Solves vs Zendesk, without the spin.
Zendesk is a broad, omnichannel support platform built for scale. Solves is an email-first, multi-brand ticketing tool for small UK teams, priced in GBP team bands rather than per agent. This page sets the two side by side and says plainly where each one wins, so you can pick the right tool, not just the loudest one.
Comparison verified on 13 June 2026. We do not claim feature parity with Zendesk.
The one-screen verdict
Who each tool is for
Use Zendesk if you run a larger or growing support operation across many channels, want deep automation and a big app marketplace, and have the budget and people to operate a full platform. Use Solves if a small UK team answers support email for one or several brands and wants owned tickets, ownership, SLAs and clear reporting from one login, without per-agent pricing.
Both tools turn incoming messages into trackable work with owners, states and history. The difference is scope. Zendesk is an omnichannel suite: email, chat, phone, social, a help centre, a developer platform and a large marketplace, sold per agent. Solves is deliberately narrower. It does support email very well, adds true multi-brand from a single login, and stops there on purpose so a small team is not paying for, or drowning in, channels it never uses.
Be clear on one point up front: Solves is at pilot stage and email-first. It does not do live chat, phone, social inboxes, a customer portal, a knowledge base or a developer API. Zendesk does all of those. If any of them is essential to how you support customers, Zendesk is the honest answer and the rest of this page will help you confirm that quickly.
Honest comparison
Solves vs Zendesk at a glance
Where the two differ on the things small UK teams ask about most. Competitor figures from published Zendesk pricing, verified on the date shown.
| Solves | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | GBP team bands for the whole team, ex VAT | Per agent, per month |
| Entry price | Starter GBP 29, Team GBP 79, Growth GBP 149, Agency/MSP GBP 299 | Support Team GBP 15, Suite Team GBP 45, Suite Professional GBP 89 per agent (UK, yearly) |
| Free entry | Starter GBP 29, paid from the start | No free plan, 14-day trial only |
| Multi-brand from one login | Core to the product, included | Available, weighted to higher tiers |
| SLA timers | First-response and resolution, per-brand targets, breaching view | Configurable SLA policies across plans |
| Channels | Email only, by design | Email, chat, phone, social, omnichannel |
| App marketplace and API | Not offered at pilot stage | Large marketplace and developer platform |
| Best suited to | Small UK email-first teams, one or several brands | Larger, multichannel support operations at scale |
Competitor facts last verified 13 June 2026. Re-check the vendor's current plans before deciding.
Zendesk pricing is a dated snapshot and may change, so check the current Zendesk pricing page before deciding. Solves does not claim feature parity with Zendesk and is not the better choice for an enterprise contact centre.
Where Zendesk wins
When Zendesk is the better fit
We would rather you choose well than choose us. There are clear cases where Zendesk is the stronger product, and you should pick it without hesitation.
Omnichannel support
If customers reach you by live chat, phone, social media and messaging as well as email, Zendesk handles all of those in one suite. Solves is email-first and does not run chat, voice or social inboxes, so if multichannel is core to your service, Zendesk covers ground Solves deliberately does not.
Scale and automation
Large teams with high ticket volumes lean on automation: routing rules, triggers, macros at scale, workforce management and rich analytics. Zendesk is built for that depth. Solves ships SLA timers, saved queue views and reports, but it does not have an automations or routing-rules engine, so a big operation that depends on heavy automation will outgrow it.
Marketplace and integrations
Zendesk has a large app marketplace and a developer platform, so connecting your CRM, ecommerce stack and internal tools is usually a matter of installing an app. Solves keeps a small, honest set of integrations and does not yet offer a public API. If you need to wire support into a wider tooling estate today, Zendesk has the head start.
Where Solves wins
When Solves is the better fit
For a small UK team whose support really is mostly email across one or several brands, the breadth of a full suite can be a cost rather than a benefit. This is where Solves is built to win.
Email-first simplicity
Solves does one job and does it cleanly. Shared support inboxes become owned tickets with states (New, Open, Waiting for Customer, Snoozed, Resolved, Closed), priority, tags, saved replies, and a hard separation between public replies and private notes. There are no channels to configure that you will never use, so a small team can be working the queue properly on day one.
Multi-brand from one login
Multi-brand is core to Solves, not a higher-tier add-on. Run several customer-facing brands from a single login and one unified queue, each with its own mailbox, sender identity and saved replies, brand badges and filters on every row, contact history grouped by brand, and a guard that stops a reply going out as the wrong brand. On a per-agent suite, running brands side by side this cleanly often means more configuration and more cost.
GBP team bands, not per seat
Solves is priced in GBP team bands for the whole team, ex VAT, with annual billing priced as twelve months for ten. An occasional helper who clears overflow on a busy Monday does not cost a full extra seat. On a per-agent model like Zendesk, every extra hand is another monthly charge, which quietly discourages the flexible help small teams rely on.
UK-first by default
First-response and resolution SLA timers carry per-brand or organisation targets, with a clear breaching view and ageing. Pricing is in GBP with VAT-visible invoices, the copy is in British English, and the product is built for UK SMEs. You are not bending a US-shaped tool into UK working patterns.
Solves is at pilot stage and email-first
Solves ships owned email tickets, assignment, states, priority, tags, saved replies, public replies and private notes, saved queue views, first-response and resolution SLA timers, reporting and multi-brand. It does not do live chat, phone, social, a customer portal, a knowledge base or an API. A Freshdesk import is coming in pilot, not a working live migration today. If you need any of those channels or surfaces now, Zendesk or another broad suite is the better choice.
FAQ
Solves vs Zendesk questions
Is Zendesk better than Solves?
For a large support operation that needs phone, live chat, social channels, deep automation and a huge app marketplace, Zendesk is the more capable product and the better fit. Solves does not try to match that. Solves is better when a small UK team answers support email for one or several brands and wants tickets, ownership, SLAs and clear reporting from one login, without paying per agent or learning an enterprise platform. Choose by what you actually do all day: if it is mostly email across a few brands, Solves is built for exactly that.
Is there a free Zendesk alternative?
Zendesk has no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial. Solves offers a Starter at GBP 29 (3 users, 1 brand, 1 mailbox, 1,000 tickets a month) for small teams. It is paid from the start, not free forever, so we will not pretend otherwise. Several other tools do run genuine free tiers, including Help Scout, Zoho Desk and Hiver, so if a forever-free plan is your only requirement, those are worth a look too. Solves competes on being email-first, multi-brand and priced in GBP team bands rather than per seat.
Is Zendesk being discontinued?
No. Zendesk is not being discontinued. It is an established, widely used support platform that continues to ship and sell. Anyone telling you otherwise is mistaken. The honest question is not whether Zendesk is going away, but whether its breadth and per-agent pricing match a small email-first team. If you need a contact centre, Zendesk stays a strong choice. If you mainly run support email across a few brands, a focused tool like Solves can be a better fit at a lower cost.
How does Zendesk pricing compare to Solves?
Zendesk is priced per agent. Its UK plans, billed yearly, run Support Team GBP 15, Suite Team GBP 45 and Suite Professional GBP 89 per agent a month, with Enterprise on a custom quote. Solves uses GBP team bands for the whole team, ex VAT, with annual billing priced as twelve months for ten: Starter GBP 29, Team GBP 79, Growth GBP 149 and Agency/MSP GBP 299. So an occasional helper who picks up overflow does not cost you a full extra seat on Solves, where on a per-agent model they would.
Can Solves do everything Zendesk does?
No, and it does not aim to. Solves is email-first and at pilot stage, so it ships owned email tickets, assignment, states, priority, tags, saved replies, public replies and private notes, saved queue views, first-response and resolution SLA timers, reporting and multi-brand from one login. It does not do live chat, phone, social inboxes, a customer portal, a knowledge base or a developer API, all of which Zendesk offers. If those channels and surfaces are essential to you, Zendesk is the better fit.
See if email-first is enough for you
If your support is mostly email across one or several brands, try Solves. If you need omnichannel at scale, Zendesk is the honest pick.