Choose Zendesk if
You need a help desk today, your support team is several full-time agents, and you want an established platform with a wide choice of add-on apps.
Centilio CareSafe bloom
CENTILIO CARE / SERVE
Looking for help desk software like Zendesk? Here is the honest comparison.
Zendesk is an established customer service platform and it is available today; Care is not built yet. If you are a small business looking for a Zendesk alternative, the difference in design is the shape of the price and what sits around the ticket: Care is proposed at one price for the business, and it shares its customer record and chat with the rest of Centilio.
not shipped · wave 3facts as of research in 2026per agent vs per businessno prices quoted
Product design preview · Care has not shipped. All features, screens and prices are proposals.
Care has not shipped yet.
Where Care stands
Care is designed, not shipped.
Everything on this comparison — the features, the screens, the prices — describes Centilio Care as designed. There is no app and no beta yet, and no launch date. Join the waitlist and you will hear first.
Side by side
Centilio Care and Zendesk, side by side.
Stage, category, approach and pricing model, as of research in 2026. Check Zendesk’s own pages for today’s plans and prices; we do not quote them.
| Centilio Care | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | Designed, not shipped · wave 3 | Available |
| Category | Help desk inside a suite of small-business tools | Customer service platform |
| Approach | One inbox for email, chat and forms; Celia drafts, a person sends | A dedicated customer service product with its own marketplace of apps |
| Customer record | Shared with Centilio Relate in the same login | Kept in Zendesk, connected to other tools through apps and integrations |
| Pricing model | Per business, proposed; every team member included | Per agent, on Support and Suite plans |
Choosing
Where each one fits.
Choose Centilio Care if
You can wait for it, the people answering are a small team with other jobs, and you want the help desk, customer record and website chat in one login at one price for the business.
Pricing model
The difference is who pays for a seat.
Zendesk’s Support and Suite plans are priced per agent, as of research in 2026. Care is proposed per business, with every team member included.
Per agent is a fair model for a support team where everyone answering is a full-time agent. It is less comfortable for a small business where the owner, a part-timer and the person in the warehouse each answer a few tickets a week. Neither model is wrong; pick the one that matches how your team answers.
Switching path
Switching later, without a bad week.
Looking for a Zendesk alternative is the easy part; the move is what decides it.
- Export contacts, articles and past tickets from Zendesk with its own export tools
- Import them into Care — planned for launch, with the exact steps published first
- Point a second address at Care and run both for two weeks
- Move your main support address when the team trusts the new queue
- Keep the old tool read-only until its subscription ends
Questions
About Zendesk and Care.
Is Care a good Zendesk alternative?
For a small business that wants its help desk, customer record and website chat in one login, at one price for the business, that is what Care is designed for. Care is not built yet, so if you need a help desk this month, Zendesk is available and Care is not.
Is Zendesk priced per agent?
As of research in 2026, Zendesk’s Support and Suite plans are priced per agent. Check Zendesk’s own pricing page for current plans and figures.
Will Care do everything Zendesk does?
No, and it is not designed to. Care is designed around one inbox for email, chat and forms, a knowledge base, drafted replies and the reports a small team needs. Larger contact-centre needs are better served by a dedicated platform.
Can I move from Zendesk to Care?
The plan is an import of contacts, articles and past tickets from a CSV export, with both tools running side by side until you move your support address. The exact steps will be published before launch.
Does Care use AI the way Zendesk does?
Care has Celia, who drafts replies from your own articles and routes tickets; a person sends by default. For what Zendesk includes on each plan, see Zendesk’s own pages.
When can I try Care?
Not yet. Care is in the third wave of Centilio tools and has no launch date. The waitlist hears first.
Be told when Care opens.
Care is in the third wave of Centilio tools. Join the waitlist and you will hear first — with the final plans, the import steps for your current help desk and an honest list of what is in the first release.