.

Even better, you can set up custom actions without writing a single line of code. You can easily teach your AI agent to look up order data from Shopify, create a ticket in Jira, or get information from an internal database. This level of control lets you automate the kind of real-world workflows that are off-limits with Zendesk's native AI.

This image shows the eesel AI interface, where users can set up custom rules and guardrails, offering more flexibility than the standard Zendesk AI.

Go live in minutes and test it first

Forget about long sales demos and complicated setup processes. eesel AI is self-serve and connects to Zendesk with just one click. You can be up and running in a few minutes.

Best of all, you can try everything risk-free with eesel's simulation mode. You can run the AI on thousands of your past Zendesk tickets to see exactly how it would have replied. This gives you a clear forecast of your potential automation rate and cost savings before you ever let the bot talk to a real customer. It takes all the guesswork out of adopting AI.

A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation mode, which allows you to test its performance with your data before full implementation, a feature lacking in Zendesk AI.

Simple and predictable pricing

Compared to Zendesk’s confusing pricing, eesel AI's plans are clear and simple. All the main tools (AI Agent, Copilot, Triage) are included in every plan. The price is based on a predictable monthly usage tier, and there are no per-resolution fees. You won't get a surprise bill after a busy month. Plus, you can choose a month-to-month plan, so you aren't stuck in a long-term contract.

The eesel AI pricing page, which shows a clear and predictable pricing model, unlike the complex, add-on-based structure of Zendesk AI.

Your Zendesk setup deserves a smarter AI

Zendesk AI can be a decent starting place for teams that live entirely within the Zendesk world and only need basic automation. But its limitations around knowledge sources, flexibility, and pricing can stop you from building a truly great support experience.

A modern support team needs an AI that can work with all of its tools and knowledge, not just what's stored in the helpdesk.

eesel AI is a smart choice for teams that want to get more out of their Zendesk investment. It adds a more powerful, flexible, and user-friendly AI layer that works with your existing setup and unlocks a whole new level of automation.

Ready to see what a truly connected AI can do for your Zendesk support? Simulate eesel AI on your tickets for free or book a quick demo with our team.