# Can you license your company's Zendesk ticket data to AI companies?

URL: https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-rights/zendesk
Reviewed: 2026-11-08
Covers: Zendesk Suite and Zendesk Support

Section 3.1 of the Zendesk Main Services Agreement says "Customer retains ownership of all Service Data," and section 3.4 lets you export it during the subscription and for 30 days after. The Zendesk Developer Terms are stricter: API Data may not be used for training any general AI model, and that covers customers using the APIs internally. Confirm your position with your own counsel.

## Zendesk data rights at a glance

| Data available | Export method | Plan needed | AI-training restriction in the terms |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Tickets with comments, users and organizations | Account data export to JSON or full XML | Suite Growth to Enterprise Plus, or Support Professional or Enterprise. Off until Support enables it | No: no AI clause found in the MSA. §3.4: "Customer may export Service Data" |
| Ticket fields without comments | CSV export | Same plans as JSON | No: no AI clause found in the MSA |
| Tickets, comments and users through the API | Zendesk REST API, including incremental export | All plans, including Team | Yes: Developer Terms §3.6(iii): no "creating, training, or improving any general AI model" |

## Who owns your Zendesk data under Zendesk's terms?

Your company owns its Zendesk data. Section 3.1 of the [Zendesk Main Services Agreement](https://www.zendesk.com/company/agreements-and-terms/main-services-agreement/) says "Customer retains ownership of all Service Data," which section 12 defines as data, messages and communications submitted to and stored within the services.

The same section says the customer instructs Zendesk to "use Service Data to provide, secure, and improve Zendesk's products and services," and AI features run under a separate AI Services Addendum. Section 2.2(iii) bars customers from using the services to "research or develop a similar or competing product or service," a clause a buyer building a support AI product may ask about.

Owning the tickets against Zendesk does not clear your customers' rights in what they wrote. Our guide on [whether you can legally sell company data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/can-you-legally-sell-company-data-for-ai) covers that question.

## What can you export from Zendesk, and on which plan?

Zendesk gives you a contractual export right and two practical routes. Section 3.4 of the MSA says "During and 30 days after the Subscription Term, Customer may export Service Data." The help article [Exporting ticket, user, or organization data from your account](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886165402) sets out the native tools:

- Exports are off by default. The account owner must ask Zendesk Customer Support to turn them on
- JSON and full XML exports include ticket comments. CSV exports leave out comments, descriptions and deleted tickets
- Accounts with more than one million tickets download in 31-day increments, and XML files cap at 500 MB
- AI agent tickets cannot be exported with these tools

Team plans cannot use the export tools, but every plan can pull data through the Zendesk REST API. That is where the AI restriction applies.

## Do Zendesk's terms restrict AI training on ticket data?

Zendesk's terms restrict AI training on data pulled through its APIs. Section 3.6(iii) of the [Zendesk Developer Terms](https://www.zendesk.com/company/agreements-and-terms/zendesk-developer-terms/) (effective August 12, 2025) bars a Licensee from using API Data beyond its application's functionality, including for "creating, training, or improving any general AI model."

Section 1 defines API Data to include Service Data and treats a customer using the APIs "for its internal purposes" as a Licensee. Section 3.6 also bars applications that "allow bulk export of API Data" and any persistent copies, archives or long-term stores built from API Data.

An API pull of your tickets for an AI buyer runs straight into these terms. The native JSON export is a different route, and the MSA export right carries no AI condition. Ask counsel to confirm the route, and whether a negotiated agreement changes the position, before you build the dataset.

## Which Zendesk plan and admin rights do you need?

You need a Suite Growth plan or higher, or Support Professional or Enterprise, plus an account owner who can ask Support to enable exports.

- Zendesk admins run exports from Admin Center, under Account, Tools, Reports, once exports are enabled
- Admins can be blocked from exporting, so check role settings first
- Records updated within 6 minutes of the request are left out
- Download links stay valid for at least three days

## What personal data is in a Zendesk export?

Support tickets are written by your customers. A Zendesk export carries requester names, email addresses, phone numbers, order details and free-text descriptions of problems, which can include health, financial or account information the customer volunteered.

### The US position

In the US, start with California. The CCPA defines a sale as making personal information available "for monetary or other valuable consideration" (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.140(ad)(1)), and a license fee from an AI buyer fits that wording on its face. Employee and business-contact data have been in scope since January 1, 2023, when the temporary exemptions expired.

Data counts as deidentified under § 1798.140(m) only if you take reasonable measures so it "cannot be associated" with a person, publicly commit to keep it that way and contractually bind every recipient. Our [de-identification guide](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/de-identification-for-ai-training-data) explains how to meet that standard, and our [guide to the CCPA and state privacy laws](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/gdpr-and-selling-data-for-ai-training) covers the other states.

Other comprehensive state privacy laws, including those in Virginia, Colorado and Texas, define sales and exemptions in their own words, and several treat employee data differently from California. Map where the people in your export live before you rely on any one state's rules.

If your customers are patients or account holders, assume tickets may contain HIPAA or GLBA-covered information until a review shows otherwise. HHS recognizes two de-identification methods under 45 CFR 164.514(b), Expert Determination and Safe Harbor, which removes 18 types of identifiers. The FTC says financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act must explain customers' right to opt out of certain sharing with nonaffiliated third parties.

Your own privacy promises still bind you. FTC staff wrote on February 13, 2024 that adopting more permissive data uses, such as AI training, through a "surreptitious, retroactive amendment" to terms or a privacy policy could be unfair or deceptive. Check the privacy notice, employee handbook and customer contracts in force when the data was collected.

### If you hold UK or EU data

UK GDPR and EU GDPR treat names, email addresses and message content about identifiable people as personal data. Licensing it for AI training is a new purpose, so you need a lawful basis under Article 6 and a compatibility assessment under Article 6(4), which the ICO covers in its guidance on compatibility and the reuse of personal information. This page is general information, so confirm your position with your own counsel.

## What third-party content is in a Zendesk export?

Nearly every ticket includes content from someone outside your company. Customers write the requests and attach screenshots and documents, and CC'd contacts add more voices.

Your customer terms and privacy notice decide whether you can license this content. Buyers of [support ticket data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/buy-ai-training-data/support-ticket-data) will ask what those documents said when the tickets were collected.

## How do you prepare a licensable Zendesk export?

Preparing a Zendesk export for a buyer starts with the extraction route and ends with a manifest. Work through these steps in order.

1. **Ask Support to enable exports**: Have the account owner request export access, and confirm your plan qualifies.
2. **Use JSON for full conversations**: Choose the full JSON export so comments are included, and plan for 31-day increments above one million tickets.
3. **Keep API pulls out of the license**: Do not build the dataset through the REST API without counsel's view on section 3.6 of the Developer Terms.
4. **Remove third-party content**: Take out attachments and pasted documents from customers' own suppliers unless the other party has agreed in writing, and keep privileged legal material out entirely.
5. **De-identify and test**: Replace names, user IDs and email addresses across the Zendesk export, then run a re-identification test on a random sample, as our [de-identification guide](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/de-identification-for-ai-training-data) describes.
6. **Write the manifest**: Record record counts, date ranges, systems, exclusions and the export method in a [data manifest](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-build-a-data-manifest) that matches what you deliver.
7. **Get counsel's sign-off**: Ask your own counsel to review the Zendesk terms, your order form and your privacy notices together before any buyer sees a sample.

If you want a view on whether your Zendesk data is licensable and what buyers might pay, start with a [data valuation](https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-valuation). We are a broker, not a law firm, so take independent legal advice before you sign any license.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I export Zendesk tickets on the Team plan?

Not with the built-in export tools. Zendesk's help center says Team plans cannot use the JSON, CSV or XML exports, although every plan can pull data through the Zendesk REST API. That API route brings in the Zendesk Developer Terms, which bar using API Data to train any general AI model. If you plan to license ticket data, check whether a plan change gives you the native export, and ask your own counsel which route fits.

### Do the Zendesk Developer Terms apply to my own internal scripts?

Yes, on their wording. Section 1 of the Zendesk Developer Terms treats a customer using the APIs for its internal purposes as a Licensee bound by the terms. Section 3.6 then limits API Data to the application's functionality, bars bulk export applications and bars training general AI models. A script your team writes to pull tickets for an AI buyer falls inside that language.

### Does a Zendesk CSV export include ticket conversations?

No. Zendesk's help center says CSV exports leave out ticket comments, descriptions and deleted tickets, and they omit some custom field types. JSON and full XML exports include comments. For an AI training dataset the conversation text is usually the point, so use the full JSON export, which Zendesk recommends for accounts with more than 200,000 tickets.

### How long after cancelling can I still export Zendesk data?

Section 3.4 of the Zendesk Main Services Agreement says you may export Service Data during the subscription term and for 30 days after it ends. Data deleted under Zendesk's Service Data Deletion Policy is excluded, and Zendesk is not obliged to keep it. If your company is closing, enable exports and download the full JSON before the subscription ends.

## Sources

- [Main Services Agreement](https://www.zendesk.com/company/agreements-and-terms/main-services-agreement/), Zendesk, accessed November 2026
- [Zendesk Developer Terms](https://www.zendesk.com/company/agreements-and-terms/zendesk-developer-terms/), Zendesk, accessed November 2026
- [Exporting ticket, user, or organization data from your account](https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886165402), Zendesk Help Center, accessed November 2026
- [California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, Civil Code section 1798.140](https://cppa.ca.gov/regulations/pdf/cppa_act.pdf), California Privacy Protection Agency, accessed November 2026
- [California Consumer Privacy Act employee and B2B exemptions expire January 1, 2023](https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2022/10/california-consumer-privacy-act-employee-and-b2b-exemptions-expire-january-1-2023), Morgan Lewis, accessed November 2026
- [AI (and other) Companies: Quietly Changing Your Terms of Service Could Be Unfair or Deceptive](https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy-research/tech-at-ftc/2024/02/ai-other-companies-quietly-changing-your-terms-service-could-be-unfair-or-deceptive), Federal Trade Commission, accessed November 2026
- [Guidance Regarding Methods for De-identification of Protected Health Information](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/de-identification/index.html), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accessed November 2026
- [Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/gramm-leach-bliley-act), Federal Trade Commission, accessed November 2026
- [Compatibility and the reuse of personal information](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-protection-principles/compatibility-and-the-reuse-of-personal-information/), Information Commissioner's Office, accessed November 2026
- [Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj), EUR-Lex, accessed November 2026

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