# Zendesk alternatives: what AI models name instead, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. 504 of the 648 answers in the 3 categories where Zendesk holds a standing named it neither first nor as an alternative; these are the first choices those answers made. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/vendors/zendesk/alternatives/

## Named instead, most often (every category and segment added)

- Tidio: 44
- Freshdesk: 38
- Notion: 38
- Zoho Desk: 35
- Intercom: 34
- Help Scout: 28

## Customer support and helpdesk

**Small business**: 62 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #5 of 10 at 2%).

- Help Scout: first choice in 23 of those 62
- Zoho Desk: first choice in 19 of those 62
- Freshdesk: first choice in 18 of those 62
- HubSpot Service Hub: first choice in 2 of those 62
- Pylon: first choice in 2 of those 62
- Hiver: first choice in 1 of those 62
- TeamSupport: first choice in 1 of those 62
- Tidio: first choice in 1 of those 62

**Mid-market**: 40 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #3 of 14 at 16%).

- Zoho Desk: first choice in 10 of those 40
- Freshdesk: first choice in 6 of those 40
- Pylon: first choice in 2 of those 40
- HappyFox: first choice in 1 of those 40
- Help Scout: first choice in 1 of those 40
- HubSpot Service Hub: first choice in 1 of those 40
- TeamSupport: first choice in 1 of those 40

**Enterprise**: 31 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #1 of 10 at 53%).

- Freshdesk: first choice in 4 of those 31
- HaloITSM: first choice in 1 of those 31
- HappyFox: first choice in 1 of those 31
- Helply: first choice in 1 of those 31
- JitBit Support: first choice in 1 of those 31
- Kustomer: first choice in 1 of those 31
- Salesforce Service Cloud: first choice in 1 of those 31
- Zammad: first choice in 1 of those 31

## Knowledge base and self-service

**Small business**: 70 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #14 of 16 at 0%).

- Notion: first choice in 26 of those 70
- Slite: first choice in 11 of those 70
- Freshdesk: first choice in 5 of those 70
- Help Scout: first choice in 4 of those 70
- Plain: first choice in 3 of those 70
- Slab: first choice in 3 of those 70
- Zoho Desk: first choice in 3 of those 70
- Confluence: first choice in 2 of those 70

**Mid-market**: 58 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #5 of 16 at 6%).

- Notion: first choice in 12 of those 58
- Document360: first choice in 8 of those 58
- Confluence: first choice in 4 of those 58
- BookStack: first choice in 3 of those 58
- Plain: first choice in 3 of those 58
- Helpjuice: first choice in 2 of those 58
- ProProfs Knowledge Base: first choice in 2 of those 58
- Slab: first choice in 2 of those 58

**Enterprise**: 55 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #1 of 11 at 26%).

- Helpjuice: first choice in 6 of those 55
- Confluence: first choice in 5 of those 55
- Document360: first choice in 3 of those 55
- Plain: first choice in 2 of those 55
- Pylon: first choice in 2 of those 55
- Zendesk Guide: first choice in 2 of those 55
- Atlassian Confluence: first choice in 1 of those 55
- Bloomfire: first choice in 1 of those 55

## Chatbots and conversational AI for support

**Small business**: 65 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #11 of 11 at 0%).

- Tidio: first choice in 33 of those 65
- Intercom: first choice in 8 of those 65
- Crisp: first choice in 4 of those 65
- Freshdesk: first choice in 4 of those 65
- Chatbase: first choice in 3 of those 65
- Freshchat: first choice in 3 of those 65
- Helply: first choice in 2 of those 65
- HubSpot Chatbot Builder: first choice in 2 of those 65

**Mid-market**: 59 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #4 of 10 at 2%).

- Intercom: first choice in 13 of those 59
- Tidio: first choice in 10 of those 59
- Zoho Desk: first choice in 3 of those 59
- Pylon: first choice in 2 of those 59
- Chatsy: first choice in 1 of those 59
- Freshdesk: first choice in 1 of those 59
- Freshdesk (Freshworks) — Freddy AI: first choice in 1 of those 59
- Gorgias: first choice in 1 of those 59

**Enterprise**: 64 of 72 answers did not name Zendesk (Zendesk is #4 of 12 at 8%).

- Intercom: first choice in 13 of those 64
- Kore.ai: first choice in 6 of those 64
- Ada: first choice in 4 of those 64
- Zendesk AI: first choice in 4 of those 64
- Cognigy: first choice in 2 of those 64
- Fini: first choice in 2 of those 64
- Rasa: first choice in 2 of those 64
- TeamSupport: first choice in 2 of those 64

Published under CC BY 4.0. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.