Compare
Switch to Cove from Zendesk
Teams answering from the website. Switch to Cove for a ticket portal and SLA clocks on a complete desk — chat, help, CRM, and workflows.
Switch if you are not using a contact center, 1,800 apps, or 80 empty ticket fields, and the job is a branded messenger plus a complete support desk.
Why teams switch from Zendesk
01
Ticketing
States, assignment, macros, snooze, SLA clocks, and a customer portal. Enough process for a small desk.
02
Integrations
A short connect list that works: Slack, Discord, Shopify, Stripe, HubSpot, Linear, channels.
03
Phone
Twilio voice plus widget callbacks. Agents return the call from the thread.
04
Cove Agent
Cove Agent drafts from articles and macros. A person sends.
Matrix
Zendesk and Cove, side by side — what actually ships
Public list prices checked 29 Aug 2026 where we cite a number. Feature rows for Cove are what ships today.
| Zendesk | Cove | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | A suite. Messaging and live chat are products inside a platform. | One script. First chat the same afternoon. |
| Customization | Web Widget can be themed. The platform is the product. | Glass, radius, launcher, copy as first-class studio fields. |
| Inbox | Ticketing: fields, views, SLAs, triggers. Built for volume and process. | Conversations: open, pending, resolved, spam. SLA clocks. Customer portal. |
| Help center | Guide: a documentation product with themes and multiple brands. | One help site per workspace on {slug}.coveinbox.co. |
| Translation | Suite features and apps. | A line under the original in the inbox. |
| Price shape | Per-agent Suite plans. Marketplace apps on top. | Workspace. Mini $39 / Essentials $89 / Plus $219. Unlimited conversations. |
| Saved views | Views and team inboxes at suite depth. | Mine and Unassigned ship. Twenty-four custom views. Not team inboxes. |
| Reporting | Explore, custom reports, and suite dashboards. | Analytics: volume, SLA hit, CSAT, channel mix, teammate load, CSV. No custom report builder. |
| Outbound | Triggers, automations, and campaign products in the suite. | Email a People segment. Sequential send, cap 200. RFC 8058 one-click unsub. Not Series. |
| Sign-in | SAML and suite SSO on higher plans. | Google, Microsoft, magic-link, and 2FA. Not SAML. |
Where Cove wins
Where Cove is the better fit
Setup
You do not configure 80 empty ticket fields to take a website chat.
Customization
The messenger is meant to look like the host site, not a default suite chrome.
Inbox
A conversation, not a ticket object. Resolve ends the visitor thread. The portal lists the same threads.
Help center
Honest and small. Search, collections, leftover questions become chat — on the same desk.
Translation
Ships in the thread you already have.
How to migrate to Cove
Move if the job is a branded website messenger plus a shared inbox, help, and workflows. Start a workspace, paste the snippet, turn on SLA clocks, share the portal URL. You will take the first chat this week on a complete desk.
Switch guide — snippet swap, what maps, CSV and markdown import
Other comparisons
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
SLAs, phone callbacks, and a focused connect list.
Yes. SLA clocks live in Settings → Hours. Customers open /portal/{workspace}. Threads stay in the shared inbox.
A focused connect list lives on integrations. Phone callbacks and Twilio voice ship as a channel.
Yes if the job is a branded website messenger plus a shared inbox, help, and workflows. Switch to Cove. You will not import 80 ticket fields — you will take the first chat on a complete desk.