Zendesk → Front
Switching Zendesk to Front for 15 agents: Zendesk Suite Team is $9,900 a year, Front Professional is $11,700 (+$1,800), and our self-scored effort is 6–13 days (14/25). Checked 2026-11-10.
COST BY SEATS · ANNUAL BILLING
| Seats | Zendesk Suite Team | Front cheapest fit | Difference / yr | Effort (days, range) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 seats | $3,300 | Starter · $1,500 | −$1,800 | 6–13 days |
| 15 seats | $9,900 | Professional · $11,700 | +$1,800 | 6–13 days |
| 50 seats | $33,000 | Professional · $39,000 | +$6,000 | 9–20 days |
Sources: Zendesk pricing and Front pricing, checked 2026-11-10. The cheapest Front plan may lack features your current plan has. Change the plan in the estimator.
Migration check
| Question | What the vendor documents | Official doc |
|---|---|---|
| Can I export from Zendesk? | Zendesk help: exporting ticket, user, or organization data | |
| Can I import into Front? | Front's importer brings over inboxes, contacts, conversations and messages, attachments, comments and assignments using a Zendesk API token. | Front help: import your Zendesk history into Front |
| Support level | Front's article (edited 2026-09-29) recommends migration partners Help Desk Migration or ClonePartner and says its own importer is free but not actively maintained. | — |
| Knowledge base | Public knowledge bases import from a URL (Zendesk, Intercom or Help Scout). | — |
More from the vendors: Front help: import knowledge base articles from a URL
Steps (hand-written from the docs above)
- In Zendesk, enable API token access and create a token.
- In Front, add the Zendesk import under company settings, choose the workspace, a default teammate and a time frame.
- Match Zendesk agents to Front teammates and Zendesk groups to Front inboxes.
- Import the knowledge base from its public URL (turn off custom themes first).
- Check seat caps: Starter is limited to 10 seats and Professional to 50.
Effort score
| Factor | Score (1 easy, 5 hard) | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Export | 3 / 5 | Based on the export documentation linked above. |
| Import | 3 / 5 | Based on the destination vendor's import documentation linked above (first-party tool vs scripting, what is not imported). |
| Permissions | 3 / 5 | Users, roles and groups usually need to be created and mapped by hand before data can land. |
| Integrations | 3 / 5 | Email forwarding, forms, plugins and API keys all have to be re-pointed; default score unless the vendors document a connector. |
| Training | 2 / 5 | Similar concepts with new menus. |
Total 14 / 25 → 6–13 days for up to 15 seats (×1.5 for 16–50, ×2 above). This is our judgment from public docs, not a measured project. Rubric.
Other moves from Zendesk
Sponsored station: none yet. We do not sell any product that competes with Zendesk or Front.