Zendesk AI agents and automated resolutions are the usage-based part of Zendesk licensing. Zendesk’s AI agents answer customer requests across messaging, email, web forms and voice. They are not licensed per seat. Zendesk bills them per automated resolution: in its words, “you pay only for customer requests that were successfully resolved by an AI agent, without any escalation to a human agent”.[2] Every Suite and Support plan includes an allowance. Customers can buy more in advance or pay for overage after the fact. The contractual terms are in the AI Agents section of the Service-Specific Terms.[1] Under the Customer Agreement, “Charges” include “charges accepted by Customer when functionality is enabled in-product, including usage-based or pay-as-you-go charges”.[10]
Editions
The Service-Specific Terms define “AI Agents” as Zendesk AI agents, “including the features formerly known as Zendesk Bots, Answer Bot, Article Recommendations, Flow Builder, and Ultimate”.[1] Forethought AI agents, which Zendesk now sells under the name “Forethought AI agents by Zendesk”, fall under the same terms with one difference. A Forethought customer cannot automatically cap consumption of its allowance and is “responsible for monitoring” its usage.[1] Forethought plans include no default resolution allowance, and overage is always allowed on them.[3] The pricing page describes Forethought agents as working “on any platform”, not only on Zendesk.[7]
Metrics
| Unit | Catalog row | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Automated resolution | Automated resolution | A customer request resolved by an AI agent without escalation, verified by an LLM |
| Resolution allowance | Resolution allowance | A currency pool that pays for automated resolutions on the tier model |
| Copilot use | Copilot use | A use of an included generative AI feature by an agent without the Copilot add-on |
| Action credit | Action credit | An action run by Action Builder |
| Generative search | Generative search | An AI summary at the top of help center search results |
| Messaging message | Messaging Integrations message | A message processed through third-party messaging integrations |
Counting / floors
Resolution tiers (from 2026-05-18)
Under the tier model introduced on 2026-05-18, resolutions are grouped into three tiers “that reflect the value the AI agent provided”:[2]
| Tier | Meaning | Draws on allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Assisted escalation | The AI agent helped, for example by collecting data, authenticating or routing, but a human resolved the request | No |
| Contained resolution | The customer did not ask for more help, but the conversation failed LLM verification | No |
| Verified resolution | The customer did not ask for more help and an LLM confirmed the request was resolved | Yes |
Source for the table: [2]. Catalog proof: Only verified resolutions draw on the resolution allowance.
Resolutions are judged when a conversation ends. An email conversation ends 72 hours after the first email. A messaging conversation ends 2 hours after the first message by default, which can be extended to 72 hours. A voice conversation ends at hang-up.[2]
The resolution allowance
On the tier model, the allowance is “a flexible currency pool used to pay for the cost of automated resolutions”. The default allowance included in each plan is a dollar amount per agent seat per month:[3]
| Plan | Zendesk Suite | Zendesk Support |
|---|---|---|
| Team | USD 2 | USD 2 |
| Growth | USD 5 | Not applicable |
| Professional | USD 5 | USD 2 |
| Enterprise | USD 10 | USD 2 |
| Enterprise Plus | USD 10 | Not applicable |
Light agents do not count towards the allowance; only agents with seats do. “The maximum allowance per year for all plans is $5000”. Monthly allowances “do not carry over if they aren’t used”. Zendesk’s worked example is a Suite Enterprise account with 20 seats, which receives USD 200 a month.[3] The allowance dashboard splits the total budget into the included allowance, the committed allowance bought as an add-on, and overage.[3] Catalog proof: Default resolution allowance per agent seat, capped at $5,000 a year.
The earlier platform
Accounts that have not moved to tiers count whole resolutions instead. Suite and Support plans include 5 automated resolutions per agent per month on Team, 10 on Growth and Professional, and 15 on Enterprise, up to a maximum of 10,000 a year. Legacy Support plans include none.[5] On this platform, conversations that fail LLM verification “do not consume an automated resolution”. Extra resolutions can be committed in advance in blocks of 100 or more.[5] The pricing page retrieved on 2026-10-06 still uses this per-resolution presentation. It shows included resolutions “up to 10k per year”, committed resolutions at USD 1.50 each and pay-as-you-go resolutions at USD 2.00 each (Committed automated resolution, Pay-as-you-go automated resolution).[7] Catalog proof: Pre-tier automated resolution allocation per plan (max 10,000 a year).
Usage Period and expiry
The contract terms apply to both platforms. “Unless otherwise agreed”, the Usage Period is annual, aligned with the Subscription Term, and the allowance “will expire annually”. Where the term is shorter than 12 months, the Usage Period is the term. Where the term is not a multiple of 12 months, the first Usage Period is the remainder; for a 30-month term the first period is 6 months.[1] Allowance “has no stored or cash value, is nonrefundable and nontransferable”, and cannot be used after the Service End Date.[1] Catalog proof: Automated Resolution Allowance is annual and expires.
Overage and caps
If the allowance runs out, the customer agrees “to pay for excess Automated Resolutions at the current list price”. These Pay-as-you-go Fees are “charged monthly in arrears, irrespective of Customer’s subscription billing period”. Fees incurred before a replacement Order Form is signed remain payable.[1] Catalog proof: Excess automated resolutions billed monthly in arrears at list price.
Customers have two ways to control this. They can buy more allowance before overage occurs, which Zendesk says “provides a better per-resolution cost than overage billing”.[3] Eligible sales-assisted accounts can do this in Admin Center. Managed and self-service accounts go through sales.[4] They can also cap usage. “Allow overage” is the default. “Don’t allow overage” pauses AI agent functionality at the limit and routes requests to human agents.[3] Under the contract a cap only “will take effect in Customer’s next Monthly Billing Period”, so overage already accrued in the current month is still billed.[1] Some contracts include a “Disable overage” setting that enforces the cap automatically. Reseller-billed accounts have their overage billed under the partner’s pricing.[6] Catalog proof: Usage cap takes effect from the next monthly billing period; program: Resolution allowance and pay-as-you-go overage.
Measurement caveats
The usage dashboard “is not updated in real-time”. Zendesk is not responsible for overage that arises from that delay.[1] An unauthenticated visitor who returns on another channel, browser or device may be counted as a separate interaction. The terms say this can be mitigated with user authentication and “will not form the basis of any claim against Zendesk”.[1] Disputes about resolution usage must be raised before the payment due date.[1] Catalog proof: Unauthenticated visitors may be counted more than once.
Included Copilot uses
Suite and Support Professional and above plans without the Copilot add-on get a pooled allowance of generative AI uses. This covers writing tools, manually generated ticket summaries and merges based on merge suggestions. The pool is five uses per agent per month, capped at 500 a month. When it runs out, the features are “paused until your next billing cycle”, and there is no overage.[8] Intelligent triage classifications do not count against the allowance. Customers with the Copilot add-on have unlimited usage.[8] Catalog proof: Included Copilot uses: 5 per agent per month, pooled, capped at 500.
Action credits
Action Builder actions are metered in Action Credits under terms that mirror the AI agent allowance. Credits are annual, expire, “have no stored or cash value”, and more can be bought “at the then-current list price”.[1] The pricing page lists included volumes of up to 40,000 actions a month (480,000 a year) on Support Team and Suite Team, and up to 100,000 a month (1.2 million a year) on Suite Professional. Additional credits cost USD 200 per 100,000 actions per subscription term (Action credits (100K)). Actions performed by Copilot triggers do not count.[7] Catalog proof: Action Credits are annual and expire.
Generative search and messaging
All Suite and Guide plans include up to 100,000 generative searches a month, and the Generative Search Extender add-on raises the limit.[1][9] Messaging Integrations, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, LINE and Slack, carry a usage limit of 50,000 messages per month per Agent licensed to use them. The limit is cumulative across agents, so five agents give 250,000 messages a month.[1] Sunshine Conversations includes 1,000 monthly active users and 1,000 notifications a month by default. Packs of 2,500 MAU and 25,000 notifications are sold as add-ons.[9] Catalog proof: Generative Search: 100,000 per month, then the Extender add-on; Messaging Integrations: 50,000 messages per licensed Agent per month.
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable. Usage is metered per Zendesk account and Usage Period.
Cloud / BYOL
AI agents run as part of the Zendesk service. The Zendesk AI terms state that some features are built on models trained on Zendesk customer experience data, and others are “powered by third-party models”. Customers can opt out of research and model training by contacting Zendesk support.[1] Generative AI features carry use restrictions. Customers must disclose AI interaction to Agents and End Users, and must not use the features for automated decision-making under GDPR Article 22. Zendesk has no obligation to indemnify IP claims that arise from the customer’s use of generative AI functionality.[1] The retrieved documents contain no bring-your-own-model or bring-your-own-licence option.
Programs
- Resolution allowance and pay-as-you-go overage: included allowance, committed allowance and monthly overage, as described above.
Out of scope
- Per-resolution list prices on the tier model, which the retrieved help center articles describe only as costs drawn from the allowance.
- Zendesk Voice per-minute rates and voice usage credits.
- The full Copilot add-on, covered in Zendesk add-ons: Copilot, WFM and QA.