Compare
Kora vs Zendesk
Zendesk is the broad, mature platform for large support operations. Kora is a smaller helpdesk that charges per ticket instead of per agent. Here is where each one fits.
Prices checked 29 Oct 2026
- Kora$180 a month
- Zendesk Support Team$285 a month
- Zendesk Suite Team$825 a month
- Zendesk Suite Professional$1,725 a month
Verdict
Choose Zendesk if
- Large support teams that need phone, live chat and messaging in one suite
- Organisations that need enterprise governance and a large marketplace of integrations
- Teams that want a vendor with a long track record
Choose Kora if
- Teams that want cost to follow tickets, not headcount
- Companies that want everyone, including other departments, in one workspace
- Teams happy with a portal, forms widget and API instead of email, chat and phone channels today
Pricing
What it costs at three team sizes
We assume 120 tickets per agent per month, so 5 agents create 600 tickets, 15 create 1,800 and 50 create 6,000. Kora costs $0.10 per ticket created and nothing per member.
- Kora$60 a month
- Zendesk Support Team$95 a month
- Zendesk Suite Team$275 a month
- Zendesk Suite Professional$575 a month
- Kora$180 a month
- Zendesk Support Team$285 a month
- Zendesk Suite Team$825 a month
- Zendesk Suite Professional$1,725 a month
- Kora$600 a month
- Zendesk Support Team$950 a month
- Zendesk Suite Team$2,750 a month
- Zendesk Suite Professional$5,750 a month
Per-seat pricing is cheaper than Kora once an agent handles more than about 190 tickets a month on the cheapest plan ($19 per agent). Below that, Kora costs less.
Sources: Zendesk pricing (annual billing) (checked 29 Oct 2026)
Features
Side by side
| Feature | Kora | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per ticket created, $0.10 | Per agent per month, annual or monthly billing |
| Entry price | $0.10 per ticket, 1,100 free credits | $19 per agent per month (Support Team, annual) |
| Email ticketing | Planned (paste, portal, forms widget and API today) | Included on Support Team |
| Messaging, live chat and phone | Live chat planned, phone not offered | Suite Team and above (zendesk.com/pricing) |
| AI agent | $0.30 per confirmed resolution, escalations free | $2.00 per automated resolution pay-as-you-go; 5 to 10 per agent included |
| Copilot | Draft reply, 1 credit per draft | $50 per agent per month add-on |
| Help center | Branded help center, 1 credit per published article | 1 help center on Team plans, up to 5 on Suite Professional |
| Light agents | Unlimited members, free | Up to 100 on Suite Professional |
| Storage | 2 credits per 2 GB a month, nothing at zero usage | 10 GB plus per-agent allowance |
Switching
Moving from Zendesk to Kora
1Recreate your structure
Create a Kora workspace and rebuild your categories, priorities and workflow (claim-based, assignment-based or auto-claim). It takes minutes, not a project.
2Move what matters
Open tickets can be recreated by pasting them into Kora, where AI structuring writes the title and description and suggests the category, free of charge. You set the priority. Tickets can also be created through the public API.
3Recreate rules and targets
Re-enter your SLA targets and automation rules in Kora. Teams usually start with fewer rules than they had.
4Run both for a short time
Keep Zendesk for anything Kora does not cover yet, such as email as a channel, and move the rest across.
5Expect a shorter setup
One published estimate puts a small-team Zendesk setup at 2 to 4 weeks (eesel AI, edited 14 Oct 2026). Kora has no DNS, approval or sales call: sign in, set up the workspace and create a ticket.
Where Kora is weaker today
- No email-to-ticket yet (planned)
- No live chat or phone
- No native Slack integration yet (planned)
- A much smaller integration ecosystem
- No enterprise single sign-on for the portal yet
Common questions
Is Kora cheaper than Zendesk?
At 120 tickets per agent per month, yes: 15 agents cost about $180 on Kora against $285 on Zendesk Support Team. Zendesk is cheaper once an agent handles more than about 190 tickets a month on its cheapest plan.
How does Zendesk charge for AI agents?
Per automated resolution: US$2.00 pay-as-you-go on the pricing page, with 5 to 10 resolutions per agent included on some plans. Kora charges $0.30 per confirmed resolution.
Does Kora have phone or live chat?
No. Live chat is planned and phone is not offered. Zendesk includes both on its Suite plans.
Can I move from Zendesk to Kora?
Yes. You recreate categories, SLA targets and rules, and bring open tickets across by pasting them or using the API.
Which should a 50-agent team choose?
If you need phone, chat and enterprise governance, Zendesk. If your work is portal, forms and API driven and you want cost tied to tickets, Kora.
Where do these prices come from?
From zendesk.com/pricing, checked on 29 Oct 2026, annual billing. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.
Related
Try Kora with your own tickets
1,100 free credits. No card, no sales call.