Help desk

CATEGORY HUB

Help desks differ most in who controls the export. Zendesk keeps it off until support turns it on. Intercom allows it only while you pay. Help Scout sends most of your data through its API. Each guide below covers what moves, what stays behind, and 10 or more alternatives priced for your team.

Export rules for each help desk

One row for each help desk with an exit guide or one on the way. Facts come from each vendor’s own help pages, read on 31 Oct 2026.

Help desk	How you export	What leaves	What stays behind	Exit terms
Zendesk	Ask Zendesk support to turn exports on. Team plans cannot use them, but the API works on every plan.	Tickets as JSON, CSV or XML. Users and organizations as CSV or XML.	Knowledge base, AI agent tickets, ticket metrics and attachment files.	Month to month, annual or multi year. Early exit terms: Checking.
Intercom	Self serve in the Inbox, Reports and Contacts, but only while your subscription is active.	Conversations as text, PDF, CSV or JSON. Users and tickets as CSV.	Help Center articles (API only), macros, and message text in report CSVs.	Annual plans renew unless you give 30 days notice. No prorated refund. Data access ends 30 days after termination.
Help Scout	Reports export in the app. Everything else goes through the API.	Reports as CSV or XLSX. A customer list CSV on request from the account owner.	Conversations need the Inbox API, and Docs articles need the Docs API. The customer list has no conversation history.	Checking. Its exit guide comes next.

Sources: Zendesk help article 4408886165402, Intercom help articles 2046229 and 9088378, Intercom Terms of Service effective 8 Sep 2026, and Help Scout docs on data export options, updated 20 Nov 2024.

Help desk exit guides

What every help desk guide covers

Facts come from vendor pages on the date shown. Your own contract and the live vendor page decide what applies to you.