Zendesk is a San Francisco company that makes customer service software: ticketing, messaging, voice, a help centre and AI agents in one suite. It was founded in Copenhagen in 2007 and moved to the US in 2009. It's also known as Zendesk Suite, Zendesk Support and Zendesk for Customer Service. The same list works if you're replacing Freshdesk, Intercom and Help Scout. The European alternatives that replace it best are Dixa (Denmark) for e-commerce brands with phone and chat support teams, Trengo (Netherlands) for small teams that answer customers on WhatsApp and Zammad (Germany) for teams that want an open-source help desk they control.
European alternatives
11
From 8 countries
Keep data in Europe
6
By default, no setting needed
With a free plan
4
No time limit
Open source
1
Can run on your own servers
Zendesk alternatives from Europe, compared
Best first for someone replacing Zendesk. Headcount and founding year come from LeadWave's database; prices, hosting and G2 ratings from each company's own pages and G2, checked in November 2026.
Customer service platform for phone, email and chat
Puts phone, email, chat and social messages in one queue with a knowledge base and an AI agent. Most of its 850-plus customers are e-commerce brands.
Compared with Zendesk: Phone, email, chat and social in one queue with an AI agent, hosted in Ireland, from €89 per agent. About 35 native integrations, far fewer than Zendesk's.
E-commerce brands with phone and chat support teams
2. Trengo
Team inbox for WhatsApp, email, chat and social
Shared inbox that brings WhatsApp, email, website chat and social messages together, with automation and AI agents. Plans are priced per team, with users and conversations included.
Compared with Zendesk: Built around WhatsApp and social messaging, priced per team (€299 a month includes 10 users) rather than per agent. Lighter ticketing and reporting than Zendesk Suite.
Open-source help desk, self-hosted or hosted in Germany
Open-source ticketing system for email, web forms, chat, SMS and social channels, under the GPL v3 licence. Free to run on your own servers, or rented as a service hosted in Germany.
Compared with Zendesk: Open-source ticketing you can self-host for free or rent hosted in Germany from €7 per agent. G2 reviewers find its reporting thin next to Zendesk's.
Built-in importer moves Zendesk tickets, users and organisations
Teams that want an open-source help desk they control
4. LiveAgent
Help desk with live chat and a built-in call centre
Ticketing, live chat, phone and social inboxes in one app, made by Quality Unit in Bratislava. Customers choose where data is stored: Frankfurt, the US or Singapore.
Compared with Zendesk: Ticketing, live chat, call centre and social inboxes from $15 per agent, with data in Frankfurt if you choose it. G2 reviewers mention a learning curve.
Free help moving tickets and history from Zendesk on paid plans
Small and mid-size teams that also take support calls
5. Crisp
Chat-first shared inbox with a free plan
Website chat, shared email inbox, WhatsApp and social messages, a knowledge base and an AI agent. Self-funded and priced per workspace rather than per agent.
Compared with Zendesk: Chat-first shared inbox with a free plan and flat pricing per workspace from $45 a month, hosted in Amsterdam. Simpler ticketing and reporting than Zendesk.
Headquarters
Nantes, France
Founded
2015
Your data
In Europe
Price
From $45/workspace/month
Free plan
Yes
Best for
Startups and small teams that support customers by chat
6. Lime Connect (formerly Userlike)
Website chat and WhatsApp messaging, hosted in Germany
Customer messaging for website chat, WhatsApp, email and social channels, with AI agents. Founded as Userlike in Cologne and part of Sweden's Lime Technologies since 2021.
Compared with Zendesk: Messaging across website chat, WhatsApp and email with servers in Germany, now owned by Sweden's Lime Technologies. Pro from €87 a month for three seats; not a full ticketing suite.
Website chat with AI replies and an omnichannel inbox, from Text S.A. of Wrocław, which also makes the HelpDesk ticketing app. Customers contract with its US subsidiary, Text, Inc.
Compared with Zendesk: Live chat from Wrocław with a sister ticketing app, HelpDesk, from $19 per user. Data sits in Google Cloud in the US and Frankfurt; contracts are with its US subsidiary.
Online stores that sell and support through website chat
8. SuperOffice
Sales, marketing and service CRM from Norway
CRM from Oslo whose Service module adds ticketing from email, chat, calls and web forms, SLA rules and an FAQ knowledge base, alongside sales and marketing.
Compared with Zendesk: Ticketing, SLAs and an FAQ base inside SuperOffice's CRM, hosted in Norway. Suits B2B firms that want sales and service in one system rather than a standalone help desk.
B2B companies wanting sales, marketing and service together
9. TOPdesk
Service desk for internal IT and facilities teams
Service management software for internal IT and facilities teams, with incident management and a self-service portal. Sold as SaaS or as a virtual appliance you run on your own infrastructure.
Compared with Zendesk: Better fit if Zendesk handles your internal IT or facilities requests: a Delft service desk from £51 per agent that can also run on your own infrastructure.
Ticketing and service management, on-premise or managed
Long-standing ticketing and service management system for customer service, IT and security teams. Now run by EasyVista-OTRS GmbH, part of France's EasyVista. Prices on request.
Compared with Zendesk: German ticketing and service management system, now part of France's EasyVista, available on-premise or as a managed service. Aimed at larger organisations; prices on request.
Headquarters
Oberursel, Germany
Owned by
EasyVista (France)
Your data
Self-hosted
Price
On request
Free plan
No
Best for
Larger organisations with complex ticket processes
11. Smartsupp
Live chat and AI agent for online shops
Website chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram in one inbox, with an AI agent and visitor tracking. Built for small online shops; a free plan covers one operator.
Compared with Zendesk: Website chat, WhatsApp and social messages with an AI agent for small online shops, free for one operator. Built for chat-led sales and support, not large ticket queues.
Often called European alternatives to Zendesk, but run from outside Europe today, so they aren't in the ranking above.
Deskpro
Help desk available as cloud or on-premise
Ticketing, chat, knowledge base and reporting, as a cloud service or on your own servers. Founded in London in 2001; its global headquarters is now in Austin, Texas.
Compared with Zendesk: Founded in London in 2001, now headquartered in Austin, Texas. Ticketing, chat and knowledge base from $39 per agent (five-agent minimum), and it can run on your own servers.
Headquarters
Austin, United States
Founded
2001
Employees
35
Your data
Self-hosted
Price
From $39/agent/month
Free plan
No
Best for
Organisations that need an on-premise help desk
Gorgias
Help desk for Shopify and e-commerce stores
E-commerce help desk with order data from Shopify and other platforms, an AI agent and ticket-volume pricing. Founded in Paris in 2015; now run from San Francisco as Gorgias Inc.
Compared with Zendesk: Founded in Paris in 2015, now run from San Francisco. Shopify-focused help desk priced by ticket volume from $40 a month instead of per agent.
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States
Founded
2015
Employees
526
Funding raised
$42.4M
Your data
Not stated
Price
From $40/account/month
Free plan
No
Best for
Shopify stores that want order data in tickets
Front
Shared inbox for customer-facing teams
Shared email and messaging inbox with assignments, internal comments, rules and analytics. Founded in Paris in 2013 by Mathilde Collin and Laurent Perrin; headquartered in San Francisco.
Compared with Zendesk: Founded in Paris in 2013, now headquartered in San Francisco. Shared email inbox for team collaboration, from $25 per seat on annual billing for up to 10 seats.
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States
Founded
2013
Employees
447
Funding raised
$138.8M
Your data
Not stated
Price
From $25/seat/month, billed yearly
Free plan
No
Best for
B2B teams that handle customers mainly by email
eDesk
Help desk for marketplace and webshop sellers
Help desk that pulls messages from Amazon, eBay and other marketplaces, webshops and social channels into one inbox with order data. Started in Ireland as xSellco; global headquarters in New York.
Compared with Zendesk: Started in Ireland as xSellco, now headquartered in New York. Help desk for Amazon, eBay and webshop sellers, from $45 per agent on annual billing.
Zendesk is headquartered in San Francisco, United States. These are the reasons buyers in Europe most often give for looking elsewhere:
Zendesk is a US company, owned since 2022 by the private equity firms Hellman & Friedman and Permira, so US law, including the CLOUD Act, applies to it even when data is stored in Europe.
Hosting data in the EEA or the UK needs the Data Center Location add-on. It is free on Suite Professional and higher plans but has to be switched on, and some data types can only be hosted in certain regions.
Teams that mainly answer chat or WhatsApp messages may not need a full suite; several European tools are priced per team or workspace, and some are open source.
How this list was made
A company counts as European if it's headquartered in Europe: the EU, the EEA, Switzerland, the UK, or elsewhere in geographic Europe, never Russia or Belarus. Headquarters means where it's run from, not a registered office. Companies founded in Europe but headquartered elsewhere today are listed separately, and a non-European owner is always named.
Each company was checked against its own legal notice, pricing page and data-processing terms, and its G2 page. Headcount, funding and founding year come from LeadWave's database of SaaS companies. No company paid to be listed or ranked.
It depends on what you use Zendesk for. Dixa (Denmark) for e-commerce brands with phone and chat support teams, Trengo (Netherlands) for small teams that answer customers on WhatsApp and Zammad (Germany) for teams that want an open-source help desk they control. All 11 on this page are headquartered in Europe; the table compares their hosting, prices and G2 ratings.
Zammad, Crisp, Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) and Smartsupp have a free plan with no time limit.
Dixa, Trengo, Zammad, Crisp, Lime Connect (formerly Userlike) and SuperOffice store customer data in Europe by default. LiveAgent lets you choose a European data region.
Yes: Zammad. Open-source tools can also be self-hosted on your own servers in Europe.
Zammad and LiveAgent document an import from Zendesk; the details are under each one below.
Deskpro has European roots but is headquartered in Austin, United States today. That's why it isn't in the ranking above.
Gorgias has European roots but is headquartered in San Francisco, United States today. That's why it isn't in the ranking above.
Front has European roots but is headquartered in San Francisco, United States today. That's why it isn't in the ranking above.
eDesk has European roots but is headquartered in New York, United States today. That's why it isn't in the ranking above.
It has European roots. Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour and Morten Primdahl founded Zendesk in Copenhagen in 2007. It moved to Boston in 2009 and then to San Francisco, where it is headquartered today, and it has been owned by Hellman & Friedman and Permira since 2022.
It can. With the Data Center Location add-on, customers choose hosting in the US, the EEA, the UK, Japan or Australia. The add-on is free on Suite Professional and higher but must be activated, and some data types have regional limits. Zendesk remains a US company.
No. Intercom was started in 2011 by four Irish founders and keeps a large office in Dublin, but it is headquartered in San Francisco. Freshdesk's maker, Freshworks, began in Chennai and is based in San Mateo, California, and Help Scout is based in Boston.
