Zendesk alternative
The Zendesk alternative priced per mailbox.
Zendesk is a full customer service suite built around tickets, priced per agent. Parly keeps your support@ as a shared inbox, priced per mailbox, and lets the team answer customer email from Slack and Microsoft Teams threads.
What a team of 5 pays
Parly
€19/ month
One mailbox, the whole team. Replying to customers from Slack and Teams is included: no add-on, no per-agent seats. Helpdesk mode (€39 in total) only if you want assignment, customer companies and categories.
Zendesk Support Team
€95/ month, billed annually
5 agents × €19. Billed monthly: €125 a month.
Prices as of October 2026, excluding tax, from Zendesk’s pricing page, in the currency it shows. Every sixth, seventh or tenth teammate costs the same on Parly: nothing.
Parly and Zendesk, side by side
| Parly | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per mailbox, unlimited teammates | Per agent, €19 (annual) or €25 (monthly) on Support Team |
| Reply from Slack | Customer email arrives as a thread; Reply there sends real email from your address. Every plan. | Internal notes from Slack; no public replies from Slack. |
| Reply from Microsoft Teams | Customer email arrives as a card in a channel; Reply sends real email from your address. Every plan. | Internal notes and public replies from the Zendesk for Teams app. |
| Reply to customers from Slack or Teams, team of 5 | €19 a month for the whole team, included in the mailbox: no add-on, no per-agent seats. | Public replies from Teams on Support Team, with every replying agent a paid seat: 5 × €19 = €95 a month (annual). From Slack: internal notes only. |
| Existing Microsoft 365 mailbox | Microsoft sign-in, or any mailbox over IMAP. No forwarding, no DNS changes. | Microsoft Exchange connector (sign-in), all plans. |
| EU hosting | EU hosted, every plan. | EU data location on Suite Professional and up (€115 per agent, annual), on request. |
| AI | AI assist (drafts, summaries, translation) included while in preview. | AI agents charged per automated resolution beyond the included quota (€1.50 to €2.00 each); Copilot €50 per agent. |
| Getting started | First month free, no card needed. | 14-day free trial. |
Zendesk details from its own pricing and help pages, October 2026.
Why teams switch
- The bill grows with every agent you add; Parly's does not, because it is priced per mailbox.
- Your team lives in Slack: in Parly the customer email is the Slack thread, and Reply there sends the email. Zendesk's Slack integration adds internal notes only.
- You want EU hosting without moving up to Suite Professional.
- You want a shared inbox, not a ticket system with a portal to set up and maintain.
When Zendesk is the better choice
Large, multi-channel operations: Zendesk has native voice and IVR, messaging, omnichannel routing, a contact-centre add-on and a marketplace with over a thousand apps. Parly does not do phone, and if you need all of that in one suite, Zendesk is built for it.
Questions
- Is Parly cheaper than Zendesk?
- For a team, yes. Zendesk Support Team is €19 per agent per month billed annually (€25 monthly), so 5 agents pay €95 to €125 a month. Parly is €19 per mailbox per month for the whole team, replies from Slack and Teams included. Helpdesk mode (€39 in total) is only needed if you want assignment, customer companies and categories. Prices as of October 2026, excluding tax.
- Can I reply from Slack and Teams like in Zendesk?
- From Slack, Zendesk lets you add internal notes to a ticket but not public replies. In Parly the customer email arrives in Slack as a thread, and pressing Reply there sends a real email from your address. For Microsoft Teams both work: Zendesk's Teams app supports public replies, and Parly posts each email as a card with a Reply button, on every plan.
- Can I move my support@ from Zendesk to Parly?
- Yes. Parly connects to the mailbox itself: sign in with Microsoft for Microsoft 365, or connect any other mailbox over IMAP. Stop forwarding it to Zendesk, and new mail flows into Parly from the moment you connect. Your past Zendesk tickets stay in Zendesk; Parly does not import them.
- Is my data hosted in the EU?
- Yes, on every plan. With Zendesk, choosing the EU as your data location requires Suite Professional or higher (€115 per agent per month, annual) and has to be requested.
- Does Parly do everything Zendesk does?
- No, and it does not try to. Parly is a shared inbox for email, website chat, Slack and Teams, with assignment, SLAs, automation, reports and AI assist. Large, multi-channel operations: Zendesk has native voice and IVR, messaging, omnichannel routing, a contact-centre add-on and a marketplace with over a thousand apps. Parly does not do phone, and if you need all of that in one suite, Zendesk is built for it.
Try Parly instead of Zendesk.
Connect the mailbox you already have and invite the whole team. €19 per mailbox per month, unlimited teammates, first month free.