Palby AI Agent

Zoho Desk alternative

Zoho Desk alternative: answer and book your WhatsApp leads on the number you already use

Zoho Desk is a help desk that turns email, forms, calls and messages into tickets. Palby AI Agent works on WhatsApp. It answers your leads in your words, books the good ones and passes the hot ones to your team.

Book a walkthrough

30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.

Do you need a help desk, or WhatsApp leads answered?

Stay with Zoho Desk if your support runs on tickets from email, forms and calls, with escalation rules and other Zoho apps beside it. Pick Palby AI Agent if your enquiries arrive on WhatsApp and you want each one answered and booked before it goes cold.

Who should pick which

Stay with Zoho Desk if

  • Your customers email you and expect a ticket number
  • You need escalation rules, departments and phone support
  • You already run other Zoho apps and want support beside them
  • Three people or fewer can work on its free edition

Pick Palby AI Agent if

  • Your leads write on WhatsApp with the same few questions
  • You want the reply in your words, from your own files and chats
  • You want the agent to book the slot and pass the hot ones to a person

Side by side

Compared onPalby AI AgentZoho DeskSource
PriceNo public price yet. You get one on the walkthroughFour paid plans per user a month, billed yearly, and a free edition for 3 users. See its page for your currencyZoho Desk pricing
To startBook a 30-minute walkthroughA 15-day trial, then the account drops to the free planZoho Desk pricing
How work arrivesChats in a team inbox, each with its contact card and stageTickets from email, web forms, social media and callsZoho Desk pricing
WhatsAppYour own number, linked by scanning a code, through Green API. Not the WhatsApp Business APIWhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, WeChat and Line in its messaging module, from the Standard planZoho Desk pricing
The AIAn agent that answers from your files, website and past chats, and books the slotAI agents from Express, on your own AI key or Zoho's model. Zia's AI is in ProfessionalZoho Desk pricing
Hand-overTopics you choose go to a person, by a WhatsApp alert or a Lark groupEscalation rules move tickets up an escalation matrixZoho Desk pricing
As of November 2026. Zoho Desk's details are from its own pages, read on 1 November 2026. Plans and prices change, so check them before you pay.

Where Zoho Desk fits better

Zoho Desk is a full help desk. Email, web forms, social media and calls become tickets, with escalation rules, departments and round-robin assignment. From the Standard plan, its messaging module adds WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, WeChat and Line. AI agents start on Express, and Zia, its built-in AI, comes in on Professional. Its help centre publishes in over 40 languages, and three people can start on the free edition. If your support lives in tickets, it fits better.

The three differences that matter

Answer the chat, not a ticket

Every WhatsApp chat lands in a team inbox, with the contact card and stage beside it. Assign chats by hand, in turn, or to whoever has the fewest open. A Needs you filter keeps the waiting ones in view.

Book the good ones

When someone wants a time, the agent offers the free slots on your booking page and books one, with the Google Calendar invite. It can move or cancel it in the same chat.

Keep your number as it is

Open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Linked devices and scan the code. The link runs through Green API, the way WhatsApp Web links. You enter its instance id and token once, then scan. WhatsApp keeps working on your phone, on the same number.

Moving over from Zoho Desk

  1. Book a 30-minute walkthrough. You'll see the agent answer a test chat, and get a price for your team before you link a number.
  2. Link your number by scanning the code under Linked devices. WhatsApp keeps working on your phone.
  3. Upload your FAQs as a PDF, text or CSV file, add your website and list the topics that go to a person. There's no import from Zoho Desk.

Questions

Let the agent take the first reply on your own number.

Start with your FAQs, your website and your booking page.

Book a walkthrough

30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.

Sources

Every page read on 1 November 2026. Nothing about a competitor on these pages comes from anywhere else.