# LiveAgent vs Zoho Desk for help desk software

LiveAgent and Zoho Desk are closely matched for core workflows. Both support email ticketing, shared inbox, live chat, phone support, and whatsapp support. LiveAgent has confirmed API access, gdpr compliance, and customer portal. Zoho Desk has confirmed free plan.

## Key decision points

- Zoho Desk has confirmed free plan; free plan is not yet confirmed for LiveAgent.
- LiveAgent has confirmed API access; API access is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.
- LiveAgent has confirmed gdpr compliance; gdpr compliance is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.
- LiveAgent has confirmed customer portal; customer portal is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.

## Choose LiveAgent if…

- Choose LiveAgent if confirmed API access matters to you; this detail is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.
- Choose LiveAgent if confirmed gdpr compliance matters to you; this detail is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.
- Choose LiveAgent if confirmed customer portal matters to you; this detail is not yet confirmed for Zoho Desk.

## Choose Zoho Desk if…

- Choose Zoho Desk if confirmed free plan matters to you; this detail is not yet confirmed for LiveAgent.

## Features

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Email ticketing | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Shared inbox | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/)) |
| Live chat | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Phone support | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| WhatsApp support | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Social media support | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Knowledge base | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Customer portal | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/pricing/)) | Not confirmed |
| SLAs | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/)) |
| Ticket routing | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Automation | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/)) |
| Macros | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Not confirmed |
| AI replies | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Not confirmed |
| AI ticket summaries | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/pricing/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Collision detection | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Not confirmed |
| CSAT | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Custom fields | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/features/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Multiple brands | Not confirmed | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |
| Multilingual support | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |

## Integrations

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CRM integrations | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/integrations/)) | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/)) |

## Technical

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| API | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/terms-and-conditions/)) | Not confirmed |
| Webhooks | Not confirmed | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |

## Security and compliance

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GDPR compliance | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Not confirmed |

## Pricing

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free plan | Not confirmed | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage)) |

## Commercial

| Feature | LiveAgent | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Affiliate programme | Yes (verified 4 September 2026; [source](https://www.liveagent.com/)) | Not confirmed |

## Evidence

- **LiveAgent — Email ticketing:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Email, live chat, phone, social media, WhatsApp, Viber, knowledge base — all unified in a single dashboard”
- **Zoho Desk — Email ticketing:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Email Support your customers across multiple email channels.”
- **LiveAgent — Shared inbox:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Email, live chat, phone, social media, WhatsApp, Viber, knowledge base — all unified in a single dashboard”
- **Zoho Desk — Shared inbox:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/. Evidence: “All your support conversations, one tidy inbox Bring customer conversations from every channel, organized in one contextual workspace.”
- **LiveAgent — Live chat:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Live Chat Fastest live chat on the market”
- **Zoho Desk — Live chat:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Business Messaging Embed a live chat widget on your website or app to engage in real-time conversations with logged-in customers and seamlessly convert chats into support tickets.”
- **LiveAgent — Phone support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Call Center Manage and route all your calls”
- **Zoho Desk — Phone support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Telephony Integrate with leading telephony providers and set up a toll-free number to provide inbound and outbound phone support to your customers.”
- **LiveAgent — WhatsApp support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Email, live chat, phone, social media, WhatsApp, Viber, knowledge base — all unified in a single dashboard”
- **Zoho Desk — WhatsApp support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Instant messaging Communicate with customers on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WeChat, and Line from Zoho Desk's Instant Messaging module.”
- **LiveAgent — Social media support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Social Media Chat with followers in LiveAgent”
- **Zoho Desk — Social media support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Social media Respond to brand mentions and support tickets received from Instagram, Facebook, and X using Zoho Desk's social media module.”
- **LiveAgent — Knowledge base:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Knowledge Base Provide self-service options”
- **Zoho Desk — Knowledge base:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Knowledge base Create a repository of help articles, guides, and FAQs so customers can find assistance anytime.”
- **LiveAgent — Customer portal:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/pricing/. Evidence: “Customer Portal Gives you the opportunity to create an unlimited amount of separate customer portals”
- **LiveAgent — SLAs:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Service Level Agreement (SLA) Learn about Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and their role in defining customer expectations and pro...”
- **Zoho Desk — SLAs:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/. Evidence: “Commit Set service level agreements with automated escalations and deadline tracking.”
- **LiveAgent — Ticket routing:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Automated Ticket Distribution Automated ticket distribution in LiveAgent assigns help desk tickets to agents based on predefined r...”
- **Zoho Desk — Ticket routing:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Skill-based assignment Automatically route tickets to agents based on their proficiency and availability.”
- **LiveAgent — Automation:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Automate up to 75% of conversations with built-in AI.”
- **Zoho Desk — Automation:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/. Evidence: “Orchestrate Auto-trigger actions based on events and guide teams through step-by-step resolution processes.”
- **LiveAgent — Macros:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Canned Messages (Macros) Boost efficiency with LiveAgent's canned messages!”
- **LiveAgent — AI replies:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “AI Answer Assistant Instant polished replies”
- **LiveAgent — AI ticket summaries:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/pricing/. Evidence: “AI Ticket Summary catch up”
- **Zoho Desk — AI ticket summaries:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Generative AI (BYOK) Connect your OpenAI (Availability: US, EU, AU, IN, JP, CA, UAE DCs ) or DeepSeek (Availability: CN DC) API key to enable GenAI capabilities such as customer sentiment analysis, contextual ticket summarization, and smart reply suggestions.”
- **LiveAgent — Collision detection:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Agent Collision Detection Prevent multiple agents from working on the same ticket”
- **LiveAgent — CSAT:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Ticket satisfaction survey Collect customer satisfaction ratings after ticket resolution”
- **Zoho Desk — CSAT:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Customer happiness ratings Automate the process of asking customers to rate the service upon ticket closure or after each response.”
- **LiveAgent — Custom fields:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/features/. Evidence: “Custom ticket fields Add custom fields to tickets to capture specific information”
- **Zoho Desk — Custom fields:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Custom lookup fields Establish a one-to-many relationship between data fields across different modules.”
- **Zoho Desk — Multiple brands:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Multi-brand help center Create self-service portals for multiple brands within the same Zoho Desk account.”
- **LiveAgent — Multilingual support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “AI Chatbot Resolves customer inquiries instantly, 24/7, in 100+ languages”
- **Zoho Desk — Multilingual support:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Multilingual help center Publish Knowledge Base articles in over 40 languages.”
- **LiveAgent — CRM integrations:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/integrations/. Evidence: “Agile CRM integrates with LiveAgent to enhance customer service efficiency.”
- **Zoho Desk — CRM integrations:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/. Evidence: “Deeply integrated Integrates with 360+ apps, including the Zoho ecosystem and your existing stack.”
- **LiveAgent — API:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/terms-and-conditions/. Evidence: “LiveAgent API made available via the Site”
- **Zoho Desk — Webhooks:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Webhooks Send automated messages or information to third-party apps every time an event occurs in Zoho Desk.”
- **LiveAgent — GDPR compliance:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “GDPR”
- **Zoho Desk — Free plan:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html?source_from=zdesk_homepage. Evidence: “Zoho Desk Free Edition Easy email ticketing, right out of the box! Zoho Desk's free plan offers three user licenses to help you start small and grow your support team. ₹ 2,600 Free Forever”
- **LiveAgent — Affiliate programme:** Yes. Last verified 4 September 2026. Source: https://www.liveagent.com/. Evidence: “Affiliate Program”