FILE 02
Zendesk AI agents
Verified automated resolution. Not on the pricing page; $1.50 to $2.00 per resolution reported by rivals.
Viewed 2026-11-10. Price text found on the vendor page, 2026-11-10.
Definition, in their words
"Automated Resolutions: Are the unit of measurement used for calculating and billing your account for AI agent usage. Paying per automated resolution means that you pay only for customer requests that were successfully resolved by the AI agent, without any escalation to a human agent."
Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10
Plans and prices
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Support Team | $19 per agent a month, paid yearly | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| Suite Team | $55 per agent a month, paid yearly | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| Suite Professional | $115 per agent a month, paid yearly | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| Copilot add-on | $50 per agent a month, paid yearly | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| Resolution allowance | Account credited with a resolution allowance; only Verified resolutions draw on it (own help centre). Rivals put the Suite Team allowance at $2 per agent seat a month | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| Per-resolution rate | Not in the pricing-page text we could read 2026-11-10. Rivals report about $1.20 to $1.50 committed, $2.00 pay-as-you-go | Intercom, "AI Agent Pricing: Cost of Customer Support AI Agents" (written by Fin's vendor about rivals), 2026-07-08 RIVAL-WRITTEN viewed 2026-11-10 |
Where sources disagree
Per-resolution price: "about $1.20 to $1.50 committed, $2.00 pay-as-you-go" (Intercom, 2026-07-08) vs "$1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go" (Talvo, 2026-10-21). Zendesk's own page lists no per-resolution rate.
Suite Team seat: $55 paid yearly (Zendesk page) vs $69 used in Talvo's calculator (monthly billing, not stated).
We show both sides and do not pick one.
Twelve scenarios, twelve verdicts
BILLED the vendor's text says it bills · NOT BILLED says it does not · VERIFY text is ambiguous, conflicts, or a vendor-side check decides · DOCS SILENT text we read does not say
| Scenario | Verdict | Excerpt | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 Answered, customer confirms it worked | VERIFY | Verified Resolution: "The AI agent successfully resolved the interaction." Only after an LLM "evaluates the text of the conversation to confirm that the customer's request was satisfactorily resolved." Only this tier draws on the allowance. | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S2 Answered, then 24 hours of silence | VERIFY | Contained Resolution: "The AI agent handled the interaction to completion without the customer requesting further assistance. This tier does not count against your resolution allowance." The LLM check did not confirm it. | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S3 Customer says "I still need help" | NOT BILLED | "Without any escalation to a human agent." Escalations do not count against the allowance (Varley). | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S4 Escalated by rule, human resolves | NOT BILLED | Assisted Escalation: "The AI agent contributed to the interaction before a human agent completed the resolution. This tier does not count against your resolution allowance." | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S5 Procedure ends in a hand-off | NOT BILLED | A hand-off is an escalation; "without any escalation to a human agent" (own page). Reading, not a quote about procedures. (our reading) | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S6 Human steps in before the customer asks | NOT BILLED | "The AI agent contributed to the interaction before a human agent completed the resolution." (Assisted escalation tier.) | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S7 Follow-up question, AI answers again | VERIFY | Verification runs when the conversation ends (email 72h after the first email, messaging 2h after the first message by default); a second answer in the same conversation is not discussed as a separate check. (our reading) | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S8 Same issue returns within 72 hours | DOCS SILENT | Not addressed in the sources we read. (our reading) | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S9 Answer was wrong, customer leaves | VERIFY | An LLM reads the transcript at the end; a silent unhappy customer is billed only if the LLM confirms the request was satisfactorily resolved, otherwise it is a free Contained resolution. (our reading) | Zendesk help, "About automated resolution tiers" (updated 2026-09-30) OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S10 AI only looks up or acts | VERIFY | Action Builder is "billed based on consumption exceeding applicable plan allowances" (own page), separate from automated resolutions. | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S11 Spam, test or bot message | DOCS SILENT | Not addressed in the sources we read. (our reading) | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
| S12 Three questions in one chat | DOCS SILENT | Not addressed in the sources we read. (our reading) | Zendesk pricing page OWN DOCS viewed 2026-11-10 |
Version history
- 2026-01 Overage on resolutions begins to bill automatically, replacing the opt-in model (Intercom article). source
- 2026-05 Three-tier resolution model: assisted escalation, contained resolution, verified resolution. Advanced AI add-on absorbed into Suite and Support plans. source
- 2026-05-11 Essential AI agents declared legacy; the tier sunsets 2026-12-31 (Intercom article). source
- 2026-05-18 A conversation must pass an LLM reading of the transcript to count as a verified resolution (Varley). source
- 2026-11-10 Own help-centre tiers article read first-party: Verified/Contained/Assisted tiers confirmed; a conversation ends 72h after the first email, 2h after the first message on messaging (extendable to 72h), at hang-up on voice. source
Same month, 5,000 AI conversations
$0 to $7,002 default mix; change it
Same model, other files
- Help Scout (Envoy / AI Answers): Resolution
- Gorgias AI Agent: Automated interaction
- LiveChat (Text) AI Agent: Resolution
- HubSpot Breeze Customer Agent: Resolved conversation (50 credits)