Announcing the end-of-life of Zendesk Chat for messaging-eligible customers
Announced on Removal on
August 4, 2026 January 31, 2028
After careful consideration, Zendesk will retire Zendesk Chat for messaging-eligible customers (Chat + Support, Suite) and will assist in transitioning eligible customers to Zendesk messaging. Customers will keep full access to Chat throughout the migration period, and Zendesk will support customers to enable and facilitate migration.
Note: We’ll be announcing a separate removal of Chat for customers with the legacy Chat-only plan.

In this article:

  • What is changing?
  • Why is Zendesk making this change?
  • Why messaging?
  • What do I need to do?
  • What if I'm not ready to migrate?
  • Where to get help

What is changing?

Zendesk Chat is retiring on January 31, 2028. Between now and then, customers using Chat will migrate to Zendesk messaging, our modern, actively developed conversation experience.

You can migrate your account on your own schedule using our self-serve tools, and you'll retain full access to the Chat dashboard until July 28, 2028. Zendesk is providing an 18-month transition window, along with migration tooling and support, to ensure a smooth migration.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

Zendesk is accelerating its focus on AI-powered service and the Zendesk Resolution Platform. Chat is a legacy product that hasn't received feature enhancements since 2020 and does not support modern AI features.

By investing in messaging, Zendesk is ensuring every customer can deliver fast, accurate, and efficient service — and access to launching capabilities.

Why messaging?

Messaging unlocks the full potential of Zendesk AI and future-proofs your instance:

  • Access to Zendesk AI: Customers can access AI agents, admin and agent copilots, omnichannel routing, and more on messaging, keeping ahead of competition.
  • Persistent, continuous conversations: Customers can reach your business anytime, with no missed conversations.
  • All the best of Zendesk in one place: Flexible across channels, including social messaging.
  • First access to new features: New capabilities like proactive messaging, audio player, and business metadata will launch on messaging only

What do I need to do?

  • Explore messaging: Start with the messaging migration hub to plan your migration.
  • Migrate when you're ready: Use the voluntary migration option to move your Chat settings to messaging on demand.
  • Let the wizard do the work: The settings migration wizard ports your existing Chat features and settings over automatically. Over the transition period, we’ll be adding more settings to the wizard.
  • Have questions? Review the Chat-to-messaging FAQ or contact your account team.

We'll send in-product notifications as you approach key milestones to point you to the right steps and resources.

What if I'm not ready to migrate?

We are providing an 18-month migration window to ensure customers can migrate on their own schedule and tailor the Messaging product setup to their needs.

Where to get help

  • Plan your migration: Messaging migration hub
  • Common questions: Chat-to-messaging FAQ
  • General help: Contact Zendesk Customer Support
  • Share feedback in our community.
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