Comparison
Coasting vs Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is the cheap one per agent, and their free plan is real: three user licenses with email ticketing. The two things that actually differ are how the bill grows as you hire, and what you have to do to get AI.
The short answer
- Choose Zoho Desk when you already live in Zoho, want a deep ticketing product, and either do not need AI or are happy to bring your own OpenAI key on the cheaper plans.
- Choose Coasting when you want AI answers working on day one without an API key of your own, and one price no matter how many people you add.
How they differ
| Zoho Desk | Coasting | |
|---|---|---|
| Priced per agent? | Yes - every plan is per user, per month | No - one price, 5 agents on $29 |
| Free plan | Yes: three user licenses, email ticketing | Yes: 3 agents, 50 AI answers a month, chat and email |
| AI on the cheaper plans | Generative AI needs your own OpenAI or DeepSeek key | Included - nothing to connect, nothing else to pay |
| AI built in | From their Professional plan up (Zia) | Every plan, including free |
| What the bill does when you hire | Goes up with each person | Unchanged until you pass 5 agents |
| Can you pay today? | Yes | Not yet - paid plans are opening soon; the free plan works now |
Read on zoho.com/desk/pricing, checked 16 September 2026. Zoho shows prices per user in your local currency, so no figure of theirs is quoted here - open their page for the price where you are. Their free plan is described there as "three user licenses".
What Coasting does today
- Email and website chat in one shared inbox, with assignment, tags, private notes and collision detection.
- AI answers written from your own help articles - and you can import your first one from a page on your website.
- A public help centre, saved replies, CSAT surveys, automations and analytics.
What Coasting does not do yet
- The rest of Zoho - Desk sits next to their CRM, Books and the rest. Coasting is a shared inbox with AI, and nothing else.
- Deep ticketing - no SLAs, no approval flows, no multi-department routing.
- Social and messaging channels - no WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram.
- Mobile apps - Coasting runs in a browser.
- Paid plans are not open yet - the free plan works today, but you cannot buy Growth or Scale until checkout opens.
If any of these is a must-have today, Zoho Desk is the better fit right now.
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