In this comprehensive guide, we compare Progress Agentic RAG and Zendesk AI Agents across various parameters including features, pricing, performance, and customer support to help you make the best decision for your business needs.
Overview
When choosing between Progress Agentic RAG and Zendesk AI Agents, understanding their unique strengths and architectural differences is crucial for making an informed decision. Both platforms serve the RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) space but cater to different use cases and organizational needs.
Quick Decision Guide
Choose Progress Agentic RAG if: you value proprietary remi v2 model (30x faster inference) addresses hallucination problem with continuous quality monitoring - differentiated capability absent from most competitors
Choose Zendesk AI Agents if: you value enterprise-grade compliance: soc2, iso 27001, pci dss, fedramp, hipaa with baa
About Progress Agentic RAG
Progress Agentic RAG is enterprise application development and deployment platform. Enterprise RAG-as-a-Service platform launched Sept 2025 following Progress Software's acquisition of Barcelona-based Nuclia. Combines SOC2/ISO 27001 security with proprietary REMi evaluation model for continuous answer quality monitoring. Built on open-source NucliaDB (710+ GitHub stars) with Python/JavaScript SDKs. Starting at $700/month. Founded in 2019 (Nuclia), acquired 2025, headquartered in Barcelona, Spain (Nuclia) / Bedford, MA, USA (Progress), the platform has established itself as a reliable solution in the RAG space.
Overall Rating
82/100
Starting Price
$700/mo
About Zendesk AI Agents
Zendesk AI Agents is enterprise cx platform with autonomous ai ticket resolution. Zendesk AI Agents is a purpose-built enterprise customer service AI platform trained on 19 billion historical tickets. It delivers autonomous ticket resolution with deep CX analytics, omnichannel support, and comprehensive compliance certifications (SOC2, HIPAA, FedRAMP), but uses outcome-based pricing ($1.50-$2.00 per resolution) rather than predictable flat rates. Founded in 2007, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, the platform has established itself as a reliable solution in the RAG space.
Overall Rating
84/100
Starting Price
$55/mo
Key Differences at a Glance
In terms of user ratings, both platforms score similarly in overall satisfaction. From a cost perspective, Zendesk AI Agents offers more competitive entry pricing. The platforms also differ in their primary focus: Enterprise Software versus Customer Service AI. These differences make each platform better suited for specific use cases and organizational requirements.
⚠️ What This Comparison Covers
We'll analyze features, pricing, performance benchmarks, security compliance, integration capabilities, and real-world use cases to help you determine which platform best fits your organization's needs. All data is independently verified from official documentation and third-party review platforms.
Detailed Feature Comparison
Progress Agentic RAG
Zendesk AI Agents
CustomGPTRECOMMENDED
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources
60+ Document Formats: PDF, Word (.docx), Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, email formats with automatic parsing
Multimedia Processing: Automatic speech-to-text (MP3, WAV, AIFF), video transcript extraction (MP4, etc.), OCR for scanned documents/images
Cloud Connectors: SharePoint, Confluence, OneDrive, Google Drive, Amazon S3 with direct integration
Sync Agent Desktop App: 60-minute automatic sync with content hashing to prevent redundant reindexing
Manual Upload Interface: Files, folders, web links, sitemaps, Q&A pairs via dashboard
Fast Deployment: 2-hour initial ingestion, 48-hour full deployment timeline
CRITICAL GAPS: NO Dropbox integration, NO Notion integration, NO explicit YouTube transcript extraction documented
Architecture Focus: Comprehensive knowledge retrieval vs lead conversion focus (unlike Drift)
CX-focused ingestion - prioritizes structured help center content over raw documents
Zendesk Help Center: Primary native integration with automatic indexing
Third-party help centers: Salesforce Knowledge, Freshdesk
CSV files: Requires title and content columns, supports HTML/Markdown
Web crawler: Maximum 15 sub-pages depth, configurable glob patterns
Note: No native PDF, Word (.docx), or plain text uploads - content must be formatted into CSV or published to help centers
Note: No Google Drive, Dropbox, or Notion integrations - requires third-party tools or CSV export
Note: No YouTube transcript ingestion
Retraining schedule: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or one-time import with manual reimport option
80+ languages with automatic translation from English knowledge content
Note: Warning from Zendesk: "Having lots of sources can in some cases lead to reduced accuracy and increased latency"
Lets you ingest more than 1,400 file formats—PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML, and many more—via simple drag-and-drop or API.
Crawls entire sites through sitemaps and URLs, automatically indexing public help-desk articles, FAQs, and docs.
Turns multimedia into text on the fly: YouTube videos, podcasts, and other media are auto-transcribed with built-in OCR and speech-to-text.
View Transcription Guide
Connects to Google Drive, SharePoint, Notion, Confluence, HubSpot, and more through API connectors or Zapier.
See Zapier Connectors
Supports both manual uploads and auto-sync retraining, so your knowledge base always stays up to date.
Slack integration (built by Zendesk): Bidirectional ticket management, ticket creation from message actions, Answer Bot auto-suggesting KB articles, Side Conversations for cross-team collaboration, multi-workspace support for Enterprise Grid
Zapier integration: Premium integration with triggers (new ticket, ticket updated, tag added), actions (create/update tickets and users), 63+ webhook combinations
1,400+ marketplace apps: 85% of customers use at least one technology partner integration
CSS Customization: Shadow DOM architecture with cssPath attribute for advanced styling
White-Labeling: Full OEM deployment support via API-first design
MISSING FEATURES: NO lead capture, NO human handoff/escalation workflows, NO proactive alerting (monitoring exists, alerting undocumented)
Agentic AI architecture: Enables AI Agents to reason, adapt, and resolve issues end-to-end without manual setup or fixed flows
Unlike task-based bots: Follow predefined scripts - agentic AI makes it possible for AI agents to reason across problems, make decisions, and adapt as conversation evolves all the way to resolution
No scripting required: Handle complex requests without scripting or predefined flows - simply describe goal and agentic AI orchestrates steps, works across systems, adapts in real time to resolution
Automate over 50% of email interactions: Instantly with responses reflecting brand's tone and style
External knowledge access: AI agents access external knowledge like web crawlers to answer across channels
80 languages support: Native fluency that automatically switches based on customer input
Custom guidelines: Instructions for AI Agents allow setting custom guidelines keeping AI responses accurate, on-brand, and compliant
Automatic resolution validation: Built-in QA scoring for 100% of AI agent interactions
AI reasoning controls: Real-time visibility into AI agent's thinking showing how AI interprets customer requests and why AI chooses certain responses
60,000+ total service requests automated: Per quarter with 2,000+ workflow-heavy service requests automated per quarter - AI agents handling complex tasks that previously required human action
Custom AI Agents: Build autonomous agents powered by GPT-4 and Claude that can perform tasks independently and make real-time decisions based on business knowledge
Decision-Support Capabilities: AI agents analyze proprietary data to provide insights, recommendations, and actionable responses specific to your business domain
Multi-Agent Systems: Deploy multiple specialized AI agents that can collaborate and optimize workflows in areas like customer support, sales, and internal knowledge management
Memory & Context Management: Agents maintain conversation history and persistent context for coherent multi-turn interactions
View Agent Documentation
Tool Integration: Agents can trigger actions, integrate with external APIs via webhooks, and connect to 5,000+ apps through Zapier for automated workflows
Hyper-Accurate Responses: Leverages advanced RAG technology and retrieval mechanisms to deliver context-aware, citation-backed responses grounded in your knowledge base
Continuous Learning: Agents improve over time through automatic re-indexing of knowledge sources and integration of new data without manual retraining
Additional Considerations
Recent Acquisition (June 2025): Progress Software acquired Nuclia for $50M - platform transitioning under new ownership with potential strategic direction changes
Genuine No-Code + Developer Appeal: Dual-track value proposition - non-technical teams use dashboard, developers leverage API/SDKs for custom builds
REMi Quality Differentiator: Proprietary continuous evaluation model (30x faster in v2) addresses hallucination problem absent from most RAG competitors
Open-Source Trust Factor: NucliaDB (710+ GitHub stars, AGPLv3) provides code transparency vs black-box platforms - security audits possible
Multimodal Strength: OCR for images, speech-to-text for audio/video creates comprehensive searchable corpus beyond text-only competitors
Enterprise RAG Focus: Platform optimized for knowledge retrieval and semantic search - not conversational marketing/sales engagement like Drift/Yellow.ai
Progress Ecosystem Integration: OpenEdge database connector, Sitefinity CMS integration provides distribution channels unavailable to standalone platforms
Documentation Fragmentation: Dual portals (docs.rag.progress.cloud + legacy docs.nuclia.dev) during transition may cause developer confusion
Competitive Pricing Entry: $700/month Fly tier undercuts enterprise RAG alternatives while providing genuine capabilities vs limited free tiers
Best For: Organizations wanting model flexibility (7 providers), multimodal indexing, open-source transparency, and developer API access without managing infrastructure
Complex pricing structure: "Famously complicated" mix of per-agent subscriptions, per-resolution AI fees, add-on charges described as "money grab" with lack of transparency
High total cost of ownership: Can exceed $100,000/year for mid-sized deployments (20 agents + 5K resolutions/month = $127K/year)
All-agent AI requirement: Advanced AI must be purchased for ALL agents not selectively - cost-prohibitive for large teams needing limited AI functionality
Steep learning curve: 102 G2 mentions note learning curve for advanced features - simple tasks easy but complex automation sometimes requires developer involvement
Limited customization: Pre-trained models with limited customization compared to open competitors - 95 G2 mentions cite "limited customization requiring extensive setup"
Knowledge base dependency: AI agents only effective if company knowledge is in Zendesk - cannot access Confluence, Google Docs, Notion directly
Multi-turn accuracy drop: GPT-4o 14.1% accuracy for multi-turn conversations (down from 90%+ single-turn), Claude 3 Sonnet 10.4% - significant degradation
Source overload warning: Performance degrades with scale - "Having lots of sources can lead to reduced accuracy and increased latency"
Sandbox testing difficulties: Some users report difficulties fully testing AI features in sandbox environments before production deployment
Unpredictable outcome-based costs: $1.50-$2.00 per AI resolution makes monthly costs unpredictable - budget forecasting challenges
Use case mismatch: Excellent for enterprise customer service automation with deep compliance requirements but poor fit for general RAG, document Q&A, or developer-centric knowledge base API needs
Slashes engineering overhead with an all-in-one RAG platform—no in-house ML team required.
Gets you to value quickly: launch a functional AI assistant in minutes.
Stays current with ongoing GPT and retrieval improvements, so you’re always on the latest tech.
Balances top-tier accuracy with ease of use, perfect for customer-facing or internal knowledge projects.
Customization & Branding
Prompt Lab: Test LLMs side-by-side using actual customer data with real-time comparison
Chat widget UI customization: Primary color, message color, action color (hexadecimal), border radius (0-20px), position (bottom-left/right with offset)
Logo upload: 100kb limit
Custom title and sound notifications
Enterprise branding removal: Zendesk branding can be completely removed on Enterprise accounts
Tone presets: Professional (default), Informal, Enthusiastic, Custom
Answer length control: Very Short → Very Long (120-150 words)
Pronoun formality: Configurable per language
Guardrails via Instructions Feature (Advanced): Create rules for AI behavior, enforce style guide terminology, avoid specific phrases, enforce formatting
Safety guardrails: Ground responses in knowledge base content with option to restrict AI from answering without KB matches
PII masking and automatic redaction
Bot Builder limits: Up to 500 responses and 2,000 steps per bot with visual drag-and-drop editor
Dialogue Builder (Advanced tier): Hybrid flows combining generative AI with scripted responses
Fully white-labels the widget—colors, logos, icons, CSS, everything can match your brand.
White-label Options
Provides a no-code dashboard to set welcome messages, bot names, and visual themes.
Lets you shape the AI’s persona and tone using pre-prompts and system instructions.
Uses domain allowlisting to ensure the chatbot appears only on approved sites.
L L M Model Options
Anthropic: Claude 3.7, Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2
OpenAI: ChatGPT 4o, 4o mini
Google: Gemini Flash 2.5, Palm2
Meta: Llama 3.2
Microsoft/Azure: Mistral Large 2
Cohere: Command-R suite
Nuclia Private GenAI: 100% data isolation for maximum security
Model Switching: Change providers without architectural changes via Prompt Lab
Instructions for AI Agents: Set custom guidelines to keep AI responses accurate, on-brand, and compliant
Action Builder: No-code integration and automation with new triggers, OpenAI connector, Slack and Salesforce steps, flow testing
Prebuilt connectors: Jira, Slack, Salesforce enable businesses to eliminate costly fragmentation and connect workflows across back-end systems without code
App Builder: No-code solution for building apps in Zendesk leveraging generative AI - admins can develop custom apps using natural language prompts
Service Knowledge Graph: Automatic content updates without manual reindexing for knowledge base management
Multi-model approach: Combines OpenAI GPT-4o, Claude 3 Sonnet/Opus, Google Gemini, proprietary Zendesk LLM with automatic routing
Rapid model deployment: Can test and deploy new models (e.g., OpenAI o3-mini, GPT-5) in under 24 hours for competitive advantage
AI reasoning controls: Real-time visibility into AI agent's thinking showing how AI interprets customer requests and response reasoning
Automatic resolution validation: Built-in QA scoring for 100% of AI agent interactions ensuring quality control
Custom objects: Structured data integration for domain-specific knowledge management
Resolution Platform architecture: Five components - AI Agents, Service Knowledge Graph, Actions & Integrations, Governance & Control, Measurement & Insights
Lets you add, remove, or tweak content on the fly—automatic re-indexing keeps everything current.
Shapes agent behavior through system prompts and sample Q&A, ensuring a consistent voice and focus.
Learn How to Update Sources
Supports multiple agents per account, so different teams can have their own bots.
Balances hands-on control with smart defaults—no deep ML expertise required to get tailored behavior.
Encryption: AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit, FIPS-140 certified solutions
Data residency options: US, European Economic Area, Australia, Japan, UK (Data Center Location purchasable add-on, included in Suite plans)
Data training policy: AI trained on aggregate 19 billion historical tickets but does not access or use individual customer content for training beyond service delivery
PII protection: Automatic masking and redaction capabilities
Protects data in transit with SSL/TLS and at rest with 256-bit AES encryption.
Holds SOC 2 Type II certification and complies with GDPR, so your data stays isolated and private.
Security Certifications
Offers fine-grained access controls—RBAC, two-factor auth, and SSO integration—so only the right people get in.
Four Index Types: Document Index (property filtering), Full Text (keyword/fuzzy search), Chunk/Vector (semantic similarity), Knowledge Graph (entity relationships)
Dynamic Sharding: Automatic shard creation as vectors grow with index node replication for fault tolerance
Open-Source Transparency: NucliaDB foundation (710+ GitHub stars) provides visibility into retrieval mechanisms vs black-box platforms (Lindy.ai)
Comparison Alignment: Direct architectural comparison to CustomGPT.ai is valid - both are RAG-as-a-Service platforms with API-first design
Use Case Fit: Organizations prioritizing knowledge retrieval, semantic search, and generative Q&A over conversational marketing/sales engagement
Platform type: ENTERPRISE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PLATFORM WITH RAG (not pure RAG-as-a-Service) - comprehensive CX solution with integrated AI knowledge retrieval
Service Knowledge Graph: Proprietary knowledge management system storing customer data and content from internal systems with automatic content updates without manual reindexing
Content sources: Help Center articles, macros (templates), ticket data, custom objects, structured data (CSVs with title + content columns), public websites
Knowledge limitation: NO direct PDF, DOCX uploads or cloud storage integrations (Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion) - content must be in Zendesk ecosystem or published to help centers first
RAG architecture: Multi-model approach combining OpenAI GPT-4o, Claude 3 Sonnet/Opus, Google Gemini, and proprietary Zendesk LLM with automatic model routing based on query type
Performance benchmarks: 90%+ accuracy for single-turn questions but drops to 14.1% (GPT-4o) and 10.4% (Claude 3 Sonnet) for multi-turn conversations
Scale warning: Zendesk warns "Having lots of sources can in some cases lead to reduced accuracy and increased latency" indicating performance degradation concerns
Competitive performance: Intercom testing shows Zendesk achieves 78% answer rate for multi-source questions vs Fin's 96% - performance gap vs AI-first competitors
Enterprise compliance: Excellent - FedRAMP, HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, PCI DSS Level 1 certifications for regulated industries
RAG-specific features: Ensures AI outputs grounded in customer-defined materials using RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to ensure customers remain in control of how AI responds
Best for: Large enterprises requiring comprehensive customer service automation with strict compliance needs (healthcare, finance, government)
Not suitable for: General RAG API needs, document Q&A use cases, developer-centric knowledge base APIs, organizations needing direct cloud storage integrations
Core Architecture: Serverless RAG infrastructure with automatic embedding generation, vector search optimization, and LLM orchestration fully managed behind API endpoints
API-First Design: Comprehensive REST API with well-documented endpoints for creating agents, managing projects, ingesting data (1,400+ formats), and querying chat
API Documentation
Developer Experience: Open-source Python SDK (customgpt-client), Postman collections, OpenAI API endpoint compatibility, and extensive cookbooks for rapid integration
No-Code Alternative: Wizard-style web dashboard enables non-developers to upload content, brand widgets, and deploy chatbots without touching code
Hybrid Target Market: Serves both developer teams wanting robust APIs AND business users seeking no-code RAG deployment - unique positioning vs pure API platforms (Cohere) or pure no-code tools (Jotform)
RAG Technology Leadership: Industry-leading answer accuracy (median 5/5 benchmarked), 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription, proprietary anti-hallucination mechanisms, and citation-backed responses
Benchmark Details
Deployment Flexibility: Cloud-hosted SaaS with auto-scaling, API integrations, embedded chat widgets, ChatGPT Plugin support, and hosted MCP Server for Claude/Cursor/ChatGPT
Enterprise Readiness: SOC 2 Type II + GDPR compliance, full white-labeling, domain allowlisting, RBAC with 2FA/SSO, and flat-rate pricing without per-query charges
Use Case Fit: Ideal for organizations needing both rapid no-code deployment AND robust API capabilities, teams handling diverse content types (1,400+ formats, multimedia transcription), and businesses requiring production-ready RAG without building ML infrastructure from scratch
Competitive Positioning: Bridges the gap between developer-first platforms (Cohere, Deepset) requiring heavy coding and no-code chatbot builders (Jotform, Kommunicate) lacking API depth - offers best of both worlds
Competitive Positioning
Market Position: Enterprise RAG-as-a-Service with genuine no-code accessibility + developer-first API design (dual-track appeal)
Omnichannel Dominance: Native integrations for WhatsApp (20 numbers), Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat, LINE, SMS, email, voice, live chat with unified agent workspace
1,400+ Marketplace Apps: 85% customer adoption of technology partner integrations (Salesforce, JIRA, Slack, Microsoft 365, AWS, SAP, Shopify)
Recent Acquisitions: HyperArc (GenAI analytics 2024), Local Measure (AI voice 2024-2025) demonstrate continued innovation investment
Rapid Model Deployment: Can test and deploy new models (e.g., OpenAI o3-mini, GPT-5) in under 24 hours for competitive advantage
vs AI-First Competitors: Intercom testing shows Zendesk 78% multi-source answer rate vs Fin's 96% - performance gap but broader platform capabilities
vs General RAG Platforms: Poor comparison - Zendesk is enterprise CX platform, not document Q&A tool like CustomGPT/YourGPT - fundamentally different categories
Pricing Disadvantage: Complex "famously complicated" pricing vs competitors' transparent per-seat or credit-based models - reviewers cite lack of clarity
Knowledge Base Lock-In: Content must be in Zendesk ecosystem (Help Center, CSV) - cannot directly access Google Docs, Notion, Confluence unlike eesel AI criticism
Strategic Positioning: Competes with Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk, Intercom, Genesys for enterprise CX - NOT comparable to CustomGPT, YourGPT, or developer-focused RAG APIs
Best Fit Use Case: Large enterprises requiring comprehensive customer service automation with strict compliance needs (healthcare, finance, government); poor fit for general RAG, document Q&A, or developer-centric knowledge base APIs
Market position: Leading all-in-one RAG platform balancing enterprise-grade accuracy with developer-friendly APIs and no-code usability for rapid deployment
Target customers: Mid-market to enterprise organizations needing production-ready AI assistants, development teams wanting robust APIs without building RAG infrastructure, and businesses requiring 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription (YouTube, podcasts)
Key competitors: OpenAI Assistants API, Botsonic, Chatbase.co, Azure AI, and custom RAG implementations using LangChain
Competitive advantages: Industry-leading answer accuracy (median 5/5 benchmarked), 1,400+ file format support with auto-transcription, SOC 2 Type II + GDPR compliance, full white-labeling included, OpenAI API endpoint compatibility, hosted MCP Server support (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT), generous data limits (60M words Standard, 300M Premium), and flat monthly pricing without per-query charges
Pricing advantage: Transparent flat-rate pricing at $99/month (Standard) and $449/month (Premium) with generous included limits; no hidden costs for API access, branding removal, or basic features; best value for teams needing both no-code dashboard and developer APIs in one platform
Use case fit: Ideal for businesses needing both rapid no-code deployment and robust API capabilities, organizations handling diverse content types (1,400+ formats, multimedia transcription), teams requiring white-label chatbots with source citations for customer-facing or internal knowledge projects, and companies wanting all-in-one RAG without managing ML infrastructure
Deployment & Infrastructure
Fully Managed Cloud: EU (primary) and US data centers with regional API routing (https://{region}.rag.progress.cloud/api/v1/)
Hybrid Deployment: Cloud processing with on-premise NucliaDB storage for data sovereignty requirements
Complete On-Premise: Enterprise tier supports 100% on-premise deployment for maximum data governance
AWS Marketplace: Available November 2025 for streamlined enterprise procurement with existing cloud spend
Dynamic Scaling: Automatic shard creation as vector counts grow with index node replication
Web Component Embedding: <nuclia-search-bar> and <nuclia-chat> for website integration
Multi-Region Support: Regional data residency options (EU/US) for compliance requirements
N/A
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Customer Base & Case Studies
SRS Distribution (Wholesale Building Materials): "Progress Agentic RAG has fundamentally changed how we access and act on information across our organisation. Its ability to deliver fast, accurate, and verifiable insights from our unstructured data has been a game-changer for productivity and decision-making."
BrokerChooser (Financial Services): Replaced keyword search with generative AI, reporting significant conversion increases and better user experience
NAFEMS (Engineering Simulation Association): Knowledge discovery across thousands of technical publications for international membership community
Althaia Hospitals (Spain's Largest Central Catalonia Hospital): Medical protocol search supporting 5,000+ healthcare professionals
Columbia Business School: Academic knowledge discovery and research support
Barry University: Education sector deployment for institutional knowledge management
CCOO (Spain's Largest Trade Union): 1M+ members served with knowledge retrieval platform
Buff Sportswear: Commercial deployment for product and customer knowledge management
Pre-Acquisition Scale: ~20 customers across healthcare, pharmaceutical, education, public administration sectors
N/A
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A I Models
Anthropic Models: Claude 3.7, Claude 3.5 Sonnet v2 for safety-focused, high-quality generation
OpenAI Models: ChatGPT 4o, 4o mini for industry-leading language capabilities
Google Models: Gemini Flash 2.5, PaLM2 for multimodal and search-optimized tasks
Meta Models: Llama 3.2 for open-source flexibility and customization
Microsoft/Azure: Mistral Large 2 for enterprise deployments with Azure integration
Cohere Models: Command-R suite for retrieval-optimized generation
Nuclia Private GenAI: 100% data isolation mode for maximum security without third-party LLM exposure
Model Switching: Change providers without architectural changes via Prompt Lab for side-by-side testing
Multi-Model Architecture: Automatic routing across multiple LLM providers optimized for customer service use cases - users cannot manually select models
OpenAI GPT-4o: Rolled out May 2024 for enhanced reasoning and conversation quality
OpenAI GPT-4o Mini: Cost-optimized model for simpler queries and high-volume scenarios
Anthropic Claude 3: Available via Amazon Bedrock integration (announced April 2024) for advanced reasoning and safety
Proprietary Zendesk LLM: Trained on 19 billion CX-specific interactions for sentiment analysis, intent detection, and support scenario optimization (acquired via Cleverly in 2021)
Automatic Model Selection: System chooses optimal model based on use case, latency requirements, cost optimization, and quality benchmarks without user intervention
Rapid Model Deployment: Can test and deploy new models (e.g., OpenAI o3-mini) in under 24 hours for continuous improvement
CX-Specific Optimizations: Models fine-tuned for customer service context including sentiment analysis, urgency detection, ticket routing intelligence
Note: No Manual Model Control: Unlike competitors offering model selection, Zendesk handles routing automatically - limited flexibility for users preferring specific models
Primary models: GPT-5.1 and 4 series from OpenAI, and Anthropic's Claude 4.5 (opus and sonnet) for enterprise needs
Automatic model selection: Balances cost and performance by automatically selecting the appropriate model for each request
Model Selection Details
Proprietary optimizations: Custom prompt engineering and retrieval enhancements for high-quality, citation-backed answers
Managed infrastructure: All model management handled behind the scenes - no API keys or fine-tuning required from users
Anti-hallucination technology: Advanced mechanisms ensure chatbot only answers based on provided content, improving trust and factual accuracy
R A G Capabilities
Agentic RAG Engine: Retrieval agents autonomously select optimal strategies based on query characteristics
Four-Index Hybrid Search: Document (property filtering), Full Text (keyword/fuzzy), Vector/Chunk (semantic), Knowledge Graph (entity relationships)
Multimodal Processing: OCR for scanned documents/images, automatic speech-to-text for audio (MP3, WAV, AIFF), video transcript extraction
60+ Document Formats: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, email formats with automatic parsing
Open-Source Foundation: NucliaDB (710+ GitHub stars, AGPLv3) provides transparency into retrieval mechanisms vs black-box platforms
CX-Focused RAG Architecture: Prioritizes structured help center content over raw document processing for customer service optimization
Unified Knowledge Graph: Combines help centers, community forums, external resources (Confluence, Salesforce Knowledge, Freshdesk) into single retrieval system
Automatic Indexing: Native Zendesk Help Center integration with automatic content synchronization and retraining schedules (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, one-time)
Third-Party Help Centers: Salesforce Knowledge, Freshdesk integration with Confluence OAuth 24-hour automatic sync
Web Crawler: Maximum 15 sub-pages depth with configurable glob patterns for website content ingestion
Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR) Improvement: 7% improvement for English help centers demonstrating enhanced retrieval accuracy
80+ Languages Support: Automatic translation from English knowledge content for global customer service operations
QA Scoring: Built-in automatic scoring of 100% of AI agent interactions for quality assurance
Third-Party Testing: "No statistical difference in hallucination levels" compared to competitors when properly grounded (independent validation)
Note: Limited Document Format Support: No native PDF, Word (.docx), plain text uploads - content must be formatted into CSV or published to help centers first
Note: Performance Warning: Zendesk warns "Having lots of sources can in some cases lead to reduced accuracy and increased latency"
Note: No Cloud Storage Integration: No Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion integrations - requires third-party tools or CSV export workflows
Core architecture: GPT-4 combined with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology, outperforming OpenAI in RAG benchmarks
RAG Performance
Anti-hallucination technology: Advanced mechanisms reduce hallucinations and ensure responses are grounded in provided content
Benchmark Details
Automatic citations: Each response includes clickable citations pointing to original source documents for transparency and verification
Optimized pipeline: Efficient vector search, smart chunking, and caching for sub-second reply times
Scalability: Maintains speed and accuracy for massive knowledge bases with tens of millions of words
Context-aware conversations: Multi-turn conversations with persistent history and comprehensive conversation management
Source verification: Always cites sources so users can verify facts on the spot
Use Cases
Enterprise Knowledge Management: Non-technical teams (marketing, HR, legal, customer support) deploying knowledge bases in minutes
Healthcare & Pharma: Althaia Hospitals medical protocol search for 5,000+ healthcare professionals with HIPAA-grade security needs
Financial Services: BrokerChooser replaced keyword search with generative AI for significant conversion increases
Education: Columbia Business School and Barry University for academic knowledge discovery and institutional knowledge management
Engineering & Research: NAFEMS knowledge discovery across thousands of technical publications for international membership
Trade Organizations: CCOO (Spain's largest union) serving 1M+ members with knowledge retrieval platform
Dynamic Knowledge Management: Continuous updates, gap identification, and automatic documentation generation
Developer RAG Backend: API-first infrastructure for building custom AI applications with Prompt Lab experimentation
Autonomous Ticket Resolution: 50-90% automated ticket resolution rates depending on knowledge base quality - up to 80% of customer interactions handled end-to-end
Intelligent Triage & Routing: Automatically route Support and messaging tickets to right teams based on intent, language, sentiment - saves 45 seconds per issue (120 hours/month for average enterprise retailer)
Agent Assist (Zendesk Copilot): Proactive assistant providing insights, suggested replies, agent-approved actions in auto assist mode - Rotho's agents tripled productivity to 120 tickets/shift from 40
Voice & Call Automation: AI call center solutions with automatic after-call summaries, voice transcription for agent training, IVR integration
Knowledge Base Enhancement: Analyze help center article performance, flag outdated content, suggest new articles to fill gaps based on service data
Multilingual Global Support: 80+ languages with automatic translation from English knowledge base for worldwide customer service operations
Omnichannel Support: Unified agent workspace across WhatsApp (up to 20 numbers), Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter DM, WeChat, LINE, SMS, email, voice, live chat
Customer support automation: AI assistants handling common queries, reducing support ticket volume, providing 24/7 instant responses with source citations
Internal knowledge management: Employee self-service for HR policies, technical documentation, onboarding materials, company procedures across 1,400+ file formats
Sales enablement: Product information chatbots, lead qualification, customer education with white-labeled widgets on websites and apps
Documentation assistance: Technical docs, help centers, FAQs with automatic website crawling and sitemap indexing
Educational platforms: Course materials, research assistance, student support with multimedia content (YouTube transcriptions, podcasts)
Healthcare information: Patient education, medical knowledge bases (SOC 2 Type II compliant for sensitive data)
E-commerce: Product recommendations, order assistance, customer inquiries with API integration to 5,000+ apps via Zapier
SaaS onboarding: User guides, feature explanations, troubleshooting with multi-agent support for different teams
Security & Compliance
SOC2 Type 2: Annually audited for enterprise security assurance
ISO 27001: Annually audited information security management certification
GDPR Compliant: Built-in PII anonymization automatically detects and removes personal data
Encryption: AES-256 at rest, TLS in transit for comprehensive data protection
AI Risk Classification: Low to minimal AI risk category with policy-as-code guardrails
Human-in-the-Loop: Validation options for critical workflows requiring human oversight
Tenant Isolation: Customer data separation ensures multi-tenant security with isolated Knowledge Boxes
Audit Logs: Standard across all pricing tiers for compliance tracking and security monitoring
API Key Management: Temporal keys and rotation for security hygiene
CRITICAL LIMITATION: NO HIPAA certification documented - healthcare organizations processing PHI must contact sales for compliance clarification
Data Governance: Enterprise tier supports complete on-premise deployment for 100% data control and sovereignty
SOC 2 Type II Certification: Independently audited security controls and operational procedures with annual recertification
ISO Certifications: ISO 27001:2013 (Information Security), ISO 27018:2014 (Cloud Privacy), ISO 27701:2019 (Privacy Information Management)
PCI DSS Level 1 Certified: Highest level of payment card data security standard for financial transaction handling
FedRAMP LI-SaaS Authorized: Low Impact Software-as-a-Service authorization for US federal government deployments
HIPAA/HITECH Compliance: Healthcare data protection (requires Advanced Compliance add-on + Business Associate Agreement)
GDPR Compliance: European data protection with Binding Corporate Rules for cross-border data transfers
Additional Certifications: HDS (French health data hosting), FSQS (French secure cloud qualification)
Encryption Standards: AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit, FIPS-140 certified cryptographic solutions
Data Residency Options: US, European Economic Area, Australia, Japan, UK (Data Center Location add-on, included in Suite plans)
AI Training Policy: Models trained on aggregate 19 billion historical tickets but do NOT access or use individual customer content for training beyond service delivery
PII Protection: Automatic masking and redaction capabilities for sensitive personal information
99.9% Uptime SLA: Maximum 10 hours scheduled maintenance annually with 48-hour advance notice
Compliance Leadership: Only platform with complete stack of FedRAMP + HIPAA + SOC2 + ISO 27001 + PCI DSS Level 1 certifications
Encryption: SSL/TLS for data in transit, 256-bit AES encryption for data at rest
SOC 2 Type II certification: Industry-leading security standards with regular third-party audits
Security Certifications
GDPR compliance: Full compliance with European data protection regulations, ensuring data privacy and user rights
Access controls: Role-based access control (RBAC), two-factor authentication (2FA), SSO integration for enterprise security
Data isolation: Customer data stays isolated and private - platform never trains on user data
Domain allowlisting: Ensures chatbot appears only on approved sites for security and brand protection
Secure deployments: ChatGPT Plugin support for private use cases with controlled access
Pricing & Plans
Fly Tier: $700/month - 10GB/15K resources, 750MB max file, 1 Knowledge Box, cloud only, 10K tokens/month included
Scaling Consideration: Token-based consumption pricing requires careful usage forecasting for budget predictability beyond included tier
Best Value For: Organizations wanting to control costs through usage optimization vs fixed seat-based or per-project pricing models
Suite Team: $55/agent/month - Essential ticketing, email/voice/SMS channels, basic automation, 200 API requests/minute, online support
Suite Professional: $105/agent/month - Advanced automation, multilingual support (80+ languages), 700 API RPM, AI add-on available (~$50/agent/month)
Suite Enterprise: $150/agent/month - Custom workflows, advanced AI agents, 2,500 API RPM, dedicated account rep, custom branding removal, SLA guarantees, 24/7 support
AI Copilot Add-On: ~$50/agent/month (formerly "Advanced AI") for agent assist, intelligent triage, generative replies
Outcome-Based Pricing (November 2024): $2.00 per AI resolution (pay-as-you-go) or $1.50 per resolution (committed volume) - revolutionary usage-based pricing model
Real-World Cost Example: 20 agents on Suite Professional + AI add-on handling 5,000 AI resolutions/month = $127,200/year ($37,200 platform + $90,000 resolutions)
Note: High Total Cost: Can exceed $100,000/year for mid-sized deployments when combining seat-based fees with outcome-based AI resolution costs
Free Trial: 14-day trial with Suite Professional features, no credit card required for initial evaluation
Zendesk for Startups: 6-month extended trials for qualifying early-stage companies to reduce initial investment
Note: Complex Pricing: Mix of per-agent subscriptions, per-resolution AI fees, add-on charges creates opacity - reviewers describe as "money grab" and "famously complicated"
Note: All-Agent AI Requirement: AI add-on must be purchased for ALL agents, not selectively - cost-prohibitive for large teams needing limited AI access
Standard Plan: $99/month or $89/month annual - 10 custom chatbots, 5,000 items per chatbot, 60 million words per bot, basic helpdesk support, standard security
View Pricing
Premium Plan: $499/month or $449/month annual - 100 custom chatbots, 20,000 items per chatbot, 300 million words per bot, advanced support, enhanced security, additional customization
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing - Comprehensive AI solutions, highest security and compliance, dedicated account managers, custom SSO, token authentication, priority support with faster SLAs
Enterprise Solutions
7-Day Free Trial: Full access to Standard features without charges - available to all users
Annual billing discount: Save 10% by paying upfront annually ($89/mo Standard, $449/mo Premium)
Flat monthly rates: No per-query charges, no hidden costs for API access or white-labeling (included in all plans)
Managed infrastructure: Auto-scaling cloud infrastructure included - no additional hosting or scaling fees
Active community: User community plus 5,000+ app integrations through Zapier ecosystem
Regular updates: Platform stays current with ongoing GPT and retrieval improvements automatically
Limitations & Considerations
NO HIPAA Certification Documented: Healthcare organizations processing PHI must contact sales - major compliance gap vs competitors with documented HIPAA
NO Native Messaging Channels: No Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, or Microsoft Teams integrations - requires custom API-based development
Documentation Fragmentation: Dual portals (docs.rag.progress.cloud + docs.nuclia.dev) during Progress acquisition transition may cause confusion
Recent Acquisition Risk: June 2025 Progress purchase means platform still maturing under new ownership with potential direction changes
Scalability Concerns: Multiple problems limit scalability - hard to scale nodes up/down, write operations affect concurrent search performance
NO Dropbox Integration: Missing Dropbox connector vs competitors - limits cloud storage sync options
NO Notion Integration: Missing Notion connector - gap for knowledge management workflows
NO YouTube Transcript Extraction: Not explicitly documented vs competitors with video indexing features
Missing Features: NO lead capture, NO human handoff/escalation workflows, NO proactive alerting (monitoring exists, alerting undocumented)
Learning Curve: 30+ RAG parameters and Prompt Lab may feel technical for non-developer teams despite no-code dashboard
Best For: Development teams and technical users - powerful for experts but may overwhelm business users wanting simple deployment
NOT a General-Purpose RAG Platform: Enterprise CX platform optimized for customer service - fundamentally different product category than CustomGPT or general RAG solutions
No Native Document Upload: No PDF, Word (.docx), or plain text file uploads - content must be formatted into CSV (title + content columns) or published to help centers first
No Cloud Storage Integration: No Google Drive, Dropbox, Notion integrations - requires third-party tools or manual CSV export workflows
No YouTube Transcript Ingestion: Cannot automatically ingest and process YouTube video transcripts for knowledge base
No Manual Model Selection: Automatic model routing only - users cannot manually select GPT-4o vs Claude 3 vs proprietary Zendesk LLM for specific use cases
Complex Pricing Structure: "Famously complicated" mix of per-agent subscriptions, per-resolution AI fees, add-on charges - reviewers describe as "money grab" with lack of transparency
High Total Cost of Ownership: Can exceed $100,000/year for mid-sized deployments (20 agents + 5K resolutions/month = $127K/year)
All-Agent AI Add-On Requirement: Advanced AI must be purchased for ALL agents, not selectively - cost-prohibitive for large teams needing limited AI functionality
Limited Customization: Pre-trained models with limited customization compared to open competitors - 95 G2 mentions cite "limited customization requiring extensive setup"
Steep Learning Curve: 102 G2 mentions note learning curve for advanced features - simple tasks easy, complex automation sometimes requires developer involvement
Knowledge Base Dependency: AI agents only effective if company knowledge is in Zendesk - cannot access Confluence, Google Docs, Notion directly (eesel AI criticism)
Multi-Turn Conversation Accuracy Drop: GPT-4o 14.1% accuracy for multi-turn conversations (down from 90%+ single-turn), Claude 3 Sonnet 10.4% - significant degradation
Source Overload Warning: Zendesk warns "Having lots of sources can in some cases lead to reduced accuracy and increased latency" - performance degrades with scale
No Testing in Sandbox: Some users report difficulties fully testing AI features in sandbox environments before production deployment
Unpredictable Outcome-Based Costs: $1.50-$2.00 per AI resolution makes monthly costs unpredictable - budget forecasting challenges vs fixed per-agent pricing
Competitive Disadvantages: Intercom testing shows Zendesk achieves 78% answer rate for multi-source questions vs Fin's 96% - performance gap vs AI-first competitors
Use Case Mismatch: Excellent for enterprise customer service automation with deep compliance requirements; poor fit for general RAG, document Q&A, or developer-centric knowledge base API needs
Managed service approach: Less control over underlying RAG pipeline configuration compared to build-your-own solutions like LangChain
Vendor lock-in: Proprietary platform - migration to alternative RAG solutions requires rebuilding knowledge bases
Model selection: Limited to OpenAI (GPT-5.1 and 4 series) and Anthropic (Claude, opus and sonnet 4.5) - no support for other LLM providers (Cohere, AI21, open-source models)
Pricing at scale: Flat-rate pricing may become expensive for very high-volume use cases (millions of queries/month) compared to pay-per-use models
Customization limits: While highly configurable, some advanced RAG techniques (custom reranking, hybrid search strategies) may not be exposed
Language support: Supports 90+ languages but performance may vary for less common languages or specialized domains
Real-time data: Knowledge bases require re-indexing for updates - not ideal for real-time data requirements (stock prices, live inventory)
Enterprise features: Some advanced features (custom SSO, token authentication) only available on Enterprise plan with custom pricing
Zendesk Resolution Platform (2025): Combines AI Agents, Knowledge Graph, and Governance
"Advanced AI" rebranded to "Zendesk Copilot"
Gartner recognition: Leader in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center
N/A
Strategic Positioning
N/A
Enterprise CX platform, not general RAG solution - fundamentally different product category
19-billion-ticket training dataset: Largest CX-specific AI training corpus
Autonomous customer service resolution: 50-90% ticket resolution rates with deep analytics
Compliance-first architecture: Only platform with FedRAMP + HIPAA + SOC2 + ISO 27001 + PCI DSS Level 1
100,000+ customers worldwide including Mercedes-Benz, Shopify, Uber, Slack, Airbnb
Note: Poor fit for general RAG use cases: No PDF/Word ingestion, locked model selection, unpredictable outcome-based pricing
Strategic choice depends on use case: Customer service automation with enterprise requirements favors Zendesk; general-purpose RAG with document flexibility favors alternatives
Final Verdict: Progress Agentic RAG vs Zendesk AI Agents
After analyzing features, pricing, performance, and user feedback, both Progress Agentic RAG and Zendesk AI Agents are capable platforms that serve different market segments and use cases effectively.
When to Choose Progress Agentic RAG
You value proprietary remi v2 model (30x faster inference) addresses hallucination problem with continuous quality monitoring - differentiated capability absent from most competitors
Open-source NucliaDB transparency (710+ GitHub stars) with managed infrastructure removes operational burden while maintaining technical visibility
Genuine no-code accessibility: business users (marketing, HR, legal, support) can deploy functional RAG pipelines in minutes via visual dashboard
Best For: Proprietary REMi v2 model (30x faster inference) addresses hallucination problem with continuous quality monitoring - differentiated capability absent from most competitors
When to Choose Zendesk AI Agents
You value enterprise-grade compliance: soc2, iso 27001, pci dss, fedramp, hipaa with baa
CX-specific AI trained on 19 billion tickets with 90%+ single-turn accuracy
Best For: Enterprise-grade compliance: SOC2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, FedRAMP, HIPAA with BAA
Migration & Switching Considerations
Switching between Progress Agentic RAG and Zendesk AI Agents requires careful planning. Consider data export capabilities, API compatibility, and integration complexity. Both platforms offer migration support, but expect 2-4 weeks for complete transition including testing and team training.
Pricing Comparison Summary
Progress Agentic RAG starts at $700/month, while Zendesk AI Agents begins at $55/month. Total cost of ownership should factor in implementation time, training requirements, API usage fees, and ongoing support. Enterprise deployments typically see annual costs ranging from $10,000 to $500,000+ depending on scale and requirements.
Our Recommendation Process
Start with a free trial - Both platforms offer trial periods to test with your actual data
Define success metrics - Response accuracy, latency, user satisfaction, cost per query
Test with real use cases - Don't rely on generic demos; use your production data
Evaluate total cost - Factor in implementation time, training, and ongoing maintenance
Check vendor stability - Review roadmap transparency, update frequency, and support quality
For most organizations, the decision between Progress Agentic RAG and Zendesk AI Agents comes down to specific requirements rather than overall superiority. Evaluate both platforms with your actual data during trial periods, focusing on accuracy, latency, ease of integration, and total cost of ownership.
📚 Next Steps
Ready to make your decision? We recommend starting with a hands-on evaluation of both platforms using your specific use case and data.
• Review: Check the detailed feature comparison table above
• Test: Sign up for free trials and test with real queries
• Calculate: Estimate your monthly costs based on expected usage
• Decide: Choose the platform that best aligns with your requirements
Last updated: December 11, 2025 | This comparison is regularly reviewed and updated to reflect the latest platform capabilities, pricing, and user feedback.
The most accurate RAG-as-a-Service API. Deliver production-ready reliable RAG applications faster. Benchmarked #1 in accuracy and hallucinations for fully managed RAG-as-a-Service API.
DevRel at CustomGPT.ai. Passionate about AI and its applications. Here to help you navigate the world of AI tools and make informed decisions for your business.
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