Zendesk vs Aidly: Which B2C Email Support Tool is Right for You?

You're shopping for customer support software, and Zendesk keeps appearing in your search results. It's the 800-pound gorilla of helpdesk software, trusted by over 100,000 companies worldwide.

But here's the question: Is Zendesk the right choice for your B2C support team in 2026?

If you're a growing e-commerce brand, SaaS company, or subscription service handling 500-5,000 customer emails per month, the answer might surprise you. Zendesk was built for enterprises in 2007—before AI, before modern email workflows, and before founders cared about keeping software costs under control.

Let's compare Zendesk with Aidly, a modern alternative built specifically for B2C email support teams. I'll show you the real differences in pricing, features, AI capabilities, and which tool actually fits your business.

The Quick Answer: Who Wins?

Choose Zendesk if:

• You're an enterprise with 50+ support agents
• You need omnichannel support (phone, chat, email, social)
• You have a dedicated IT team for setup and maintenance
• Budget isn't your primary concern
• You need complex workflow automations and integrations

Choose Aidly if:

• You're a growing B2C team (1-20 people)
• Email is your primary support channel
• You want AI to draft responses, not just route tickets
• You need setup in minutes, not weeks
• You want predictable, affordable pricing ($208/mo vs $55-150/agent/month)
• You want to maximize the volume of emails sent without sacrificing response quality

Still not sure? Let's dive into the details.

Pricing Breakdown: The Real Cost Comparison

Zendesk Pricing (2026)

Zendesk uses per-agent pricing, which scales quickly:

Plan	Price per Agent/Month	What You Get
Suite Team	$55	Email, basic ticketing, help center
Suite Growth	$89	+ AI routing, basic automation
Suite Professional	$115	+ Custom fields, SLA management
Suite Enterprise	Custom (typically $150-200+)	+ Advanced AI, custom roles

Hidden costs:

• AI features? That's an add-on ($50-100/agent/month for Advanced AI)
• Premium integrations? Extra fees
• Phone support? Add-on
• Implementation? Often requires consulting ($2,000-10,000)

Real-world example: A team of 5 agents on Suite Professional with AI:

• Base: $115 × 5 = $575/month
• AI add-on: $75 × 5 = $375/month
• Total: $950/month ($11,400/year)

As you grow to 10 agents: $1,900/month ($22,800/year)

Aidly Pricing (2026)

Aidly offers simple, transparent pricing:

Plan	Price per Month	What You Get
Free	$0	5 emails to try, AI included, no credit card
Plus	$208/mo annual ($249/mo monthly)	5,000 emails/mo, AI included (Claude), self-learning
Pro	$166/mo annual ($199/mo monthly)	1,000 emails/mo, bring your own API key

What's included in all paid plans:

• ✅ AI response drafting (Claude AI for Plus, your choice for Pro)
• ✅ Unlimited support agents
• ✅ All features unlocked
• ✅ Self-learning system
• ✅ Setup in 2 minutes

Real-world example (Plus plan): Same team of 5 agents handling 4,000 emails/month:

• Total: $208/month ($2,499/year with annual billing)

Real-world example (Pro plan with BYOK): Team of 5 agents handling 1,000 emails/month:

• Total: $166/month ($1,999/year) + your AI API costs

The Math: Aidly Saves 75-80% in Year 1

Scenario	Zendesk (Pro + AI)	Aidly (Starter)	Savings
5 agents, 4K emails/mo	$950/mo ($11,400/yr)	$208/mo ($2,496/yr)	$8,904/year (78%)
10 agents, 8K emails/mo	$1,900/mo ($22,800/yr)	$408/mo ($4,896/yr)	$17,904/year (78.5%)

Feature Comparison: What You Actually Get

AI Capabilities

Zendesk:

• AI routing and categorization (Suite Growth+)
• Intent detection and auto-tagging
• Basic canned response suggestions
• Advanced AI is an expensive add-on ($50-100/agent)
• No self-learning from your responses
• Requires manual training and rule creation

Aidly:

• AI drafts full email responses (included)
• Learns from your cases
• Uses Claude AI (best-in-class for writing)
• Automatic categorization and priority scoring
• 2 minutes setup required (setting up email routing, email signature and connect your knowledge base)

Winner: Aidly for AI-first teams. Zendesk's AI is an afterthought; Aidly was built around it.

Email Management

Zendesk:

• Shared inbox with ticket view
• Email threading and history
• Private notes and tags
• SLA tracking and automation
• Macros (canned responses)
• Custom ticket fields
• Multi-brand support

Aidly:

• Shared inbox optimized for speed
• Email threading with conversation context
• Automatic categorization
• AI-generated response drafts
• Self-learning response suggestions
• Simple, clutter-free interface

Winner: Zendesk for complexity, Aidly for speed. If you want 50+ custom fields and complex workflows, choose Zendesk. If you want to reply to customers faster, choose Aidly.

Setup Time

Zendesk:

• Setup: 2-5 days (sometimes weeks with customization)
• Requires IT involvement for email forwarding
• Extensive configuration: triggers, automations, macros
• Agent training required (steep learning curve)
• Often needs consulting help ($2K-10K)

Aidly:

• Setup: 2 minutes
• Forward your support email, done
• AI starts drafting immediately
• Agent onboarding: 5 minutes
• No training required—intuitive interface

Winner: Aidly by a landslide. Zendesk's complexity is both its strength and weakness.

Reporting & Analytics

Zendesk:

• Comprehensive analytics dashboard
• Custom reports with Explore (add-on on lower tiers)
• SLA tracking and compliance
• Agent performance metrics
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys
• Deep integrations with BI tools

Aidly:

• Core metrics dashboard (response time, resolution rate)
• AI performance tracking (acceptance rate)
• Agent productivity stats
• Clean, focused reporting (no analysis paralysis)

Winner: Zendesk for enterprise reporting. If you need 100+ custom reports, Zendesk wins. For most teams, Aidly's focused metrics are more actionable.

Integrations

Zendesk:

• 1,000+ integrations in marketplace
• Shopify, Salesforce, Slack, Jira, etc.
• Custom app framework
• API access on all plans
• Webhooks and automation

Aidly:

• Core integrations (Slack, email forwarding)
• Focus on email-first workflow

Winner: Zendesk for integration breadth. If you need native connections to 50+ tools, Zendesk is stronger.

The User Experience: Day-to-Day Reality

What It's Like Using Zendesk

The Good:

• Powerful once you learn it
• Handles any workflow you can imagine
• Trusted by major brands
• Scales to thousands of agents

The Bad:

• Cluttered interface with too many options
• Agents need 2-3 days of training
• Creating macros and automations takes time
• AI feels bolted-on, not native
• Constant upsells for features
• Legacy UI shows its age

What It's Like Using Aidly

The Good:

• Clean, modern interface
• AI draft appears instantly
• Agents productive in 5 minutes
• One-click to send or edit AI drafts
• No decision fatigue (focused on email)

The Bad:

• Fewer integrations than Zendesk
• Email-only (no phone/chat)
• Smaller feature set (by design)
• Newer platform (less proven at enterprise scale)

Real-World Use Cases

When Zendesk Makes Sense

1. Large enterprise with complex needs

• Company: 50+ support agents across multiple regions
• Channels: Email, phone, chat, social media
• Custom workflows with 20+ ticket fields
• Budget: $30K-100K/year for support software
• Outcome: Zendesk handles the complexity, integrates with enterprise stack

2. Omnichannel support team

• Company: Growing tech company with diverse support channels
• Needs: Unified inbox for email, chat, phone, Twitter, Facebook
• Integration: Deep CRM integration with Salesforce
• Outcome: Zendesk's omnichannel strength shines

When Aidly Makes Sense

1. B2C e-commerce brand (500-5,000 emails/month)

• Company: 3-person support team for online store
• Primary channel: Email
• Pain point: Writing the same responses repeatedly
• Budget: Under $500/month
• Outcome: AI-generated drafts reduce response time from 8 minutes to 2 minutes per ticket

2. Growing SaaS startup (1,000-3,000 emails/month)

• Company: 5-person team, rapid growth
• Pain point: Response time increasing with volume
• Need: AI that learns their product knowledge
• Budget: Cost-conscious, $200-400/month
• Outcome: Team handles growing email volume without adding headcount

3. Subscription box company (2,000 emails/month)

• Company: 2-person support team handling shipping, cancellations, billing
• Pain point: Repetitive questions, slow manual responses
• Need: Fast setup, immediate productivity
• Outcome: Setup in 2 minutes, AI generates consistent responses for common inquiries

Migration: Switching from Zendesk to Aidly

How long does it take? 1-2 hours for most teams.

Steps:

1. Forward your support email to Aidly (5 minutes)
2. Import your existing macros as templates (30 minutes)
3. Train agents on new interface (15 minutes per agent)
4. Let AI learn from your first 50 responses (1-2 days)
5. Cancel Zendesk (save $500-1,500/month)

What you'll lose:

• Complex ticket fields and workflows
• Phone/chat support capabilities
• Extensive reporting and dashboards
• 1,000+ native integrations

What you'll gain:

• 70-80% cost savings
• Faster response times (AI drafts)
• Simpler, less stressful agent experience
• Self-improving AI system
• Predictable pricing as you grow

The Honest Truth: Which Tool Wins?

There's no universal winner. The best tool depends on your team size, channel mix, budget, and complexity needs.

Zendesk Wins If:

• You have 20+ support agents
• You need phone, chat, email, and social in one platform
• You have complex, enterprise-grade workflow requirements
• You have a dedicated IT/operations team to manage the platform
• Budget is less important than feature breadth
• You're already invested in Zendesk's ecosystem

Aidly Wins If:

• You're a small-to-medium team (1-20 agents)
• Email is your primary support channel
• You want AI to do the heavy lifting, not just route tickets
• You need to be productive today, not next month
• You want to save $8,000-20,000/year on support
• You value simplicity and speed over feature complexity

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can Aidly really replace Zendesk for our team? If you're primarily email-focused and under 20 agents, yes. If you need omnichannel or have 50+ agents, Zendesk might still be better.

Q: Is Aidly's AI better than Zendesk's AI? For email drafting, yes. Aidly uses Claude AI and learns from your responses. Zendesk's AI focuses on routing and categorization, not writing full responses.

Q: What happens when we outgrow Aidly? Aidly scales to handle high email volumes efficiently. If you exceed 5,000 emails/month on Plus, we offer custom enterprise pricing with higher limits and dedicated support. Most teams find that Aidly's unlimited agents model scales better than Zendesk's per-seat pricing as you grow.

Q: Can we try Aidly before committing? Yes. Aidly offers 5 free emails to test the AI. No credit card required. See for yourself how the AI drafts compare to your current workflow.

Q: Does Aidly integrate with Shopify/Salesforce/etc? Currently, Aidly focuses on email-first workflow with Slack integration and API access.

The Bottom Line

Zendesk is the Swiss Army knife of customer support—it does everything, but it's complex and expensive. It's the right choice for large enterprises that need omnichannel support and have the resources to manage a powerful but complicated platform.

Aidly is the laser-focused tool for B2C email support—it does one thing exceptionally well (AI-powered email) at a fraction of the cost. It's the right choice for growing teams that want to reply faster, save money, and avoid the complexity tax.

The question isn't "which is better?" It's "which fits your team?"

If you're a small support team drowning in 3,000 emails per month, paying $950/month for Zendesk when you only use 20% of its features doesn't make sense. You're paying for a Ferrari when you need a reliable, fast car.

Try Aidly free (5 emails, no credit card). See if the AI can draft responses as well as your best support agent. If it can, you just found a way to save $8,000-20,000/year while making your team faster and less stressed.

---

Ready to switch? Start your free trial →

Still using Zendesk? Compare detailed pricing →