Is the Zendesk AI chatbot free? A 2025 pricing breakdown

So, you’re looking into Zendesk's AI features and trying to get a straight answer on the cost. It seems simple enough, but you’ve probably noticed the pricing is… confusing. The big question on everyone's mind is: is the Zendesk AI chatbot free?

Are the new AI features free? It says it's included in our plan but then it says it costs per resolution. So which is it?

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The short answer is, not really. While some AI tools are technically included in certain plans, many teams get caught off guard by the mix of add-on fees and per-resolution charges that can make their bills unpredictable and expensive.

This guide will give you a clear, honest breakdown of what Zendesk's AI actually costs. We'll dig into what you get for free (or what they say is free), where the hidden costs are, and why using a more flexible AI that plugs into your existing setup might be a much smarter move for your team and your budget.

What is the Zendesk AI chatbot?

First things first, it helps to know that Zendesk doesn't really have one single "AI chatbot." Instead, their AI is a mix of different tools, mainly their AI agents and Copilot. Think of them as two sides of the same coin, designed to automate support inside the Zendesk platform.

AI Agents are the bots your customers will talk to. They can handle conversations on different channels and try to resolve issues on their own. Copilot is for your internal team; it works alongside your human agents, helping them write replies faster and dig up information without having to search for it.

While some basic AI features come with the pricier Suite plans, the really useful stuff, like the "Advanced AI agents," are paid add-ons. This is usually where the pricing confusion and surprise bills begin.

Zendesk AI chatbot pricing explained

Alright, let's get into the tricky part: the price tag. Zendesk advertises "AI Included" on its Suite plans, but the features that truly move the needle on automation come with extra costs. The pricing has a few layers to it.

Suite plans and included AI allowances

Zendesk's main products are their Suite plans. They bundle different support channels together, and they do include a sprinkle of AI. But the free allowances are tiny.

• Suite Team ($55/agent/month, billed annually): You get "Essential" AI agents with just 5 automated resolutions (ARs) per agent, each month. For any team with a decent ticket volume, that’s gone in a day or two.

• Suite Professional ($115/agent/month, billed annually): This bumps you up to a still-pretty-small 10 ARs per agent, per month.

• Suite Enterprise ($169/agent/month, billed annually): Here you get 15 ARs per agent, per month.

Honestly, these small allowances feel less like a feature and more like a free trial designed to get you hooked on their usage-based pricing.

Add-ons and usage-based costs

If you want the AI to do more than just basic tasks, you’ll need the Advanced AI Agents add-on. This is where the usage-based pricing model kicks in, and it's a major headache for a lot of teams. It makes budgeting nearly impossible.

Here’s how Zendesk charges you for every ticket the AI resolves once you blow past your tiny monthly allowance:

With this model, your bill can swing wildly from one month to the next. Had a busy month and your bot successfully deflected a ton of tickets? Great! But you're also going to get a much larger invoice. It almost feels like you're being penalized for doing a good job with automation. Many users find this model too expensive, especially when the definition of a "resolution" can feel a bit vague.

Limitations of the Zendesk AI chatbot

Beyond the complicated and often expensive pricing, the built-in Zendesk AI has some real-world limitations that can stop your team from getting the automation you were hoping for.

These aren't just minor annoyances; they're genuine roadblocks that teams run into time and again.

Limited knowledge sources

Zendesk’s AI mostly learns from your Zendesk Guide help center. But what about all the incredibly valuable info buried in past tickets, your internal wikis on Confluence, or your how-to guides in Google Docs? Zendesk's AI is blind to all of it. This leads to incomplete answers and forces your agents to jump in on questions the AI should have been able to handle. It's like asking someone for directions, but they’re only allowed to look at one page of the map.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects to multiple knowledge sources, unlike the Zendesk AI chatbot free model.

Rigid and inflexible workflows

Teams often find that Zendesk's bots are just too rigid. You don't get much control over how conversations flow or the logic the bot uses. For example, one user mentioned their bot couldn't tell the difference between "buyers and sellers," even though the answer to a question about shipping costs was completely different for each. This lack of flexibility makes it tough to build rules for different types of customers or to tell the bot how to handle complex situations without getting developers involved.

The Zendesk bot is too rigid. We need something that can handle more complex logic, like differentiating between customer types.

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A "rip and replace" setup

To really get the most out of Zendesk's AI, you pretty much have to go all-in on their ecosystem, especially their messaging widget and specific workflows. That’s not great for teams that already have processes that work for them. You want an AI solution that adapts to you, not the other way around. There's no easy way to just plug in powerful AI without disrupting your entire setup, forcing you deeper into their tech stack.

A better alternative: Integrated AI

Given the headaches with cost and flexibility, many teams are finding a better way forward: using a dedicated AI platform that integrates directly with their existing Zendesk helpdesk. This approach gives you the best of both worlds. You get to keep the helpdesk your team already knows, but you add a layer of powerful, flexible, and more affordable AI on top.

An AI tool built for integration can connect to all your knowledge sources, not just one help center. It gives you full control over the bot's behavior and, best of all, usually comes with transparent, predictable pricing that doesn't punish you for handling more tickets. You can start small, test things out, and scale up your automation when you're ready, all without worrying about a surprise bill.

Why eesel AI is a smarter choice

When it comes to plugging powerful AI into Zendesk, eesel AI was built from the ground up to solve the exact problems we've been talking about. It's designed to be incredibly simple to set up, fully customizable, and have pricing that actually makes sense.

image is broken, please reupload the imageA screenshot of the eesel.ai landing page, an alternative to the Zendesk AI chatbot free model.

Here’s how eesel AI delivers a better experience:

• Go live in minutes, not months: Forget about mandatory sales demos and long, drawn-out setups. You can connect eesel AI to Zendesk with a single click and get everything running yourself. There’s no need to change your existing workflows or move to a new system. It just works.

• Bring all your knowledge together: eesel AI doesn't just skim your help center. It learns from your past tickets, internal docs on Confluence, wikis in Google Docs, and over 100 other places your information might live. This means it gives more accurate and complete answers right from the start, solving the siloed knowledge problem that holds Zendesk's native AI back.

• Test with confidence: Before you unleash the bot on your customers, eesel AI’s simulation mode lets you test it on thousands of your past tickets. This shows you exactly how well it will perform and what your automation rate will look like, so you can go live feeling confident that it will respond just the way you want it to.

• Transparent and predictable pricing: This is probably the biggest difference. eesel AI has simple monthly or annual plans based on how much you use it. There are no per-resolution fees. Your bill is the same every month, so you can actually budget for it. No more sticker shock.

This video from Zendesk introduces their AI agents, giving you a closer look at the features discussed.

Look beyond the 'Zendesk AI chatbot free' label

While Zendesk technically includes some AI features in its plans, the idea of a truly capable and free Zendesk AI chatbot is a bit of a myth. The real power is locked behind expensive add-ons and a confusing per-resolution model that can get costly, fast.

For teams that are serious about using automation to improve their support, a dedicated AI integration like eesel AI offers more power, more control, and a predictable price that grows with your success, not your costs.

Ready to see what a smarter AI integration can do for your Zendesk workspace? Try eesel AI for free.